8. Zombie
EIGHT
ZOMBIE
The coordinates brought me to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city along the water.
I got out of my Jeep and took in my surroundings.
I had brought my handgun with me just in case I was walking into a trap.
But for some reason, I felt more at ease than anything else.
I had a feeling I knew who sent the text and that was the only reason why I had come.
I needed to know that my instincts were correct.
Sure enough, moments later a familiar short brunette woman walked out of the warehouse.
“I didn’t think you would come,” Sarah said, her tone as dry as her face was expressionless.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “You don't know me well enough to guess what I’d do.”
She stopped several feet ahead of me. “We have a lot of catching up to do, brother.”
The enunciated word made the contents of my stomach churn.
I knew she wasn’t really Ricci’s biological daughter.
But he had been a father figure for her half of her life after her father was killed.
The irony did not escape me. She was following the footsteps of the exact man that had killed her biological father.
But it was clear by how devoted she was to the cause that Sarah believed the lies that Ricci had told her.
I couldn’t help but notice that her arm was in a sling, and she seemed to wince in pain as she spoke.
It clicked a second later. She had been shot when we’d taken Ricci.
Clearly, she was still healing. But my medical brain was tingling.
It had been some time since the shooting—she shouldn’t still be in that much pain.
Unless she hadn’t gotten proper medical attention.
As I took a couple of steps closer, I noticed the perspiration on her brow and how pale her skin looked.
“You’re hurt, and from what I can see, you most likely have an infection.” I ran my gaze over her. She may be in charge now that Ricci was gone, but if she didn’t get help, the infection would kill her.
Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but my medical training belied my rational brain.
“Yes, that is part of the reason I asked you here,” she said in a clipped tone. “Follow me.” She turned and started walking toward the building.
Silently, I followed her inside. Guilt swarmed my gut. I knew my team had been looking for Sarah, trying to track her whereabouts. I would have to let them know where she was as soon as I was done here. This was the key to finding the other victims that were taken by Sarah and her predecessors.
Dim lights lit our way into the main room of the warehouse, where ten men stood in a half circle waiting for us. Off to the side, I noticed medical equipment and an untouched hospital bed with a metal table next to it.
We stood in front of the men as they observed me. Curious and skeptical gazes met mine.
“Z-man, I don’t like this one bit,” Arrow’s voice chimed in my head.
I didn’t like it either, but what choice did I have? I needed to get information, and this was the only way to do it.
“Listen up!” Sarah said to the men. “This is Dante Ricci, my brother.”
I hated how she changed my last name. Hearing it out loud made me want to gag.
“As you have all been informed after Daddy’s death, Dante and I will be taking over operations.”
Fuck, shit. Anxiety curled in my stomach as I tried to keep even breaths.
If I had known that was the plan I could have prepared more for this.
And maybe, just maybe, I would have told Chief about this so we could have devised a plan of our own.
But there was nothing I could do now. I was here and I didn’t have backup.
“How do we know this stronzo is on our side?” one of the burly men asked.
Sarah gave a cruel smile. “That is precisely what we are going to find out tonight. For now, get to your stations.”
I stayed composed even though every part of me wanted to run out of this building and straight to my team.
I looked at her, schooling my face to keep my expression cool. “And what are you expecting of me?”
“First, you are going to tend to my wound while we have a small chat and then you are going to do me a favor.”
An ominous feeling crept through my bones, but I gave her a curt nod before walking over to the medical bed. I didn’t give the other men another glance, though I felt their beady eyes following my every move. Sarah walked over and sat on the table before removing her sling and her shirt.
I let out a curse of shock when I saw her shoulder. Around the bullet hole was a purple-red stain with spider-like veins coming off of it. Green pus leaked out of the wound.
“Do you have gloves?” I asked as I continued to inspect the clearly infected area.
“Top drawer,” she responded with a tilt of her head toward the small rolling cabinet that sat next to the bed. I took out a pair of gloves and drew an intentional breath.
Treat her like a normal patient, I thought to myself.
