Page 29 of The Games We Play
I stub my cigarette out in the ashtray on his desk. “When did you want to leave?”
“Around ten tonight. Get some food and rest. Get some supplies from Vex. I want some of those trackers and shit. If we find that truck, I want to put a tracker on it so we can see where it goes. I want to know every time it passes back into our state and town.”
We’ve got two hours to prepare. “Anyone else coming?”
King opens the door and yells Saint’s name. He appears a minute later. “We’re going to Bethlehem. Sounds like the kind of place you belong.”
Despite being pissed at King, I laugh.
Saint grins. “Did you know Bethlehem means ‘house of bread’ in Hebrew?” he asks.
King shakes his head. “I didn’t know that, but those new scum that were in town this weekend are from there. Thought we’d go check it out.”
Saint thinks for a moment. “Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:16. Are we slewing because we haven’t slewn in a while?”
King laughs. “No slewing, which I assume means killing the miserable fuckers. Just intel. But the day for slewing may well come.”
Saint nods. “Fair deal. Let me get my shit together.”
I head straight for Vex’s office, where he sits behind a bank of monitors. There’s one last thing I have to do before I leave.
“You got one of those property cameras? And a few vehicle trackers?” I ask.
Vex stands and cricks his neck from left to right. “You want to set your house up? I can come over and take a look for you. Figure out what would work best.”
I shake my head. “Not for me. For a friend.”
Vex shrugs. “Happy to go see what they need.”
Putting down the box I was looking at, I turn to face him. “I just need the kit.”
Vex reaches for something, then pauses. “Please tell me this isn’t for that Irish chick, Iris.”
“Can’t do that, man. Would never lie to a brother.”
“Does King know you’re kitting her house out?”
I tap the shelf. “You got something I can use, or do I need to go buy it myself?”
Vex grabs a box and offers it to me, but then snatches it back. “Wait a minute. Does Iris even know you’re kitting her house out?”
“Fuck’s sake, it’s a surprise.”
“A surprise as in, ‘Hey, Iris, here’s your fully secured and monitored home,’ or surprise as in you’re tracking her ass and not fucking telling her?”
I rip the box out of his hand. “A surprise as in I don’t punch you in the fucking face for being such a nosy bastard. She was approached by a guy we think might be a sex trafficker. I’ll apologize for her security later.”
Vex chuckles. “Holy shit, you’ve gone full stalker mode.”
“I’m not her stalker.”
“Everyone knows you’re driving by her place like a fucking weirdo.”
I grab Vex by the neck and slam him up against the shelving, and everything on them rattles. “We got her in shit. As SAA of this club, I feel we need to keep her safe too.”
Vex puts his palms up in a sign of surrender. “Peace, man. Like I give a shit if voyeurism is what floats your boat.”
“It’s not voyeurism.” Except it was. Have I fucked my own hand to the memory of it? Of course I fucking have. It’s part of why I need to ride out.
