Page 43 of Butcher

“Stupid name, right?”

Shrugging, I gave him a half smile. “There’s worse.”

“True. Didn’t take me long to establish a new name.”

“Butcher.” It did suit him better. “What did you do to earn it?”

“Stick around, Terror, and you’ll find out.” He reached into the safe, then closed the door. Handing me Donna’s fully loaded magazines, he shot me a grin and walked out the door.

I blew out a breath and tried to calm my racing heart. Why was learning something so simple about him such a rush? In no way should this be as exciting as tracking a man down and killing him, yet my heart didn’t seem to have gotten that memo. She was acting like this was big time news and a reason to get all bothered. I sighed. I really needed to pull myself together. I was going to have to have a serious talk with myself. But after we found Randal.

I grabbed the weapons I’d need, then checked that all my mags were full, and made my way downstairs to join the men. It wasn’t lost on me that this was the first time I was working with people in any kind of meaningful way. It also wasn’t lost on me that I was in a hurry to find Randal, not because it would mean I was safe, but because it meant the safety of the women and children living here. I was so in over my head.

CHAPTER 15

Butcher

“What kind of chicken shit runs?” I muttered, kicking an empty filing cabinet.

“You expected him to wait here for you to find and kill him?” Rip asked, grinning over at me. The fucker always seemed to be relaxed and happy. How the fuck did he do that?

“Yeah, he’d be a fuckin’ idiot to take you on,” Hush added.

“Stupid is one thing Randal isn’t,” Isla offered up. “He’s smart, conniving, and hard to pin down.”

“Why do you say that?” Toxic asked her.

“Otherwise the assassin community would know exactly who he is,” she replied, picking up a stack of papers and looking through them. The way she tossed them aside told me they were useless. “He’s only dangerous because he’s a mystery. If you don’t know who he has backing him, then you don’t know the real risks of coming after him.”

“There’s nothing about him you can tell us?” Lock asked.

She shook her head. “I wish I could, but he’s one of the big playersas far as middlemen go and this was the first time I’d even met him.” She glanced over at us. “I don’t know his real name and neither does anyone else. Hell, I’m not even sure that that was his real face when I met him.”

“You mean the other assassins don’t know,” Priest clarified.

She shrugged. “As far as I know anyone in the community. Assassins, middlemen, clients.” She looked over at Rip and gave him a smug grin. “How much have you found onme?”

He looked surprised at first that she knew he was digging into her, then he shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Exactly. We pay good money for skilled people to keep our shit protected.”

Lockout turned and pinned her with a look. “Which means you have a contact.”

“What?” She looked confused.

“You know someone who can find Randal. Whoever hidyourinformation.”

“Oh... I don’t know,” she hedged. “These guys are picky about who they work for and the kind of stuff they do.”

“Can’t we just call Rat and Ari?” Hellfire asked, jerking open a desk drawer and glaring at the empty space inside.

“No,” Hush replied before Lock had a chance. “They’re out of this life, for the most part,” he added. “Ari’s pregnant again. We don’t need to drag them into it.”

“Agreed,” Lock said. “I’m not willing to put them, or any of the Austin guys into harm’s way.”

“You know Cade and the others would come if we needed it,” Ricochet told him.

“I know,” Lock said with a sigh. “And that’s exactly why we can’t use them. I refuse to be the reason one of them ends up in jail or dead.” He shook his head. “We can handle this.”

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