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“Excuse me?” I recoiled and reached for the empty space at my hip. Jaxon had warned me to always keep a weapon on my body in this city, but new habits were hard to form. I thought the gun was enough but apparently it wasn’t.
“Davi!” The mousy looking woman scolded.
Davi reached into his pocket, taking out his phone.
“You’re Jaxon’s friend? Right?” The mousy woman asked, getting my attention right away.
I moved back near the counter to put myself closer to the knife Jaxon gave me years ago in Vanir.
“Don’t even think about it!” The mousy woman pointed her gun at me.
“Yeah, I am, and he’s in trouble right now, big trouble.” I held up my hands.
“Take a look at this.” The man held the phone up and pressed play on what looked like a vid.
The place looked dimly lit and dank. The footage was near grainy, but there he was, Jaxon, chained down and alive.
“Hey, all you worthless motherfuckers out there!” A man bellowed on the screen. He and the other men danced about in what looked like clown masks and grungy looking janitor outfits. “The B.O.M is feeling mighty damn generous today! Anybody wanna claim this turd? Bring at least five hundred thousand credits. Price negotiable, though, so try to bring more.”
The screen went black.
“Who the hell are these people?” I brushed away my disorderly strands.
“They’re called the Brotherhood of Mercy.” The woman put away her gun and cracked her knuckles, making a loud pop. “If Jaxon is with them, then he’s in a world of trouble, and we don’t have that kind of money.”
“The last thing he told us before he and Jo set off was about you being in town and needing money.” Davi closed the gap intentionally. He looked like he was ready to attack at the slightest provocation, and I wondered if I could grab my knife in time.
It was next to impossible for me to take him in a fistfight.
“What happened? Jaxon would never let himself get caught by anyone.” He scowled while sizing me up. “But now I see how. You look like his type.”
My voice shook. I couldn’t deal with the glares and judgments from Jaxon’s friends. I wanted to ball up into a shell and be alone. “Jaxon asked me to come here because he needed a skilled diver for a dangerous job. He told me it would pay well enough to get my father medical treatment. But it wasn’t a dive. It was a heist. We stole something from another dive group and went to the meeting spot Jaxon told me about, and these guys in suits showed up. They offered us five hundred thousand credits. Jaxon wanted more. They grew suspicious and wanted to verify if we had the item. Jaxon refused to hand it over without pay. They got into a fight, and before I knew it, they were trying to kill us.”
“What else?” The auburn-haired man glared daggers into me.
“He gave it to me and stayed behind.”
“And Jo?! What about my brother?” The man asked.
“He chose to stay with him.”
“Motherfucker!” He raged. “This is all your fault!”
“No, it isn’t.” The woman said, though she didn’t sound convinced. “Where is this thing? Maybe if we hand it over, they will release them.”
“I doubt giving it to those Mercy guys will do it. They don’t look like they would know anything about this nor have the money these suits will pay.” I argued.
“How would you know that?”
“Hand it over.” Davi held out his hand, expecting me to just hand it to him.
“Jaxon gave it to me, and therefore I’m going to keep it.” I couldn’t look him in the eyes when I said it. Confrontation was not my strong suit. I hated being so paranoid, but this whole thing seemed a little sketchy. How did they know I wasn’t with Jaxon?
“That fuckin’ thing may be the only way I can save my brother and my friend, and you’re keeping it?” Davi said in disbelief and anger.
“Those guys weren’t the ones after us,” I argued back, getting jittery from the confrontation. “So why do they have him?”
“The B.O.M get their victims from various sources. It’s not uncommon for them to broadcast a deal for the return of loved ones like this.” The woman explained.
