Page 4 of Vicious Savage

Castillo has been my biggest failure; a slight I take personally because I don’t fail at anything. He’s eluded me for the better part of a decade, so I’ve made it my life’s mission to bring him to justice. It’s personal now. And I have much to prove.

So when my associate Marden tells me over drinks about The Jekyll and his five year quest to bring down the Castillo cartel after they killed his wife, it’s like the skies opened up and gifted me with the impossible. The beastly Jekyll and I had something in common, and that something meant I would finally right my one failure if we could just work hand in hand to bring our common enemy down.

It had seemed like a good idea. The Jekyll was thirsty for Castillo blood. And so was I. But I wasn’t entirely sure that I could trust the man. Even though Marden himself had vouched for his former brother-in-law, and The Jekyll had saved Caleph’s life more than once, I still didn’t know enough about the man to be able to say without a doubt that I trusted him with everything in me.

And now we’d lost the girl. Which, apparently, was prone to happening because The Jekyll had previously stalked her and knew just about everything there was to know about her. A thought that doesn’t sit too well with me, considering he hadn’t thought to share this fact with mebeforewe embarked on this journey.

My patience with him is wearing extremely thin as we enter the motel room and I drop the keys on the hall table in disgust. The sigh that escapes my lips is one that could very well burn a hole in his back.

“Will you get over your little tantrum, already?” The Jekyll shoots off. “It’s not like we were going to grab her off the side of the street in broad daylight.”

“I don’t want to be in Arizona any longer than necessary.”

I rub the back of my neck like I can undo the past hour with just this one movement.

“What, you’re not fond of the heat?”

When there’s a knock, we look at each other before turning toward the door in surprise.

“You expecting someone?” I ask him, suddenly suspicious. No one knows we’re here — as far as I know.

The Jekyll shakes his head and puts a hand to the back of his waistband where he keeps his gun. No one knows we’re here, but we can never be too careful in our business. I cock my head in the direction of the door indicating that he should see who it is. He’s not even halfway there when there’s another knock, this time louder, more persistent.

I watch as he cocks his gun then guides his attention to the peephole, frowning in my direction when he looks back.

The Jekyll mouths something I can’t make out, then beckons me forward as another knock sounds on the door. This time, it’s so loud, the frame shakes under the weight. I look through the peephole. No wonder he looks confused; I would be too. The girl we lost not an hour ago is standing at the door, her expression thick with malice.

“What the…?”

I don’t finish my sentence. Instead, I swing the door open and lean a hand against the frame casually, blocking the doorway.

“Sorry, boys, if I’ve interrupted your private afternoon tryst,” she looks past me into the room, “but I thought I’d stop by since you did such a great job of losing me earlier.”

I glance back at The Jekyll, see the knowing smirk on his face. Can you believe this girl? I don’t know whether to be offended or furious at her attitude.

She folds her arms across her chest and leans her back against the railing, relaxed and comfortable. There’s not a shred of fear in her. She’s wearing dark jeans that hug her like a second skin and an eggshell colored t-shirt that doesn’t do anything to hide her well-defined bosom.

“You must have the wrong number,” I tell her, pointing towards the Reception desk.

She pushes off the railing and comes toward me. She’s not as young as I initially thought she was. Maybe early to mid-twenties at best. Her dark blonde hair borders on the lightest shade of brown, its gold highlights accentuating her stunning amber eyes.

She points a finger into my chest.

“I don’t know who you are, or what you want,” she starts. “But I can find you just as easily as I can lose you.”I open my mouth to say something, then proceed to snap it shut when she lifts a finger to stop me. She presses it against her lips, commanding me to be quiet, and I flinch. She’s a woman, so she’s untouchable. But she’s not above loathing.

She’s got balls coming here, I can admit that. And she’s not afraid, that much is obvious.

“Again, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t test me. Go back wherever you came from and don’t let me see your face again.”

The fact that she knows we’re not from around here tells me we’re not dealing with a dummy and we have our work cut out for us. She doesn’t wait for me to reply. Instead, she leaves me with a final glance that dares me to challenge her, then turns and starts to walk away. I step out of the room and watch her with some interest. Instead of walking down the stairs to the ground level like normal people do, she heaves herself over the railing and jumps.

“What the fuck,” I whisper, moving to the railing. She lands on all fours, pretty much just like a feline would, and now lifts to her full height. She turns back to give me a shit-eating grin before she runs across the carpark and gets into a waiting taxi. “How the fuck could Castillo have spawnedthat?”

5

THE JEKYLL

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