“What’s this?” I ask.
Screams erupt as Rev begins his work. I sip my coffee as I flip open the folder.
“Shut the fuck up. Businessmen are talking,” Rev says to his captive, and I hear a smack. “It’s my onboarding plan for Ezra.”
I let the folder fall open in my hands, not at all surprised to see that Rev wants to move forward with training Ezra to join his team.
After some back and forth over text last night, because sleep is for the weak, Rev decided Ezra was better suited for elimination than extraction, intel, basic security, or paperwork. He’s far too wound up to sit still.
I don’t mind the thought of Ezra learning how to defend himself, but I’m a little concerned about absorbing him into our dark world. Surviving on the streets is one thing, but becoming well-known to more high-profile criminals is entirely another, especially when he isn’t even trained with weapons.
And I’m not set on placing him with Rev’s team. Despite Rev’s seemingly warm personality, he can be pretty damn cold. Colder than me.
I set the folder down and turn around, leaning my weight against the table. Blood drips from the criminal’s wounds I can’t see from this angle. Rev likes to start with removing fingernails.
“What the fuck do you want from me? I don’t know anything, I swear!” the guy cries.
“Yeah?” Rev stabs his dagger into the guy’s thigh. Howls erupt. “Then this is really going to suck for you.”
Leaving the blade there, Rev perches on the guy’s other thigh to face me. “Well? It’s quite thorough, right?”
“It is,” I agree. “But we barely know anything about this guy. Alaric couldn’t dig up anything on him. He could be some deep undercover operative, and you’re pitching the idea of taking him under wing and training him to kill.”
“If he’s undercover, he already knows how to kill,” Rev counters. “Are you honestly doubting my intuition?”
I sigh. The screams of Gabriel’s guy are starting to irritate my eardrums. “Can you hurry up with him, please?”
Rev hops off his lap and slaps the guy in the face again. “Look here, shitbag. You tell me what your boss would be hiding on encrypted hard drives, and I’ll make the pain go away, I promise. You keep spewing lies about not knowing shit, and I’ll start sawing off fingers and toes with a fucking plastic knife.”
The guy turns into a sobbing mess, struggling against the duct tape until the stool tips over. He crashes into a puddle of his own blood.
“I don’t know anything, okay?! They only pay me to check in deliveries.”
Rev squats down next to him. He pulls out his gun, resting it against the shell of the guy’s ear. “Deliveries of what?”
The guy lets out a tortured wail. “I don’t know. They never tell me what’s inside the shipping containers. I just record numbers and assure the right people come to pick them up for transport. Please don’t kill me.”
“How are the containers transported?” I ask.
“Ships bring them in from the gulf. Semis and trains haul them across the country.”
I frown. We don’t have eyes on the river or the gulf it spills into. Maybe it’s time to invest in boats. The mention of a countrywide operation has me questioning if I shouldn’t reach out to my government contact, too.
Rev looks at me, and I give a disappointed nod. This guy’s a nobody, but he’s still actively engaged in criminal activity. It’s inexcusable.
Plus, Rev needs the kill. Last time I deprived him of one, he was testy with me for two weeks. I need him firing on all cylinders right now. Especially since I’m not.
Rising up, Rev shoots the man in the head, unfazed by the blood splatter. Behind closed doors, without an audience, this is his true nature. He is the shadow following you home at night. The demon lurking in your nightmares.
If I wasn’t so immune to death from my time serving, Rev might have terrified me. Now, I don’t blink twice at his viciousness.
“I’d like to start training Ezra tomorrow,” Rev says, tucking his gun back in his belt holster.
“We need to meet with teams to plan out a strike, Rev.”
Rev cocks a brow. “I get lunch breaks, don’t I?”
The fact that he’s pushing this so hard has a spark of anger igniting inmy chest.
