Page 29 of Pike’s Redemption

“Just wait,” Natasha interrupted. Let him tell the whole story.” Hurriedly, I explained how Eli had appeared in the alleyway, the few details he had given me, and the ones I’d managed to pick up. Both men looked shell-shocked, which mirrored my complicated feelings.

“That’s crazy, man. Right? Fucked up.” Maddox rubbed his chin as he did when thinking or worried. “You’re sure it’s Eli? Like a hundred percent?”

I didn’t blame him for being skeptical. These weren’t bad questions, and he wasn’t wrong. The whole thing was crazy. My childhood had been beyond fucked up, and losing Eli had broken me even further. His return was amazing news, but I was reeling to come to terms with the idea that I’d inadvertently left him behind, but at least he was alive. That was something, right? I could work with it. We could work with it.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.” I tried to inject some confidence into my voice. I mean, I was as sure as I could be. He was so little when I last saw him. “He has the same scar and the same mannerisms. It’s hard to explain exactly, but I recognized him.” I shrugged. Something about the way Eli carried himself spoke to me. A sense of rightness told me it was my brother, but I could be wrong. There was that niggling common sense of practicality or logic that told me that maybe some dickwad was playing me.

“And this Victor person? He’s some old pal of your brother’s?” Dimitri’s eyes glittered black over the table, hard as onyx. “He’s the one that killed those people? That’s the story?”

“Yeah, some guy he knew, I guess. Eli said that when they hung out, he confided in him about how we grew up so it would fit. He said he’d try to stop him, but he specifically said that Victor was trying to return to his good graces.” That was the weirdest part, and I could tell by the other looks that the other men shot each other that they agreed. “Eli said Kent was probably next on his list, which is where we could catch this dickweed.”

“Ok, it’s a bonus that we have advance information. I’m not sure we can trust it, but any information is good,” Dimitri conceded. “There have been killing pairs. Let’s say that there are two of them. They could be working together.” I hadn’t thought about that, but it could be a potential scenario. I had been thinking that it wasn’t Eli at all but some random person. My brain was all over the place.

Maddox gave me a concerned look. “Dimitri isn’t wrong. Maybe if there were two people, they would have gotten the information somehow from Eli. Maybe that isn’t him at all.” So, Maddox was thinking along the same lines as me. He said the quiet part out loud. I took a long drink of my beer as Nat’s hand found mine and squeezed. “But, let’s go on the assumption that it is,” he continued. “That’s what you think, right?”

“I’m not sure what to think. I’ll be honest: both things are just as plausible as Eli or maybe more plausible, but …” I shrugged. “Fuck me if I know.”

“Let’s just say we go with this opportunity, and Kent is the next target. It would make sense, right? We could put surveillance on Kent,” Dimitri offered, diverting the conversation away from the hypothetical and back to the practical. I could tell Dimitri was already running the scenarios through. Ultimately, I wanted the killings to stop — at least in Morinrock. I didn’t give a fuck if these particular people were dead, but I didn’t relish being the suspect or having them splayed out in town. I could skip all that. Dimitri spoke again, “This guy, Victor, he’s been clever this whole time. No evidence has been found in the murders, right, Nat?”

“Right. He’s been very thorough when leaving bodies about wiping evidence. Either that or the Morinrock PD is incompetent.” Maddox snorted loud enough that I could hear. It wasn’t a secret that they couldn’t find their asshole with a whole roll of toilet paper. “Ronnie did suspect two people could be following Pike, and she will start looking for information on this Victor person. If anyone can find something, it’ll be her. If we have a shot at catching him ahead of time at a site, then we need to grab hold of it.” Nat was steely calm as she answered. Every day, she impressed me in some new way. My girl was no weeping violet.

“Surveillance is great. That was my thought. It’ll have to be stealth, but I also have a tracker on Kent. I’ve had one there for years,” I confessed. “I like to know where he is. He has allowed boundaries, but I get an alert when he leaves them.” Dimitri looked at me with sudden interest.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I thought he killed my brother. I wasn’t going to let that shit go,” I spit out. My back teeth ground against each other. “He abused the fuck out of us.” I wished I had a smoke, but for some dumb reason, I’d given it up. Instead, I rubbed the back of my neck, my skin crawling as I thought about the hell Eli had suffered after I’d been carted off to relative safety, numb with grief at the thought of my brother sinking beneath the waves, choking on the water.

“I’m impressed. That’ll make it easier.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t give a shit if someone killed Kent.”

“We know that for fuck’s sake,” Maddox said. “Don’t be dumb. God, I’m going to need another beer for this.” He threw up a hand to signal someone at the bar. “Ok, so we have a tracker, but let’s set up surveillance on this creep. Video, I guess. Do we know what this guy ‘Victor’,” he threw up air quotes. “Looks like?”

“Nope, not yet. Maybe Ronnie will get a hit on Victor in the system. He could have been someone Eli met that way,” Nat answered. We were hoping that Ronnie would pull through and give us an edge. A clue on the mysterious Victor would be awesome.

“Okay, well, sounds like an old-fashioned stakeout, I suppose.” Dimitri sounded positively gleeful.

“Great, sounds so fun,” Maddox rolled his eyes. “But yeah, we got you. You got everything we need to set this up, Dimitri?”

“Yeah, I do. Once that tracker shows he’s gone tomorrow, we’ll slide on in there and set it up. We’ll need Enzo.” Dimitri tipped his beer towards Natasha. “He’s good at that shit.”

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

NATASHA

I’d had fun at the Road, watching Pike’s friends giving him shit. I mostly enjoyed watching this new dynamic we’d had while out in public. I wanted to ask Pike what it meant, this possessiveness that he was exhibiting, but I felt like it was too new. It seemed silly to call him a boyfriend. Were we going steady? I giggled to myself as I stepped into the kitchen.

The lights were off, and the appliances were giving off that otherworldly glow of blue/green that hung over the glass and the tile. It was that time of night when I wasn’t sure I was hungry, but I wasn’t sure I could sleep without eating a small piece of cheese or having a few crackers. I’d been reading for the last half-hour and finally was sleepy enough to drift off. Pike dropped me off about an hour ago but had to take care of things at the Pit.

I was pondering Pike when I saw something shift out in the dark. My heart leaped in my chest, fear making my muscles tighten. The lights flickered outside, casting the desert with a yellow glow. Cactus and agave plants dotted the landscape on this side of the house. Belatedly, I wondered if I should alert the guards, call out to Enzo or Luca, or even wake Ronnie. That was silly, though—right? There was probably nothing: a coyote or something.

I pressed my hand to the glass, my handprint sweaty and damp, and my breath came in my pants as I tried to calm myself. I watched the lights flickering on and off. My other hand gripped my phone tightly, and I thought again about calling for help. I reasoned there wasn’t any reason to bother them if I imagined things.

Bam! Something hit the window so hard it rattled. I shrieked.

Startling, I pulled back. The area where my palm print used to be was now splattered with red, blood dripping down as a small carcass slid along the glass.

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