Page 56 of Blood We Steal

He laughed his easy laugh with nerves burning through it and went, and I stood there as if I’d spoken the truth.

The walkie on my belt crackled at me on the walk back to the warden’s office.

“Marku.”

I stopped in the empty stretch of hallway between the pods and looked at the thing. Merrick had been radio silent for days. Not that I missed the stupid ramblings of the idiots that decided to follow him. But the quiet meant no information beyond what flowed through the concrete in bangs and footsteps.

“I know you hear me,” he said, somehow smug through the machine.

“What do you want?”

“World peace and four hookers.” He laughed. “But I’d settle for free passage down the staircase on A block.”

I pushed the button and held the walkie too close to my mouth. “Why would I allow that?”

“Because I decide whether you have air conditioning, lights, any modicum of comfort.”

“And what do I get in return?”

“The benevolent joy of doing a good deed.” He laughed. “Besides, you owe me.”

“And how did I get in your debt, Merrick?”

“You’re harboring my escapees. And I was this close to getting Veronica Shaw to suck my cock. Guess that’s off the table now.”

Merrick again laughed at his own joke. I stared at the walkie. I didn’t know if I had the self-control not to smash the thing into the wall.

Because it was one thing to be an asshole, but Merrick actually believed he was better than the other guards and the warden.

Merrick had never taken a cent from me. I hadn’t even offered, but on my first night here, he’d told me there was no need to waste my time. I soon found out that was because he took a cut of everyone else’s bribes in exchange for looking the other way.

A bona fide saint in his own eyes.

The walkie crackled again. “I’m a fair and charitable man. I can throw in a bag of rice to sweeten the deal.”

“I’ll pass, Merrick,” I said.

“Too bad. I know you’re running on scraps down there. We’re not. Maybe I’ll just wait you out and let you starve to death. I know you’re too pussy to try to leave this place.”

The walkie crackled with static. “And speaking of pussy, how’s that accountant of yours? Simone, right? Yeah, I remember her. Ask her if she remembers me.”

The channel went dead.

Three weeks ago, I would have had his tongue delivered to me.

Now, I had to consider his proposition.

That had been a test, his attempt to see how malleable I was. He’d be back in contact, and I needed to have a plan.

Couldn’t even begin to form one when all I could hear was Merrick’s foul voice uttering her name.

I squeezed the walkie, then rubbed the center of my chest but stopped myself when I realized what I was doing. I should talk to Damian and Besnik about Merrick.

Thought that even as I turned the opposite direction and went to her.

This was a good test.

I was on the edge but I would prove that Simone would not be the reason I lost control.