“We know they’re working for the guy who originally contracted us,” Theo says, “but can’t find any real paper trail between them. Everything seems to lead to some guy named Joseph Almaraz, but then correspondence seemed to stop around two months ago.”
Fuck. The whole room tenses as Marx raises his hands and places them on top of his head, blowing out a breath.
“This stays in this room,” Marx says, holding eye contact with us one by one, as his gaze roams. “Sniper cannot know. He’s starting to look settled at The Keep. This will fuck him up again.”
We all nod in agreement, the brothers mumbling their compliance. He’s right. Seeing Sniper at The Keep was like seeing the old brother he was. Some of his darkness lightened when Judge’s woman put Joseph down, but it wasn’t enough to get Sniper’s head right. Now though, he looks like he has a chance to really live.
“We know Almaraz.” Marx informs Jay and Theo. “He’s dead.”
“Right,” Theo nods. “Well, the accounts that paid us, and these guys, are all under his name, so someone must have access. But the correspondence, instructions and all that stuff that went between those two on the table and the higher ups stopped abruptly.”
“Almaraz dying was what? Two, three months ago? Probably around the same time Hitchens started swinging his dick a little more,” Moss mutters. Moss looks thoughtful for a moment, before leaning down into Norton’s face. “Is that what happened?” Norton whimpers before snorting up his snot, and nodding, ignoring screams from his partner to shut up. Moss straightens, staring down at the man. “And what did Hitchens, or even Thompson, want with the DRMC?”
“Wha-?” Norton gurgles, a confused look on his face.
“Why the fuck was there a bug in my locker room other than you wanted to listen in to Fox and Nitro?” Moss roars.
“It was never about them!” Ryan screams, finally breaking. “We were listening toyouMoss you righteous fucker! It was meant to be Hitchens in the Sheriff seat, not you. You fucking high and mighty prick-” he’s cut off with screams when Moss moves forward, quick as lightning and stabs him in the thigh. He chokes a little before breathing harshly, nostrils flaring.
Chewy has been quiet, squishing her lip squinting at the puddle of melted ball skin on the table. “What is so important about Moss that Thomson hired Theo and Jay to surveil him? He’s a small town sheriff. It’s not really that important a role for someone to be using military grade equipment and hiring two mid-tier hackers for.”
“Wow, thanks Chewy,” Moss says sarcastically, joined with mumbles from the geeks.
Ryan clamps his jaw shut, glaring at Chewy. That is until she pulls out a huge silicone dildo shaped like a fucking tentacle. She lubes it up then slaps Ryan in the face with it before moving to stand between the two tables the men are strapped to. She then slaps it on Norton’s belly, then Ryan’s, moving back and forth as she recites “Eeeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe.”
“OK, OK, I’ll tell you, just don’t touch me with that thing!” Norton screams through his tears.
Chewy stops what she’s doing abruptly, then gently places it on Norton’s belly. “Good boy,”
“Thompson needs the routes through Rose Grove to be clear. Since Moss came on it’s all been fucked up. Then you lot got involved, then the cartels and -” he takes a shuddering breath, “it’s just fucked up and they need Moss gone. But he’s too high profile to kill so Hitchens was digging up dirt. That’s when Jenna, his other wife found what he was doing and he - he killed her,” he finishes quietly.
Moss hangs his head before raising it again and taking all his anger out on Ryan’s prone body. “You fuckers! Two little girls watched their mom get murdered by their father, another little girl and her mom were used as punching bags all because you greedy cunts wanted me gone! Fuck you!”
Moss beats Ryan until he’s unrecognizable, Norton sobbing the whole time. Then, like a switch, Moss stops, composes himself, calming his breathing.
“Wait, that makes sense and all, Thompson pulling the strings to make business easier for himself. But why the fuck were these guys so horny for Pops?” Rider asks, looking around the room.
“Well, Norton?” Chewy asks, leaning on the table, eyedropper at the ready.
“Because he’s a dick! He’s a criminal and a total asshole!” Norton yells.
“Well, he’s not wrong,” Pops concedes, his grandchildren all nodding.
“He’s always pulling shit, breaking the law, making our jobs near impossible. We thought if we could take him down then Moss would have to pull strings to get him free. It would make Moss slip up and we’d have you both out of the way.”
Moss shakes his head. He reaches behind his back, taking out his gun and pointing it at Norton, Norton’s face screwed up in a mask of remorse and fear.
“Thank you for your service,” Moss spits, the gun fire ringing in our ears.
Chapter 26
Jasmine
Four days. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve seen Fox and Nitro. I’ve heard from them, so much in fact that I’ve had to turn my phone off. Not that I was reading or replying to their messages anyway. I can’t see them or talk to them until I can figure out how I feel about what happened. We’re meant to be a team. Well, that’s what it felt like at the time. Like they completed me and in some way I completed them. But that was just the sex hormones talking, because when push came to shove, my illness got in the way. Again. But this time it was somehow worse. Worse because I had seen what type of life and relationship I could have, and then it was torn away by my own body’s betrayal.
“Knock knock,mija,” Mom calls, not even bothering to knock or wait for my word before entering.
“I have brought you some pozole rojo, that’ll fix you.” She nods with complete certainty as she places the tray on my side table. Yes, I’m still in my childhood home being doted on by my parents. Remind me again why I moved out? “Eat up and then you can go and see your boyfriends.” Ah, yup, that’s why.
