Chapter Nineteen

Eli

The instant the sun went down and the streetlamps flicked on, I was aware that Nina still hadn’t called or strode through the front doors of Toasty’s. I left the bar under the care of a part-timer, which was something I would never normally do, and ventured out to check Paper Treasure first and foremost.

I took powerful strides down the block, puffing hot air into my cupped hands and glowering at no one in particular. I had a feeling. Maybe I was being paranoid. Maybe Nina was fine. But I had a feeling, all the same.

By the time I had returned from my wild goose chase in the subway earlier in the afternoon, the green-haired Freak was gone from his stakeout at Toasty’s. Bethel and Margot were shaken but okay. I explained to them that the Freak was after me, not them or the bar, but they were barely comforted, and that was smart. I didn’t have much real comfort to give them. I was locked in a war with a resourceful millionaire madman, but I wouldn’t let him win. Not again.

I wouldn’t let him take one more woman away from me.

He might have been the millionaire, but he was riddled in weaknesses I had been studying from the age of five. He didn’t know any of my weaknesses, except for the one we shared now: Nina.

I was at the midpoint between Paper Treasure and Toasty’s when a certain green-haired Freak and a fat man in a business suit rounded the upcoming corner together.

Mikey and the man from the subway. The one who got away. Shaky Handgun. He was holding a shaky briefcase now.

They slowed to a stop at the sight of me. Damn right, they recognized me. I went still and considered my options on this dark city street. I didn’t have a weapon and cursed myself for not bringing one. I should have known. Still, I was confident in my abilities here. I would rather have my wits than a gun, between the two.

Straps from a bright orange backpack stood out stark on Mikey’s leather-studded shoulders.

What were these two doing together? Patronizing the bookstore? I found it hard to believe that books were cramming that backpack so full.

“What’s going on, fellas?” I called out to them, still advancing. My hands didn’t shake as they balanced in mid-air at my sides, not to display surrender but for readiness in offense or defense. The men may have been armed, but neither of them had weapons they could easily access, and I’d seen both of them in combat by now. Mikey had soft hands and no real weight behind his movements, but that wasn’t the worst of his fighting technique. The worst part was that he was impulsive and short-sighted, making decisions that were disconnected, rushing into dead-ends easily. Setting him up was child’s play. Most of his power was in his appearance. That was how I planted my boot in his throat without much effort at all. And Shaky Handgun was a pure beta. I wasn’t afraid.

“Just coming by for some paper treasure?” I punned.

They shared a look of apprehension.

“We know your story, young man, and we’re sorry for what happened to you,” Shaky said, placing his hand into the air and pressing it, subconsciously pressing me away. I advanced steadily, warmly, like I was approaching friends. My heart simmered in my chest at his nod toward my mother, even though the smile stayed plastered to my face. How dare any knowing employee on JP’s payroll apologize to me for her death? While you commit sabotage on my girlfriend’s store? I don’t fucking think so.

“Don’t talk about my mother,” I warned Shaky. “Let’s talk about how I was chasing my tail in the subway this afternoon. Let’s talk about the punk bitch loitering outside of my establishment this afternoon.” I spread my hands and smiled coldly at the two men. “You’ve been looking for me awful hard. Well, bitches. Here I am.”

Mikey edged away from me, into the street, and his hands wrapped around the straps of the bright orange backpack. Interesting.

“What’s in the backpack?” I asked, and Mikey sprinted into the street.

Shaky Handgun tried to cross over in front of me, to follow Mikey into the street, but it was too late for him. His fleet-footed friend had abandoned him to me. I stuck my boot in front of Shaky, and he went down hard. Mikey and his orange backpack disappeared into the nearest alley as I dug my knee into a pressure point on Shaky’s shoulder blade, incapacitating him. I extended his arm and locked it behind his back. The man cried out onto the pavement, but it was nightfall in fucking Darkmont. If anyone heard someone yelling in pain from the alley, they would ignore it.

“What did that little piece of shit have in the backpack?” I whispered down to Shaky, knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would answer me. This man was as likely to break as an egg under my kneecap. “Answer me!”

“About sixty grand in cash,” Shaky whined. “It’s Gusteau’s money. We needed to get it out of the store. Nina can’t be in charge of that money, now that she knows everything. We weren’t stealing it. We were taking it back.”

“I’m not interested in any stories,” I remind him. “Just answers. You don’t need to worry about what I think of you, fucker.”

“Are you going to kill me?” he whimpered.

I’d never killed a man in my life, but he didn’t need to know that. His fear made me a stronger opponent than my actual strength made me. “Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we could help each other, Shaky.”

“My name isn’t Shaky,” he spat. “It’s Marvin.”

“What an improvement.” I fished my hand around to his back pocket and plucked his leather wallet from inside. “Marvin Hershel,” I read off his license, then flicked through the other cards, discovering a security barcode for Redman Corporation. “I need the address of Redman Corporation, Marvin.”

“I can’t,” Marvin panted. “He’ll kill me.”

“He might kill you later, or I can break your arm right now. You know no one will come to help.” I leaned closer to Marvin’s ear and simultaneously applied more pressure to his shoulder socket. “Isn’t it so crazy and fucked up that I can slowly torture a grown man on the city street and no police will come? Isn’t that madness? But here we are. Welcome to Darkmont. Enjoy your stay, Shaky.”

I leaned back with every intention of popping his shoulder from its socket and sending a bright jolt of pain through his entire body. It was more humane than breaking his arm, but it would still scare the shit out of a doughy number cruncher like Marvin Hershel. It would loosen up his lips like a goddamn dam collapsing.

“Eli! Stop!” Nina’s voice warbled down the street. “Stop!”