Page 10 of The Devil's Viking

He levelled the gun at the bundle of blankets and looked at Wolf. The man was a stone-cold killer, but he wouldn’t make a move without his boss’ go-ahead.

Wolf took a step forward. “We see you there, under the blankets. C’mon out.”

The bundle didn’t move.

“Listen up, asshole. You can come out willingly or we can drag you out by your fuckin’ throat. We’re good either way, but I was thinkin’ thatyoumight prefer to keep on breathin’ nice and easy.”

Still nothing.

“OK, boys,” Wolf said. “Bring him out, I don’t care if it’s in goddamn pieces.”

There was a squeak and the blankets twitched, then slowly fell to the floor. A man’s boot appeared, then a huge coat. The person was still hidden behind the steel container, and seemed hesitant to actually come forward.

“C’mon now,” Wolf said in his scary-as-all-fuck voice, the one that he’d routinely used just before beating someone’s face in. “Last chance to come out by choice.”

A slight pause, then the stowaway stepped into the middle of the van, head down, face hidden behind a scarf.

The men froze at the tiny person standing there –thiswasn’t what they’d been expecting. Not even remotely.

“Fuck,” Drake said, stunned. “It’s akid.”

**

Iris stood at the back of the van, trembling wildly despite the layers of thick, heavy clothing on her body and covering her face. She glanced up quickly, then immediately wished that she hadn’t.

The group of people standing in front of her were – to put it mildly – the most terrifying men that she’d ever seen. More terrifying that she’d even be able toimaginein her most nightmare-ish imaginings… yet here they stood, very much alive and in the flesh, wearing matching black vests with badges or patches or something. Staring at her, looking not at all thrilled to see her in their van, looking like they’d just been released from jail – or were on their ways there on murder charges.Multiplecharges.

Whoever she’d thought would eventually open the van door, what was actually standing in front of her now wassomuch worse than Iris could have ever predicted.

“Fuck,” said a dark-haired giant with piercing dark-blue eyes. “It’s akid.”

“Jesus,” said another man, and Iris started when she saw that he was identical to the first one who’d spoken. “How the hell did he get in there?”

“No clue,” said a massive guy with a wild beard; Iris recognized his voice from the hours of singing. “I can’t even begin to guess.”

“C’mere,” snapped a rough voice, one that Iris identified as belonging to the man who’d threatened to drag her out by her throat. “No fuckin’ games, you got it, kid?”

She nodded, took a few small steps forward. Not so much to get close to the group of scary men, more to show a spirit of cooperation.

“Wait.” A man with sky-blue eyes in a badly-scarred face spoke now. “What do you have under all that clothing? You got a weapon?”

Startled again, she shook her head.

“Yeah, we won’t be takin’ your word for that, seein’ how even a five-year-old can pull a trigger,” said the threats guy, his wolf-grey eyes narrowed. “Coat off.”

Iris hesitated, looked at the group of large men, realized that she had no choices here. Reluctantly, she shed the coat, leaving the cardigan hanging the length of her body and the scarves wrapped around her face and legs. She hoped hard that they didn’t want anything else taken off, but of course, luck was not on her side.

“Everythin’ off,” the scary man snapped. “Let’s go.”

Iris shut her eyes. Prayer had never helped her before in her life, certainly not Gideon’s kind of prayer, and once again, every possible deity across all the heavens let her down.

“Now. Or I get in there and strip you down personally.”

Just about the last thing that Iris wanted was any of these men to touch her. Quickly, she unwound the scarves around her calves, dropped them on the floor. She undid the cardigan with trembling fingers, feeling smaller and more vulnerable with every button sliding out. She shrugged the last piece of solid clothing off her body, raised her hands to her throat.

“Wait.”

She paused in unwrapping the scarf from her neck and face, a bit unnerved by the scary man’s sudden change in tone. He didn’t sound angry anymore, instead he sounded – shocked? Confused? And that was when she realized what these men were seeing in front of them.

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