Page 22 of Dark Encounter
Chapter 9
Erik
My dreams the night before had been all about her. The sound of her coming on the phone the night before almost too much. It was a new week, and I had to get a hold of myself. She was in danger at all times just knowing me, but quickly becoming my girl? Deadly.
I walked out of the house and made my way to my bike, stopping short as Nate's car pulled into the drive.
The sun hadn't risen yet. What the fuck was Nate doing up?
"Hey, man." Nate got out of the car and walked toward me, extending his hand. "Sorry, it's so early. I couldn't sleep last night and went to the diner and this guy showed up. I want you to meet him. I think it'll be good for both of you."
"I'm Cole." The guy extended his hand as he walked toward me.
"You're a cop, right?" I lifted my eyebrow and smirked at the irony of the situation. Of course, the rookie detective looking into Kadia was making friends with Nate. It was fucked up on too many levels to discern that early in the morning. I shook his hand firmly. He knew exactly who I was without a doubt.
"Yeah, but Nate here is trying to talk me out of it." He reached up and ran his hand through his dark-brown hair. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I come from the streets of Cali. I just wanted to get away, and having owned a security business before; I thought becoming a detective would help me move on."
"Move on from what?" A sense of foreboding raced down by back.
"From a fucked up childhood and a horrible divorce." He slipped his hands into his pockets. "I've been watching you guys, waiting to see if you would get involved."
"Involved in what?" I glanced over at Nate, wondering how the fuck my best friend got mixed up with the law... in a good way. Stranger things had happened.
"In the deaths at Kadia."
"Nope. Fredrick Carrington is your man." I chuckled. "And he came by this past weekend to make sure you didn't come looking for him."
"Oh yeah?" The guy didn't seem the least bit worried. "You supposed to off me?"
"No. We don't kill cops unless we have to." I pursed my lips as Nate spoke up.
"So I think me and Cole have come to an agreement, but of course, it's your call on whether we move forward with things."
"You guys dating now?" I glanced between the two of them.
"Fuck you too, Erik." Nate reached up and ran his hand over his chin. "Cole's willing to step into being a plant for us at the station, as a detective."
"And in return?" I glanced back over to Cole, not believing our luck. A rookie cop with a bad side? It was too good to be true.
"I want a place to stay, a little bit of money and protection should things go to hell." He shrugged, far more relaxed than he should have been.
"Alright. I'll talk to the old man, but consider it done. We'll have you meet with him soon to lock things down." I extended my hand. "You sure about this? Once you belong to us, there is no leaving."
Nate stiffened, and I hated the fact that he thought of our arrangement as a restriction of his freedom. He had anything he could possibly want and then some because of the syndicate, but he didn't see it that way.
"I'm sure." Cole shook my hand firmly.
"Great, now get the fuck outta here. I have to go to work." I walked to the bike, trying to get my mind on the hit I had in front of me later that morning. Cole and Nate could work out the details with my father. Once again, I was getting pulled into parts of the business that had nothing to do with me.
I was a hitman. Death on delivery, and that's all I was. It was all I knew to be.
* * *
A shiver ran through me as I wiped the barrel of my gun and slipped it in the back of my jeans. The three dead bodies on the floor would be found by lunch time seeing that I was standing in a well-known restaurant kitchen downtown.
"Why don't you fuckers learn?" I turned and walked out into the early morning sunlight, breathing in deeply. I'd been on more kills in the last six months than the entirety of my adult life. My father was slipping deeper and deeper into darkness, and the idea of taking a life had become almost too easy for him.
Of course, it was easy. He just sent me.
