Page 3 of Greed
“Roger that. Accessing street cameras now.”
Moving as one, Griffin and Evan entered a cobbled retail courtyard and assessed their location. They were within the Quadrant—a popular cultural area of the city split into four districts: art, retail, food and entertainment dispersed with apartment living. Smack bang in the middle was a burglary in full swing.
Griffin sent his awareness into the jewelry store, sensing the number of greedy sin-signatures.
He held up three fingers, waggling two toward the back of the store, and one toward the front. Three perpetrators.
Evan gestured that he’d take the two, but Griffin mentally wrestled with the options. If he let Evan take the bigger battle, hence having the most fun, it could be perceived as generosity. Although, depending on the point of view, it could also signify Evan was taking the bigger risk, thus making Griffin greedy to remain safe. Once he started thinking down that path, he realized there were too many variables to predict. There was no way of knowing until after the fact. Either way, his bio-indicated tattoo would lighten or darken, marking Griffin unbalanced. The important thing was he timed the act, and recorded which direction his tattoo went, then his equilibrium was easy to rectify.
He indicated he would enter first.
Evan rolled his eyes and entered anyway.
A cry of amazement came from inside as Evan bypassed the thug on lookout and disappeared out back, no doubt where the safe was. As the panicked lookout tried to escape, Griffin clotheslined him across the throat. The man fell back and skidded across the floor, weapon flying under a cabinet. He groaned and attempted to move, but Griffin pushed him down with his bo-staff.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Griffin pulled a cable tie from his belt. He secured the man’s wrists then said to Parker:“One down.”
“Copy,”Parker replied.“Now backup Envy.”
Griffin hesitated. He revealed his wrist tattoo.Damn. Too much white and it had only been four minutes. He clicked his tongue and reset his timer. He should’ve gone first like his gut told him. Now he was faced with another multitude of options on rectifying the imbalance, and he had no data to support actions relating to this specific incident. Would backing up Evan be considered greedy, or generous? It all depended on whether Evan wanted backup or not.
“Greed. You copy?”
Griffin touched his earpiece. “Yes, I copy.”
“Go help Envy.”
Two perpetrators were well within the scope of Evan’s skill-set. Considering Griffin’s tattoo was tipped toward the white, he’d make better use of his time by committing a greedy act to put him back toward balance.
“Negative. I’m heading home.”
Parker argued but Griffin ignored him. He retracted his staff and secured it to his back brace. The voice in his ear became demanding, so Griffin pulled the earpiece out and left the store, swiping some costume jewelry from a rack as he went.
Chapter Two
When Griffin returned home to Lazarus House, he entered through the secret back alley entrance of the basement headquarters. Above and reaching into the sky was a multi-level private apartment complex faced with a restaurant and a nightclub at street level. Usually upon returning from a mission, the team shucked their uniform in the communal wet area, sent it for private laundering and debriefed in the new operations room. But tonight, Griffin wanted to avoid Parker’s judgement.
As quietly as he could, Griffin strode along the darkened tunnel leading from the street to their headquarters, hoping to silently bypass anyone still in the operations surveillance room. He peeled his hood back, tugged his scarf off, and breathed unhindered for the first time in hours.
The fake crystals in the necklace he’d stolen cut into his palm, but he dared not loosen his fist until he returned to the seclusion of his apartment. It made sense to release the stolen object in a dumpster somewhere, but Griffin had studied the effect of greed on his bio-indicator, and leaving something outside for anyone to pick up wasn’t the same as taking it home. A twelve percent difference in change of tattoo ink color, to be precise, and tonight, he needed the extra points. He’d spent too long fighting to protect the city. He needed all the greed he could get.
Air burst from his lungs as he made it to the elevator and the doors closed behind him. Finally, he was alone. As the car lifted to his level, he tried to relax, but the cut of the necklace wouldn’t let him.
It scratched and irritated, but it was necessary.
The twin elevator doors opened and Griffin stared along the long, dark corridor to where a tall, muscular shadow loomed against his doorway. He tensed and moved to grip his baton while his other fist ducked behind his back, hiding the stolen evidence. Then he recognized the shadow’s brutish outline. Parker. Griffin let go of his weapon and strode toward his brother who lifted an indignant eyebrow at his approach.
“What happened, Griff?” Parker asked, pushing off the wall to stand unaided.
With his long auburn hair and golden eyes, Parker had an animalistic look he was somehow proud of. Must be pride, otherwise why would he wear the ridiculous maroon velvet smoking jacket and designer pin-striped satin pajamas. All he needed was a pipe and a girl on his arm to complete his own predatory Playboy picture.
Parker waited expectantly.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Griffin replied.
“Don’t get fresh with me. Can we talk about this inside?” He waved toward Griffin’s apartment door using a stack of folded papers in his hand.
Panic choked Griffin. “It’s only Tony across the hall. We can talk out here.”
