26. Fox
FOX
I popped another Funyun in my mouth, bouncing back and forth as I watched Cash leave the meet with the weapons dealer. Taking a few pictures, I licked the delicious dust from my fingers, not wanting to leave a drop behind.
Just as he was about to leave, I noticed another man slipping out of the shadows, following my brother and his comrades. “That just won’t do.”
I grabbed my location tracking gun and slipped out of the vehicle, targeting the shadow man’s truck. With a simple pull of the trigger, I had his location marked and was well on my way to another fun evening.
If only I had brought some shawarma with me. The world would be so much better.
With a jaunty whistle, I pulled out from my hidden location and followed the tracker on my phone. It really was very handy in a pinch. I had convinced the guys to get their own trackers after pointing out the benefits, but man, they really gave me a hassle over shooting tracking darts at people.
It wasn’t like I was shooting them . Only their vehicles.
As I followed from a distance in the dead of night, I reached into the back seat and hoisted my cooler up to the front seat with me. I was always prepared on a stakeout, but I usually had better food than any restaurant. Unless I was near a shawarma joint. Then I always opted for something fresh.
At the sound of my sweetness’s ringtone, I hit the button to answer, grinning the whole time. “My lady love.”
“Fox, we have a problem.”
I was instantly on edge, my tasty treat forgotten in the cooler at the sound of my wife’s slightly distressed voice. “What is it?”
“The silo was attacked. Everyone’s okay, but we’re down in the panic room for now.”
That eased my mind considerably, but the fact that anyone broke in at all was distressing. “They broke into the actual silo?”
“Yes. Rae’s still working out how, but?—”
“Stay there. I’m coming home.” I jerked the car to the side of the road, ready to turn around and head for the airport, when she cut me off.
“No!” The force in her voice instantly eased the panic swelling inside me. I was too far away to get there in any decent amount of time. The idea that she would be anywhere near danger again set me on edge and made those dark thoughts seep into my brain, instantly taking over.
I struggled to push them away. I couldn’t afford to lose myself when Anna needed help. She was my lifeline, my sunshine on a cloudy day. The Ginger to my Fred.
“Tell me you’re okay. The kids?—”
“We’re all fine,” she said calmly, instantly soothing the growing desire to kill. “Reed Security is here.”
Aaand…my hackles rose once again. “You’d better fucking tell them to keep their hands to themselves!”
“Fox, no one is interested in touching me. They’re all married, remember?”
“Not that one fucker,” I grumbled.
“Rob? He’s hardly a threat. Besides, he’s got some woman from Brazil or something.”
I suppose that made me feel better, but still…It took me way too fucking long to calm down. I didn’t like anyone other than my family around Anna. She was too fucking precious to me.
“Who called them, anyway?”
“I don’t know for sure. I think Knight called in reinforcements before he left.”
“What?” I snapped. “Why is he going anywhere? He’s supposed to be recovering?—”
“I know, and that’s really not the point.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“The point is, someone knows how to get to us. Fox, tell me you’re taking care of this.”
“I am. I swear it.”
“Just…don’t lose yourself. We’re safe. No one can get to us.”
I let her words wash over me, repeating in my head until I was sure I believed them. Still, the Phantom was growing inside me, calling to me when I desperately needed him to stay hidden for just a little longer.
I fought to push him away, to keep him at bay for just a little bit more time. I had to find this guy following Cash first. Then I could let the Phantom loose.
Looking at the tracker, the man had stopped. I pulled back onto the road and concentrated on the sound of Anna’s voice. “Talk to me, baby. Tell me something.”
She always knew I needed her when I asked her stuff like that. “Um…I took out three men.”
My chest eased at her words. “Three? That’s fucking amazing.”
“All with the new style you taught me.”
I barked out a laugh, surprised by her words. “You threw them all at once?”
“Well, I didn’t have much of a choice. They were all there and…well, it worked out.”
I bit back the need to grind my teeth together, knowing she didn’t have a choice but to unleash a new technique when I wasn’t even there to watch her. Now wasn’t the time for jealousy.
“I hope you kept some souvenirs.”
