Page 118 of Taste of Blood
“He reeks of blood. I can smell it all the way across the street.”
“He’s right,” Eddie agrees.
Zeke looks at me. “Think you could get something out of him if we grab him?”
The thought is intriguing, but then I recall my last torture session. “Ordinarily I’d say yes, but so far these guys have been incredibly loyal. They’re like a vault when it comes to ratting out their boss.”
Zeke winks at me. “Let’s give it a shot anyway.” He calls down to the guys in the van. “Think you could grab him without killing him?”
“Not going to make any promises, but we’ll give it a try. Just watch our backs.”
“You got it.”
We keep our eyes peeled as TJ and Eddie slink out of the alley and dart across the street, falling into step behind the vamp who just left the bar. They’re about ten steps behind him when he veers down a side street, taking him out of our sight.
“I don’t like this,” I say.
“Me neither,” Zeke agrees. “TJ, Eddie. Abort.”
Something garbled comes over the comms, then it goes silent.
“Shit,” Zeke snaps. “TJ? Eddie? Can you hear me?”
We look at each other then jump up and sprint across the roof. The comms rattle, then TJ’s voice comes over them. “Eddie’s down.”
He appears at the end of the street, bloodied and barely standing. Zeke and I practically slide down the ladder and rush across the street while Zeke tells the guys on the roof to watch our backs.
When we reach TJ, we can see he’s been cut in several places. How did this happen? They were only out of our sight for a minute.
“What happened?” Zeke asks him while I duck around the corner to find Eddie.
He’s lying on the ground with a knife buried in his neck, his body surrounded by blood. The vamp they were following has a crossbow bolt in the chest and is in the process of dying.
I pull the knife out of Eddie’s throat and help him to his feet, stopping to pick up the crossbow. Wouldn’t do to leave that or the poison lying around for the Python’s men to find.
“Sorry I had to kill him,” Eddie coughs.
“Not worth dying for,” I assure him.
“He was waiting for us when we turned. Caught me by surprise.”
Do these guys have eyes in the back of their heads, or did they know we were here and just sent one man out as a decoy? I don’t like that thought.
Zeke and I get TJ and Eddie back to the van then call up to the guys on the roof.
“We’re heading back to the warehouse. We’ll wait by your van if you’re coming.”
“We’ll stay here for a while. Looks like that bar means something to them.”
“OK,” Zeke says. “See you back at the ranch.”
He starts the van and pulls out of the alley, heading for the docks.
“They knew,” I mutter under my breath. “Like I said before, we’re in this over our heads.”
Zeke glances over at me and nods. “I’m starting to think you’re right.”
He pulls the wallet and phones out of his pocket and sets them on the console. “Maybe we can find something on one of these to help.”
