Page 103 of Wrath

“I’m gettin’ bored. These fuckers ain’t takin’ the bait!” Wrath slaps his hands on his lap before he gets up from his chair.

Sliding his knife outta his belt, he moves to the stern where we got a member of the Reapers hanging from the hoist by his ankles. He’s been quiet for some time now, but he starts to make a fuss when he sees Wrath approaching. The fucker wriggles like a fish outta water, his eyeballs burst from their sockets and when Wrath stabs him deep in his shoulder, and slices another deep cut through his flesh, he screams into the gag that's tied around his mouth.

I smile at the prospect who’s tied up on the floor and exhale a cloud of smoke into the fresh morning air.

“These sharks mustn’t be hungry today. Marshall said out here would be full of ‘em.” I stand up and join my friend at the stern, looking over the edge and waiting for some action. We caught this prick and his buddy smashing up one of Burlusconni’s nightclubs and, knowing now what happened to Willow, we were never gonna turn down a chance to make one suffer.

“There'll be one lurkin’ out there somewhere,” Wrath assures me, no doubt getting off in the panic he’s seeing in the Reaper's face.

“You’ve had your fun, you’ve made your point. Let him go.” The prospect finds some balls and yells, and both me and Wrath glance over our shoulders, and laugh at him

“Let him go?” Wrath pouts. “Ya hear that Ruck? He wants us to let him go.”

The Reaper whose hair is almost touching the waterline, frantically shakes his head as I pull out my blade and stretch up ready to slice through the rope.

“NO… I didn’t mean that! I mean take us back. Let us go home.”

“Home?” I leave the fucker hanging and head toward the kid, crouching in front of him and tilting my head.

“And where might home be? Because it sure as fuck ain’t here.” I make an indent under his chin with the point of my knife.

His breathing gets faster, he’s looking like he’s gonna crap his pants and when he starts to sob I shake my head at the pathetic waste of a ballsack.

“If this is what the Reapers are rearin’, we ain’t got shit to worry about.” I laugh across to Wrath who’s far too distracted by whatever he’s reading on his phone.

“You on that thing again? What’s the matter, wife wantcha home?” I tease him as I straighten back on my feet.

“Nah, this is from Jessie’s old lady.” He passes the phone to me so I can read it for myself. Soon as we got this fucker we sent a picture of his ID to her so she could run one of her checks, and I’m assuming this is a report of what she discovered.

“You can’t kill us. We were just takin’ orders.” The prospect shakes his head, looking more and more fearful by the second. These kids Ronnie’s recruiting ain’t got a clue about what they're getting into. “We were just there to cause some chaos, to let people know what we’re about. No one got hurt. He doesn’t deserve to die.” He looks across at his friend as he bleeds into the ocean.

“You think this guy here’s innocent?” Wrath laughs, as he opens up a file on his phone and shows the kid a mug shot of his friend.

“Jonathan William Draper.” Wrath clears his throat as he starts reading out his wrap sheet. “Arrested and charged for three separate accounts of rape. A home invasion in an elderly couple usin’ a firearm, and assault…” He moves his attention from the prospect to our shark bait. “… on his wife. I got the photos of the mess he made outta her. Ya wanna see ‘em?” Wrath adds.

“Still think he don't deserve to die?” I check once we’ve listened to just a little bit of the shit Maddy managed to pull up on him.

“Ya see, Long Beach is our home and we don’t want men like JW, here, in our town. Reapers have a very different opinion than we do on what wearin’ that 1 percent badge means. They got no morals and no respect. You gotta ask yourself if you wanna be a part of that because you're gonna make an important decision today.” Wrath crouches down to his level.

“We’re gonna kill your friend.” Wrath gets real with him. “And then, we’re gonna let you go.”

The kid sighs with relief.

“Once that happens you're gonna have to choose what you do next.”

While Wrath explains I hum the Jaws theme to build up some anticipation and JW continues to wriggle like a snake on speed.

“You can either leave our town, toss that cut you’re wearin’ in the nearest dumpster and attempt to make good of your life, or…you can run back to the Reapers. You can tell your brothers what ya saw here, and you can warn ‘em that we’re comin’ for every single one of ‘em.”

The boy says nothing, just looks down at his feet and Wrath gets up and leaves him to think on it.

“What you sayin’?” He makes his way over to join me at the back of the boat.

“I say we cut this dead fuckin’ weight, and get back to the clubhouse in time for breakfast.” I step up on the edge and keep humming that tune as I hack my knife through the rope that’s keeping JW hanging by his ankles. Then, just as the last fibers slip through my blade, I smile at him darkly and watch the terror in his eyes before he goes under.

“You’re fuckin’ crazy!” The prospect shakes his head like he’s just realized how deep this shit, he’s got himself into, is.

“Come on, let’s get back.” Wrath pulls the anchor while I watch the skin on the kid’s face turn paler.

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