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2
Mercy
With the LongNight’s last words ringing in my ears, I blanched. “You’re not serious. You’d slaughtereveryonein all the gangs—?"
The Long Night raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t serious. I need it to be clear to everyone watching that I’m in control. It’s up to you whether the law is laid down by you two in my stead or whether I have to rain down hellfire myself to get it done. If you aren’t an asset to me, then you’re a liability I can’t afford to keep around.”
Beside me, Wylder shook his head vehemently. “I don’t understand. All we need is more time—"
“My colleagues have left me no choice,” the older man said. “If things continue the way they are, extreme measures will be necessary. I can’t have my authority challenged elsewhere over this squabble here.” He spoke as if this was nothing more than business to him, as if he wasn’t talking about destroying hundreds of lives. And maybe hedidn’tcare.
I glanced at Wylder, whose jaw was clenched, his fists bunched at his sides. The stakes were so high, and if we failed, we’d lose everything.
Gideon gave the Long Night a narrow look. “I wonder if you’re setting us up for failure. Using us to thin your enemy’s ranks so there’s less for you to clean up when you do have to sweep in.”
“I trust your capabilities.” The Long Night studied Gideon and then Wylder. “Maybe you don’t feel the same.”
I couldn’t keep quiet. “The Storm has a massive presence in the Bend already. If you actually want to give us a chance, make it a real one.”
“Unfortunately, Miss Katz, not everything is about you. Time is slipping away from us, and every moment you waste here arguing with me about it is another precious second lost that threatens my empire. And if you think that what you’ve seen so far is even a quarter of the actual size of Storm’s army, you’re very, very wrong.”
Fear coiled in my gut. He didn’t seem like it on the surface, but the Long Night was just as terrible as the Storm or the Red Shark. There was clearly a reason this group that called themselves the Devil’s Dozen had been able to maintain control from the shadows over the decades. They were ruthless.
I knew without a doubt that the Long Night would make good on his promise to sweep through the county and kill anyone who stood in the way of his power. In my mind’s eyes, I already saw the destruction. My ears echoed with the imagined screams as a massacre of everyone who’d ever associated with any of the gangs in Paradise Bend—Nobles, Claws, Steel Knights, or the many other smaller outfits—raged through the streets.
I cleared my throat and glanced at Wylder before turning back to the Long Night. We couldn’t make a decision this huge and horrible with the man insisting on it breathing down our necks. “If you don’t mind,” I said, “I think we should take a few minutes to discuss this in private, just between the five of us.”
“Very well,” the Long Night said. “I respect that you want to take your time before making any commitments. Just remember that the clock starts ticking soon. I hope to hear a positive response from your side.”
He rose from his chair and signaled to his people. Both the bodyguards who’d arrived with him and the three figures who’d entered ahead of him pulled in around him and walked with him out of the room. They closed the door behind them until it was only the five of us.
The second we were alone, Gideon’s gaze darted along the molded details of the ceiling. “I’m not sure how ‘private’ this conversation really is. I find it hard to believe that a man in his position wouldn’t have cameras on us.”
Rowan sighed. “Well, there’s nothing we can do aboutthat. He’s going to find out what we decide anyway.”
Wylder pulled his chair back and to the side so he could face me better. “Did you have specific thoughts you wanted to share?”
I rubbed my temple. “I don’t know. It’s so much to take in. But I was having a hard time eventhinkingwith him sitting there staring at us.”
“Are we really considering tying ourselves to this guy?” Kaige asked, grimacing.
“If what he said is true, then we’ve been tied to him all along,” Wylder pointed out. “He’s apparently been skimming money from the Noble businesses for years. Dad’s never mentioned anything—maybe this Devil’s Dozen organization really does have methods to take their tithe that can go unnoticed. I guess it wouldn’t be impossible with all the stages of money laundering and the rest. There’s a lot of cash changing hands all the time.”
Kaige shook his head, the chain with his father’s dog tags sliding against his neck with the movement. “It’s wild, though. A shadowy organization created by creepy old men with an obsession with the full moon, and they run all the criminal business in the world? It feels like I’ve tripped into some crazy movie.”
“It might sound strange, but I’ve always had the impression there might be a higher force above us,” Gideon said. “Certain things happen too smoothly or conveniently.”
Kaige snorted. “I think you’re confusing Jesus with code-named gangsters.”
Gideon rolled his eyes at the bigger guy before turning to us. “I definitely don’t see any reason to doubt the Long Night’s version of what’s happened in the Bend. Think about it: the Storm’s and the Red Shark’s people showed up seemingly out of nowhere, and we’d never heard about them before. That’s because they aren’t just regular street gangs fighting for territories. They’re the true kings of the underworld.”
“And if we hope to win against one of them, we probably need the inside knowledge this guy can give us,” I said. “The Storm has too much power over us right now, at least if we want to end things quickly.”
“Can we trust the Long Night to keep his word?” Rowan said.
“I sure as hell don’t,” Kaige muttered, swiping his hand over his dark buzzcut. “He calls himself the Long Night, for fuck’s sake. He’s fucking looney tunes.”
Gideon nodded. “I don’t know about his sanity, but he could be playing at something he’s not telling us about, manipulating us.” He paused. “Although this is a very elaborate ruse, if so.”
