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BLADE
“What were you fuckers thinking?”Eagle-eye looks ready to jump through Alpha’s phone and strangle us with his bare hands. Viking jokes about his blind eye being like the Norse god Odin, sacrificed for knowledge, and when he’s looking right through me I fucking wonder.
We holed up in a shitty motel room when our first attempt to get the tape failed. Without the damn tape, we can’t go back, but we’re not going to fucking strong-arm Eagle-eye’s daughter for it either, so we had to tuck our tails between our legs and call for further instructions.
“You said we weren’t supposed to talk to her, so what did you expect us to do?” Alpha leans back and takes a drag from his beer. “She should’ve been out for hours.”
Eagle-eye grunts in frustration. “Well she wasn’t, and I just had a very loud and very fucking angry call with Faith. You guys are not fucking welcome, and she’s pissed mybiker shit,as she calls it, spilled into her life again. And she promised that next time she’s not going to ask questions before she shoots. Way to make a fucking impression.” His jaw works like he’s chewing rocks, and the vein in the side of his neck pulses.
“It could’ve gone better,” acknowledges Ripper. “Does that mean we’re coming home?”
“Fuck no. I don’t know who dropped that little time capsule off on her doorstep, but as soon as she made it public, she put a target on her back. I’ll take her hate and keep smiling if it means she’s alive to think I’m the biggest asshole on the planet.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” I ask.
“For the moment? Grab the tape if you get an opportunity, but you’ve just been promoted to babysitters.”
“Say what?” Alpha bristles.
“What aren’t you telling us?” I lean in so I can look Eagle-eye directly in the eye.
It’s not public knowledge, but we’ve known each other for a long time, since before the Screaming Eagles. I know better than anyone what Eagle-eye’s capable of, and he can say the same of me. We both saw the Pit Vipers patch in that video, and even if the others didn’t realize the full significance of it, I do. No fucking way this isn’t connected. I don’t know for sure what’s on that tape, but I’ve got some suspicions.
“Here.” Eagle-eye picks up his phone, taps a couple things and then a new video replaces his. A face that only his mama could love pops up on the screen. The guy’s got piercings in his ears, lip, nose and eyebrow, a fading tattoo along his jaw and his long, wiry hair tied back. His lip’s curled up into a one-sided sneer and he’s glaring into the camera.
I know this fucker, and he’s never been anything but bad fucking news.
Crow.
“Eagle-eye,” Crow starts. “It’s been a long time. By now I hope you’re so old you’re fucking shitting yourself and need help wiping. Or maybe someone’s poked out your other eye. There’d be some fucking justice in that. Whatever’s going on, I hope your life is absolute shit. And if it isn’t, I’m going to change that right now. It’s a small world these days, old man, and guess who I saw opening Pandora’s fucking box the other day? Your little girl sure grew up pretty. Must’ve been from her momma’s side.”
In the background, Eagle-eye’s growling is coming through loud and clear. No idea if he knows it’s getting transmitted, but I’d be surprised if he isn’t literally fucking fuming.
“Didn’t take us long to figure out where she’s at,” continues Crow, his oily voice just as nasty as I remember it. He was always a slimy little shit, and getting older hasn’t changed that “That doesn’t bother you, does it? She’s got a cute little shop.” He holds up a book and flips through it, making a point of showing a bookmark with the Books & Crannies logo. “I bet you want that tape so bad you can fucking taste it, but if you want little Faith to keep her illusions about her daddy, you get that tape from her and give it to me. Otherwise there’s nothing keeping me from repeating history.”
The video cuts off and Eagle-eye reappears on the screen. If I thought he was furious before we watched the video, well… fuck, I’m glad there’s six hundred miles between us right now.
“What kind of power does that limpdick asshole have these days?”
“President,” growls Eagle-eye.
“Fuck me.”
Ripper snorts. “No thanks, but would one of you care to fucking enlighten the rest of us? Who’s this Crow fucker and why does he have such a hard on for a piece of old plastic?”
I keep my mouth shut. It’s up to Eagle-eye to decide how much to reveal. I might know some of his secrets, but he’s the one with his dick in the fire.
He grunts, obviously not eager. “Before the Screaming Eagles, some shit went down in my life, and the Pit Vipers are a big part of that. It’s not something I’m fucking proud of and let’s just say we didn’t part on the best of terms. Crow was barely a member back then, but me and his father had it out. He’s carried a grudge ever since. And someone just handed Faith the perfect way for him to get at me.”
“That’s one hell of a grudge for just having it out,” says Ripper, but Eagle-eye doesn’t expand on it, so I don’t either.
Alpha looks my way. “And you? How do you factor in?”
“I don’t. Not directly, anyway. I was a prospect when this shit went down. I cleared out about when Eagle-eye did and went my own way for a while. Then we ran into each other again.”
Alpha doesn’t look happy with how little we’re giving him, but nobody in this life is completely clean. Unless we all want to show-and-tell, some things are allowed to live in the darkness. “And telling us what’s on the tape’s still out of the question?”
“It is. You don’t need to know to act on this. Just keep Faith safe, and get the fucking tape if you can. I’m going to pull some strings and see if I can learn anything. I’ve still got a few contacts from back then. Maybe I can learn something. Now, fucking hop to it. If Faith gets hurt, I’ll keelhaul the three of you before I rip the patches off whatever’s left. Got it?”
