Page 52 of Outlaw

He shook his head as he began to let out a low whimper.

“Funny thing, those pigs,” I went on, taking the one cigarette I’d brought with me out of my pocket and sticking it between my lips. Pulling the lighter out next, I lit it up and inhaled deeply, letting the nicotine seep in. “Pigs are indiscriminate eaters. They will eat anything you put in front of them. In fact, they won’t just eat a human body; they will eat all of it. Bones, teeth, and soft tissue. Until there is nothing left.”

He began to sob as I took another drag, watching him.

No one would miss him. He was a junkie who was gonna eventually die in this filth with a needle up his arm. The cocaine was the least of the drugs Locke had found here. It also seemed he’d put hidden cameras in public restrooms to watch women go to the toilet. Shitting was apparently the twisted fuck’s thing because he had more videos of that than the other.

“I got a whole pen full of pigs, Moe.”

“It’s the key,” he wailed loudly.

Good.

“And are all the copies in there?” I asked.

Although the stripper who had fucked the governor had already sworn those were the only copies, I wanted to double-check. She knew her life was on the line. Baskin had been too damn easy to set up. I was going to start sending him vetted girls who I knew weren’t working for someone else.

He nodded. “All except the one in there.”

I tensed. “In where?”

“My-my video collection. They don’t know I took a copy. I liked to watch it though.”

I pointed at the restroom videos. “With those?”

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s labeledGov.”

I walked over to the stacks of DVDs and found the one labeledGovand held it up.

“Yeah.”

“You know, there is a better way to store and watch videos. It’s 2025.”

My phone rang, and I pulled it out, then hit Answer.

“We are inside,” Bane said into the phone.

“Is it all there?” I asked.

“Yep, and then some. Seems the governor wasn’t the only one they were getting shit on. We are loading it all up now.”

“All right. Take everything,” I told him, then glanced over at Moe.

The sound of Locke’s shout snapped my attention toward the window.

“Who’s here, Moe?” I asked him, snatching the Glock from my waist and stalking to the door.

“I-i-it’s Kedar and Rebel,” he stuttered out. “They wired the place,” he added frantically. “I couldn’t tell you, or they’d hear me.”

“Fuck!” I snarled, pointing the gun at Moe and giving him theeasy death because the dude was pathetic. His life had been torture enough.

His body went limp, and I headed for the back door. I should have had two men out there, not just one. Moving fast and silently, I exited the house and listened as I made my way around to the side. Other than Locke’s shout and one gunshot from a silencer, I heard nothing else.

Footsteps, crunching in the grass, were coming in this direction. Pressing my back against the wall, I inched closer to the edge.

“It’s me.” Locke’s voice sounded off.

Lowering the gun, I turned the corner. Locke was wrapping the bottom part of his shirt that he’d ripped off around his arm. Blood was all down his side. He’d been shot.

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