“She found it.”
I gasp, nearly having an accident as I drive to the side of the road and stop. “Where? Fucking where?”
“It was the only mint green car in the past two hours or so, and it got off the highway not twenty minutes ago,” begins Josh, reminding me of Piper’s habit of speaking a paragraph when she could answer with just one word. “My big brother’s sister’s cousin’s fi—I mean, my acquaintance found lots of green cars and blue cars, and even one or two turquoise ones, but just a single one that can be qualified as mint green. It’s actually more of a light pastel green, if you’re wondering. My brother’s sister’s—my acquaintance—said that it’s her favorite color and—”
“Josh,” I interrupt, doing my very best to stay calm, even though it feels impossible. “Where’s the car?”
“Oh, right.” He laughs nervously. “Hold on, I’ll send you the exact location.”
I wait impatiently for the message to come through, then hang up on him and speed the wrong way toward that direction.
Josh was right after all. The minivan turned into one of the small country roads webbing away from the highway. As I bump along it, driving about twice the speed limit, scanning for the minivan, I instead come across a small gas station in front of which a crowd is assembled. A number of cars line the road.
My first instinct is to drive onto the grass so I can get around then, but then the thought worms its way into my brain that this might somehow be related to Piper. This road is so deserted something pretty extraordinary must have happened to explain all these people.
It feels like my heart is going to stop as I walk closer and notice the tell-tale signs of a dead body. Little rivulets of blood painting the dirt ground auburn. People all clustered around a single thing that I can’t see through the throng.
Fuck. It can’t be… it can’t be her, can it?
I try to brace myself for the worst as I push past the crowd, ignoring their angry glares, then feel my entire body relax as I look down and see a man.
His head is half hanging off his neck, but I still recognize him.
He’s one of the guys Piper was talking to last night.
My heart racing with a sudden suspicion, I kneel down and grab his wallet. In it is a slate-grey badge.
Fuck me. I know exactly who this fucker is.
After Angel fucked Devil over, they started giving their most important jobs to the bloodthirsty gang this guy belongs to.
I’ve heard it said that the Devil founders don’t trust their army of teenage soldiers with the most important jobs. I’ve also heard that it’s because they don’t want the most important jobs being traced back to them. And of course, when you know about the Devil Army, then you know when it’s a Devil kill.
Whatever the case is, I recognize this guy as being a Devil subcontractor. This badge proves it, because only those men get access to the top floor of Devil Tower when they’re on a contract.
So Piper’s a contract. A very important contract. Some of the Devils cared enough to go after her with a subcontractor, and Logan Colt cared enough to try to save her.
And I, being the fucking idiot I am, have no idea why.
I also have no idea where she is right now, or why the hell the subcontractor who got her is dead.
I’m starting to feel like I want to throw up again.Fuck.
“It was horrible,” I hear a woman say in the crowd. “We just stopped for gas, and there was this poor dead guy right out in front.”
“I called the cops as soon as I found him,” says the guy with her. “Crazy how a whole crowd of people have time to stop by, but they can’t be bothered.”
“They were already on the scene when it happened,” protests someone who looks like he tends to the store. He’s the only one not wearing a coat. “At least one guy was.”
I look up at the store clerk. “Yeah? What did you see?”
“A cop was running after her. I guess he alerted the other cops and they’re on their way. They won’t have an easy time passing with all those cars out front, though,” he adds, grumbling.
My hair is prickling at the back of my neck. “Her?”
“Yep. Redheaded freak with glasses. She killed him.”
I’m so surprised I don’t even get my usual urge to destroy the guy for talking about my girl like that. “How… how did she kill him?”
