Page 25 of Beast
“Fuck,” Archie said.
Brainiac tapped the keyboard, and a login box appeared on one screen. “You wanna tell me the login, or you gonna waste my time trying to decode it?”
Diesel picked Archie up by the neck, and the guy gave the login.
“I’m in,” Brainiac said.
“Figure out what the fuck he’s been doing with our shit, and let me know.” I nodded at Diesel. “I need you with me. You got this asshole, Brainiac?”
“Yeah, but don’t expect him to be alive when you get back.”
“Perfect.” Diesel and I walked outside. “Anything on Skittles and Mark?”
“Not a damn word. Nobody knows what the fuck is going on.” He climbed on his bike. “You believe Rip was telling the truth? Who else would fuck with you this way?”
“I don’t know who else is crazy enough to do this. Somebody has lost their fucking mind.”
“Who’d you piss off at Varner?”
I shook my head. “Everybody. There’s one other possibility I wanna check out.”
Diesel followed me as we left Brainiac behind. One piece of the shitshow puzzle that began when I walked out of Varner was solved. It was time to solve another part of the puzzle. After I found Skittles and Mark, I needed to find Kickstand’s killer.
9
Skittles
“We’llbeokay,”Isaid to Mark and pulled on the cuff around my wrist. The other cuff hung tightly to a pipe. Mark was attached to the same pipe. I had to give it to him. He didn’t show an ounce of fear.
“I know. My Dad will be here soon to save us.” Mark used his sleeve to wipe his nose. “He’s a badass.”
“He really is, Mark. You’ll see just how badass he is when we get out of this.”
Mark tugged on his handcuff. “Do you think someone’s outside the door?”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so, with us cuffed like this.”
“Can I show you something? Promise you won’t be scared?” He had a smile exactly like Marcus’s
“Watch.” Using his free hand, Mark grabbed the thumb of the handcuffed hand. “This is kind of gross.” He pushed the thumb as hard as he could, and I heard a pop. He cringed but then smiled. “It hurts like hell, especially when I have to pop it back into place.” He slid his hand from the handcuff and said, “Ta-da.”
“Holy shit,” I said when Mark popped his thumb back into place. “Wow.”
“Pretty fucked up, isn’t it?” He walked to the door and turned the knob. The dumbasses had not locked the door. Mark peeked out. Voices echoed from down the hall.
“You need to find a way out and go get your Dad,” I said. “Bring him back here.”
“I can’t leave you.” Just like his father. Be good to a woman, and she’ll be good to you. Treat her like shit, and you’ll never see her again.
“You can and you will. They won’t touch me if they know you escaped. Go.”
Mark squeezed through the open doorway, closed it, and headed in the opposite direction of the voices.
If any kid could get away, it was him. Though I’d only been with him for a few days, he was so much like his father that I had no doubts he’d bring Marcus back.
I pulled on the cuff again and thought if I tried hard enough, I could probably pop my thumb out of place the way Mark did, but even an old lady had her limits. I’d take my chances fighting off the assholes who brought us here.
The door opened, and I expected Cutter and one of the officers to come in. They didn’t.
