Page 32 of Kings of Decay
Ainsley glanced over at me, eyes wild with excitement. "Are you ready for this?"
I nodded, heart pounding in my chest. This was it.
With a wicked grin, Ainsley slammed the gas pedal to the floor, and the truck surged forward.
The trooper's SUV attempted to follow us, but the narrow road and the loose gravel made it impossible. The SUV flipped into the ditch and rolled to a stop, belly up.
Ainsley slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop.
We jumped out, looking down into the ditch where the SUV lay crumpled. Smoke slowly rose from the engine, and I could see the outline of the trooper through the shattered window.
“Shit, you think he’s okay?” Ainsley asked.
"I hope so," I said. "I wanted to kill him myself."
We slid down the steep bank to the heavily damaged vehicle.
Reed was alive, but barely. He was bleeding heavily from his head, and his arm was twisted backward. He groaned, blinking and mumbling incoherently.
I knelt beside the broken window.
Blood dripped down the trooper's face as he hung upside down, suspended by his seatbelt. "You," he hissed. His breath came out in frozen plumes.
I couldn't help but laugh. "You finally caught us," I jeered. "I wanted to make sure you knew it was us before you died. It was all us."
"I knew it," he grunted, struggling in vain.
I needed to kill him before he succumbed to his injuries. I'd waited for years for this moment.
I pulled my knife out and plunged it deep into the side of his neck, pulling it sideways and leaving a jagged tear. Blood spurted out onto the glass and snow, and the life faded from his eyes. He slumped in his seat, groaning softly before going completely still.
I stood up and wiped the blade clean on his jacket before pocketing it again. "He's gone."
Ainsley stared at the lifeless body. "What do we do now?"
I looked around, taking in the scene of the crash. There were no other vehicles on the road and no one in sight for as far as I could see.
"Easy. The crash killed him, and no one saw a thing. We get out of here before someone comes along," I said, already starting to head back up the steep embankment toward the truck.
Ainsley shrugged and followed me. We got into the truck and began to drive away at a steady pace, making sure not to draw attention to ourselves.
I glanced at myself in the rearview mirror as we drove away, barely noticing the lack of remorse on my face. I was calm, composed, and detached. I'd taken lives before, but this was different. This was personal. That stupid cop just couldn't leave us alone.
"Hey, you wanna go get some food?" I asked.
Ainsley's laugh broke the tension. "Hell yeah."
Chapter twenty-two
Ainsley
The mine was a gaping wound in the earth, a testament to humanity's insatiable hunger for resources.
It gaped before me like a monstrous maw, its jagged teeth formed by the rough-hewn rock face. Rusty scaffolding clung precariously to the edges, a skeletal framework against the bruised twilight sky. The entrance was a dark, forbidding tunnel, disappearing into the earth like a descent into hell itself.
The air hung thick with the metallic tang of zinc, a scent that clung to the back of my throat and coated my lungs with each breath. Dust motes danced in the harsh glare of the floodlights, illuminating the cavernous expanse of the mine. The ground vibrated with the rhythmic chug of machinery, a constant reminder of the relentless excavation that had become the lifeblood of this town.
Heaps of excavated rock formed miniature mountains, casting long, distorted shadows that danced and shifted in the artificial light. The ground was a patchwork of mud and gravel, scarred by the tracks of heavy machinery and the relentless passage of time.The air thrummed with low, constant vibration, the heartbeat of the mine, a reminder of the ceaseless industry that fueled this town and, ultimately, my father's corrupt empire.
