“Aw, fuck,” Joker bit out. “That’s why right there. She’s his lifeline as long as he’s on the property. Dare’s not going to let them take Randall out until we know where they’ve got her.”
Head spinning, floor falling out from underneath her feet, Haven walked toward the door. Oh, God, someone had died. And her father had Bunny. This was all her fault. “I have to go.”
Joker caught her from behind and tugged her back, his voice harsh in her ear. “Not a fucking chance.”
“He has Bunny,” she said.
Joker slapped a meaty palm over her mouth. “Sshh. And he’s not getting you. Now, can I let you go?”
Defeated, Haven nodded, and she stumbled toward Cora, whose face had gone pale white.
“And in case that’s not enough incentive,” her father’s voice came through the radio, “you should know that my men are set up throughout the building, ready to take people out on my command. Let’s say every ten minutes that pass without my having her back, I give the order and someone random dies. A mom, a dad, a kid, another old lady. Hell, even a driver. That could get real fucking interesting.”
“Oh, God,” Cora whispered shakily. Haven was too stunned by the magnitude of what her father was willing to do to speak.
“That’s fucking bullshit,” the Raven said.
“Think so?” A flash of light on the screen coincided with a loud bang in the room next door.
“Fuck,” Blake said, dropping to his knees so he could peer around the lowest part of the door frame. “Fuck, Meat’s down. He fucking shot him,” he whispered loudly over his shoulder.
Now all three guns were trained on the remaining Raven at the ticket window. “Now that we’ve established that I mean what I say, you have ten minutes to either leave my daughter somewhere out in the open, where I can claim her and leave without any trouble. Your old lady will be left unharmed on the property before we go. Or I pick my next victim.” He looked over his shoulder at Stuart Harring, one of her father’s right-hand men. “Which car you like?”
The guy looked to the side, as if considering. “Eh, the number five car,” Stuart said.
Her father spoke into his cell. “If you don’t hear from me, take the driver of the number five car out in ten minutes. Set your timer.” He pressed a button and started backing away. “We clear? Deliver the message to whoever you have to.”
And then they disappeared from the screen and the walkie-talkies went momentarily silent before all hell broke loose.
Blake and Joker did a quick check around the door and then dashed to where a big guy was laid out on the floor, blood pooling around him.
“Meat, you with me, man? Hold on,” Joker said as he started pulling at the guy’s clothes, baring his bloody chest. From where she and Cora hovered in the doorway to the control room, Haven couldn’t see exactly where the entry wound was.
“Calling nine-one-one,” the man still sitting in his chair at the window said in a shaking, thin voice.
“Good,” Joker said. “Blake, get on the horn and make sure Dare heard all that.”
“He should’ve,” the guy dialing an ambulance said. “I had the Send button pressed almost the whole time.”
“It was good thinking,” Joker said, pressing his hands over the wound. Meat’s back arched, which Haven was going to take as a positive sign.
“I’ve got a gunshot victim at the Green Valley Race Track,” the Raven said into his cell. “We need an ambulance . . .” He continued relating what happened and answering questions.
“Shit,” Blake said, kneeling beside Meat. “Who do you think was killed defending Bunny?”
Haven’s mind raced. “Oh, God. Jeb. Jeb stayed with her when we left.”
“What?” Blake said, blanching. Haven had gotten to know the pair of them well enough to know they were good friends. “Jeb? Are you sure?”
A sob caught in her throat. “Dare asked him to stay until Bunny left.”
“Oh, no,” Cora said, silent tears spilling from her eyes. “Jeb. I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Why isn’t anyone coming to see what the fuck happened here?” Blake asked.
Joker shook his head. “We don’t know what they’re dealing with out there. How many men Randall has. Where they even are. It’s not like our guys can just stroll through the halls now. Now take your shirt off for me so I can use it here.”
As if from a distance, Haven watched the men work to save Meat’s life, Joker’s words echoing in her ears. What was Dare dealing with out there? Was he safe?
Suddenly, those worst-case scenarios Haven had thought about on the ride down there didn’t seem like she’d imagined quite bad enough. Which meant she needed to decide how many people she was going to allow to be sacrificed so that she might stay free.
CHAPTER 30
Dare had heard the entire fucking thing, and by his count, at least three of his own were already dead or in harm’s way. Not to mention a driver and a stadium full of people. And the only woman he’d ever loved. Motherfucker.