“Whose number is that?” I asked Slade.
“I don’t know but I guess it’s the guy who runs the show. Salieri.”
“Shit. Yeah, that makes sense. Can you do your piggybacking on this guy’s phone or is that not how it works?”
Slade smiled.
“See? You do understand. And I could but he’s a smart motherfucker. He uses burner phones. A lot of them. He knows we’re onto him and he’s wised up.”
“Crap. So we can’t find out who he is.”
Slade shook his head.
“He keeps a pretty low profile. We don’t even have pictures of him though it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s had plastic surgery to avoid being recognized.”
“Jesus!” I exclaimed.
“Rich criminals will do anything to continue being rich criminals. It’s a whole power trip slash drinking your own Kool-Aid thing.”
I nodded.
“Victor was rich and criminal. Believe me. I know.”
Slade narrowed his eyes and bit his lip.
“Wh-what did he do to you?”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. How could I describe what Victor had done to me? How could I put it into words? How could I without sounding like the most pathetic creature who ever lived?
Thankfully, I was interrupted by a ringtone and Slade answered his phone, wasting no time.
“Hey…yeah…fuck…got it,” he said and I stared at his ear as if I could magically hear what was being said on the other end.
A cold breeze swept through my body and gave me goosebumps. My heart stilled the longer I didn’t know what was happening.
Slade hung up and frowned. He shook his head.
“Wh-what does that mean?”
“He wasn’t there. He knew we were coming.”
“How?”
He shrugged.
“His buddy must have warned him somehow.”
I took a step back, then another. When Slade got up and tried to approach me to comfort me, I just spun around and walked to the bathroom.
I needed to throw some water on my face. I needed to think. I needed…a lot of things but I needed space.
When I came out Slade had tucked into the pancakes and offered me his plate. Usually I’d turn it down. I preferred to bake when I was stressed but I didn’t even have the brain capacity to do that at the moment, so I sat down next to him, took his fork and cut a bite out.
“It’s delicious, by the way,” he said and I thanked him. “We’ll find him, Zach. Don’t worry. We will.”
I just nodded and stuffed my mouth some more. And when the pancakes were done, I ate the muffins I’d made for Dare.
A few minutes later, Dare came back and without even thinking, I found my way into his arms.
