Page 55 of Reaper's Rage

“Fucking don’t let him escape.” Trask shouts. “I shot him, but if he gets away, he’ll bury us.”

“Holy shit. I didn’t hear that when I watched the video.” I say.

“Too much noise.” Maestro explains. “I stripped the audio into several layers, so we have everything said that night by everyone.”

“Is it enough to get the cops off my back?” I ask.

“The cops still want to talk to you, but yeah, once they arrest Trask and get him in the box, you should be home free.” Byte says.

I pace the room and consider what they’re saying. “We can’t go to the cops yet.” I tell them. “If they go after Trask now, they’ll find themselves in a war with the Spades. I talked to Deion’s cousin two days ago and asked him to convince Deion of Trask’s disloyalty. We need Deion to see this video first, to make sure he knows what Trask was doing with Renee. If he knows Trask was dealing in skin, he’ll turn him over to the cops himself.”

“Or kill him.” Dante states, and I nod. Because yeah, that’s also an option. “The cops need to arrest Trask in order to clear you.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I need to talk to Deion. If I can lay it all out for him and explain that Trask needs to go to jail, then I think I can convince him to follow our lead.” I offer.

Dante nods. “Ok, see if you can talk to Deion without Trask overhearing. If Trask knows what we’ve got on him, he’ll bolt.”

Pulling out my phone, I call Killian.

“Randall, good. I was about to call you.” Killian answers. “Deion is on his way over, alone.”

“Good, because I’ll need your help with him. I want to send you a video that he needs to watch.” I respond.

“Why do I need to help him watch a video?” Killian asks, and I can hear the smirk in his tone.

“I need you to keep him calm after he watches it, asshole. He’s going to be livid once he sees it, and I need him to listen to me and do what I say.” I explain.

“Must be some video. I can’t promise anything but give me a few minutes to talk to him and we’ll call you back when I think he’s ready to be reasonable.”

“I don’t have the years you’d need to make Deion reasonable.” I chide him. “But call me when he’s at least calm enough to listen.” I hang up and turn back to my brothers.

Dante clasps me on the back as Spark hits his keyboard. “I’m sending you the video to forward to Killian, along with the separate audio feeds from Maestro. You can send Killian what he needs to convince Deion.”

“While we wait, let’s go over what we found on good old Reverend Teddy’s laptop. Because this sick fucker needs to be sent directly to hell.” Byte says.

I study the images Spark displays on the wall monitor. Images of eight young women appear on the screen, a kaleidoscope of color and features. The only similarity between them is their youth. Until you read the information under each image. All of them have reported missing dates. Spark types a few more keys and additional information displays for each.

“Reverend Dickhead had these images on his computer, along with a file for each. We ran a search and determined that each girl has an open missing person file on them or had one at one time. They disappeared over the course of four years, with each disappearing two to three months after the previous girl.

I point to the girl occupying the bottom right corner of the screen. “That’s the girl in the video.”

“It is. Her name is Tanya Webster. Hers is the only incomplete file on the reverend’s laptop, which makes sense. Wylan stole it before he finished with her. She’s also one of the few whose current whereabouts we know. By all accounts, she should be dead. A couple of kids found her body dumped in a park late one night. Someone beat her badly and likely dumped her when they thought she was dead. She survived, but she didn’t give the cops any information about who hurt her.“

“She’s Deion’s girlfriend.” I share along with the information I learned from Killian in our previous conversation. “Fuck, when he sees that video, he’ll go ballistic. He’s been after the guy who hurt her. No way can Killian keep him from killing Trask and the reverend, even if it costs him all his men or even his life.”

Dante takes out his phone. “I’ll send Shield and Flame over to Killian’s to stop Deion if he tries to leave.”

I nod as I consider what I plan to say to Deion to convince him to work with us and to not go off half-cocked.

“Can I finish with what we found on the reverend’s computer?” Spark asks. “Because I think you need to hear everything.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” I say to him and shift my focus back to the screen.

“This won’t take long.” He assures me before continuing. “The reverend kept notes, detailed notes. He documented everything. He followed a pattern for each. Every quarter, he purchased from Renee a list of three to four girls who she identified as virgins. He’d pick from the list and then, within a couple of weeks, she’d deliver the girl to him. He’d rape each girl multiple times a day for three months. Then he’d sell the girl on to a new buyer or give her to one of his men as a reward.”

“What the fuck?” I explode. “Was he breaking them? Training them for other buyers?”

“No.” Byte says. “The asshole had a whole manifesto on his computer about his plans. He believes he’s God’s chosen son. That he needs to produce the next heir. And the only way to do that is to impregnate a virgin. If the girl remains barren after three months, her womb is no longer pure and he must try again with a different girl.”

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