Page 30 of Dark Endures

“T&T Industries sends you guys checks. They’re mercenaries for hire, not a knitting club. Unless I’m wrong and you really are a bunch of steroid-ridden grannies that get paid millions to knit and spill the tea.” Everett Jaymes folds his arms with a grin.

Ethan isn’t going to be happy to hear that this kid hacked his system.

Pit gets into Everett’s face. “Stealing from killers makes you dumb as a bag of rocks. What’s stopping us from shooting you now and taking our money back?”

“That dead phone over there.” He nods towards Enzo. “If I don’t do something in the next twenty minutes, it will send information to the cops and the bunch of you will end up in jail for the rest of your lives. Before you ask, I have backup plans for my backup plans.”

Why would Everett go to all this effort to steal almost nothing from us? Why would I do it… “You’re testing us.”

His eyes widen, but his smirk never falters. “At least one of you isn’t a moron.”

“Maybe we should just shoot him for the fun of it. A little graze or maybe take a finger or two that would discourage him from stealing things.” Pit leans against the bar and pops a chip into his mouth.

“In some countries, they take a hand when you steal to warn people that they’re a thief.” Enzo fiddles with Everett’s phone.

The kid doesn’t even flinch. He’s got nerves of steel. At this age, with some training, he would make an amazing team leader. Leader…hmmm. Let’s not get any ideas yet.

Why would a brilliant kid steal petty cash? “Enzo, how long has our guest been visiting us?”

He opens the security terminal and checks. “The first time facial recognition can find him in the system was two weeks ago. Everett Jaymes moved into an apartment in Dorm One three days later.”

Interesting. “And what has he been doing while he’s been here?”

Enzo fast-forwards through the videos. “Playing ball with the pledges, eating, and talking to everyone.”

“Should we go toss his dorm room?” Pit flips another chip into his mouth.

“Or we could just toss him about for a while.”

Axe isn’t fooling me or the kid. They’re impressed by how calm Everett is.

“Why don’t you just tell us why you’re doing this?” I lean back against my desk and push the button opening the curtains.

“They said you had a collection up here.” Everett stands up and walks over to the glass. “Has one of these ever escaped?”

“No.” Why would he ask that?

“These could kill a kid.”

They could kill everyone on The Street if they wanted to. “None of my kids will ever be hurt by one of these snakes.”

Everett turns to me. “How can you be so sure of that?”

Because that room has better security than most military bases. “Because I am.”

“I bet I could get inside there.”

And I believe you could. “But you won’t. Because breaking into a room full of venomous snakes would endanger more than just yourself.”

“So, you’ve decided I’m not a thief.” Everett casually leans back against the wall of death, folding his scrawny arms across his impossibly thin frame.

“You’re definitely a thief. But this wasn’t about stealing from us. This was a test. You wanted to see who we were and what we would do.”

“How do you know that?” Pit asks.

“Because it’s what I would have done if I had the skills. We vetted Emilia, Louisella, and Viola before we let them near the kids.” More like Emilia showed me how the world could be if I was willing to work hard.

“Louisella was crazy. I was sure she was going to kill one of us.” Pit takes a long pull on his drink.

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