Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 132332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
Rock nods once, as if he’s also thinking of our past deeds.
People outside our brotherhood who don’t follow our code would never understand. But we don’t need them to.
We are our brother’s keeper.
And no one else’s.
“Look.” Whitey holds up his hands but with the bullet in his leg, can’t quite sit up. “You still need to make things right with my daughter,” he says to Merlin. Then he glances at Rock. “We’ll stick to our side of the border. We won’t say a word. You won’t have to worry about us again.”
“You think you’re in a position to bargain?” Rock asks, disbelief dripping from his words. “The time to stay out of New York was two years ago.”
Whitey ignores him and focuses on Merlin again. Not sure why, Merlin isn’t in a forgiving mood either. “We’re gonna be—”
Merlin raises his gun and without another word, shoots Whitey in the head. Bone, blood, and lumps of brain explode onto the ground. Whitey slumps over.
Thumbs screams and stares at his dead president.
Sticks doesn’t look at his father. He squirms and tries to break free again.
Next.
I approach Thumbs.
“Don’t kill me,” he pleads. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Unfortunately for you, my ol’ lady made me promise to kill whoever took her brother. And cut off his toe. Not a smart move sending her that package.”
“Here.” Z tosses a tarp at me. “Let’s at least try to minimize the DNA splatter.”
I drape the material over the guy’s head, making him look like a kid dressed up for the darkest Halloween of his life.
“No!” he shouts, fighting to pull off the sheet.
But it’s too late for him.
“I always keep my promises.”
I squeeze the trigger.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Teller
Margot’s waiting for us in the parking lot of the funeral home. I’m not sure what her father told her about my phone call. But she’s dressed in all black, even has her hair tucked up under a black knit cap—like she’s planning to rob a bank with us.
“She’s fucking adorable,” Jiggy mutters.
“A little murder get your libido up?” Dex asks.
“It’s always up.” Jiggy grins.
“For fuck’s sake,” Rock mutters. “We’re not done yet. Focus.”
I stop Z from opening the tailgate of my truck. “The less she sees the better.”
Rock, Jigsaw, Murphy, and I meet Margot in the center of the parking lot. Her anxious gaze sweeps over us, stopping at the bloody spots on my side. “Are you hurt?” she asks.
A strangled noise hums in Jigsaw’s throat but I ignore him.
“I’ll be all right.” I jerk my head toward the crematorium. “I’m not sure what information your father gave you…”
“He said to give you whatever you need.” Her gaze skips over us again, like maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to do what her father asked.
“Show us how it works.” I nod to the low brick building. “That’s all we need.”
“Oh. All right. I can do that.”
Jigsaw and Z follow us into the building, to what looks like an oversized cinderblock furnace with metal plating around the outside. She walks us through the process of burning the bodies. It’s slower than I realized. And it seems like a cleaner way to leave this Earth than what these guys deserve. It’ll certainly be less messy than how we disposed of Grinder’s old parole officer a few months ago in the basement of Loco’s diner.
We sure have seen a lot of death this year.
Some of it caused by us.
Others, we stood by and allowed, because it’s what our outlaw code demanded.
Does all this death make us men or monsters?
After we’ve shoved the first body into the fire, I pose that question to Rock.
He stares at the flames for a few beats. “It’s either us or them. That’s the life we’ve chosen.” He glances over. “I’d rather be on this side, standing next to my son, than burning.”
“Me too.” After a few more seconds of silence, I ask, “Should we have let Sticks go?”
Whitey and Thumbs had to die, no doubt. Sticks had been a bit of a question mark. At least until he made a run for it.
“If he ratted out his brothers, what do you think he would’ve done to us?” Wrath asks. “Not worth the chance.”
“Just another loose end to tie up later,” Z agrees.
My cheeks heat, either from the flames in front of us or because Wrath and Z overheard our conversation, but I keep my expression blank. “What about June?”
“Ain’t gonna be any evidence left.” Wrath nods to the flames. “Even if she goes to the cops, what exactly is she going to tell them?”
“Next contestant!” Jigsaw shouts and elbows us out of the way.
Z makes a shooing motion with his hand at me. “Go have your existential crisis conversation somewhere else, Teller. I’d actually like to get home to my wife before the sun comes up.”
“Can’t go any faster,” Dex warns, helping Jiggy move the corpse. “You heard what Margot said.”