Only she wasn’t a normal patient. She was in charge of an operation so cruel to humanity that I was sure she’d lost her own. But if I wanted to infiltrate the Ricci Empire I needed to do this.
I pressed my fingertips around the open wound. “How long has it looked like this? Did you seek medical attention after it happened?”
She winced, making me move my hand away. “It’s gotten worse in the last week. I didn’t have the luxury of getting checked out since everything that happened with Daddy. Alberto used to be a medic, so he got the bullet out and sterilized the area. He’s been trying to keep it clean.”
“You need antibiotics. Without getting bloodwork, I have no way of telling how bad this infection is—because it is definitely infected. You should have been almost healed up by now.”
Sarah let out a grunt when I dabbed the wound with gauze, wiping off the blood and pus.
“You may need to go to the hospital. I’m not sure I have everything I need to fix this,” I said.
Sarah shook her head vehemently. “No, no hospital. Daddy always said we take care of our own, and that is exactly what is going to happen. There’s a medicine cabinet in the other room with everything you should need. Alberto just wasn’t sure what to give me.”
I didn’t know who this Alberto person was, but he clearly sucked as a medic. She was lucky to be alive at this point. Based on when she was shot, she was almost certainly septic.
I went over to the other room and grabbed a bag of saline and some IV antibiotics. Thankfully, the place was stocked with everything I needed to help get her back on her feet.
“You should just let the bitch die,” Arrow said in my head.
“I wish. I need to find out everything I can,” I muttered to myself.
With careful precision, I put an IV line in Sarah’s good arm and flushed it with saline. When the line was clear, I hooked up the bags of fluids I had grabbed.
“Every few hours this bag will need to be changed. I assume Alberto or one of the men can handle that,” I said frankly.
Sarah nodded.
“We are going to take an aggressive approach against the infection so things do not escalate. I will also have you take some hydrocodone to help with the pain and swelling. You will be hooked up to the IV for the next several days. If you need me to change the location of the IV, I will.” I gave myself an internal slap on the back for giving Sarah only the bare minimum for her pain.
I wanted her to suffer. I wanted her to be uncomfortable after everything she had done.
Sarah looked more relaxed as the meds started to filter into her body.
“What’s next?” I asked.
Sarah raised a hand to silence me. “Before we get to the fun, we need to go over some stuff. Did Daddy explain anything to you?”
I stood in front of her with my arms crossed over my chest and shook my head.
She pursed her lips in annoyance. “Well, that makes sense since Evelyn and her mobster boyfriend slaughtered him.”
I wanted to laugh at her skewed version of events. Was she so brainwashed that she couldn’t see the monster that Anthony Ricci truly was?
“Well, the original plan was to approach you before everything happened,” she started. “But before I go into any detail, I need to make sure you won’t go telling anyone anything.”
“My blood, and my word isn’t good enough?”
She looked at me deadpan. “I’m not stupid, Dante.
I know that as soon as you leave here you will tell your little friends everything I say.
So instead, I am going to give you some incentive so you don’t spill the tea.
” Her jaw clenched as if she were frustrated until and a cruel smile spread on her face.
She got up and held the IV bag above her head as she walked over to the side of the warehouse where a briefcase lay on the floor.
She made quick work with one hand, grabbing something out of the briefcase.
An ominous feeling washed over me. I knew I wouldn’t like where this was going.
“No unfortunately, Dante, it’s not enough. I could drain your blood in its entirety and that still wouldn’t be enough for a blood oath.” She took something out of the briefcase.
Jesus, this girl was definitely teetering on the line of psychosis. I schooled my expression and raised a brow. “So, what would work for you?”
Sarah walked over to the table with a manila folder in hand.
She tapped the edge to her temple. “Oh, there’s nothing that’s going to work in a traditional sense, but I do have something.
” She paused before putting the folder on the top of the table.
“Something to incentivize you not to say anything.” She put the IV bag back on the holder before standing across from me with the metal table in between us.
I stood stoic, not letting her see that I was getting nervous and regretting my decision to come here.
Sarah slid the folder toward me before starting to pace. “Go on, Dante, open it.”