Page 142 of Intent to Kill
“Hey, I don’t want to put my nose where it doesn’t belong. But there’s bigger shit going on here, too,” Paul said. “We’ve still got Dorian Blake to deal with…don’t let this distract you from the path.”
“Don’t worry,” Adam said, his lips twitching up. “I want to kill Dorian Blake now more than ever.”
Paul nodded solemnly, “Still, I just think– Fuck, get down!”
A sudden explosion sounded, followed by a ringing in his ears as Paul forced Adam’s body down into the dirt, covering it with his own.
A grenade had been thrown into their midst, stunning them and propelling dirt into the air. Turning his head to the side against the sudden impact, Adam saw Carlos and Dan had hit the dirt, too. There were several Blake associates converging on them from all angles. One who reached Dan and Carlos first, grabbing Dan’s hair in his fist.
“Oh, fuck no,” Adam said, shoving upward to his knees and firing a quick shot to kill the guy and free Dan. Dan and Carlos scrambled to Paul and Adam where they were sheltered behind a brick wall.
“I’d say our cover’s been blown,” Carlos said.
“You think?” Dan gave him a hard look.
Though his eyes were still blurry, Adam risked a look over the half-crumbled brick wall. In the center of the men training guns in their direction was Dorian Blake, stepping out of his limo, with T.B. close behind him.
“Fuck,” Adam said. They were cornered.
“Oh, come on out, Adam. No point hiding anymore,” Blake chuckled.
Carlos looked to him with wide eyes, while Paul ran a hand over his face.
“Can we fight our way out of this?” Carlos whispered.
Adam shook his head and gestured for them to stand with him. Slowly, they all stood with their hands in surrender. Facing Dorian Blake in all their traitorous glory.
“There you are,” Blake sneered, running narrowed eyes over Adam’s body. “I fucking knew it! You sneaky little fucking traitors… Christ. How did you even survive it? We killed you good.”
Adam shrugged. “Not good enough.”
Blake’s face turned red, but he controlled his reaction, turning to share a glare with T.B. “So, where’s the fifth?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Blake was deteriorating by the second, but T.B. still looked the angriest somehow.
Nobody in the Blake Family would ever understand the loyalty that Adam’s friends had shown. That he had shown. How could they? Blake pitted them all against each other so vehemently that they celebrated when a friend met their end.
“Anyone else want to give me a better answer…or do we get a do-over from five years ago with a gun and choices that you get to make?” Blake said, eyeing Dan, Paul, and Carlos for an answer.
When he didn’t get one, Blake bared his teeth and waved a hand at his men, commanding them to lift their weapons. “Fine. There’s one more of you, and believe me, I’m going to find out who it is. Fortunately, I don’t need you alive to do it. Kill them.”
Blake’s men went to raise their guns, but another explosion rocked the ground beneath them, unsteadying them on their feet. Only this time, it was a grenade blowing Blake’s prized limo to smithereens.
Blake’s one angry look over his shoulder was enough time for Adam, Paul, Dan, and Carlos to snatch up their weapons and become surrounded by several of their own people.
Friendly vehicles surrounded them in droves, full of people who rushed out to join the fight. Old Blake exiles, old Cortez guys, even a group of Tia’s girls wielding machine guns joined the fray.
Gunfire erupted across the divide, as the might of the empire Adam had been building arrived in full force to defend him. And through it, Adam kept eye contact with Dorian, giving him a cocky little smirk as people rushed around them.
Adam was jolted away from the stare-off when his shoulder was tapped, and Lulu appeared behind him with a flame thrower.A flame thrower.
“Got a girl who says you belong to her waiting in a car back there,” Lulu smirked. Adam followed her eye line where Mercedes was waiting, covered head to toe in black to conceal her identity.
Lulu threw flames into the air, allowing time for their people to escape.
But Adam returned to Blake’s stare, where T.B. was pulling him back by both arms as he attempted to charge forward. Frowning, Adam started forward until he was pulled back, too.
