AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kicking myself into gear, I rushed for the front counter, digging in a low shelf between two display cases until I found what I was looking for. I began folding down a paper bag, my fingers working deftly until I was left with a good size chunk of paper. Peering over the display cases, I could see Billy Parker slamming his truck door shut to make his way back inside.
I let out a breath of relief when he veered left across the lot, going around the back of the plaza to the rear entrance.
Once he was out of sight, I hopped the counter and unlocked the front door, stuffing the wad of paper into the lock slot. There were no bells or anything else I’d have to worry about. If I needed to make a quick getaway, I should be able to slip out undetected through the front.
I padded to the right of the display case and sank into a crouch in the nook between the edge of the case and the wall just as the back door banged back open and Billy re-entered the shop. The exhaust fan from the display case pumped warm air around my ankles, but at least the soft noise of it would mute any sound from my shuffling feet as I maneuvered myself into place.
From where I crouched, facing the back of the shop, I could see the rear entrance door and the door to the massive walk-in cooler. If the Crows tried to come in through the front, I might be seen, but if they went around back I would be safely hidden from view by the metal cart piled with stickers and pre-cut butcher paper in front of me.
I was banking a lot on them taking the back entrance.
And this was only going to work if they attacked Billy Parker here in his shop. If they waited for him to leave to snatch him then this whole thing was just a total waste of my fucking time.
But it was the first bit of useful information I’d gotten. It would have been idiotic of me not to at leasttry. The Crows poked the wrong fucking bear and they would see what happened when the bear hit back no matter how long it took me.
A taste of their own medicine wouldn’t kill them.
They tried to blackmail me first, after all.
The wait was longer than I hoped. Twice, Billy wandered too close to the front of the shop, taking breaks from sawing apart the massive cut of beef hanging in his cooler. Twice, I’d had to disappear into a tiny ball of black fabric and dark hair to avoid being seen. If he wasn’t at least six beers deep, there was a good chance he’d have spotted me by now.
The guy liked to talk to himself, I’d learned. Though maybemutterwas a more accurate word since I couldn’t really tell what he was saying beyond a word here and there. Something aboutlittle bitchesandthat hoe.
He was an asshole. It was easy to tell. Something in the drunken swagger. In the way he carried himself. In his snarling upper lip and the way he tossed back violent swigs of his beer, seeming to grow more enraged with each one he finished.
His buddy came and took the truck, honking twice before he pulled out of the lot.
Billy Parker had a lot to mutter about that guy. Apparently he was a no-good piece of shit, but Billy was really hoping he’d score for them both. I wasn’t able to get the best look at his face, but Billy was a tall, lanky guy. With lean muscle and a pin-up girl neck tatt. His skinny legs swimming in the bootcut jeans he wore. He ditched his Mötley Crüe t-shirt sometime past eleven, working bare chested, a dusting of dark brown curling hairs on his chest making him seem somehow even more pale than he was.
I was about to call it and head home, drawn by the promise of a joint and bad horror movies, when I heard a car veer off the main road and into the lot. I wiggled in my little hidey nook to get a better look, finding a silver sedan slowly rolling through the parking lot. I ducked my head as it passed Parker and Sons, but I could still make out the shapes of three figures inside.
Where the hell were they getting all these different cars from?
I mean, I had my own ideas, but their supply of borrowed vehicles seemed to be endless.
The car vanished around the edge of the lot, and I closed my eyes, hearing the faint sound of an engine rumbling somewhere in the distance. I was willing to bet they’d parked out behind that closed down pharmacy. That was where I would’ve parked.
The idling stopped.
I held my breath.
Thebangof the door being kicked into the opposite wall rattled the building and rang in my ears.
I sank impossibly lower, drawing out my phone as I waited for the perfect shot.
“Oh, Billy boy!” Rook rasped, and three reapers spilled into the shop.
Dressed all in black, they appeared to almost blend into the shadows. The stark white of theirScreammasks with their hollow black eyes and overexaggerated smiles making their heads seem to float in midair.
Dammit.
Unless they said something to give themselves away or removed the masks, any footage would be pretty much useless.
I ground my teeth as I switched my camera screen to record and nestled it against the corner of the metal trolley to get a clear and unwavering picture.
A clatter from the meat cooler and rushing footsteps.
The tallest of them, Corvus, threw his foot into the cooler door before Billy could lock them out, not even flinching as it thudded against his boot. Between their dark bodies, I saw Billy Parker fly backward, knocking into the hanging meat before slipping to the floor with a shout.
