“Keep it up, man. You’re doin’ great.”
“Talk, motherfucker,” I growl, my voice low and gravel-rough from the cold biting into my throat. “Your VP’s black book and the shipment drop details. Now." My pulse thrums steady, a dark thrill coiling in my gut like the serpents slithering unseen inthe reeds. This ain't just intel seeking op, it’s about vengeance for every kid they’ve poisoned.
“You gotta get me outta here. You can’t do this.”
I smirk down at the man. “I’m sure that’s what the preacher’s daughter said too.”
I roam over the water with my flashlight again. Eye shine glares back at me. “You better talk fast before the chomping starts. They are mighty cold tonight and I bet each one of them needs an easy meal.”
“Okay! Okay! I’ll tell ya what ya wanna know, but then you gotta let me go.” The fear in his eyes makes me feel like a god. There’s something about making pieces of shit like him beg that fuels the beasts in me.
He sputters, water splashing as his fingers scrabble at slimy walls. “Swear on my mama, Savage. Da VP's gotta book. It’s true. Fucker can’t remember nothin’. Black book’s usually in his safe.”
“Code!” I demand when it looks like he is going to stop there.
“Four. Seven. Nine. Two. It has names, routes, everythin'! Shipment hits de docks tomorrow at midnight, from de Veles’ runners. Russian dude always goes with the drugs.” His Louisiana slur cracks with terror, bubbles of spit flecking the surface.
“Good to know.” I push away from the hatch.
“Hey! You gotta help me!”
His information lines up with the scraps their prez coughed up back at the compound. It’s about all he has to give.
“I hope you’re not lying, buddy.”
My lips curl into a savage grin, the kind that would make my sweet Everly flinch if she were here. Fuck her ghost haunting my skull tonight. Me heartless? Maybe. But watching this scum beg stirs something primal inside me like a heat low in my belly that ain’t just rage.
It’s power. The kind that makes a man feel alive in the dead of a freak Louisiana snowstorm.
I reach in and take the man’s hand and pull him out of the water just in time to miss the first bite from an alligator big enough to take a leg.
Behind me, Venom's steady stream of curses cut the tension like a scalpel. “Her pulse is stabilizing, but she's burning up. The Euphoria's frying her from the inside.”
His gloved hands glow faint under the single bulb hanging overhead. Venom works over the preacher’s daughter sprawled on a filthy floor. Her shallow breaths rasp like torn silk. Blonde hair lies matted to her bruised cheek. Her torn dress clings to innocent curves that scream for revenge to my ears. My fists clench. Nobody touches what's not theirs. Not on my watch.
The Vulture patch scrambles to his knees, shivering and dripping with swamp filth. His wide eyes dart to the gators' churning wake below us. The air thickens with his piss-soaked fear, mixing with the earthy musk of cypress knees thrusting from the black water like skeletal fingers. One wrong step, and this fucker is through the hatch and in the water again.
Venom glances up, his medic's calm masking the killer I know brews beneath. “Got what we need, brother?"
I know what he’s asking.
I yank the Vulture up by his collar, slamming him against the wall. His heartbeat hammers against my grip, wild and frantic. It’s music to my soulless core. The priest’s young daughter groans and pulls my gaze. The girl's lashes flutter, blue eyes cracking open, glazed but locking on mine.
With trust or fear, I can’t tell. Something twists in my chest, sharp as a shiv made of revenge.
“Phantom,” Venom warns, nodding at the girl. “Later, brother. We gotta move. The storm's worsening and the truck won’t get us out of here if we wait any longer. I don’t think she’s going to make it, but we gotta try.”
“Yeah, listen to your man over there,” The vulture’s voice shakes with a fear he doesn’t want me to hear. “You gotta let me go.”
I move the fucker over the hatch and give a lopsided grin. Then I do as he asks. “If you insist, fucker.”
“That’s for the preacher’s daughter.”
Unfortunately for the Vulture, he is not good at reading a person’s true nature. I’m a monster through and through.
2
EVERLY
