Every time I’d talked to her, she was friendly to me, but there was this undercurrent of danger I wasn’t certain others noticed. Maybe I’d been around a mafia boss too long. Who knew?
After that, I was taken into the office where Keith sat with me for a couple of hours, going over the systems, where he wanted me to start, and how he’d like me to get their records into shape. It wasn’t that they didn’t keep them. It was they just threw them into a pile and didn’t think of them again. Sure, a lot was on the computer, but there were paper stacks too. The computer was a whole other issue. It was a newer machine with current software. It lacked organization.
Keith said they needed me to handle what they didn’t have time to or couldn’t because they didn’t know how to. Keith was familiar with the software, but he was being pulled in too many directions, given them being down a couple of employees.We were interrupted repeatedly, yet Keith remained cool and handled each person as they came in like they were his best friend, treating them with kindness and respect. I’d listened as he did the same for the customers.
It was nearing the end of the day when I realized this wasn’t just a shop. This was a family. Everyone took their job seriously, but they also knew when to joke and have fun. There was a balance, one I was happy to witness. Not every place had that. I was fortunate to have found somewhere that did.
13
SHELDON
There was something wrong with me. Well, there was a lot wrong with me, but I wasn’t going there, at least right now.
I stood in the middle of one of Jordan’s rundown buildings, where we cut up assholes who deserved to die, and I wasn’t in the mood for any of it. Not the torture or the blood or the death. My mind was on Forest and how his first day of work was going. Were the other employees being nice to him? Was JJ there? Was Kayli doing everything she could to keep Forest safe?
“Tell me,” Jordan seethed, pulling me from my thoughts.
“I don’t know anything,” the guy cried. He was hung naked from one of the beams, blood dripping down his body to the floor. The way he shook made the blood leave him faster.
We found this piece of shit trying to kidnap a woman in the heart of the city. Who the fuck did that? He wasn’t even a smart criminal. Luckily, I happened to be riding by on my Ducati when I saw the struggle. It was easy for me to pull over and throw this motherfucker to the ground. He began singing like no tomorrow when we got him here, and Jordan started cutting into him. We were still missing vital information.
“Hey,” I said in a soothing voice to the man and rounded the front of him, my gaze dropping to his crotch. I shook my head.Pathetic. “Who do you work for?” It was necessary to find out if another lowlife employed him.
“No one. I wanted to keep the money.”
“Okay. So the woman was…”
“There are people out there who will pay a lot for women.” Wow. This guy was digging his own grave. There wasn’t even much for me to do.
“Where did you find these people?”
“Online. There’s a website.” We were getting somewhere now. My talking calmly did more than Jordan yelling at him.
“Do you remember the URL?”
He rattled something off, but I couldn’t be certain if it was real or not. Reghan pulled his phone from his pocket and typed in the information. A second later, he shook his head.
“Are you lying to me for a reason?” I asked, keeping my voice even. “Every person in this room would like to take chunks out of you, and yet you hang here like you have the upper hand. Tell me, or we’ll kill you slowly.” I reached into the pocket on the inside of my leather jacket to withdraw a syringe. Holding it up, I analyzed the liquid, marveling at the damage it could inflict. “Do you know what this will do to you?”
“N-no.”
“It will paralyze you, but you’ll remember and feel everything. You’ll watch as we flay pieces of your skin off and toss them to the floor. You’ll witness us taking your body apart one appendage at a time.” That was a lie. This would certainly kill him.
The second website he told us was the real one. That was when I stepped forward and put the needle to his neck.
“I thought you weren’t going to do that!” he cried.
I shrugged. “Did you think I was honorable?”
He was dead in seconds.
“Really, Sheldon?” Jordan asked, anger still flowing through him.
“What? We got what we wanted, and I was able to use one of my pretty syringes.” I failed to see what the problem was here.
“What if I wanted to draw more blood?”
“Oh, well, then have at it. He’s just not moving any longer.”
