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They were standing just within the back entrance to the warehouse, mud sticking to their boots as rain poured outside. Some of it splattered against Yule’s back, but he didn’t seem to notice, taking a drag from his cigarette and sighing in contentment as the nicotine entered his lungs.
Yule was a couple of years older than Odin, with a buzzed head and two nose rings. He’d worked for the Snow family for many years, had been lower rank when Odin was a kid, but had fled with a bunch of the rest after he’d gone missing. It’d taken Odin a few years to track down all the old members he wanted to keep, the ones he felt he could mostly trust, and Yule had been at the top of that list.
He also happened to have secrets, something Odin typically wouldn’t allow, however, it was obvious they had nothing to do with the Brumal or with him personally, so he made it a point not to stick his nose where it didn’t belong.
Yule had earned that bit of respect, if nothing else.
He’d also been the one who’d helped Vetle track down four of the six men they were after. He and his boys had hunted for days, and it was due to their efforts that they were close to catching all of them.
“Two more to go, boss,” Yule said then around the end of his cigarette. He grinned at Odin with a steely look when he met his gaze. “We’ll get them. No doubt.”
There was a darkness to Yule, an edge, that drove him to want to hurt people. It made him handy during times like these when there was too much to do and too much else on Odin’s mind to bother getting his own hands dirty. Between Yule and Vetle, he wouldn’t have to.
Another scream ripped through the air at Odin’s back, followed by a stream of pleas. Vetle was currently in the side room working on two of the men who’d attacked Jita. The others had passed out not long ago, which was when Odin had decided to step out for a bit of fresh air.
Which Yule was tainting with his cigarette. Pointedly, he stared at it for a second, only glancing away once the other man took the hint and dropped it to the ground half-finished.
Grinding it under his boot, Yule slipped his hands into his pockets and turned to look at the rain over his shoulder. “You think this’ll ever let up? Damn weather.”
“Make use of it,” Odin suggested. “Wash the blood from your fingers.”
Yule blinked down at his hands as if noticing the red stains for the first time. He chuckled and turned to do just that, scrubbing them together beneath the downpour, humming for a moment some tune Odin didn’t recognize.
“They were all hiding in Noeul,” Yule told him then. “Like damn vermin.”
Noeul was a rundown part of the capital where only the homeless and the destitute tended to end up. Not exactly the type of place a person backed by an influential member of the Brumal would run to.
“They’re lowlifes,” Odin figured. “Easy hire picked off the streets.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Yule agreed. “Nothing special about any of them. Guarantee Jita is going to be pissed when he wakes that scum like that got the jump on him. Clearly they were given this job because they’re dispensable.”
“Whoever orchestrated this intended for them to get caught.” That must mean their getting captured on that dashcam video hadn’t been as accidental as Odin had first believed.
“He wants you to know, boss,” Yule said. “Wants you on your toes.”
“Have you heard anything on the streets lately?”
“The same old, same old. Rumors and gossip. Lots of talk about that party that was thrown last month. Some people are saying Frost broke the rules and attacked you and Mr. Thorn.” Yule cocked his head. “That true?”
“Why?” Odin lifted a brow. “Looking for an excuse to beat Frost Brumal up?”
“Coming after your man is like coming after you,” he clicked his tongue, “and I'll teach them a lesson if they show that level of disrespect. No excuse, just hard facts, boss.”
The sound of soft footsteps approaching from behind cut their conversation short, and they both turned to greet Vetle.
He was wiping his hands off with a dirty gray rag, the blood trailing up to his elbows. His black t-shirt was also stained, though the dark material did an excellent job of hiding with what.
“Last one caved,” Vetle said, stopping before them. “Got their orders from a short bald man with a goatee.”
“Tuesday.” Only one man matched that lame-ass cartoon character description, and he was on Isa’s payroll. “Another dispensable part.”
“The real question here is,” Yule stated, “if he’s being this obvious, what was the point of the chase at all?”
“He’s stalling,” Odin swore.
“But for what?” Vetle asked. “Do you think he’s planning something bigger?”
“He came after the lawyer for a reason,” Yule said. “Anything big going on with him, boss? Something that can’t move forward without Jita’s expertise?”
