17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Ramon
Fucking dogs! I should have known that EZ was bastard enough to have me hauled out by the ankle and chased back to the Gates of Hell. What fresh hell awaited me there?
When we arrived at the gate, a laughing guard opened it. “Well done, Guardian.”
EZ laughed. “The runners are the best, aren’t they? Anyway, I’ll take him back to his cell. Any luck finding out who opened the door to let him out?”
The guard shrugged before he closed the gate and locked it. One of those fucking hounds growled and nudged me inside with its snout. “Fuck you, too.” I was more than a little cranky.
Finding out who killed me was never gonna happen because I’d been shitty to the kid, my only link to the outside. There was no way he was gonna help me. I was sure I’d be destroyed because of the way I’d live my life, but I had hoped maybe the kid would have mercy on me so I could rest in peace.
Once I was back in my cell—and who would have ever believed there was a jail in hell?—EZ locked me inside and took the hounds with him.
Before he walked away, he stopped and turned to me. “Don’t give up, Blanco. The kid might surprise you.”
With that, he disappeared, leaving me alone with failure dripping off me. It was a new sensation for me, and I didn’t like it in the least.
“Psst. Blanco?”
I was lying on my bunk, thinking about what was next, when I heard my name. I turned toward the bars to see the last person I expected—my old boss, Johnny DeLuca.
“What the fuck? Don DeLuca!” I hurried from the bunk to the bars to greet him.
He was pushing a cart with books, of all things. Johnny DeLuca wasn’t a scholar, no more than me, so it was damn ironic that he was pushing a cart of books. “Shhh! Listen, did you find out who killed you? I figure whoever popped you popped me. Were you able to find out which traitor it was?”
Footsteps echoed in our direction, so Boss picked up a book as he glanced around. “Did you?”
“No. EZ caught me before I could find out, but the guy who was my carrier might do some checking for me. He didn’t say he wouldn’t. I have faith in the kid. How’d you bite it?”
“In the bathtub with a nice glass of chianti. Broke into my fucking house and double tapped me right there in my fuckin’ bathtub.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I was at the club, or do you already know how I got it?”
“Yeah. Out takin’ a smoke. It was a shame, Blanco. Anyway, let me know what you hear.” He shoved the book at me between the bars and took off.
I glanced down at the book. Why was it surprising that it was a Bible?