“Well, there wasn’t really any time to collect them, but I believe the Reed Security guys threw them on ice.”
“Good. We’ll have some fun when I get back.”
“Be safe, Fox. Make sure you come home to me.”
“Always,” I grinned, feeling lighter than I had when she first called.
But as I hung up the phone, a strange feeling washed over me. Like maybe I wouldn’t make it out of this one alive.
I shook away the ominous premonition and focused on the task at hand.
Following the tracker, I headed across the city of Batumi.
It was really the perfect place for a weapons deal, considering how safe the city was considered.
No one would suspect a thing. Finding a location to take this asshole to when he finally stopped would be a little more difficult, but nothing I couldn’t handle.
My trunk was all prepared for a situation just like this.
When he stopped at a hotel, I waited for a good hour before heading inside and convincing the beautiful woman behind the desk to give me the room number for my good friend who’d had just a little too much to drink at dinner.
She was touched that I wanted to check on him, giving me these starry-eyed looks as I explained that he had a drinking problem. She handed over his card in a flash, giving me a beautiful smile that didn’t do a thing for me.
With a skippy whistle, I headed up to his room, knocking to let him know housekeeping was there with fresh towels.
When he didn’t answer, I let myself into the room and carefully closed the door behind me.
It smelled like a pretentious asshole in the room and I vowed to introduce this man to Funyuns and shawarma before I killed him.
He had to die knowing what was truly amazing in life.
Of course, I wouldn’t be killing him until he revealed every last thought in his brain to me. Only then would I be able to help my brother.
I grinned as I stepped into the room, breaking out some of my best dance moves as I sailed across the large expanse of the room to the big windows that stretched floor to ceiling.
The man had good taste, but why he wasted so much money on a view like this was beyond me. Sure, the city was gorgeous, but who wanted to look out the window when there were amazing musicals at your fingertips? With just the click of a button, he could be enjoying a sing-along.
I crept over to the bed and lifted the heavy duvet to slip underneath. Man, this bed was so fucking comfortable. I settled in, pulling a bag of Funyuns out of my jacket as the man beside me snored.
That was really fucking annoying and would definitely disturb my musical marathon, but I hated to interrupt a man when he was getting a few z’s. Grabbing the remote that laid on the bed between us, I turned on the TV, making sure to keep the volume low so I didn’t disturb my new friend.
He would be resting in eternal peace soon enough, but there was nothing wrong with allowing him these few peaceful moments before I had some fun with him.
I flipped through the channels until I found The Greatest Showman .
While I absolutely loved this new musical, it wasn’t one of my classic shows that really got me going.
I would kill right now for some Oklahoma .
Then again, I loved to sing it so much that I might disturb this man’s final hours of rest.
It was probably for the best.
Peeling open the bag, I settled in for a night of musical enjoyment, constantly reminding myself not to sing too loudly. After all, it would be best if I finished my musical before I woke him up and destroyed his life.
I wasn’t sure what woke him. If it was my munching on the Funyuns or the way I was singing along under my breath with the snappy show tunes. But somewhere about halfway through the movie, I felt the air shift.
He was awake. Slowly, I turned to him, holding out the bag to him. “Funyun?”
The screaming in the trunk was really getting on my nerves. He was interrupting the best of my music, making it difficult to get in the right mood. And I needed to be in the right mood for a job like this. Failure was not an option.
I cranked up the music, singing along with Maria.
West Side Story really was one of the best musicals of all time.
Pulling into the storage facility parking lot, I punched in the numbers to grant myself access, then pulled through the gates to the back of the property where my large container waited for me.
I left the lights on as I killed the engine, illuminating the container in front of me.
With added spring in my step, I popped the trunk, immediately gagging the man inside as dozens of tarantulas crawled over him.
I figured that might creep him out, which was exactly what I had been going for when I dumped him inside with the jars.
I could have left the tarantulas in their glass confinements. That would have been enough to terrorize most people. But when he started talking about how he was going to kill me and all my family, I just got annoyed and decided to unleash some of them on him.
And that turned into opening all the jars when I started watching him scream and squirm. Torture was a beautiful thing, and the spiders only increased the fear going into my rented shipping container.