Page 19 of Wicked Enemy

Fury roared through my soul, and the madness inside me cracked open an eye.

Fuck, I wanted to burn the whole north side to the ground. I wanted to slaughter them all for what they took from me when they—

With great effort, I dragged in a breath and forced the insanity back behind those iron walls inside me. Releasing a long exhale, I took another second to get my mind back on track. I needed to be clearheaded for this.

Once I had my emotions back under control, I turned towards the terrified couple across the kitchen. With a brush of my palms, I made the metal bands evaporate.

Jerking my chin, I started towards the door. “Come along, Kevin.”

Wood clattered behind me as one of them must have knocked over a chair while either steadying themselves or scrambling after me. I didn’t care enough to turn around and look.

“I’ll be back soon, honey,” Kevin promised in a soft voice. “It will be fine.”

“Be careful,” his wife answered.

“If I have to tell you again, I’ll cut off one hand as punishment,” I warned while striding into the corridor.

“Do as he says,” Kevin hurriedly pressed out. “Stay here and don’t tell anyone.”

Then his footsteps thudded against the floor as he ran to catch up with me. I shoved the back door open and strode out into the still annoyingly cheerful sunlight. Kevin closed the door behind him before darting back to my side again. But he kept a half step behind me as we started down the street.

“You run a delivery company,” I said. I already knew the answer, of course, but I asked anyway.

“Yes, sir,” he replied.

“Today, you will bring ten covered wagons to Justice Street.”

“I don’t have ten wagons, sir.”

I cut him a look from the corner of my eye. He flinched.

Sliding my gaze back to the street ahead, I asked, “Then how many do you have?”

“Eight.”

“Then you will bring eight covered wagons to Justice Street today. At exactly thirteen minutes past two, your lead wagon will suddenly experience problems with a wheel so that you have to stop the whole convoy.”

“Okay.”

“After a few minutes, a bunch of people will appear. They will get inside the wagons so that they can’t be seen from outside, and then you will drive those eight wagons across the Bridge of Life. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you foresee any problems with that?”

“No. I have permits to cross the Bridge of Life at any time.”

“Excellent. Once those people have gotten out of the wagons on the other side of the river, you can drive home and eat that pie with your wife.”

“Okay.”

“Aren’t you going to thank me for letting you live?”

“Thank you, sir.”

I let out a huff of amusement that I didn’t really feel.

There were far too many parts of this plan that could go to hell, and I could only control one small section of it. Shinji was responsible for the distraction. Ben was responsible for the extraction. And I was responsible for the getaway. I might be confident that Kevin would do as commanded and get my people to the south side, but first, they had to actually get to the wagons.

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