Page 3 of The Phantom's Vice

“Early this morning, we were able to locate Martha Gore, biological mother of the current Phantom. Jim and I will be questioning her on her son's whereabouts today. It's possible the Phantom is aware of the FBI's new information, and if we don'tact fast, I’m positive Ms. Gore will disappear like all our other leads."

A murmur of assent is overshadowed by the nervous tension in the air. “I know you all might be concerned, but?—”

“Damn right we're concerned!” Samuel Danvers's gruff voice rings across the room from where he's sitting on his desk. His dull green eyes shift nervously to the side as I send the full weight of my glare his way. “How do you know this isn't a trap? You saw what happened to Daniel. The way he cut him up?—”

“I don't need to be reminded!” I snap, my heart hammering as visuals of the crime scene swarm into my mind. The gouged eyes. That horrible bloody stump of his penis, shoved so far down his throat that he?—

Nope. Not going there.

I let out a heavy sigh, running a shaky hand through my hair for the hundredth time this morning as I picture the deep, jagged cuts across Daniel’s forehead, spelling out that incomprehensible four letter word—pedo. More pieces of my bun fall loose with the motion, and I curse myself for ruining my updo yet again.

“You know he has to have a closed casket, right? Mrs. Knox is beside herself,” Harvey—Samuel’s partner—offers, as if that will help the situation. “If he can do something like that to a man like Daniel—the best of us—who’s to say he won’t do something worse to one of us?”

There’s another murmur of assent, and that ball of anxiety tightens.

“What happened to Daniel was a tragedy,” I say, fighting the shake of my voice as I attempt to take control of the room. “And it's also the reason we need to catch this guy. I refuse to sit by and watch him hurt one more person. I won't let him get away with what he's done. I won’t stand for it—and neither should you.” I take my time looking each team member in the eyes before finally resting back on Samuel. “Are you with me?”

Jim claps a hand on my shoulder. “I'm with you, Brett.” He puffs his chest out, giving the rest of the men his million-dollar smile. Slowly, each person repeats Jim, the next words growing more powerful and assured than the last. When it finally comes down to Samuel to say the phrase, the whole room looks at him. Watching. Waiting.

Samuel raises a hand to his scruffy jaw,scratching thoughtfully. “Ah, what the hell. You got me too, Brett. You always do.”

My body feels light as I look out at all the determined faces. Jim's hand tightens on my shoulder, and I don't miss the proud look he gives me when I address the room for the last time.

“Okay. Let's go get this fucker.”

CHAPTER THREE

GHOST

The Code: Rule #4

Do everything in your power to avoid capture.

“Isthis what you do when you’re bored?” Orion’s crystal blue eyes pierce me with a glare as he paces the length of the basement. The flickering brass sconces cast shadows along the boy's face, hollowing his cheeks and highlighting the malevolence in his gaze. “What would possess you to drag his body out there for the police to find? And—leaving shit at the crime scene? Afederal agent’scrime scene?”

I shrug, the thick material of my suit making the movement more difficult than it should be. I think back to the image of Daniel Knox, bloody and oozingonto the forest floor. I see that pale red fluid leaking from his punctured eye sockets as his body shudders, convulses as he fights to take air past the bloody cock shoved down his throat.

I reallywasgoing to leave him in that bunker. I had every intention to follow the Sanctum’s orders—to take the agent out quietly, then call the Disposers with the coordinates for cleanup.

It wasn’t personal. It was just a job.

Until it wasn’t.

“I have my reasons,” I say, the voice distorter in my mask causing my words to crackle eerily off the limestone walls. “Good reasons. Well, good-ish.As good as can be expected.”

Orion rolls his baby blues to the vaulted ceiling. “Right, I forgot. You’re just in-fucking-sane.”

I tilt my head, twirling the silver embossed dagger nimbly between my fingers. It helps to practice my dexterity daily, as I’m prone to bumps and nicks. The part of my brain that’s supposed to take care of sensation has never worked quite right—at least, that’s what the Sanctum doctors all said. A little too gleefully, I might add.

“Is it a trick of the light, or do I sense concern, Orion?” I ask, tiring of his incessant pacing.

Orion comes to a halt, crossing his ganglyteenage arms across his chest with a glare that must have taken an impressive amount of strength to muster. “Of course I’m concerned, you geriatric fuck.”

My pulse monitor shrills. “That’s not very nice of you to say.”

“Well,I’mnot very nice, am I?” Orion drops his arms up with a scowl. “I don’t like this. The Code states?—”

His voice is cut off by the sharpthwickof my dagger lodging into the wall next to his head. Orion cuts a glare in my direction, though his face is noticeably paler than before.

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