CHAPTER SIX
STRAY
I didn’t want to cut my time at Codie’s short. Unfortunately, I’d received a message from Rebel. Plans had changed for tonight. The drug drop Casper and Dom were supposed to handle had been delayed. We had an emergency kidney removal to take care of instead.
That was the kind of thing all of us were usually present for. There were so many ways it could go wrong. Apparently, one of the guys on our organ donation list had just returned from a business trip. This was the perfect chance to grab him before he left again.
Those waiting for organs were willing to pay an ungodly amount to get what they needed. Our donor list was compiled of people who deserved to give back to society. Those on sex offender lists, corrupt CEOs and politicians, and anyone else that we felt deserved it.
Before I left Codie’s, I stuck a tracker on her car, up inside the wheel well where she wouldn’t see it. She really tested me tonight. I had to use fast food napkins to wipe the egg off my windshield well enough to get to a car wash.
As I sprayed down my car, I thought about spanking her ass.
It was only the beginning of what I planned to do to her.
Despite her struggles, she’d loved it. I saw the spark in her eyes.
The intrigue and excitement. Too bad Athena had been home.
I’d have loved to see how far Codie was willing to go.
Something told me she was more of a freak than I thought.
After leaving the car wash, I swung by Rebel’s apartment to pick him up before meeting the other guys at my place. Rebel slid into the car, looking annoyed. “What took you so long? I texted you over an hour ago.”
“Sorry, man. I was in the middle of something.” I didn’t bother to tell him where I’d been.
“I told the buyer we would meet him at the church at midnight. Jordan will be meeting us at the donor’s house in thirty minutes.” Rebel kept talking, detailing the plan for the evening. Same old, same old.
Most of our business was conducted at Destiny Church. An abandoned church on the edge of town. We’d claimed it as our own. It’s where we conducted all kinds of business transactions and hosted some pretty killer parties.
Casper, Dom, and Auryn were ready and waiting for us when we reached my house. They’d already obtained a rental car. We did our best to use vehicles that weren’t linked to us for stuff like this.
“Why do you smell so fruity?” Auryn sniffed in my direction when we all piled into the rental.
“Why do you look so fucking fruity?” I fired back, avoiding the question. Codie’s berry fragrance had a way of lingering.
“Damn, dude, no need to be so snappy. It was just a question. I’m pretty sure I know the answer anyway. Why so secretive?” He jabbed an elbow into my ribs and snickered.
I shrugged, not as interested in discussing Codie as I usually was with my conquests. “It’s no secret. I just don’t have anything juicy to share. Not yet anyway.”
It was only a matter of time though. Codie could pretend that she was innocent. Too good for me. I wasn’t buying it. That girl was looking for something fucked up and twisted beyond belief. I intended to deliver.
“She’s really making you work for it,” Casper signed. “Think she’s worth all the effort?”
“Most definitely.” I nodded, a sly grin stealing over my face. “She’s not like any woman I’ve been with before. She’s a total freak.”
Auryn eyed me curiously. “I look forward to all the dirty details.”
It was well after dark when we arrived at our donor’s house. Right away I noticed a kid’s bike in the front yard.
“Wait, does this guy have kids? Are there other people in the house?” I didn’t like the look of this situation. We tried to always get our victims alone. Dealing with witnesses was an entirely different situation.
Rebel studied the house. “Last I heard his wife took the kids and moved out. Their marriage is on the rocks. He should be here alone.”
“Should be?” Dominik repeated. “And if he’s not?”
“Then we abort mission.” Rebel caught my eye through the rearview mirror. “Do you want to head in first to check it out?”
I held out my hand for the syringe Dom had ready. He placed it in my palm, and I clutched it tight. Slipping on the creepy comedy theatre mask I always wore for these jobs, I got out of the car and strolled up the front walk.
Spotting the doorbell camera, I turned my head to avoid it while pulling a piece of black electrical tape from my pocket for this purpose. I covered the camera lens and rang the bell. If there were kids inside, I was out of here. I drew the line at the involvement of children.
It took a few minutes before the door opened. A man with thinning hair and a scraggly goatee stared at me in surprise.
“Can I help you?” he asked, wary at the sight of my mask.
Instead of answering, I immediately jabbed him in the neck with the syringe.
He stumbled backwards, his hand going to his neck.
I stepped inside, watching as he collapsed to the floor.
It didn’t take long to determine that the house was otherwise empty.
At my signal, the rest of the guys entered. Jordan had joined them.
Jordan was the med student we employed to help with organ removals. Casper had handled a few on his own but it was nice having someone more knowledgeable. Jordan was still far from being a doctor, although he’d done enough of these removals to be pretty experienced.
