Page 1 of Dangerous Silence
PROLOGUE
Axe
Age 7
I wasn’t supposed to be outside. The rule was to stay in the shop, but Shep gave me a popsicle and moved onto the customer in front of him. I might have been a kid, but I knew when an adult wasn’t paying attention.
With my blue popsicle, I leaned against the walls of the butcher shop, looking down the street. Not many cars drove back here, but Shep could work in this neighborhood. As the last real butcher in the city, people drove from all over to see him. A drop of the blueberry juice went down my wrist. I licked it up.
Three men on the corner huddled together. I recognized a few of them, though I don’t know why. A car stopped. The one wearing a black sweatshirt talked through the open window, and handed the driver a small object, like a fidget disc or something.
As the car disappeared around the corner, the man, the biggest one out of them, looked over at me. He was big, like he could squish my older brother with his thumb. Each stomp was louder than the last, until he was standing over me. I looked him in the eye like my father taught me. Veins like spiderwebs crisscrossed over his pupils.
“What are you staring at?” he asked. Spit flew from his mouth, landing on my nose. I flinched. “You too good to answer, pussy boy?”
“Hey,” someone from his group said, “Ain’t that Gerard’s kid?”
“Shut up,” the big man said. “I know who it is.” I took a lick of the popsicle, still staring him in the face. “I know you’re Gerard’s kid.” I took another lick. He knew my father? So what? A lot of people knew my father. “Gerard’s got a pussy for a kid.” He kneeled down in front of me, our eyes meeting at the same height. “Where’s your daddy now?”
His face was round, his beard uneven. Why did he care so much about my father?
“Busy,” I said.
“Too busy for his own son.” The big man laughed, then stood up, blocking out the sun. He seemed taller than before. “You know, Gerard and I are good friends. He even took one of my fingers once.”
I glanced at his hand. At first, all I saw was his thick metal ring, but then I saw it. His pointer was missing.
I raised a brow, then licked my popsicle again. Father always said the business could be demanding at times, and missing fingers were common. I had never thought anything of it. But why would hetakea finger? What did he want with it? I didn’t know what he did all day; only my big brother, Derek, was allowed in my father’s office. Wil and I weren’t allowed yet.
“Answer me, pussy boy,” the big man said. I blinked up at him.
“My father probably threw it away,” I said.
A punch seared across my cheek, banging my head back into the brick wall. A ringing started in one of my ears, vibrating through my head, then disappeared. I instantly regretted saying anything.
As soon as the world came into focus, another punch hit me.
“Come on, Baby Adler,” the big man said, punching me again. “Stand up and fight me like a man.”
“He’s a kid, man.”
“I didn’t ask you.” He glared at his friends on the corner. “He’s still an Adler.”
I glanced at the other two men, but neither of them did a thing.
“You’re not going to snitch, are you? Your daddy doesn’t like a snitch, does he?” the big man asked.
Another hit knocked my skull against the brick wall, hurting worse than the one before. He was laughing hard, crouching down, yet still bigger than me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t fight. My big brother had taught me how. Holding my popsicle in one hand, I made a fist with the other, then hit the big man in the eye. Like he had done to me.
My knuckles pulsed. His head was harder than I thought.
The big man’s mouth opened, then his eyes narrowed.
“You actually got me,” he said.
I smiled, pleased with myself, but as soon as I saw his frown, I knew it was a mistake. He stood up.
“Your daddy isn’t going to save you now,” he said.
