Page 45 of Corrupted

Shame Leon wouldn't end up there.

All of this, in the hope it drew Kurt out to save Leon or kill him.

Judging by the presence of the armed people around the SUV, that was exactly what we achieved.

"I'm going to go around behind the other vehicles," I said. "If he's here, he might be inside one of them."

Reuben nodded. "Gianni, go with her. Damon, signal the twins that we're ready." He pulled out a gun.

Shit was about to get very real.

Gianni and I circled back and slipped between two of the houses.

That meant climbing over fences and dodging a very feisty dog. He looked like a cross between a Jack Russell terrier and a fox terrier, with a fan tail and a face that said, 'give me cheese,' rather than, 'I want to bite your face off.' He even let Gianni give him a pat, before rolling over onto his back and offering me his belly.

"You could use some work on your guard dog skills, buddy," I whispered. "But you're very cute."

The dog wagged his tail, got back up and ran off back inside when someone called his name.

"See, even dogs like you," Gianni said. "Dogs are very good judges of character."

"He liked you too," I pointed out. I gripped the top of the fence and pulled myself up, thankful for the strength I'd finally managed to regain.

"I rest my case." Gianni grinned and pulled himself up beside me. "When this is over, we should talk Reuben into letting us get a dog. We could train it to bite Caleb."

I managed a soft laugh, but we couldn't have done this without the help of Caleb. He was a prickly prick, but he knew how to get things done. That was exactly what we needed right now.

"It would probably bite Damon instead." I dropped down off the fence onto the grass.

"I see no problem here," Gianni said. "Damon would probably enjoy it."

"I suspect you'd enjoy it more," I said lightly.

Okay, thinking about biting Gianni was a distraction I didn't need right now. I pushed it into the back of my mind for later.

We slipped across the next backyard and over another fence, before dropping down in the bushes beside the street. We were twenty metres behind the enemy vehicles.

"Can you see anyone inside?" Gianni asked.

I squinted. "I don’t know. I need to get closer."

"We need to get closer," Gianni corrected.

"It'll be easier for one of us to go undetected," I said. It was a losing battle, but I was going to try to fight it anyway, to keep him safe.

"Maybe, but I'm not letting you go by yourself," he said firmly. He didn't put his foot down often, but when he did, there was as much chance of budging him as there was changing Reuben's mind, or Damon's. Or mine, for that matter.

I was about to rise, when the sound of gunshots rang out through the quiet of the evening.

The dog barked a couple of times, but that was the only indication anyone in any of the houses noticed. They must have assumed it was a backfiring car or someone else's TV.

A shout sounded close by, followed by another, then footsteps running toward our SUV.

"That's our cue," Gianni whispered.

I stayed in a crouch for a few moments longer.

Reuben, Damon and the twins were capable of taking care of themselves, and I was torn. I wanted to see if the person in the back of the vehicle was Kurt, but should we deal with his people first? If it was Kurt in there, we'd get another opportunity, sooner or later. But if my men died in the process… None of this would have been worth it.