Page 34 of Wicked Things
She huffs bitter laughter down her nose. “You’re a spirited woman. I’m sure Zeth loves that about you, but it’s going to get you killed one of these days. Now. I have someone I’d like you to meet. Though…” She grins, her eyes sparking with malice. “I believe the two of you are already be acquainted.”
SIXTEEN
ZETH
An hour’s drive. That’s how far she took Sloane. If I were Alaska and I was planning on kidnapping the woman I love, I would have taken her to the other side of the world. No, that wouldn’t have been far enough. I would have taken her to the other side of the fucking universe. Because the moment I find Sloane and she’s safe is the moment the killing will begin. I don’t care what her motives are. I don’t care what she wants from me. Alaska won’t get what she’s after. She’ll get my gun pointed at her head, and she’s weep as I pull the fucking trigger.
“Slow down,” I hiss to Mason. “If we get pulled over by the cops, I’ll be using your ball sack for target practice.” I’m aware that threats are probably the last thing Mason needs in his life, but fuck. If anything comes between me and Sloane right now, I will not be held accountable for what happens afterward. Friend or foe, there will be repercussions. I watch out of the window as Seattle city proper fades and suburbia takes over. Neat little houses with picket fences and yards. Dogs on leashes. Kids riding bikes in the streets. The sky is gunmetal grey overhead, brooding and filled with the promise of rain. In the back seat, Michael’s been making calls since we left the gym, trying to gather more information on what Alaska has been doing for the last year. When Cade told us he’d killed Julio, I wasn’t surprised. The fat fucker had it coming to him, and after what he did to Cade’s legs…
But it was a surprise to hear that Perez had traded his favorite woman beforehand, had her sent south of the border. Apparently she wasn’t with the Villalobos cartel for very long. Which means she’s been in hiding, plotting, planning and scheming, though god only knows what.
Alaska’s message said to arrive at eight, but fuck that. It’s six-thirty when we arrive at the Redwood Cubs baseball field, and it’s just started to rain, large, fat drops of water hitting the Camaro’s windshield like the beating of a drum. The parking lot is empty, besides a garage truck on the other end of the vast stretch of concrete, which is slowly hauling dumpsters into the air, groaning mechanically as it up-ends them, emptying their contents into its oversized belly.
The field’s floodlights are lit, sending stark white light blazing out across the field beyond. The three of us get out of the Camaro, and I head around the back of the car, popping the trunk, taking out the large black bag that sits inside.
I haven’t brought an array of weapons with me to this meeting. I have brought just one, and I am going to take great delight in using it on Alaska when I finally lay my fucking hands on her. She’s going to scream. She’s going to beg. There used to be a time when I objected to hurting women, but that time has passed.No onegets to take something that belongs to me and use it to hold it against me. And to take mywoman? That’s just fucking suicidal.
“You’re going to stay calm, right?” Michael says.
My hands still on the small black plastic box I’m holding. I give him a look out of the corner of my eye.
“Okay. That was a stupid question. I’ll rephrase. You’re going to stay calm enough to find out where Sloane is before you go ahead and kill her, right?”
I slip the contents of the small black box into my back pocket, frowning. “Of course.”
Michael looks dubious. He keeps his thoughts on the matter to himself, though. A wise move. I’m walking a fine line here. I’m barely holding onto my rage as it is. “Mason and I will look for Sloane while you deal with Alaska,” Michael says “I won’t bother telling you to play nice, but…”
I slam the trunk closed, staring at him, utterly still.
“Never mind.”
“All right. Let’s move then.”
******
Michael and Mason bust open the door to one of the external service entrances outside the stadium, wishing me luck before vanishing from sight. I walk out onto the field alone, scanning the entrances and exits to the huge, space. She’s picked this place specifically because of the rabbit warren of tunnels and pathways that riddle the structure—an easy place to hide in, should one feel so inclined.
Bitch.
Sloane’s here. I can tell she’s here somewhere, some part of me pulling towards her in the weirdest way. She’d better not be hurt. Julio’s whore had better not have harmed her or the baby in any way. The second I think about the baby, tight bands of steel constrict around my ribcage, making it almost impossible to breathe. I’ve never known fear like this. It’s devastating, to the point where I can’t even fucking see straight.
In the very middle of the field, I stop, spinning around, scanning the seating and the dugouts, searching for the woman brazen enough to fuck with my family. “Alaska!” My shout echoes around the stadium, repeating back to me once, twice, three times before fading into silence. Again, I draw in a deep lungful of air, and I split apart the silence with my rage. “ALASKA!”
I only have to wait a few moments before my eye catches on a bright flash of red, off to the right. Not just red hair. A red dress. Red shoes. She stands at the very top of a narrow stairway, leading up to the nosebleeds. I watch her, refusing to look away from her, as she saunters casually down the steps toward me, taking her time. Where are her men? I’m not stupid enough to believe she’s here on her own. I stand with my hands in my pockets as she walks her way across the field, body swaying in an overtly sexual way as she heads toward me. A small smile sits on her lips, glimmering in her eyes, not an ounce of fear on her. If she’s at all worried about pissing me off, she’s not showing it. To the contrary. She actually looks pleased to see me.
“Well, hello there, stranger,” she purrs. “Been a while.”
“You’ll be wish it was longer soon enough.”
“Oh, come on now, Zeth. No need to be like that. We’re alike, you and I. We both bent over and took it from our masters for so many years. And now, here we are, free of the men who ruled our lives.”
I wonder if she can read my disgust. “You’re the only whore here,” I inform her. “I worked for Charlie, but I was always my own man. I did as I saw fit.”
She laughs, the sound scathing. “Please. He said jump, you asked how high. Don’t pretend it was any other way. You forget how often you came to Julio’s as Charlie’s spymaster. Did you think Julio didn’t realize what you were doing there? You never touched any of his girls. You never touchedme.”
“I didn’t touch you because the very sight of you made me gag, Alaska. You reeked of desperation. You fucking reek of it now.”
That annoying little smile on her face slips. “You’d be wise not to talk to me that way,” she warns.
