PROLOGUE
BRUTUS
Hours Ago
“This is a good spot for one. Scout, hold this shit.”
“Ranger, stay careful. We can’t make it look like anyone was in here. No breaking shit.”
“Ghost. With me. Let’s take a look over here.”
“Hey, take a microphone with you. The darker rooms at least need mics.”
Dank. That was what the damn place smelled like. Death and dank. I scanned my eyes along the walls, taking in the water stains they had hastily painted over in that fucking place. The ceiling sagged in a couple of areas, and it made me want to get on the roof to figure out what in the fuck was going on with it.
I resisted the urge to slip outside while everyone was mucking shit up inside.
“Stay quiet.”
“Keep your steps light.”
“Hey, Brutus.”
I turned at the sound of my president’s voice. “Yeah, Cap?”
He tossed me a camera and a microphone. “Let me know where you set them up. Ranger will come around and hook them up.”
I nodded as I slid the small little contraptions into my pants pocket.
They felt like little dice I tried not to crush against the outside of my thigh.
I saw Doc slip down a hallway with a look of determination on his face. That was never good. I looked around and saw the rest of the crew was busy, so I slipped silently down the hallway into the darkness that Doc took up. I followed his slow footsteps, wondering what was on his mind. He’d been distracted these last few days.
Hell, they’d all been distracted.
Fucking women.
Not that the women weren’t lovely. Though, Anna could kick fucking rocks with that pickle shit. I saw her eating pickled onions the other day.
The girl probably blew up bathrooms wherever she went.
“Oh God,” Doc muttered as I watched his arm fly up to his face from the darkness of the hallway. He reached for a doorknob. “Please be wrong. Please be wrong. Please be wrong. Please be wrong.”
Doc was never wrong, though.
And it didn’t take a genius to figure out what the fuck was behind that door when he cracked it.
The stench alone could’ve downed an elephant.
“Gooddamn it, Brutus!”
My head pivoted quickly the instant I heard my president calling for me. But before I could even call out, Doc heaved.
I’d never heard Doc make a sound like that before.
A fly slipped through the crack of the door he reached for and opened, and I jammed my hand into the pocket of my pants. Whatever the fuck was in that room, we needed eyes on it.
“Ghooooooost!” Doc exclaimed over the arm that covered his face. “Ranger! I need a fucking camera over here! The best you’ve fucking got!”
