Page 15 of Ryker

I swallowed the scowl threatening to respond to the chief, knowing that would get me nowhere fast. It wasn’t his fault that I was coming up empty regarding Jenny’s murder.

Because I wasn’t coming up empty. I knew who it was. Or rather, the idea of him—his need to play with us. I just couldn’t grab an identity, like the individual didn’t exist. He hid better than my men and I did and we had been at this game for years. It wasn’t just frustrating. It was downright infuriating that I couldn’t even catch his scent.

A few angry clicks on the keyboard revealed more of the same. Jenny’s case file was bereft of any useful information. No leads. No hints. I leaned back in my chair, ignoring the growing murmurs bleeding through the office about The Three Terrors possibly using new MOs. Primrose was terrified and they had every right to be. An unknown was a terrifying thought.

This shit wasn’t anything like Slash’s kills. Scouring through information and speaking with one of the detectives working the evidence locker told me very few things I didn’t already know. The kill was clean. Where Slash enjoyed the bloodshed and the messages left behind, this one was devoid of any mess. Not to mention that the killer had delivered Jenny’s fucking lungs to our door using Aeron’s government name.

If I were honest with myself, not knowing who killed Jenny was a bit terrifying. We were supposed to be Primrose’s monsters and I was starting to feel a little bit like prey.

“Merchant!”

I jerked up at the sound of my other name, coming face to face with one of the rookies. He was a goddamn child, freshly graduated from the academy, a genuine smile plastered on his lips. No one had told him about Primrose’s natural affinity for crime. His smile wouldn’t last the week. I snarled at him, and he backed away before I schooled my expression. Merchant was like a foreign name to me. Although it did suit me, my entire empire banked on the shit I sold; unlike most people, I didn’t deal in drugs, guns, or people. I dealt in information.

“I’m sorry, sir. I tried to get your attention. I…” He bowed his head. I usually relished in the respect that the recruits shoved me, but right now, it was annoying.

“It’s fine. What do you need?”

“The chief wants to see you.”

My eyes roamed the full hallway, wondering how the recruit had even found my desk hidden in the corner office. “And he sent you?”

I thought he was going to break under the pressure of my stare, but if he couldn’t even handle this, he wouldn’t be able to handle anything in the field. He squirmed, moving a few steps farther back again, now standing in the doorway. “I just happened to be walking past…”

“Yeah, I get it. I’m going.” I ushered him off. Chief Matthews tended to send the recruits on personal assignments to ensure they were acquainted with the other detectives. Those recruits usually ended up on one of our teams, but that kid better not be on mine. I could see right through him. Hell, even Killian pulled off that innocence better than the recruit did.

With a sigh of disappointment, I clicked through a few more files and came up empty. I locked the computer and headed across the hall to the chief’s, knocking on the marbled wood.

“It’s open.”

I slipped inside, waiting, hands clasped behind my back. Chief Matthews glanced in my general direction, amusement filling his features. I tried to see the resemblance between him and Killian, but there were no similarities. Killian had to look exactly like his mother, which was a good thing, too, because Chief Matthews wasn’t exactly easy on the eyes.

“Come sit down, Merchant. You’re not in trouble.” I silently nodded, still unsure why I had been called. I felt like I had been summoned to the principal’s office, awaiting punishment, regardless of what Chief Matthews said. “Look, you’re basically my goddamn right hand. So, first, official business. I need you to refocus your efforts on this case and see if there’s any connection to The Three Terrors, along with the one from this past weekend. We realized a person was missing a few weeks ago, and by what was left at the scene, I think they’re ramping up their kills.”

His voice wobbled and fear showed beneath dull gray eyes. Chief Matthews, as useless as he was most of the time, put on a brave face. Right now, he was showing me a glimpse of the raw emotion he kept locked down.

Chief Matthews slid a few pictures across the desk, and I instantly recognized Slash’s kill that he had dropped at Aeron’s house a little while ago. Fuck. I told Slash that it had been sloppy. That it was too rushed. I had tried my best to clean it up, but even that attempt had been weak. And now the chief thought that The Three Terrors were getting hungry. Something ignited in the pit of my stomach. I was going to find Jenny’s killer immediately. No one was going to play with us like this.

All of this seemed just a little too coincidental. I bit back the devious grin threatening to expose my intentions and shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Yeah, I’ll do some research.”

“No, not just research. I need these goddamn threats out of my city, Merchant. I need your all in this one.”

“What are you asking me, Chief?” I knew what he was asking. Goddamnit, I fucking knew what he wanted. I just hoped that he was referring to something else.

“You know what I’m asking, Merchant. Every goddamn stone turned over.”

Shit. I had been hoping it wouldn’t come to this. Chief Matthews knew my ties to the underground world. My entire estate screamed dirty money. He was asking me to assume my undercover identity again—one that he had no idea how true it was. He had no idea that I was The King. The last time I had gone ‘undercover,’ I had almost died. Not that the chief knew that. But Aeron and Slash did, and they were going to kill me when they found out I was going to have to do it again. Granted, they only thought that I had encountered threats because I had been undercover. That was hardly the case.

Running to find the goddamn crazy traitor in my ranks, one that recognized my face from stumbling into our precinct, had me on edge. I didn’t wear my uniform if I could help, but somehow someone had slipped. Brent had told me he had vetted all of them, but this guy had been a little slippery.

In the last six hours, I had already been shot at, stabbed, and some fucker had tried to blow me up. When I found the threat, he was dead. I would kill him myself, rip him from limb to limb, and make him wish he was dead. I howled as the fucker popped from his hiding spot and tried to throw a knife at my face. I caught it with my hand, disregarding the pain and blood streaming from my newest wound.

He stood there, with nowhere else to go, as I returned the favor and jabbed his knife into his gut, pulling upwards, relishing as his screams vibrated through the midnight air. “Please… I just…” He sank to his knees, his hands wrapped around mine on the hilt.

“So now it’s a negotiation? It wasn’t a fucking negotiation when you thought you had me.” I ripped farther upwards, and I watched the blood spill from his lips. “You knew that when I caught you, you would suffer.”

I released the knife, his hands on the hilt alone. “Now, your life is in your hands. Either you can pull that knife out and bleed out to death, or you can answer my questions, and I’ll make your death quick.”

He reached to pull out the knife. “You’re not going to get anything from me.”

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