“Doesn’t matter.”
“Would make sense,” Berga chimed in. “The Imperial family has always been good with keeping us in the loop. They knew we were involved with Pious and should have informed us when he ordered some of his men to hang back. But we had to make that discovery ourselves.”
“Zane might have intercepted the communication requesting permission,” Kaz surmised.
“He does live at the Little Palace,” Baikal agreed. “It would have been easy for him to. He’s also a trusted member of the Retinue.”
“Plus, he and Lyra are fucking.” Kaz hit call and switched the device to speaker phone so they’d all be able to hear.
“I’m sorry he’s what?!” Yuze stared at him like he’d grown a third head.
Kaz couldn’t focus on that. Instead, he listened to the other line ring continuously with no answer.
With each chime, the fear in his gut grew larger and larger until it was practically consuming him.
Chapter 29:
“Apparently this is Shepherd territory,” a gruff voice said.
“Who cares?” another scoffed. “Our job with the Brumal is done. Boss didn’t even get what he was after either.”
“Think he’s going to kill Brantley?”
Nate listened to the conversation happening around him as he tested the bindings at his wrists and ankles. They’d dragged him out of his house and tossed him into the back of a truck before pulling a blaster gun on him to keep him quiet and still as they drove through the city.
Their final destination was some old apartment building that was currently on the waiting list for redevelopment. It was in a shady part of town, somewhere Nate had never been before.
And it felt cliché as all hell.
They’d tied him to a metal chair situated over a plastic tarp in the center of the room and had left him there for a bit while they conversed amongst themselves in the hallway. It gave the impression they were waiting for someone.
Tape secured his limbs, and no matter how much he struggled and twisted, he couldn’t seem to get it to loosen. He’d hoped, given the poor execution of this whole ordeal, that they were low-level thugs who’d simply grabbed the wrong person, but the more they spoke, the more it became apparent they weren’t from Vitality.
“Wouldn’t you? This mission has been ongoing for over fifty years,” the slightly taller one, the one who’d been at the door when Nate had first opened it, replied. He had a bulky shoulder propped against the rusted railing of a stairwell that led up to the other floors.
Nate was in the living area of the third apartment on the right, though the place had been gutted and there were holes in the ceiling and piles of torn papers no doubt left by vermin. No one would even think to look for him here, even if they were coming.
Wasanyone coming?
Had Kaz overheard the commotion over the multi-slate?
Would he care?
The other man, with black hair and bright red-dyed bangs, let out a low whistle. “Pious Prince needs to learn when to let go.”
“He’d probably say the same about us,” the other chuckled darkly. “If he finds out about this—”
“He should be thanking us. Fry deserved better than what he got.”
There was a pause and then, “You really think that guy in there did it?”
“It was his house,” he said matter-of-factly. “Whether he had a hand in it or not, he knows something. You know what, screw this. Let’s get this started.”
“We were told to wait,” the larger one reminded. “That was the agreement.”
“Screw the agreement.” The one with the dyed bangs stepped into the apartment and Nate stilled. “That’s gya tape. No getting out of that without a pair of sheers, so don’t even bother.”
“Who are you?” That thread of hope that this was a mistake had died the second they’d mentioned his house being the location of something. It didn’t take a genius to figure theywere probably after information regarding the man Kazimir had stabbed in Nate’s kitchen last month. Still, couldn’t hurt to double-check. “Is this about a race? I haven’t lost in weeks!”
