Page 63 of Warrant
He made a noise deep in his throat. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
“I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”
He waved the sandwich at me in acknowledgment.
I could see why he and Warrant were friends. They were both good natured, most of the time, and they just seemed to…fit. Owen was a good looking guy. Blond, blue-eyed, tall, and muscular. I was sure the young women in Sentinel tried to catch his eye. So why was I not at all moved when he shot that smile my way?
It had nothing to do with a dark-haired, blue-eyed devil. That was for sure. I had no problem lying to myself, and I was sticking with the fact that Owen was my subordinate, not that his friend had me in a strangle hold even though he was the worst thing for me.
That was my story and it wasn’t changing.
Smiling at my deputies as they thanked me for lunch, I made my way to my office. I fully planned on ignoring thoughts of the gorgeous biker and focusing on figuring out the mystery of Aella for the rest of the day.
CHAPTER 25
Warrant
Cypher held up his hand and then motioned to the right. Half our group split up and streamed around the right side of the bright blue barn.
I was out front, with the others following, as Cypher took his half and waited at the front entrance. He’d give us a few minutes to get around to the back of the barn before going through the front. This farm had changed a lot since I’d last been out here.
There were new outbuildings and abandoned trucks everywhere. Once that corporation had bought the place, construction had started, so we had no idea what the inside of this building looked like anymore. I doubted it was just a wide open barn. This was also the biggest barn in the county. The add-ons the corporation constructed, before giving up on the place and leaving, were extensive. It was about the size of two large warehouses shoved together.
I slowed as I came around the back corner, holding my hand up in a fist to warn the others to slow as well. There was a man standing out back, smoking a cigarette as though he didn’t have a care in the world. He didn’t. Yet. But he was about to.
Pulling out my knife, I waited until he turned his back toward me. As soon as he faced away, I stepped forward, wrapped my arm around his chest and sliced the knife over his throat before he could scream.
There was no remorse, or worry, or guilt at taking his life. He kidnapped a kid, or at least helped those that did. That was enough. Not everyone would agree with my sense of morality, but I’d long since accepted it. The government had taken a wild kid and taught him to assess a situation and handle it as he deemed appropriate. Just because I didn’t officially work for the government anymore didn’t mean that was going to change.
While society insisted that people be tried in a court of law, my moral code allowed me to be the judge, jury, and executioner and not feel an ounce of guilt about it. I always made sure the people I dispatched were worthy of the punishment before I did it. You had to be guilty. But that was all.
Case in point. You didn’t get to work for a group who stole kids to sell them off—which is what they did with Aella—to some unknown horrible fate. Or anything else they might have done. You didn’t get to do those things and live. I didn’t need a court of law to know this.
I let the body slump quietly next to the door. Staring down at it, I looked over as Torque walked up.
“Want me to drag it around the side?” Torque asked.
I shook my head. “By the time someone finds it they’re going to be dead.”
“That literally doesn’t make sense.”
“Shut up fucker, you know what I mean.”
The rest of the group came around the corner and waited for my direction. “Demo, take Cynic, Torque, and Butcher and go to the right once we enter. I’ll take Toxic, Pyre, and Rotor.”
Toxic began to whistle a tune I’d heard him sing before when going into battle. He wasn’t singing the words, but they played through my mind.
One little, two little, three little dead goons. Four little, five little, six little dead goons.
One of these days I needed to ask him if there was more to the song.
Cypher had Scythe, Riggs, Steel, Axel, Glitch, Hush, and Jury up front.
Once we all entered it was going to be a cluster fuck. Judging by the asshole I just killed though, we’d at least be able to identify each other by our cuts. Last thing we needed was to accidentally shoot one of our own in the heat of the moment.
“Heads on a swivel,” I announced. “No quarter. Whoever finds the boy, get him out of this fucking building and wait by the bikes and SUV. Everyone else will stay and fight, but get the boy out.”
“Will do.”
