“He was killed the same way as Three, Four, and Eight.”
She continued, stopping on the middle balcony and staring down at us. “The killer must be close. Do you think it was a team?”
Six stared and shook his head. “Tell me it wasn’t you.”
My eyes shot open, and my gaze snapped to her.
“What?” One gave an incredulous laugh. “You can’t be serious.”
Six’s jaw ticked. “It was a .45 caliber.”
“And?”
“I find it a little odd that here you are, a few hundred feet from our handler’s cooling body and you also use a .45.”
“Many people use that caliber.” Her objection and defense was weak, even to me.
“Then tell me what you’re doing here and how you got all the way up there without me seeing or hearing you.”
She paused, her lip curling up into a sneer. “He was going to tattle, and I don’t like tattlers.”
I stared in utter disbelief. The woman who was so pissed at me, who was jealous of me taking her attention away, who said she was so protective of her boys, was in on it all.
“Why?” Six asked, his voice going up in pitch and strength. There was an edge of anger and devastation.
The door leading from the second story opened, and out stepped Nine. He said nothing as he stepped to stand next to One, then stared down at us, his expression blank, emotionless. “Times change, Six. I’m tired of killing at their whim for little pay.”
My mouth dropped open as I looked up at them, at the ones responsible for everything. The ones who betrayed their brethren in death. The time we spent with them, the conversations, all an act to throw off suspicion. They tried to put the blame on Jason, even while they were adamant it couldn’t be him.
“There are other ways of leaving,” Six said.
“Are there?” Nine quirked his brow. “The only sure way is if I clean us all. That’s the only way to disappear and not be hunted down.”
Six let out a harsh laugh. “So to avoid the possibility of one of us coming after you, the best decision you could come up with was to kill us all?”
A maniacal giggle escaped One. “We’re the most ruthless and highly trained. You said it yourself—a Cleaner sent to clean another Cleaner.”
“Haven’t you put it together yet?” Nine asked, shaking his head. “Since we killed Three, Home has sent countless crews after all of us and none have been successful. Once one of us was dead, they started the chain reaction of trying to get rid of all of us. But, the only way to accomplish that is from our own rankings.”
Six shook his head, lowering it as he closed his eyes, his body shuddering as he tried to hold his anger in. When his head rose again, there was an emotion I couldn’t name etched into his features. “Eli…”
“No, Six. They took our names away, gave us new ones.” Nine locked eyes with Six. “Join us, little brother.”
Little brother?
Six glanced back to me, then to Nine. His arm snapped up, and he aimed toward them. “No. Your name is Eli, my blood, my brother, and despite that, I won’t let you do this.”
“When did you become so noble?” Nine snarled. “Fine. If you won’t join me, you will die like the rest.”
“I’m not noble,” Six yelled, his voice rising. “You’ve given me a choice of joining you or joining them. I won’t die by you, and I won’t be ordered around like her.” Six motioned toward One.
“Fuck you! You don’t know shit.” One raised her arm, lining her gun up to me. “Join, or I’m going to blow your fucking toy’s brains out.”
Nine pushed on One’s arm, making her lower her aim. “I hate that it had to come to this. You’re my brother, and I wanted you by my side. Family should mean something.”
“If it meant something, you wouldn’t be making me choose. But we both know it doesn’t mean shit. This is just another fucking way for you to try and prove to yourself that you’re better than me.”
“I am better than you! I’m Nine. The best.”
Six shook his head. “You’re a cocky asshole sociopath that was always jealous of me.”
The corners of Nine’s lips curled down. “Fucking die.” He held up something in his hand, thumb pressed down, then tossed it toward us as they turned and walked away.
I recognized it, and what it was registered just as I heard the loud boom. I felt the wave that moved through the floorboards as the other side of the building blew out in a rain of glass, shrapnel, and fire.
The explosion rocked the deck, splintering the posts holding it up. My arms flew up, trying to keep my balance as the surface beneath my feet surged and buckled. The floor shifted, dropping down and back, holding on only by the supports to the building.
I stumbled, tripping over my feet until my hips hit the railing. It stung as I stared down at the thirty-foot drop to the ocean. The wood groaned, nails creaked, and my heart stopped. My gaze flashed to Six. He’d been about ten feet away, but now he was ten feet to the side and six feet above.