Page 58 of Devil's Thirst

“He always was good with computers,” Renzo says, amusement and a touch of pride teasing a tiny smirk from him.

“He’s moved way past good these days. Guy’s a fucking genius.”

That earns me a sliver of a smile. “Let’s set up a meet with Oran. He needs to know what’s going on before something bad happens. With the four of us working together, Talbot doesn’t have a chance.”

“The fuckingthing didn’t just swerve—it sped up. Iknewthat car was trying to hit her. Thing didn’t even have plates.” To sayOran is livid would be an understatement. He’s so pissed he can’t stop pacing. “I’ve been trying to think of who could have come after us ever since and come up empty. Sure, we have our enemies, but nothing out of the ordinary. Certainly nothing major going on right now.”

“I can’t guarantee he’s responsible, but Amelie seemed pretty convinced,” I tell him. “That bastard has kept her terrified for the past four fucking years.”

“I can’t believe she didn’t say anything. She should know we’d help her, especially when Lina’s involved.”

“That’s the tricky part. There’s a catch.” My eyes cut to Renzo in anticipation of the bomb I’m about to drop. “Amelie made me promise not to take action against him because he claims he has a video of Lina. Back from when she … when The Society …”

Shit. I knew this would be hard, but I can’t even say the words. How do I bring up the time a man’s wife was raped as a teenager? I feel like punching myself for him, but it has to be said. He needs to know what we’re up against.

I’m about to force myself to continue when I hear the familiar click of a gun clip releasing. Oran checks that his clip is fully loaded before holstering his gun and grabbing his keys.

“I’ll cut him into so many pieces the fish won’t even want the scraps.”

Renzo and I both lurch to our feet and block his path.

“You can’t do that,” Renzo says in a firm tone.

“The fuck I can’t,” Oran roars. “That’s mywifehe’s threatening.”

“I get it, man. And we’ll take care of him, but we have to do it carefully, so she’s not hurt all over again.”

Oran stills, his eyes narrowing to furious blue daggers. “What are you saying?”

Renzo nods in my direction. Both men turn their attention to me.

“Talbot told Amelie that if anything happens to him, he’s arranged for the video to be released on the internet.” I pause to let the implications sink in. “I swear to you, we will make this guy beg for death, but we can’t go in with guns blazing without having assessed the situation first.” I promised Amelie I wouldn’t touch the guy, and I won’t. Not until we’re ready. At that point, nothing will stop me. My responsibility to protect her trumps any promise I might make about gaining her approval.

Oran’s nostrils flare with each strained inhale as he struggles to control himself. Jaw clenched tight, he finally nods and backs away. “You have a plan?”

I take a relieved breath now that the hard part is over. “First, we need to know whatever there is to know about The Society and where this guy fits in.”

“He doesn’t,” Oran snaps. “Never heard or saw his name during the entire takedown of their operation. This is all coming out of fucking left field.”

Renzo crosses his arms over his chest, his head angling pensively to the side. “He never came up at all?”

“Not once, and believe me, I made sure every one of those bastards squealed like pigs before they took their last breaths.”

“Maybe he was the friend of a member?” I ask, thinking out loud.

“Or,” Renzo says in an eerily calm voice, “he’s the AG, and The Society offered Amelie up as a bribe. Maybe for them, it was a business transaction.”

“It would explain why he might demand leverage over her as part of the exchange—a fail-safe to ensure the arrangement didn’t come back to haunt him.” It makes sense when I look at it in that light.

Renzo nods. “He had to be shitting bricks when The Society was getting picked off one by one.”

“And I can only imagine the tactics he used to instill fear in Amelie to keep her quiet.” Now I’m the one itching to kill the guy.

Oran cracks his knuckles and returns to his desk chair. “Gentlemen, have a seat. We have planning to do.”

I shouldn’t be here.We made Oran swear he wouldn’t go anywhere near Talbot until we’re fully prepared. The same should apply to me, but I have to see him—not some video clip from a press conference. I want to see him in his natural surroundings to get a true sense of the man. Any halfway decent hunter has to know his prey. How it thinks. Where it likes to hide. What it does when it thinks no one’s watching.

I plan to learn everything I can about the piece of shit.

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