to face that head-on right now. “We need to get out of here.” He darts his gaze around the back alley. Like usual, he’s always looking for the next threat. We pull Oscar to his feet, and I hold onto him as people start walking our way, avoiding our gazes and pointedly not looking at the two bodies at our feet.
Everyone in the Heights has come out for this. The call of destruction just too much for them to ignore.
I turn my head, my mouth finding Oscar’s ear as we follow Magnum. “They took him,” I whisper, answering his earlier question and only letting half the words I want to say break free because I still don’t want to believe he’s gone. Was this all a stunt just to get Johnny?
He was shot in The Ring’s box. The last time I saw him, he was half-unconscious. Are his kidnappers going to take care of him? Are they going to use him as leverage? Or are they just going to kill him and be done with it?
My throat catches, and I grip Oscar so tight I know it must hurt. He darts his gaze around the growing crowd. “We need to get out of here,” he echoes.
We come around the back of the building, and Magnum pulls up short. Ahead of us, the police are on the scene, setting up more roadblocks. “Fuck. The car is blocked in.” He hesitates for a moment before he leads us down the next block devoid of people. He stops beside a car before taking his gun and breaking the driver’s side window. With all the surrounding chaos, no one’s here to notice. He unlocks the vehicle, and we all get inside, Oscar gingerly getting into the backseat first before I slide in next to him.
Magnum does something to the car, and it springs to life. We’re a mere few blocks away from the chaos when he explains why we’re sitting in a stolen vehicle, “The cops have The Ring surrounded.” He presses his lips together. “I didn’t want to explain to them what we’re doing at a place that just got shot up and bombed…especially since Kyla is with us. Everyone from the Crew who escaped will be getting their asses out of there as soon as possible.”
Or if you’re Big Daddy K, you’re already gone because you’re a piece of fucking shit who couldn’t care less about his son.
It’s true though. The police are not my biggest fans right now. I can’t be caught at the scene where a bombing, a shootout, and a fire occurred. If the police don’t know about the dead bodies with bullets in them yet, they will. If I’m found near that shit, that sounds like probable cause to take me in given my recent history. With Johnny in a hostage type of situation, the last place I need to be is behind bars. Or back at Greenlawn.
I shiver at the thought. I don’t want to be away from the guys ever again, especially not for something I’m guiltless of.
I lean closer to Oscar for comfort, careful not to jostle him too much. From an outsider’s perspective, I’m sure we look pretty fucked up. Magnum, Brawler, and I look like we’ve been to hell and back. Oscar’s the only one who could pass as human at the moment, except when you look at his face.
Wind whips through the car as Magnum steers us out onto the highway. Oscar takes a moment to shrug his hoodie off, so he can wrap it around me. I know I should be asking what we’re doing and how we’re going to get Johnny back, but I don’t want to admit that I’m in way over my head this time. Whoever took Johnny is the enemy I didn’t even know I was making. The enemy I never could’ve prepared for when I came to the Heights.
After a silent forty minutes, Magnum pulls down a dirt road. The bumps bouncing the car make me look up, and a familiar view greets me. We’re at the cabin. Johnny’s cabin.
“Where are we?” Brawler asks from the front.
Magnum parks. We’re deep in the woods here, so we don’t have to worry about ditching the stolen piece of property yet. As far as I know, no one else knows about this place, so we can be fairly certain the authorities won’t find us or the car here. They’d have to know this place existed to check it out,