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we’re done.” Then he could be home and his mom wouldn’t be the wiser.
    For once, he enjoyed the thought of sticking it to her, even though she would never know about it. “Al right. I’m in.”
    “Good man.”
    Nick looked at Alan, who was nineteen. “Can you guys give me a ride home after?”
    “For you, boy? Anything.”
    Nodding, Nick fol owed them over to a seedy part of North Rampart. Tyree put him on the street, blocking an al ey.
    “You stay right here and watch for the Five-O. Let us know if you see anyone.”
    Nick inclined his head to him.
    They vanished into the shadows while he stood there, waiting. After a few minutes, an old couple walked past him on the sidewalk. By their dress and manners, he could tel they were tourists just taking a late strol off the beaten path.
    “Hi there,” the woman said to him, smiling.
    “Hi.” Nick returned the expression. But his smile died an instant later when Alan leapt out of the shadows to grab the woman while Tyree knocked the man into a wal .

    Nick was stunned. “What are you doing?”
    “Shut up!” Alan snarled, pul ing out a gun. “Al right, grandpa.
    Give us your money or the old ho gets it right between her eyes.”
    Nick felt the color drain from his face. This couldn’t be happening. They were mugging two tourists?
    And I’m helping. . . .
    For a ful minute he couldn’t breathe as he watched the woman cry and the man beg them not to hurt her.
    Before he even realized what he was doing, he grabbed Alan’s hand that held the gun and knocked it away. “Run!” he shouted at the couple.
    They did.
    Tyree started after them, but Nick tackled him to the ground.
    Alan caught him by the col ar of his shirt and jerked him back. “Man, what are you doing?”
    Nick shoved him. “I can’t let you mug someone. That wasn’t the deal.”
    “You stupid …” Alan hit him in the face with the gun.
    Pain exploded in Nick’s skul as he tasted blood.
    “You’re going to pay for that, Gautier.” The three of them descended on him so fast and furious that he couldn’t even see to fight back. One minute he was standing and the next he was on the ground with his arms wrapped around his head to protect it from the gun Alan was beating him with. They stomped and beat on him until he lost al feeling in his legs and one arm.
    Alan stepped back and angled the gun on him. “Say your prayers, Gautier. You’re about to become a statistic.”

CHAPTER 2
    Nick wanted to lash out so badly he could taste it. I won’t die like this. Not beaten in a gutter by people who’re supposed to be my friends. Guys I’ve known and played with my whole life. I won’t.
    Yet here he lay.
    Helpless. Weak.
    Defeated.
    Not only were his taste buds drenched with blood, he felt like he was suffocating on it. His mind ached to fight until they were begging him for mercy—it wanted him to get up and make them eat their teeth, but his body refused to cooperate.
    Nothing was listening to him. Heck, he couldn’t even keep them from hitting him.
    Unable to do anything at al , he glared his hatred at Alan and hoped that the look alone would haunt the rat for the rest of eternity.
    Alan laughed as he squeezed the trigger.
    Holding his breath, Nick waited for the sound that would end his life.
    Out of the darkness, a blur rushed in at the same instant Alan fired the gun. One moment, Tyree, Alan, and Mike were laughing at his pain while they insulted him. In the next, they were flying through the air and hitting the ground near him hard enough to break bones.
    Nick froze as he tried to figure out where he’d been shot, but his body hurt so much that he couldn’t tel . Maybe it missed me. . . .
    Lying on the street, he caught a flash of blond hair and black clothes as someone attacked his ex-friends.
    Alan cried out and the gun landed on the ground beside him.
    The blond man tsked. “Shame you’re too young to kil . But in two years, I catch you doing this crap again, you won’t live