Page 1 of A Reaper's Secret

Prologue

“What’s our next stop?”

The sound of rustling set Billy on edge.He was already too nervous, but listening to a couple of touristswas the last thing he wanted to do. The only reason hestopped in this little lay-bywas because it was far enough away from where he’d just come, andseemed impossible to find. He hadn’t even been able to locate it ona map, and he was hoping no one else was able to either.

His hands trembled as he lifted the blackcoffee to his lips. They would be out looking for him, and heneeded to remember that. Staying in one place for too long would behis guaranteed death sentence. Billy couldn’t believe he had gotten this far. He’d neverheard of anyone evading them, but then he’d never heard good thingsabout those who had stolen or betrayed them.

All he’d done was stolen from them.Nothing too bad. He hadn’t betrayed them, and it wasn’t like it was a lot ofcash either. About twenty to fifty thousand in cash, no big deal.He imagined most of them would have this kind of cash safely hiddenaway.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as a dooropened and another customer entered. Was this mysterious dinerusually so busy? He suddenly felt a little hot beneath the collar,and he knew for a fact that wasn’t usual.

It was hot outside, but inside he feltlike he was boiling. He couldn’t help but glance around the dinerand wonder who was staring at him, who was trying to check him out, to squeal onhis location.

“Ah, this is it, Lost Creek.”

At the mention of that town, Billy couldn’thelp but freeze in one place.

“Lost Creek? You’re sure.”

“Yep, it’s right here in our plans.Remember, this has got the rumored … The Reapers.”

Coffee spilled over the edge of his cup, andBilly had no choice but to put it down on top of the counter. Thesweat that had been slowly building suddenly felt like it wasstarting to drip from him in one continuous stream.

What the fuck? Why were they talking aboutfucking Lost Creek, and what was more, why the fuck were theytalking about The Reapers?

“Come on, dude, seriously. You’re going tolisten to gossip? We’reonly passing through to check out the wildlife and if we’re lucky,see some bears or some shit. I’m not into trying to find any kindof … killer gang.”

“I know, but come on, you have to admit itis pretty cool,” theother guy said.

“Yeah, you’re right, it is cool, but what ifthey don’t exist? Come on, they’re probably just some myth to keepthe thugs at bay. It’s a tourist town, and there are plenty oflocals around, I imagine they use it to their advantage, and youknow, anyone steps out of line, it’s probably the whole town.”

“It’s not the whole town,” Billy said. Hejust couldn’t take it anymore. “And trust me, if you intend to goto Lost Creek, to cause trouble, then trouble is what you willfind.”

“Yo, man, you been to LostCreek?”

Billy nodded, but he didn’t want to admitthe truth out loud. Maybe if he advised these guys not to go tothat town, it would be an act of redemption, and it would givehim a chance to run andhide. He was fucking terrified.

He couldn’t remember ever feeling thisway, not once, but then he’d not stolen from The fucking Reapers before. Shit, what the fuck had he done?

“The Reapers are real?”

Billy simply nodded his head for a secondtime.

“I heard they’re a secret society.”

“No, I heard they’re a gang, and you know,like to kill people.”

Billy reached into his wallet and pulledout a couple of bills,leaving them on the bar for the waitress. No one ever remembered agood tipper, not really.

“Trust me, if you can, avoid Lost Creek,and if you can’t, don’ttry to piss off the locals. Everything you heard about The Reapersis true.”

“They’re a freaking urban legend, dude. Noone knows who they are.”

“No, not until it’s too late,” Billy said. You only ever have ahint of who it is. For Billy, he had a feeling the bar called TheReaper was owned by one. He just had a feeling. There had also beenrumors of lawyers, mayors, everyone, providing they had the samegoal and had proven themselves to the group.

Billy didn’t even know for sure if he hadstolen from them, but he had stolen from The Reaper bar, and thatwas a good enough reason to believe he had done so.

The two tourist men tried to talk to him,but he wasn’t interested in continuing a dialogue with them. He’dalready said too much, and it was now time for him to move on. Theonly way for him to survive was to keep moving.

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