“Let’s get to work. We don’t have a lot of time.” Rebel began to bark orders, instructing Casper and Auryn to move the unconscious man to the bedroom.
Jordan set to work, creating a relatively sterile work environment. He placed a mask over his clean shaven face and a little hair cap over his short dark hair. He took this task quite seriously.
Casper lingered close, ready to help him if needed. I wasn’t a fan of the surgical shit, so I lingered near the door with Rebel. Dominik and Auryn watched the entryways.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Jordan and Casper worked to remove the kidney. Jordan spoke in low tones, giving Casper instruction. Rebel and I remained quiet, not wanting to cause a distraction.
Jordan was almost finished when Dominik called from downstairs. “Fuck. Someone’s here.”
Rebel launched into motion. “Don’t let anyone upstairs.”
We’d never had an interruption before. I started to follow Rebel when the sound of a woman’s scream rang out. There was a series of thumps and bangs, followed by one more scream.
Rebel and I descended the stairs in time to see Dominik slide his knife across a woman’s throat. There were signs of a struggle everywhere. Tables knocked over. A lamp broken on the floor. Auryn stood there with wide eyes, his mask clutched in one hand.
“What the hell happened?” Rebel barked.
“She took one look at us and flipped out,” Auryn explained. “She pulled out pepper spray. Then she tried to run. We couldn’t let her get away. She’s a witness.”
Everything had happened so fast. Now we had a dead body on our hands. This had not been part of the plan.
From upstairs, Jordan called, “We have an issue here. This guy is bleeding out.”
“Fuck,” Rebel muttered, sprinting back up the stairs.
The commotion downstairs had caused Jordan to panic and nick an artery. He managed to salvage the kidney and put it on ice, but our donor was in rough shape. Try as he might, Jordan couldn’t slow the bleeding.
“He’s not going to make it.” Jordan stepped away from the unconscious man, frantically shaking his head. “I don’t know what else to do. There’s no time to try a transfusion. I’m not even equipped for that.”
Everything had gone to shit so damn fast. What should have been a routine kidney removal with an unconscious donor left behind had quickly turned into two dead bodies we’d never planned for.
“Can you grab any other organs?” Rebel asked, always focused on business. We didn’t always kill our donor. In most cases, we left them alive.
Jordan looked like he might be sick as he stared down at the dying man on the bed. “I don’t think so. We don’t have that kind of time.”
Understandably, hearts were worth more than any other organ. They were also the most difficult to obtain. It was unfortunate that we were going to lose this guy anyway and we couldn’t take anything else. Maybe we deserved as much. We’d really fucked this up.
“Make sure there’s no evidence left behind,” I said. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
What else could we do? As long as there was nothing tying us to these deaths, it was better to leave the bodies. Trying to move them would only increase our chances of getting caught.
Sometimes shit happened. It fucking sucked when it wasn’t part of the plan. We had no choice but to roll with it and keep going. Jordan was deathly pale. He seemed to be trying not to throw up. He had no problem stealing an organ from a living person, but this was too much for him.
“Not a fucking word. Do you understand?” Rebel cornered him at the door. “We were never here. Not a single one of us.”
“Yeah, I’ve got it. I’m not sure I can keep doing this, guys. I didn’t sign on for this shit.” Jordan all but ran out the door and down the street to his car.
Rebel and I stared after him before exchanging a look. “Do you think we can trust him?” I asked.
Rebel sighed, dragging a hand through his dark hair, tugging at the blonde streak in the front. “I fucking hope so. Otherwise, he’s a dead man.”
We took the time to ensure there was no evidence that linked us to the scene. Then we booked it the hell out of there. The drive to the graveyard was especially tense. We weren’t used to having everything go wrong.
“We can’t take a risk like that again,” Auryn said. “We need to take the donors to a different location.”
“Agreed. This was too close. We can’t let that happen again.” I was starting to feel that itch again. That need to check in on Codie.
I pulled up my phone to check on the tracker I’d placed on her car. To my surprise, she was on the move. Where was she going at this time of night?
The kidney hand off went smoothly, so that was something at least. We were all in a bit of a mood. Nobody had much to say. I was eager to get going. To track down Codie and find out what she was doing. Something told me she was up to no good.
“No more organ harvests until we secure a safe place to conduct them,” Rebel confirmed when we dropped him off at his apartment. “We got too cocky. What happened tonight never should’ve happened.”
The rest of the guys and I returned to my place. I muttered some bullshit excuse about going to grab a late night bite to eat. I doubted any of them believed me. Nobody was in the mood to bust my balls about it. Not even Auryn.
I got into my car and went in search of Codie. I needed a fix.