Page 52 of Cougar

Walking to my bike, I struggle with wanting to call my Birdie. I need to hear her voice and see she’s okay. But I don’t. I need to do this first.

***

I knock on Knuckles’ door a few times with no answer. I know he’s home. I can hear his fingers hammering down on his keyboard like a madman.

“Knuckles! Come on, man. Open the fucking door!” I bang again.

When it’s obvious he isn’t going to get away from his computer, I grab the doorknob for shits and giggles and turn it. It opens. I groan as I mentally slap myself for not doing this a few minutes ago. Walking into his apartment, I see a wall covered in papers, sticky notes, and pictures. Pins with neon pink strings connect different pages. What the hell is going on? I look at my brother, who is still beating hard and fast at the keys. Each of his five monitors has something different on them.

I can’t tear my eyes away from Knuckles. I feel like I’m watching him go mad. I can hear him talking to himself, but it sounds like mumbled garbage. His head constantly moving back and forth between his monitors and the wall of information.

Out of the corner of my eye, a quick movement startles me. I jump as a gray cat on the counter stares at me like I’m doing something wrong. I feel unnerved at how this cat is looking at me. Before I can move or try and get Knuckles’ attention, the cat lets out a deep mow.

Well, that’s unexpected.

“Aren’t cats supposed to say me-ow?” I ask the furry creature still shooting me a criminally offensive side-eye.

“Phil is a dick and isn’t like normal cats.” Knuckles answers my question, not even phased I’m in his house. I step closer to him, and my eyes keep bouncing from each monitor. I don’t know how he keeps up with everything going on. My head already hurts from trying to keep up. Security footage, numbers, chatrooms, and a whole slew of other shit I don’t understand. I shake my head because attempting to understand what he’s doing right now doesn’t matter.

“Knuckles, I need you to get your shit together. We need to get to the hospital.” I clasp my hand onto his shoulder. He hasn’t stopped his erratic movements. Suddenly, the printer goes off, and he shoots up from his chair, causing me to take a few steps back.

“I can’t. I need to figure this out. I am so close.” he mutters, not even sparing me a glance.

“Judge and Storm were shot. We need to head to the hospital and meet the others there. The information you gave Prez was right. Bonnie was behind it. She’s been taken care of. You won’t fucking believe how, but we won. The Company is gone. There is so much more I need to tell you, but we need to get to the hospital. Mama El needs us.” I start to make my way to him.

“I knew it!” he screams, “When were they shot?” He asks, pulling up another window on his closest screen.

I notice it is a live feed of Cowboy’s house. I can see part of the living room and kitchen in the shot. Once again reminded of what happened tonight. Before I can say anything, he starts speed rewinding. Seeing it all in reverse still hits hard.

We watch as the paramedics put Judge and Storm back. Elvira went between them, slipping and falling in their blood. Her fear and panic are evident. You can see it in the way she struggled and the way she handled them both.

What kills me the most is how long they were there before Elvira walked in. How long they were laying there in their blood, waiting for someone to find them. To save them. It twists something in me, but I can’t see any reaction from Knuckles. He’s focused, watching the screen for anything.

“Holy shit,” I mumble. “Was that Mallory?” I ask, pointing to the girl on the screen for what seemed like a split second. But I’m distracted when Judge and Storm are shot and fall from their chairs. I frantically look, but there is no shooter on the screen.

Whoever it was, knew where the blind spots were.

I look to Knuckles, who is talking to himself. “She was coming in with Storm. After we have Bigfoot, actually, Artem took him away at this point. I knew it!” Knuckles jumps back from his chair. “Right there!” He points to what looks like a small spec from where I am standing. I slowly make my way closer to him to see what he sees.

“Is that a hand with a gun?” I ask.

“Yes! That isn’t Bigfoot. I knew it! I fucking knew it!” Knuckles is parading like a kid on Christmas getting their number one wish while I stand here, lost.

“So, Bigfoot didn’t go behind our backs?” I ask slowly.

“Oh, he’s guilty. I may have started this search with a lot of doubt, but the more I dug, the more his guilt became evident. Hands down, he did it. But there was so much to it I knew he couldn’t have been working alone. This proves that someone else was in on it. Storm got Mallory from our storage units after we had Bigfoot on ice. So this is someone that knew where she was and followed him back to Cowboy’s. But whoever this is also knows where the cameras are.”

“But none of us know where all the cameras are except for….”

My eyes cut to Knuckles as he pulls back and punches me across the face.

“Don’t even fucking go there! Just because your unobservant ass doesn’t know where the cameras are, doesn’t mean no one else does. I have cameras everywhere! In every one of our businesses and houses. Unfortunately, this is the only camera in Cowboy’s house.” Knuckles explains to me, shaking out his hand. “But I’m not wrong; there is another one. I have been looking at all the shit we have gone through, and there is more to it. A lot of shit happened while Bigfoot was with one of us, and there were no issues with any of the cameras.”

The wheels are turning in my head. Bigfoot was involved, but is there another member involved as well? What the hell is going on with these people we call brothers? I think about my time as a prospect. How I was always on edge–constantly on guard. I knew where all the brothers were at, at all times. Why didn’t I keep up with those habits?! Stupid stupid.

“So, there is another person on the inside? But who could it be? Do you know where all the brothers were when shit went down?”

My eyes flit from him to the wall of chaos. For the first time since I have been here, I look at everything on there. This is what he’s been doing. He’s been tracking all the brother’s movements during anything that Bigfoot was accounted for. He catches me watching and starts pointing out everything and where he hit roadblocks.

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