Val plopped back down in her chair, swinging her feet up onto the desk. “Go ahead, tell me the story. This oughtta be good.”

MAISIE

VAL WAS QUIET after Maisie finished the story. She looked between Maisie and Lennon, and seemed deep in thought for several moments.

“How many shipments?” she asked finally.

“Just the one truck,” Maisie said. “But it was a big one, and we need it. People are going to start dying. We can do without the food, but we have to have the medical supplies.”

“And, what? You’re just going to go up to Northgate and take it?”

“Take it and avoid a bloody war, is what I’m hoping. I assume you’d like to avoid that as well?”

Val snorted. “I would like to avoid a bloody war, yes. My brothers might welcome it. In fact, I’m fairly certain that Jonathan has been holding up the shipments in Northgate with the intention of forcing conflict.”

“He’s going to get it. And the south will have to go straight through your territory to do it.”

Val dropped her feet from the desk. “Last I heard, Maisie Rojas was a loyal soldier to Dr. Lopez. How did you get here without him knowing?”

She hesitated. Her first instinct was always to protect the family, to not give out information until it had been approved.

But the family was fractured, and it was only a matter of days until everyone found out anyway.

“Lopez is dead,” she said.

Val’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “How?”

“Declan killed him. He’s making a play for the south, and then the north, too.”

“Jesus.” She ran a hand over her mouth. “That’s bad.”

“Declan is going to need support from a lot of people in the south to launch a full-scale assault, and he might get it if I don’t bring back the shipment. I have a—”

A yell from outside made her stop.

Val jumped to her feet and bolted out of the room. Maisie followed.

The front doors banged open.

She saw Declan first. He was so easy to recognize, with that annoying swagger and his mouth open to start yelling.

He had a gun. The men around him had guns. There were about ten of them. She immediately recognized a few members of the Lopez family, all armed. Her eyes widened as she spotted Beto, rifle pointed at them.

She, on the other hand, didn’t have a gun. Her backpack was still in Anna’s hands.

Around her, the Vals leapt into action. Maisie grabbed Lennon’s arm, pulling him closer to her. The clicking noise of the safety being removed from a gun sounded all around her.

“I just want my people!” Declan yelled. “I don’t want to hurt any of you.”

Val glanced back at Maisie and Lennon before strolling over to Declan. “That’s a rude way to introduce yourself.”

Maisie could see the moment Declan spotted her. He had this way of looking at her, like he was both interested and disappointed.