Jax grabs my wrist again. “Come on, Sisk.” He nods at O. “Next stop will be better. Hopefully.”
As we head for the door, O calls after me. “Tomorrow. Seven sharp.” He leans against the frame. “Pack a blade for the commute. And pepper spray. Don’t take the scenic route.”
I nod. “I’ll be here.”
I turn back before stepping outside. “What does O stand for?”
O scratches his beard. “Oracle.”
I blink. “You’re kidding.”
“People come here looking for answers.”
Jax mutters behind me, “Mostly about how much their stolen junk is worth.”
I glance at him.
“He picked the letter ‘O’ because he never forgets who owes him.”
O points a grease-stained finger at him. “Damn right.”
I look between them.
Jax pushes the door open.
“So it really stands for Oracle?” I ask.
“Who the fuck knows.” Jax jerks his head toward the street. “He’ll give you a different answer every time.”
Seventy-Five
NOW | JAX
“Jax, what the fuck is the plan?” Matt’s voice is a frantic bark from behind me. “Are we just walking in there?”
I stop dead and turn on him so fast he stumbles back. “The plan,” I snarl, getting right in his face, “is I’m going to kill whoever has her. You got a problem with that?”
He stares at me, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly open. He looks from my eyes to the black tar bleeding faintly from my knuckles. “No problem.”
“Good,” I grunt, turning away. “Then shut up and keep up.”
My legs start moving again, but the real motion is inside me. The tar in my blood is awake. It’s a slick, cold current dragging down my arms, coiling around my ribs like a living thing testing the bars of a cage, searching for any weak spot in my skin to break through. The pressure building inside me tells me we are close to the pit, and it wouldn’t take much—one wrong thought, one shift in control—to bring the ground around us crashing down.
The city’s thin here. I can feel the tunnels under my feet, the old service corridors and forgotten passageways carved beneath the concrete.And through them, the tar, pumping like the city’s got a heart of black oil.
A whisper slides into my head.
STOP.
I keep walking.
The whisper sharpens, pressing harder against my thoughts.
YOU CAN’T BREAK THE BLOOD VOW.
My jaw clenches.
YOU WILL DESTROY THE BALANCE.
