Page 185 of Allegiance

“I don’t like this,” Tommy said.

Rogue pointed out the bottom line and tried to get the man on the same page.

He knew what would do it.

“Gene’s the big target there. Everyone knows he was helping The Hunters. You just went missing. One cop sees him, and he’s shot in the head.”

Like planned, that changed the man’s tune.

“I take that back. Carry on. He’s not getting shot in the head, or anywhere else. I have a wedding to get to.”

Gene laughed.

“That was a change of heart.”

Yeah, it really was.

Jinx carried on and navigated them to the stairwell. Once it was open, she needed to know.

“Rogue, Babe, anyone in the stairwell going down to the basement?” she asked.

He was in the camera system and checked.

“No. You’re clear heading down. Someone is heading toward the door from the fifth floor. You need to move fast and silently.”

They all heard him and did just that. They moved, running down the stairs.

Rogue warned them.

“He’s opening the door.”

Instead of running, which might draw suspicion, they stopped moving and pressed themselves to the wall.

“He’s coming down. He’s going to the first floor,” he said, as the man opened that door.

As soon as the door closed behind him, he cleared them.

“MOVE.”

Oh, and they did.

Once they hit the basement level, not the morgue one, but the one that was underground where they kept all the evidence, guns, drugs, and anything the cops wanted locked up, she was wary.

“I don’t like the feeling I’m getting,” she admitted. Jinx had been trained for shit like this, and all her snake senses were screaming.

She pointed to a room.

“Gene and Tommy, get in there and wait. I’ll be back for you,” she said.

They didn’t argue.

Why?

This was literally her thing.

Close-quarters operations.

As soon as the door was closed behind them, and they were safe, Jinx moved, heading toward the evidence locker.