It said way too much about me that there was no adrenaline rush while I waited for the word from Indy to tell me to move. The girl in my truck could turn me into a burning heap of uncontrollable hormones who occasionally forgot how to speak in her presence, but preparing to bust some guy’s head open to toss him into my truck bed? Just another day at the office.
“You’re up in three…two…go, now,” Indy said, and I was on my way around the corner as Detective Samuels was opening the door to leave. He turned to his left, toward his car, without even a glance in my direction.
Cops who thought they were gods.
Always easy targets.
It took one clean, very hard punch to the back of his head with those brass knuckles for him to topple right to his knees, and then the rest of the way forward until he was face down in the gravel. I dropped down on top of him with one knee in the middle of his lower back and pulled the handcuffs from their latch on my belt to get his wrists bound behind his body. I’d done it so many times that this was a routine now. Then I was right back on my feet, hoisting his limp weight over my shoulder to haul him back to my truck. I dropped him to the gravel again at the back of my truck to get the cover open and the tailgate down. I lifted Samuels onto the tailgate and forced my hand between his jaw and his shoulder to make sure there was still a heartbeat happening in there, then I rolled him further back into the bed so I could close the cover and the tailgate to lock them both again.
Memphis unlocked the truck doors as I reached for the handle. I pulled the hood from my head and the mask off as soon as I was inside.
“Leave through the drive behind you,” Indy said. “The camera might pick up your truck if you go forward more than a few feet.”
The urge to ask Memphis why she was quiet for the entire drive back to that empty school was overwhelming in the worst way. From some of the stories, it sounded like she’d watched New Jersey do worse things just to Triss, so I didn’t imagine she was upset about seeing what I’d done. Even if their jobs had been a little different in terms of outcomes, the means to getting there were probably pretty similar.
Which led me right to wondering if the tension-filled air in this truck maybe had more to do with New Jersey in general than anything I had done or would do. One of the men responsible for letting our President destroy New Jersey’s life was currently bound and in the bed of the truck. That was probably all it took to pull out some pretty intense emotions for her.
I stared at her until she looked back at me uncomfortably once I had the truck parked in front of the school.
“You don’t have to go in there, angel. You can wait out here. Just keep the doors locked until I come back out.”
She shook her head. “Idohave to go in. He’s not here to hear the explanation. It’s the least I can do. Hear it for myself to be able to offer it to him someday.”
“Let’s just see what there is to find out before we worry about saying anything about this to New Jersey. One thing at a time.”
“Are you going to kill him?”
I smirked. “One thing at a time, baby,” I said again.
She started to put her computer away and I killed the engine to get out and go to the truck bed.
“I also have that question, but I’d like to word it more appropriately,” Indy said in my ear.
“Proceed.”
“You’re killing this motherfucker, right?”
“Unless he’s got the most convincing reason I’ve ever fucking heard fornotdoing something about the murder of a toddler, he’s already dead,” I said quietly.
“Good boy.”
Unfortunately, my captive was already coming back around when I unlocked the cover and the tailgate.
“Can you go in ahead and prop the doors open on your way?” I called up to Memphis as she got out of the truck. “He’s waking up. I’d like to get him in there quickly before he’s awake enough to be annoying about it.”
I grabbed him by an ankle and dragged his body to the edge of the tailgate so I could hoist him back up over my shoulder. Samuels groaned at how unpleasant I imagine it was to have my shoulder directly in his gut, but he didn’t put up a fight. At least, he didn’t put up a fight until we were just outside the door of the classroom where I’d set up his special little area.
“What the fuck is this?!” he screamed, almost directly in my ear.
“I am right here, man. I can hear you just fine. No need to yell.”
He started squirming then.
Flopping like a fish out of water.
It probably wouldn’t have been a big deal because we were pretty much where I needed him anyway, but he nearly kicked Memphis in his flailing. When she shrieked and jumped to try to get out of the way, I heaved his body up off my shoulder and just hopped out from under him so his cranky ass could fall all the way to the floor.
He broke his fall with his face since his hands were cuffed behind his back.
