Page 10 of Dark Endures

My stomach clenches as we move on to the last order of business before we can celebrate with Pit. “In all the years we’ve been together, I never thought I would have to say anything like this. All of you are my brothers. I trust you with my life and would give mine to save yours. But we’ve gone over Marlie’s abduction dozens of times. And the only possible explanation is that one of us is a rat.”

Everyone starts murmuring to each other. Their voices blend into a mixture of shock and anger, mirroring my own.

“How can you be so sure there’s a rat?” Jacko starts to pace.

I look over at Dyce, who is now sitting on the bar holding Cow. There’s so much rage and guilt built up in her that I don’t know how she hasn’t exploded yet. “There’s a video. Plant found her. No one knew where Marlie was, including her, except for Deathadders.” It shouldn’t have happened. It couldn’t have happened. But it did. “The only phone she had was a burner ofours that she took. And the only call she made from it was to 911.”

“There has to be an explanation.” Onyx taps his leg. “No one in this room would ever do that.”

“There were ten others that knew.” And most likely, one of them betrayed us.

All the brothers sit silent, going over the list in their heads of those trusted enough to know about our safe houses and who we’re currently protecting.

Enzo shakes his head. “Most of those are our children. Children we protected and cared for when no one else would have. None of them would have done that.”

“The kids from The Street are just as trustworthy as each of us. None of them would have ever ratted out a woman’s location knowing that she was likely to be trafficked. If anything, they would understand her plight more. Not to mention, each of them has demonstrated just how trustworthy they are on numerous occasions.” Jacko lets the frustration we’re all feeling show in his words.

“We need to find some other reason. There’s got to be something else. Someone outside of our gang.” Ace always wants to see the best in people.

“Find me the explanation. We all need to work on this together.” Though I’ll be running an investigation on my own.

“What if…” The question hangs in the air, suffocating all of us.

There’s only one answer. It’s the same for any man who would hurt a woman on purpose. “We feed that person to the snakes just like we would any other rat.” The beautiful and venomous snakes lining my wall are well-fed. If it really is one of us… There has to be another answer.

Otto

Mindy

Willow Street, early in the morning, is a completely different place. It’s like waking up in the fifties instead of modern Urbium. Kids wander around the streets with backpacks in hand, talking to their friends. Parents filter in and out of Fiona’s bakery, always carrying a coffee cup as they go and usually a little bag filled with goodness.

My granola bar tastes like crunchy cardboard comparatively. But I don’t have money to waste on those little luxuries.

It was bad enough that I had to take a few hours off of work for a long lunch with Waylon last week, and now, the entire morning to train with Otto today.

Who names their kid Otto? That’s an old man’s name at best. Maybe he’s an older man. That would be less distracting than the hot man squad that seems to run around here.

I don’t want to rush to work, yet all I want to do is get my hands on those amazing snakes. This street just begs to be strolled down, enjoying the atmosphere and leisurely waking up. Like I ever get to do that with my dog walking job.

When am I going to sleep?

Maddox wants me to work forty hours a week. Forty hours!

“You seem deep in thought for your first day of work.”

I almost jump two feet in the air. Right next to me is the crazy woman from the other day. “Do you always sneak up on people?”

“Aren’t you excited?”

How does she even know I got a job, let alone this is my first day? “Where did you come from?”

“Here and there.” She waves a hand nonchalantly. “That doesn’t matter. What does matter is this job of yours. Are you excited to start?”

“I am.” And surprisingly, that isn’t just a lie to make her go away faster.

The crazy woman is wearing rubies this morning. So many rubies. My mother would say she’s trying too hard but would be completely jealous, nonetheless.

“Good. What about the men?”

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