Page 37 of Damaged

“I’m in fucking Redding, California,” Jagger said.

“What the fuck are you doing in Redding, don’t you live at the ranch in Nevada?” Rogue said.

“I live there, motherfucker, but I work all over.”

“Do you still work for Phoenix?”

“Not any longer, I was transferred to work for Genesis two weeks ago.”

That surprised him. Did Quick and Jagger no longer work together with Phoenix? Did they live together and work separately?

If Jagger worked for Genesis, did he know about Erebus too? Rogue would save his questions for another time.

“Can you bring the boy and meet me halfway? I’m in Keeler,” Rogue asked, thinking quickly—it was roughly an eight-hour drive from here to Redding.

“I can’t. I need somebody to come get this kid. I can’t get him out of the barn. When we tried, he stabbed one of my guys.”

Fuck! Now that sounded like Azrael.

“Hold on, Jagger.” Rogue flipped the phone call back to Echo. “Hey, Echo? I may have a lead on where Azrael might be, I’ll call you when I find out more.” He ended the call with Echo and got Jagger back on the line.

“I think the kid you have is Azrael,” Rogue told Jagger.Damn it.If itwasAzrael there would be hell to pay when Real found out.

“Whoever he is, he took a stab at one of my guys,” Jagger sighed.

Rogue could picture that. Azrael stabbing one of Genesis. It brought a smile to his lips; the teenager was a badass. Azrael may be young, but the boy was fucking lethal. Azrael was already skilled with knives and the training with the short swords had been beyond his expectations. After only two weeks, the kid had shown great promise.

Real was still unaware that he had trained Azrael on short swords and Rogue wanted to keep it that way.

So…what the fuck was Azrael doing in Redding, California, when he was supposed to be at home in Dave’s Santa Barbara Estate?

“Hey, wait…you now work for Genesis. Why don’t you call them?” Rogue said, rubbing a headache that started at his temples.

“I did. I called Quick, he’s Real’s second-in-command, and Quick said to call you.”

Rogue wondered if he would catch flack if he mentioned Real’s connection or perhaps fascination with the eighteen-year-old Azrael—who worked for Erebus—so Rogue stayed quiet. After all, it sounded like Jagger didn’t know about Erebus and Rogue wanted to be the last person to talk about any of them.

He couldn’t be one hundred percent that it was Azrael up there in Jagger’s barn, but he needed to go and at the very least, rule it out.

“Besides,” Jagger continued before he could speak. “I heard you work for those assassins.”

“Those assassins?”

“Yeah, Erebus? Real gave me a brief update about the group when I was hired, but I still don’t know all the players.”

So, Jagger at least knew about Erebus and he didn’t need to keep it a secret.

“No, I don’t work for them. I’m still thinking it over,” Rogue stated.

“Listen up, Rogue, somebody needs to come get this kid and I’m banking on you.”

“Why?”

“Because I got shit to do and you’re trustworthy.”

No, he wasn’t. He was the last person on earth anyone should trust.

“I take it you’re on a job and can’t meet me halfway,” Rogue said.

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