Page 50 of Creatures in the Night

“I’m sorry!” he yelled. “I was…was doing it for…for Noah!”

“Who are they?” Cathal asked. “Take my advice and do yourself a favor on this one, laddie.”

Craig started stomping his feet, like his desperation was going to get him out of this. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I…please…don’t do this.”

“Craig, I think you’re misunderstanding the situation,” I told him calmly. “Right now, I am allowing Cathal to handle the situation because I’m more interested in answers than I am revenge. However, if you do not start talking, then I’m going to take over, and I don’t think I need to tell you what will happen if that ends up being the case.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sakes, quit going easy on the man,” James complained.

I looked over at my cousin. “If ye have somewhere ta be, then donna let us stop ye, lad.”

James flipped me off as Cathal said, “We need Lochlan here. If I’m going to make him talk, then we need Lochlan to make sure that he doesn’t die on us before he can tell us anything significant.”

“He’s got a point,” James agreed.

Ignoring us all, Declan asked, “Who were the other two men?”

I watched Craig’s shoulders sag in defeat. “I know them by Andros and Sergey,” he finally confessed.

Russians.

“Motherfecker,” Declan hissed as he tossed one of the other chairs across the room.

Feeling my own rage threatening to creep up on me, I asked, “You went to Kotov?”

Craig’s eyes widened. “What? No…they…no…”

“Andros and Sergey are Russian names, you fucking idiot,” I snapped. “Don’t act like you don’t fucking know that.”

“They’re not Kotov,” he insisted. “They’re…they were just a couple of guys that…that answered when I put feelers out.”

I looked over at Declan pacing like a madman. “Simpson?”

Declan stopped to look back at me, and my cousin looked positively murderous, and it really was a guess at which one of us was going to end Craig’s life. “Imma have ta call Kotov ta find out.”

“They’re not Kotovs,” Craig insisted. “They…”

“What?” I snapped, finally fed the fuck up. “Why are you so sure that they weren’t Kotovs?”

Craig started blubbering again, and I really just wanted to snap his neck in two. “When…when I first met up with them, they…they mentioned needing the…the money.”

“Quit feckin’ ‘round,” Declan barked.

“They…they talked about how them and their friends needed some extra money,” Craig went on. “The Kotovs don’t need money.”

“You really are a stupid sonofabitch,” Cathal sighed. “They could easily be Kotovs with a gambling or drug problem.”

“I’m more concerned with you doing business with motherfuckers that you don’t know when you knew that we were looking for Klive Simpson and his men,” I remarked, pissed at how we’d all misjudged Craig so badly. “Not sure which is worse, really.”

“Text ‘em with another job,” Declan ordered. “An’ so help me God, if they donna answer ye, Imma goin’ ta put yer head on a goddamn spike in da middle o’ da town.”

“Andros is under Bakery,” Craig whimpered like a bitch. “Ser…Sergey is…is under Coffee Shop.”

“Was there anyone else involved?” I asked as James yanked Craig’s phone from his stained pants.

Craig shook his head. “No…no,” he sighed heavily. “I…I really thought that I was doing…doing you a…a favor, Noah.”

“Yeah, well…the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and in this case, you’re going to see that a lot sooner than you’d been expecting, lad,” I replied, not caring how long he’d been with us. “Just be glad that my wife survived your little present, or else your entire family would be joining you.”

---