Page 118 of Reaper Flame

“Send the photo to me before you go,” Zander ordered.

She frowned in confusion. “Why?”

“While we wait,” Zander said, “there’s still one person we have to show the photo to...”

Vixen did as he asked then took the phone and vanished upstairs. A lot was riding on the picture. Hiram had to believe the Blackbird was alive to organize an exchange.

* * *

“Gross.” My nose wrinkled at the smell of the underground bunker, and I avoided looking in the direction of the ice bucket where I suspected the odor was coming from. Giles’s shit, and the permeating smell of death, would reek the place out for months with its lack of airflow.

Rocky held his stomach like he was going to vomit.

West grinned and clapped Rocky on the back. “You need a stronger stomach.”

“I can’t help it,” Rocky gasped between breaths, managing to get control of himself again. “It smells like someone died in here!”

West snickered. Well, it wasn’t far from the truth. Next time the Sevens built underground, Zander needed to factor an underground prison into his floor plan instead of a man cave.

“Good morning, Giles,” Zander said.

Giles hadn’t moved from the spot where we’d left him. He flinched at the sight of West. If I wasn’t intent on bringing Mieko home, I’d have made a smart quip about how far the lofty had fallen. As much as I loved it when bad guys got their retributions, there was something pathetic about the creature he’d become.

“Did you find her?” Giles croaked through chapped lips. “Vixen’s girlfriend?”

“Not yet,” I replied. “We need you to look at something.”

Giles’s gaze shot fearfully over to West. After his interrogation last night, it’d take a while for Giles not to be jumpy around him again. Fear would work to our advantage. He had to be honest.

“We won’t hurt you if you do what we ask,” I said, “right, West?”

“If you insist,” West grumbled.

“We need you to tell us if you recognize this place,” Zander said, passing Giles the cell to show him the photograph of Mieko. He was the only one who dared get close enough to the whiff zone without a hazmat suit.

“Well?” Zander pressed. “Do you know where this is or not?”

“They could be anywhere,” Giles stammered. “It’s dark.”

“No fucking shit,” West hissed, clicking his knuckles. “This is a waste of time.”

“Look again,” I said.

Giles squinted at the image, and his eyes widened slightly.Bingo!I’d learned to read micro-expressions, a skill honed through many hours playing poker. Something changed in Giles’s face. He knew something... or thought he did.

“What is it?” I asked. “What do you see?”

“N-n-nothing,” Giles stuttered too quickly.

“This isn’t a time to fuck around with us, Giles,” I snarled, baring my teeth. “We’re not afraid to do whatever it takes to get answers. Maybe West can convince you to talk?”

West stepped forward menacingly, casting Giles in his giant shadow.

“No!” Giles wailed, holding up his hands to surrender. “Okay, I’ll tell you! But I can’t be sure.”

“You want to make Hiram pay, don’t you?” I kneeled down to look him in the eye and closed off my nostrils. “Think about what he did to Penelope.”

“Of course I do,” Giles said, shaking and pulling his knees up to his chest. “It’s his fault they’re both dead!”

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