Delia isn’t at my hotel,” Gunny told Jed. “Ambrose has her.”
Jed stared at Gunny. “What?”
“No time to explain! We have to follow Junior.”
“Which way did he go?” Jed asked.
Gunny was relieved Jed simply trusted him and didn’t stop to ask questions. “Through that door,” Gunny said. “Where does it lead?”
“The alley,” Jed said. “Come on!”
Outside, clouds passed in front of the moon, making the night dark and moody. Gunny could just make out a shadowy figure running quickly up the street. “There!” Gunny hissed.
Jed and Gunny raced after Junior. He took a sharp turn around the corner up ahead.
Jed and Gunny arrived at the corner a moment later. Junior had vanished.
“How could we have lost him?” Jed panted. He bent over, hands on his knees to catch his breath.
Gunny also felt winded from the sprint, but he turned in a slow circle, searching for any sign of Junior. Then he realized where they were standing: in front of Ambrose Jackson’s building site.
“I don’t think we did.” He pointed to the chicken wire that kept the neighborhood kids from sneaking into the site. It was pulled away from its posts. Just enough for a teenage boy to slip through.
“Ambrose had to stop work until he could pay his bills,” Gunny told Jed. “This would make a perfect place to stash a hostage.”
Gunny pried the chicken wire farther away from the post. He held it out so that Jed could squeeze in. Jed skidded on the rubble that covered the unfinished floor, sending bits of plaster and rock skittering as he went down. “Yeow!” Jed cried.
Gunny pushed through the small gap and found Jed on the ground, wincing in pain and clutching his ankle.
“What happened?” Gunny whispered.
Suddenly a movement in the corner caught Gunny’s attention.
The dim glow from the streetlights outside lit an unwelcome sight: Junior holding a gun aimed straight at him.
“Stay back or I’ll shoot you!” Junior shouted.
Gunny put his hands in the air. “We’re not here to hurt you, Junior. You know that.”
Junior’s hand was shaking. “No, you’re here to stop me, and that’s not going to happen.”
Gunny took a step forward. “Stop you from doing what?”
“I mean it! Stay back!”
“We just want to understand what’s going on,” Gunny said.
Junior looked at Jed on the ground, then back to Gunny. He licked his lips nervously.
“It was Ambrose, wasn’t it?” Gunny asked. “He forced you to throw that fight so he could make a lot of money.”
Junior nodded, looking miserable. “He took Delia. He said he’d kill her if I didn’t throw the fight.”
“We know.”
Junior swallowed and seemed to renew his strength. “But I realized—he’s not going to keep his promise. So I’m here to kill him.”
“Nobody is killing nobody!” Gunny shouted. “Give me the gun, Junior!”
A sound from above made both Junior and Gunny look up.
Gunny tensed. Was that Ambrose and his goons? They could have been up there all along.
The knocking sound came again.
“That’s Delia!” Junior cried. “Our code!”
“Go get her,” Jed said from the floor.
“Let’s get you into a hiding place,” Gunny said. “Help me, Junior.”
Junior slipped the gun into the back of his pants and helped move Jed out of sight. As soon as they’d pulled him behind a pallet of stacked pipes, they dashed up a nearby set of cement stairs to a level that was partly completed. Floors were laid radiating outward from the stairs, but in many places only the supports were in place. Steel girders led out to beams that extended past the building’s walls. Piles of tile, tubs of plaster, sacks of cement, and sheets of drywall were stacked around.
One area seemed more finished than most. It had real walls and even a door. Junior and Gunny looked at each other, and both knew to run straight to it.
Before Gunny could stop him, Junior flung open the door.
“Delia!” he cried.
Delia sat tied to a chair, her mouth covered with tape, but luckily, she was alone.
Junior ripped the tape from her mouth. “Yeow!” she yelped.
“Are you all right?” Gunny asked as he untied her.
Delia nodded. “I heard you shouting so I knew there couldn’t be any of the bad guys around. So I knocked out our code with the chair legs.”
Junior grabbed her in a bear hug.
“You are one smart little lady,” Gunny said.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” Junior said. “I’d never forgive myself—”
They all froze.
They were no longer alone. Someone—several someones—were downstairs.