Page 23 of Unhinged Cain

My phone vibrated, and I picked it up to see a smiley emoji from Abel. I opened the text and swore.

A: Hey, bro, don’t forget you still need to get the new tattoo. Oh, and I grabbed pizza for dinner.

My hand clenched on the phone at the reminder of the ridiculous tattoo I’d avoided getting. I knew I had to, though. It was my idea to make it look like we were only one person, not two of us, much to Abel’s dismay. If I went back on my word now, I’d only open the door for Abel to press more boundaries, ones that undoubtedly be a lot more dangerous.

The people who had known us as children had either died, moved, or didn’t know our family well enough to speak about us one way or the other. However, I’d taken out the people that happened to be threats over time. Each one had helped fatten up my pigs before they went to slaughter. I always found the idea amusing that someone somewhere was eating a piece of one of my pigs that also happened to be part of those I’d known. If they only knew. Now, no one from our childhood remained that would know Abel and me were twins. My lip twitched up at the thought of those few that found their way to the end of my blade.

Cursing under my breath, I punched in the number for the tattoo artist we used. Mick was the only exception to my rule because I’d seen Mick for what he was. It was easy to spot the dark parts of yourself in others. Mick didn’t participate in our games, but he liked to watch, and we had enough dirt on the man to take him down with us if he ever decided to open his mouth.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Came the gruff voice on the other end of the line.

“It’s me. I need to get the tattoo my brother did.”

“Sure, can you do it tomorrow? Say four o’clock,” Mick asked.

I hated the idea that I’d miss something important that Sunshine did, but it was better to get this done before I changed my mind and killed Abel for having the stupid tattoo done in the first place.

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“You’re booked, man.”

I hung up the phone without saying goodbye. There was no point in wasting pleasantries on Mick. My stomach growled, reminding me it had been a long time since breakfast. Sure, I had a few snacks earlier, but I was staying in this truck. Seeing where Sunshine went next was more important than my hunger. The key to what I was doing was creating a timeline and a schedule to follow.

Most people didn’t realize how predictable they were, right down to their bowel movements. I picked up my phone again as I had an idea come to me and began searching the endless supply of images for a face with a specific emotional response on it. I paused in my search and made the image larger. There in the background…that was perfect. He was the face I needed to become.

A sadistic chuckle left my lips and had me settling into the large seat as I continued my search. Sometimes social media really was your friend, and right now, I was learning all I could about the unassuming Ricky Rossi.

KIRBY

I’d only ever been this tired a few times in my life, and those times included a club, lots of alcohol, and some hot sex. My legs ached, my feet felt like they had blisters on them, and I’d managed to burn myself badly enough to warrant a bandage on my hand. Not exactly a stellar start to my new job. Jorge had put me through my paces, and when he said that learning to be a barista was an art form, I hadn’t believed him until I saw Brandy working up close.

The water and milk had to be at certain temperatures for different drinks. Then there was the consistency of the foam and balance between the rich coffee, flavor shots, and the rest of the mind-bending concoctions. I don’t think I’d seen anything this complicated in my science classes.

On the plus side, Jorge didn’t kick me out and said goodnight with a smile on his face. I was going to take that as a good sign.

The breeze was cool tonight, and I shivered as I stepped out of the overly warm café. Pulling my coat tighter, I stuffed my hands in my pocket and looked up and down the mostly vacant area. Although this was a busy spot during the day, once it neared ten o’clock, the groups of people disappeared like they were all on a curfew.

My eyes scanned the darkness as an unsettling sensation washed over me. I searched for the cause of my unease, but the street was quiet except for a few cars parked across the road. The vehicles were all dark and looked vacant. I was pretty sure I could kick almost anyone’s ass if I needed to—that was one thing I could thank Quantico for, but I wasn’t stupid either. I was still a woman alone, and being cocky was a sure way to end up killed.

More than one of the stories in class proved that if you were attacked by surprise, it wouldn’t matter if you were a good fighter. Your chances of getting away safely were greatly diminished. I rubbed at my arms as goosebumps rose. Looking over my shoulder, I didn’t see anyone. The wind blew my hair around my face, and I had to pull the strands away from my eyes to see properly. I would’ve sworn someone was watching me, but I couldn’t see anyone.

“You’re losing it, Kirby.” My voice echoed quietly in the night air.

Slipping my hand into my purse, I pulled out my keys, stuffed them in one pocket, and put the small bottle of pepper spray in the other. As I continued on my walk up the street, I slid my fingers between the individual keys to give me a vicious set of knuckles if needed and gripped the pepper spray tight.

The loudest thing on the street was my sneakers on the sidewalk and the sound of my breathing. It seemed to get colder the further I walked, which was ridiculous, but I couldn’t shake the cold sensation pressing in on me.

Although I understood and appreciated the wall of bushes that lined the sidewalk surrounding the dorm buildings, they unnerved me whenever some of the leaves blew in the breeze.

A car came in my direction along the road, and my shoulders tensed as the new style of bright purple lights blinded and hurt my sensitive eyes. I was shamefully startled as a blue pick-up truck drove past, but neither vehicle stopped nor had someone tried to drag me into their means of transportation. Even though I knew I was being silly, I couldn’t stop the jitters.

The bushes suddenly rustled behind me, and I jumped and spun around as I whipped the pepper spray out of my pocket. My heart was pounding hard in my chest as I searched the shadowed street for the attacker.

“Jesus,” I swore as a cat darted out of the bushes and bolted across the street. “What kind of agent am I going to be if a freaking cat scares me? Not exactly tough agent status,” I mumbled and stuffed the pepper spray back into my pocket.

Turning around, I froze. There was a shadow across the road about a half mile up the street’s pavement. It looked like a man in a hoodie, but the hood was pulled up, blocking all facial features. Another car drove up the street, and the shadowy figure was gone when it passed the spot.

“What the fuck? I need to lay off the stalker movies.”