Page 85 of Sweet Touch of Venom

Mal yells obnoxiously from the song that I don’t remember the artist. She plays that song every time it’s time for a mission.

Boone walks beside her with a dry and unappealing look; he’s been looking more and more pissed every day. What the hell is going on with him? I look back at Anita. “That woman you worked with. What can you tell me about her?”

Anita crosses a leg over the other, my gaze flicking to the subtle movement; a quick flash of them wrapped around my waist as I held her up against the wall comes to mind. My urge to run my hand up her thigh is nearly uncontrollable, not giving a damn who’s in here with me.

“I worked with a lot of women; you’ll have to be more specific.”

I cross my arms. “Long braids, dark skin.” The eyes that’ll probably melt steel.

She raises a brow with curiosity. “Why do you want to know about Scar?—”

“Who’s our target?” Mal chirps, walking in front of us with a bright smile.

I cut my look at Mal, who’s fingering the papers now on the other side of Bedford’s desk.

“Don’t. Don’t do that.” He shoos her hand away, then fixes the papers back neatly.

Mal shrugs, backing away with her hands up. I continue looking at Anita, who now hops off the desk. I forgot about what I was going to ask her, and I allowed myself to roam down her body again as her hips swayed in her jeans. She stands beside Mal, very aware of my stare burning into her head.

Bedford turns halfway, somewhat facing us, while focusing on the screen. “Victor the Vicious. And yes, as we know, a stupid name. But he lives up to it, unfortunately. After the first kidnapping with Carter, he became thirsty for more. Creating his own drug and sex-trafficking chain. He worked alongside Fred and the rest, specifying the rich young girls and boys. The problem is: We don’t know if Fred told the truth or not about not targeting the kids on that wall.”

My heart thumps wild, the thought of young kids going through something so traumatic. So vile. Infuriates me, I hate I can't do shit to protect every single person from fuckers like them. I didn’t believe Fred for nothing. Anyone would say anything just to keep the pain of their fate at bay for a little longer.

He swipes his hands, moving the screen to the left. “George Bettlleham. 18-year-old kid, mom owns private properties all over Long Island and Manhattan. And his dad as well. Born and bred from a literal goldmine, it appears after reviewing themap.” Bedford swipes again, the map showing up on the screen. “If you see the colored dots on the forehead, it’s an indication of the ranking. The richest to semi-rich. But Victor is our best bet to end it all now.”

I step in, tapping the screen. “Thank you, Bedford. We have surveillance on each person set for being taken. Since we marked Georgenúmero um, we have been keeping a close eye on him. Expecting the unexpected. Also, to our convenience, he lives in Hollow City. If anything pops up on the radar,” I bring a circle device from my pocket, “this will beep red. The team is on watch as well as the police, so there will be nothing going in or out that’s suspicious.”

I toss the device on the table. “We’ve been watching Victor for years, but never were able to catch up to him, though we were able to stop the majority of his kidnapping. We managed to get a designated point after a little birdie spilled his location.”

“Damn,” Mal sings out. “What’d y’all do to him, Headman?” She snickers evilly.

I flick my gaze to Anita. And at that moment, our eyes meet with instinct. Ear-splitting screams and bone cracking invades my mind and vision. Anita’s arm flying up and slicing down on his limb carves a permanent picture in my mind. Seeing the bond we shared, like two ropes tied in a knot, is something I'll never want to willingly let go of.

“Nothing he didn’t deserve,” Anita speaks softly, then slowly peels her eyes from me to give Mal a smile that doesn’t meet the eyes.

I point back at the screen. “We get to him; we end his shit. Or we can do it the opposite way. Get the potential victims, then go after the leader.”

“If he is the leader,” Anita jumps in, tilting her gaze at the screen. “I can’t imagine one man overseeing something so large. There are at least thirty kids on this map.” She shakes herhead as she leans over to zoom out of the map to show the full spectrum. “How would he know each one of these people is rich?”

I gaze at Anita again, pressure invading my stomach as I watch her become invested in the situation.

“That’s not very hard to find out these days,” Bedford says matter-of-factly.

Glancing back at the screen, I cross my arms, determining the information. “Unless. That would mean someone else is giving him the information on the outside.”

“Of course. That would mean he’s in the social scene. That’s the only way he could pull that off,” Mal sneers, eyeing the screen.

“Not surprised there,” Boone clips. In true Boone fashion, he only talks when he wants to.

“And we still don’t know why you’re on it,” Anita adds in. I clench my jaw, letting out a grunt. I purposely didn’t ask Fred about that. That’s not on my agenda either way that will get diffused. No one is going to fuck with me, I can bet my life on that.

“We don’t need to stress ourselves over that.”

Without looking at her, I can see her head cock in my direction in astonishment.

“We focus on the bigger picture. Scope out Victor’s warehouse. Which is located outside of Hollow City.” Picking up the devices on Bedford’s desk. Each GPS handheld trackers. “Chris has already added in the mark on these.” I hand one to Boone, Mal, and Anita, who still gives an irritated look.

I will deal with you soon.

---