Page 84 of Made of Steel (Made of Steel 1)

It felt like cold water was running through my veins. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you really not know?"

I didn't know. "I thought he was a drug dealer." God, I was such an idiot. Of course it was more than that. The parts of town we always lived in seemed fine when we moved, but turned south shortly after. He destroyed everything in his path.

"Drugs are a part of it, but it's bigger than that." She pulled up a picture of Don Roberts. "And he's the head of all of it. You were living under his roof for six years. How could you not have known?"

"I thought crime lords were...older."

"You watch too many movies. They have to be young and strong enough to defend their territory. It's not a game for the weak. And Don Roberts certainly fits the bill." She clicked on another computer and a video of him appeared. He was walking down the street. There were tall buildings all around him.

A chill ran down my spine. "He's here?" It's what I had feared.

"He's been here ever since he was released on bail."

"He's not supposed to leave Colorado." My body felt like ice. "He's not allowed to leave."

"But he's Don Roberts. He has connections. Hell, his connections have got connections. And not necessarily legal ones. Crime has increased ten-fold since he stepped foot in this city."

This was the darkness that the vigilante was talking about. It was all my fault. What was I supposed to do? Go back to him to fix it? I couldn't go back. Gavin said he didn't even want me back. He just wanted me dead. "This is all my fault."

"Yeah, it is."

I wasn't sure why I thought she'd comfort me. We weren't exactly friends. "What am I supposed to do? I can't go back. He'll kill me. I got him arrested." I burned his face. "I was in the witness protection program for a reason. You have to help me. He's been sending me these weird messages about some twisted game he wants to play. He's messing with my head." I could tell how frantic I sounded, but I couldn't seem to stop. "There's a bounty on my head. And my witness protection handler isn't answering his phone. I don't know what to do."

She looked disgusted by my outburst. "Easy. You just have to find his weakness."

"He doesn't have any."

"Everyone has weaknesses. For example, you're the vigilante's. He's putting himself in danger to save you. He can't take on the whole mafia by himself. It's only a matter of time before he's the one that ends up in some dumpster."

I wouldn't let anyone die because of me. She was right. I had already been leaning toward the decision to disappear again. This was the final push. "I'll leave."

"Then you better hope that you're Don's weakness too. If he doesn't follow you, he's going to destroy this city."

I knew that better than anyone. He destroyed everything he touched. His fingertips were like fire on my skin. The thought of Eli came back to me. "I did have something for you. I don't know if it's related to this or the vigilante or what..."

"All of this is related to the vigilante."

Right. "Well, I was thinking about my computer being bugged. And at first I thought it was my handler from the witness protection program, but now I'm not so sure. I think it was this guy I've been seeing. He has this iPod that is clearly not for music." I pulled up the picture of Eli's iPod on my phone and handed it to her. "Can you make any sense of that?"

"They're all street names. Maybe they're handoff spots?"

"But why was there static when I listened to them?"

"Static?" She pushed her glasses up her nose. "Why didn't you say so? It's probably radio frequencies then."

I gave her an empty stare. "Like, to monitor phone calls to cops to see if he can help?"

She laughed. "You think he's the vigilante? This is way too complex for him. No offense to your knight in shining armor, but like I said, he's not great with computers." She shook her head like I was the dumbest person she had ever met. "It's probably how he gets instructions from his boss. There must be a different frequency on each of these streets. Check points kind of."

"His boss? So you think he's working for Don?"

"How the hell should I know? I haven't spent any time with any of them. All I'm saying is that this is some next level stuff. I don't even know where he'd get this technology. But I wouldn't put it past Don for having it. Like I said, his connections have connections."

Eli's working for Don. It shouldn't have been surprising. I already knew that he was bad news. My gut had been absolutely right about him. He wasn't safe at all. But now he was more dangerous than I had ever realized. He'd been spying on me this whole time, pretending to care. Just the thought made my blood boil.

"Look, don't chase this."

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