Page 53 of Pitbull
“You remember Joshua Malos?”
“Yeah?”
“Turns out he’s related to Penrod,” Pitbull said. “I think all of this is revenge for his death.”
“Who’s Joshua Malos?” Mozart asked.
“We’ll explain later.” Pitbull said. “Let’s see what else we can find and get out of here.”
The finished up at the scene—they found a couple laptops which Tex cloned from the safety of Mouth’s place and after turning them off again, Crash and Pitbull headed for the exit. At the foot of the stairs, his ear piece crackled.
“Code red,” Zero announced. “They’re on their way back.”
“Evac!” Beast ordered. “And I mean now.”
Pitbull checked to ensure Crash was on his heels before they darted out the back door. Crash quickly locked it and the two men blended into the darkness of the houses beside Penrod’s. Pitbull stopped, and waited, watching the car turn into the driveway and the headlights went out.
“Pit…” Crash whispered.
“I know,” Pitbull replied.
With his head back in the game, Pitbull jogged with Crash by a few houses before dipping along an alley and right in time for their ride to come around the corner. He gripped Crash by the shoulder and as someone pulled him into the truck, he kind of dragged Crash in with him.
Quickly, the tuck was moving again and before he knew it, the door was locked.
“So, who is Joshua?” Crash asked.
“Long story short,” Barbie said. “Pitbull had to shoot him.”
“Mission go bad?” Mozart asked.
“Yeah.” Beast added.
“It was me or Joshua,” Mouth said. “I spent two hours talking him down. And I thought he was giving up. I mean, he seemed as if he was giving up. Then he lifted his gun at me and Pit shot him.”
“So, what’s the issue?” Crash asked. “You don’t ever lift a weapon at someone—ever.”
“Well, apparently, now I’m the asshole.” Pitbull grumbled. “He went after Claudia because he knew no matter what happened, I’d show up. Tex was right. Penrod knew, no matter how angry I was at Claudia, it would rip my soul apart if anything happened to her.”
“So, this wasn’t about sexual slavery or anything like that,” Mouth mused.
“Nope.” Pitbull peeled off his gloves and shoved them into his pocket. “Just good, old fashioned revenge.”
“What’s the plan now?” Crash asked.
“We find out what’s on those computers,” Pitbull said. “Then, we demolish his world. Beast?”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” CIRO’s leader said.
As the darkness prolonged,Anke paced the room behind Tex. The wait for Pitbull to come back tore at her. She wondered how Miracle did this—how could she watch Beast leave each time, not knowing if he’d be back or what state he would be in when he did?
“Anke, you’re drivin’ be crazy,” Tex said. “Sit down for a second, would you?”
“What does your wife think about all of this?” Anke asked instead.
“Mel understands,” Tex said, still typing. “She perhaps doesn’t like it but she knows it’s in my bones. She knows this team and my guys mean the world to me and as long as I have breath I wouldn’t leave their sides.”
“But isn’t she afraid?”
