Page 143 of Judas

“I thank you gentlemen for your contribution.” She purrs.

Dark eyes cut toward the both of us, roving up and down as if she’s sizing each of us up. Babel says nothing, still stiff and guarded in the face of something like this. In a way, Carnifex is a skin trade of sorts. There’s always the possibility that Lucien will be sold off, given away to another organization and used for his capabilities but I paid more for him to never leave. While in most cases, you buy a body in hopes to own it, Carnifex works backward. The more you pay, the longer they keep the captive.

I swear, if he ever shows up in front of my girls again, I’ll hunt every one of the people who run the institution down and murder them on national news. Consequences be damned.

“Do I have your word that he will remain isolated and never leave?”

“Of course, Havok. We are an organization of integrity. He will serve the sentence he has been given. Hosea 8:7 God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

Chapter forty-nine

Babalon

By god, it’s been a busy fucking day but that don’t matter. I’ll gladly drive myself into the ground to get the hell out of here. We’ve all been in this damn town, the now too-small apartment, for far too long. And while I don’t truly know everyone that well, I know exhaustion and frustration when I see it. You tend to pick up these things as an occupational hazard, if you want to call being a prisoner a job. Each and every one of us are ready to leave, go back to what we know, or start something completely new. Whatever that may be, we wouldn’t be the family we are if we didn’t leave with a bang.

“We have everything?” I ask, reaching for the trunk door of the car then drag it down with a harsh thud— locking it into place.

Kace steps up to my left, hands me my phone and a road flare. Babel has a whole box of them in the SUV, err… Kace does. They were in the crate of torture devices he was using on Lucien. Not that it would fit, but I am glad that the box is in the SUV and will not be leaving with us.

Babel has been tasked with disposing of everything. How and where he will be doing that, I don’t know and truly don’t care. The further away the evidence is the better. Speaking of evidence, that’s what we are going to take care of now. Erase things from existence that may still be lingering up in the apartment and severing our ties to this place.

All of us are dressed head to toe in black. Babel’s leaning off to the side of his truck, arms crossed over his broad chest, where he waits for us three to do what we need. Kace is holding onto a container of gasoline off to my left and Sadie is to my right with two pillow cases we stole from the apartment. I don’t think they will be missed in the anarchy we are about to leave behind.

“Yeah, everything is out. It’s clean too, you sure you want to do this?” Kace asks.

“Of course she’s sure, why wouldn’t she be?” Sadie asks, rolling her eyes. Kace grunts at her, and I smirk. These two are entertaining to watch, I can’t wait to see their relationship grow. That’s if she doesn’t drive him into the grave first.

“Yes, I am sure. You block the cameras?”

“There aren’t any.”

“Of course there are, why wouldn’t there be any?”

“Ask your boyfriend.”

“Jesus Christ, he’s not my boyfriend!”

“Mom has a boyfriend?”

“NO!”

Rubbing my forehead, I groan at both of them. Kace laughs and grabs my hip, pulling me in to kiss my temple. Fucker is going to tease me about Ra for a long ass time, and as funny as it may be, it irks me sometimes. Which is fine, I’ll get his ass back later.

“My guess is, he made sure you had access to a place where you could do all kinds of depraved shit and not get caught. Good thinking on his part, better for us anyway. Let’s get this shit doneand over with. We have a plane to catch, no time to delay or fuck with asinine shit.”

“Why are we doing this again?” Sadie asks, swinging the pillow cases around like she’s trying to spin fire. I think kids call it poi spinning? She has her moments but she’s much more settled and less unpredictable now. I’m happy seeing her this way, more confident in herself and with us. We will need to make sure she’s with a reputable psychiatrist once we get back to the states; don’t want her to have to fight herself again. If she does, well, she will have better help.

“Cover our tracks.” Kace answers.

“Why the whole building though, wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on the apartment itself?”

“Nope, you take out the whole building. It will already look like arson, want to focus the fire Marshall away from the area you’re intending to destroy. Then, as the heat rises the trace evidence cooks more. We start the fire inside, near the center, it won’t be noticed as quickly. Allowing it to burn longer, hotter—“

“Kace, you can stop now.” I say, walking away from the two even though he doesn’t stop.

“She needs to learn.”

“We won’t be teaching her how to commit crimes, asshole.”

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