Gio holds up a plastic bag filled with the tips of several fingers and a few thumbs. “Lex is gonna want to do another acid bath,” he says. “But I thought we could use these for something.”
I arch a brow. “What did you have in mind?”
Gio grins and then holds up a second plastic bag, this one filled with three cell phones and a tablet. “He might be the password genius, but how much you want to bet those fuckers have everything fingerprint coded?”
“You only needed their thumbs for that, idiot,” I say, smacking him upside the head.
Gio drops both bags back to his side. “Oh, right…” He frowns and then shrugs. “Well, we’ll just dump the ones we don’t need into the acid with the bodies when we’re finished and only use the thumbs to get into the tech the first time.”
I grimace. “I don’t like the idea of bringing those with us,” I admit. Though it’s unlikely, if we’re pulled over and our vehicle is searched, a cop finding severed fingertips won’t do us any favors.
Gio groans. “Fine, I’ll leave them here, but you know Lex is gonna be pissy when he has to drive all the way back here to get them.”
“He can hack them in other ways,” I remind him.
With a huff, G turns away and stomps back to the bodies in the corner and tosses the bag of fingertips on the first one he comes to. “I thought it was pretty smart,” he mutters, snatchingup the duct tape roll from nearby and taping the fingertips to the outside of the black plastic-wrapped body.
“We don’t need smart, dipshit,” I tell him. “We need not-imprisoned. Juliet’s got enough to worry about than one of us ending up in juvie or worse.”
“We’re eighteen,” Gio shoots back. “It’ll be jail or prison, not juvie.”
I wave my hand at him. “Enough, come on, let’s go set up the acid baths in the back building and we can leave them to rot for now.”
Half an hour later, we’ve got all three bodies piled onto two ATVs with racks attached to the backs and have delivered them to the back of the property. We leave them soaking and decomposing in acid in the separate garage that’s in a far better condition than the original structure left behind by the previous owners before Lex’s parents’ time. With the ATVs stored away, I run a last walk-through of the shack and grounds to ensure we’ve left nothing else behind that might look out of place if anyone stumbles through while we’re away.
Gio stalks out the front door and onto the sagging porch of the old cabin shack. I pause at the edge of the stairs as he descends them and heads for the Firebird, popping the passenger door and thrusting the bag of tech inside.
Without any lights or nearby towns, the darkness of the country transports the landscape from one of safe civilization to a brutal abyss. I’m sure the dead men in the cabin behind me thought they’d walked into hell when we’d dragged them from the trunk hours ago.
Well… the one surviving man had, until we killed him too.
Gio’s footsteps crunch in the dead grass and dirt as he approaches me once more. “You thinking about keeping what the guy said to yourself?” he asks.
It’s a valid question. A part of me wants to, but after witnessing her kill someone tonight—not in self-defense and not in the grip of shock or the aftereffects, but true, honest murder—something shifted inside of me. Juliet wouldn’t have taken my gun if she didn’t trust us. I don’t think if we tell her the truth that she’ll go off half-cocked on her own anymore.
We’ve proven ourselves to her. We’re not leaving and there’s nothing she could do to drive us away.
“No,” I finally say. “She deserves to know the truth.”
Gio leans against the already weak railing of the porch, keeping his eyes tilted up to me. The only illumination that highlights his features is the moonlight drifting through the clouds above our heads and the dim headlights he’s left on the Firebird.
“She’s gonna want to be able to prove it,” Gio says. “I don’t think the word of a dead man will hold much appeal to her.”
“I think she knows more than even she realizes,” I confess. The way she’d acted around the person we now know is behind her kidnapping… no, I don’t think she’ll be surprised by this revelation.
If anything, I think learning the truth will push her closer to the edge. No more hiding. No more running. Juliet will have her revenge—just like I did—and when it’s all said and done, she’ll have us too.
In my pocket, my cell buzzes. I pull it free and read the text message. Viks’ name flashes across the top of the screen as well as his location. I lift my gaze back to G’s. He’s silent, watching and waiting for my command.
I step off the porch. “Let’s get back,” I say. “Drive fast.”
Gio hits the button of his key fob and the Firebird’s lights flash twice as he hops in and starts the engine. As I slip into the passenger side, he glances at me. “Is Lex in trouble?” he asks.
I shake my head.
Lexisthe trouble, or at least he will be when he realizes what Pandora’s box I’ve opened. Viks is coming to town and regardless of whether Lex wants to have anything to do with his supposed uncle, something tells me that with the new information from Juliet’s kidnappers, we’re going to need the power of Eastpoint on our side.
Only the rich can fight the rich.
