Page 111 of Property of Bones

Behind him, one of his men quietly disappears…dragged backward behind the SUV without a sound.

Muerte dusts off his hands. “Anyway. See? Good deed done. I’ll be off now.”

“I want Sunny,” Spike snaps, keeping his attention. “Where the fuck is she?”

“No can do,el Presidente.That fiery little thing belongs to me now. And remember, if I don’t check in every thirty minutes, she gets a bullet in the skull. No use for her if I’m dead.”

Another of his men suddenly jerks back out of sight…choked off before he can even cry out.

Muerte keeps rambling, too busy basking in his own bravado to notice the shift.

“What was the point of giving one of them back?” I ask, stepping closer, voice sharp and low.

“Trust,my dear boy,” Muerte says, smug. “A gesture of goodwill.”

“I think that ship sailed,” Skip mutters.

“Where’s the traitor?” Spike demands.

“Max?” Muerte grins. “He’s back home guarding my new little plaything. Handy guy, that one. I knoweverythingabout this place now. Every room. Every hiding place. Every member. Every secret.”

That’s when the last man drops. Throat slit and crumples beside the SUV like a ragdoll.

And Muerte?

Still hasn’t noticed.

“Now, we both know that’s not true,” a voice calls out.

Muerte freezes.

Turns.

And there’s Max, standing atop the SUV, gun in hand, boots braced, eyes cold as death.

“Okay, this,” Muerte says, gesturing to Max standing atop the SUV, “I wasn’t expecting.”

“Any last words?” Max asks, voice cold as steel.

“The girl will die.”

Max smiles. “No…she won’t.”

“Don’t kill him, Max,” Spike orders.

“He’ll just come after them again,” Max mutters, jaw clenched.

“No,” I growl, stepping forward. “He won’t.”

“Bones and I set up his special room,” Skip adds with a grin. “And those answers you were looking for? I bet our guy here can carve them out of him. Get it?Carvethem?”

Skip laughs at his own joke, bent over at the waist, slapping his knee like a maniac.

“Skip, take Abby in with Sunny,” Spike says, steady and controlled. “Tank, escort this fucker to the basement.”

“They’ll know it was you, Max,” Muerte says, still smug despite his shaking hands.

“I don’t give a fuck,” Max fires back. “I’ve got nothing left to live for anyway. No family. Nothing but myself. Let them come.”

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