Page 111 of Ravaged Soul
“Poor decision making.” I suck in another drag.
“I doubt the infamous Phantom does anything without a good reason. You’re incapable of poor decision making.”
“At any other time, I’d quite enjoy receiving a compliment from the likes of you. However, I’m fresh out of fucks today, Mr Wesson, so I would advise you to piss off before I have you thrown out.”
“Come on, Madden. No need to be so prickly.”
“Right. Because you’ve been the epitome of welcoming to me so far.”
Bracing the still-smouldering joint between my thumb and forefinger, I turn to face the surly agent. Hyland cocks a blonde brow as he studies my face. The two black eyes are an unfortunate side effect of my newly-broken nose.
“Damn,” he remarks. “Warner really kicked your ass.”
“Your team leader should consider himself lucky that I haven’t ordered a hit on him for this.” I gesture towards my face.
“Pretty sure that would violate the terms of your plea deal.”
“Do I seem overly concerned with your pathetic paperwork right now?”
“If you wish to continue consulting with our team on this investigation, perhaps you should be. This case is far from over.”
Bitter laughter breaks out of me. “As I recall, Mr Mead instructed me to leave and never return. I’m merely following his command.”
“Warner… reacted emotionally,” Hyland grits out. “He’s sorry.”
“Espionage isn’t your strong suit. Leave the lying to the other one.”
“The other one… Axel?” His brows knit in perplexion.
“Bingo.”
I take another drag then stub out the joint in my ashtray. Yet another sting in the tale. Perhaps it would provide some satisfaction to blow their lives to high heaven before I leave the city by revealing Axel Slaughter’s not so little secret.
“Regardless, I don’t intend to trouble you with my presence any longer.” I level him with an assessing stare. “Tell your precious team leader that. You never have to see me or my people again.”
“That isn’t in the terms of your pardon, Madden.”
“Politely, fuck your deal.”
“What, you can’t take a bit of competition?” He chuckles mirthlessly.
“Ember isn’t some kind of contest to me,” I bite back.
“Why is that?”
“Because she matters to me. I want her to get the peace she deserves and to choose her own future without the cartel breathing down her neck. I want to watch her walk free for the first time.”
“Good.” He cocks his head, seeming to internally catalogue something. “Then I don’t have to kill you where you stand. Yet.”
When he grins, I realise that I’ve tripped into some kind of loyalty test. Of course, they’d send their resident guard dog to get the lay of the land. The team enforcer gets to do all the dirty work.
“Cut to the chase. All I care about is seeing Ember.”
“Meaning?” Hyland challenges.
“You know precisely what that means.”
“Humour me with the specifics.”
