Page 56 of Damaged

“Just like that?” Smith said, gripping the weapon tightly.

Garcia placed a hand on Smith’s arm, keeping the gun lowered.

“Just like that,” Garcia said with a cautious smile at Wrath. No way in hell did he want to fuck with this guy. The man was so covert that his boss had called him to tell him to stand the fuck down and to help out Mr. King with whatever he needed. “How can we help you?”

Wrath smirked. His ID was red-flagged, and he could imagine the shit-storm it caused when Garcia ran it through the system.

“Tell me what went down here and then let me do my job,” Wrath suggested.

Fifteen minutes later, Wrath, along with Rebel, came upon the place in the woods where several tire tracks cut grooves in the mud.

Clearly, something had happened in this spot.

“It’s awesome the cops let us go,” Rebel whispered.

Wrath grunted and continued to study the ground. It was apparent by the footprints and muddy tire tracks leading into the woods that someone was being chased.

Garcia had told him that a gang showed up, several customers got away unharmed along with the waitress and cook. Garcia said the waitress told him that they were looking for a young teenager. She said that after the big man with a gun walked outside, the rest of the gang followed.

The big man with the gun Wrath assumed was Rogue. The diner’s surveillance cameras were broken so he could only speculate.

Rogue’s truck hadn’t been in the parking lot of the diner so maybe Rogue had gotten away and doubled back?

That meant that Rogue was on the hunt.

If the gang managed to capture Boston, there would be hell to pay.

Boston was one of their own and Wrath knew that Rogue would do everything in his power to get the boy back, no matter how many dead bodies it took.

“They took someone,” a voice said from behind them.

“Shit!” Rebel squeaked, whirling around like a startled deer.

Wrath lifted his weapon as he turned around but lowered it when he recognized Winter from that day at Justice and Fisher’s place. The man had once again, silently, crept into the vicinity without him noticing.

Currently, Winter was crouched over footprints in the road.

“How do you know?” Wrath walked closer to where Winter had squatted down studying the mud.

Winter pointed to the prints in the wet dirt. “One set is smaller and not as heavily indented. Whoever it was put up a fight.”

“Are you a tracker?” Rebel squinted suspiciously at Winter.

“Among other things,” the man said before standing and brushing his hands together.

In a rain slicker and boots, Winter was dressed for…well, winter. Much more so than him and Rebel. Wrath had managed to scrounge up a coat from Mrs. Jackson’s place, but it didn’t do shit for the rain.

“What did the cops say?” Winter murmured to him.

“They weren’t much help,” Wrath muttered, knowing the guy had been watching them for that amount of time and he hadn’t known it.

“I have a couple of slickers back in my jeep,” Winter offered, looking them over.

He and Rebel were both drenched and he took Winter up on the offer.

“I think we should follow those mud tracks leading deeper into the woods,” Wrath said, pulling on the black slicker over his dark clothing that Winter had handed him.

Rebel followed suit with another dark slicker, and Winter pulled out two black ball caps, handing one to each of them. The guy seemed to think of everything and had come prepared.

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