Page 84 of Agony

On the heels of that decision came another. It was time that they talked this shit out. The way things were right now was going to make working together fucking suck.

Oh, he was still pissed, but he also didn’t want his anger to affect his performance.

Yeah…it was his performance he was worried about and nothing else.

No one else.

Keep telling yourself that.

He took a savage bite of taco and pasted a glare on his face. And as pissed as he was with Justice, he didn’t want the guy going to work somewhere else. Right then, he didn’t look too closely as to why.

After fifteen minutes that felt like fucking hours, Dave finally returned to the room. The SecDef resumed his seat and cut a bite of the enchilada on his plate.

Fisher gazed down at his food and then darted his eyes to the door.

The doorway stayed empty.

He took a few more bites, but Justice didn’t appear.

What the fuck?

Justice couldn’t even be bothered to come inside the fucking dining room?

Fisher clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw ached.

Dropping what was left of his taco onto his plate, he sipped at the water in his glass.

He’d lost his appetite.

That asshole.

The informant they were supposed to find went by the name of Chester and had avoided drug charges by working for the cops.

Justice still had reservations about how valid the guy’s info would be, but they might find a lead.

“Heel,” he told Axel, and the dog camped at his side as he and Steel headed down the sidewalk.

Third Street Santa Monica promenade had once been a thriving place, but now several businesses had closed due to retail criminal activity. It contained nowhere near the consumerism it once had, but the area was still alive.

Even after dark, there were plenty of people milling about the main thoroughfare.

Justice walked around the corner and into the access alley that was used for garbage truck pickups every Sunday.

A drunk stumbled away from the wall and Steel skirted around the guy.

A few people sat on the concrete ground, leaning against the building. The smell of weed drifted in the air. A helicopter swept overhead, its blades beating with a loud thumping.

One person had fashioned a small enclosure with a tarp draped over a pole. They wouldn’t be there long since patrol made a point of coming through there to clear out those lingering.

Right now, though, he and Steel were meeting an informant who supposedly had information on Blue, Crow, and possibly Tanis.

He’d just found out via Dave that Tanis was the ring leader of the assassins and the motherfucker had sold boys to Solomon when they got too old.

He squeezed his fists, needing to kill something.

“I’m looking for Chester?” he asked when he and Steel came upon a group of young adults. The ones who bothered to answer shook their heads.

Moving on to another group of people, Justice stopped when a female voice called out.

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