Bloody Broken (A Bloody Series Book #2) (3 page)

    “Told ya.” She grinned. “Didn’t anybody tell you? I’m psychic.” He just glared. She grabbed a chair from the table over and sat backwards facing the front door. The meeting didn’t start for another two hours. She planned on having some fun before she reported her Intel to Colin and Devin. Tonight was going to get hairy. Maybe literally. After they played five more rounds of pool, only Sofia, Garret, Joel and Pauly had shown up. It was a quarter after midnight when she spoke up.

    “Guys, has anybody else noticed that Colin and Devin are late?” She said looking up at Matt.

    “I’m sure they’re on their way. You want me to call Colin?” He asked.

    “No, I’m not really worried, it’s just he’s never late to meetings. Hell, he should have been the first one here if anything. Fuck it. He’s fine.” She tipped her Bud back and finished it off. She had almost convinced herself she was right. But really, her instincts were screaming something was wrong.

    “Maybe they got tranqed on the way over and shipped to Yosemite…” Garret said, looking sideways at Pauly. That earned him a hard shove in the shoulder, tipping Garrets chair a little.

    “Fuck you Garret! Give it a rest. It was three months ago. It coulda happened to anybody here!” Pauly turned beet red. Whether in embarrassment or anger, everybody still had a good laugh. That was when she felt it. Someone was standing behind Sofia’s chair looking at them. She glanced up and met a level set of mist grey eyes set into a hard brow. She didn’t know why, but the stare set a shiver down her spine. Fear or excitement?

   “Which one of you gentlemen would be Vic Brown?” He asked in a charming British accent. Fear it was then. Everyone at the table stood up and faced him. Matt took a step forward.

   “Who wants to know?” He eyed the stranger coldly.

    “You? You’re nothing but a pup. I figured Vic for a distinguished older gentleman. Oh, well. You’re wanted for questioning for conspiracy to commit murder, in sighting panic, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and acts of a terrorist nature,” he said congenially.
Oh shit
. She caught Matt's eye and he nodded, throwing his bike keys at her. She grabbed her coat off the back of the chair and made a dash for the back door.

    “Bloody Hell!” She heard the stranger exclaim as she burst through the crowd of people. They almost all knew her and parted easy to allow her to get by. Thankfully, they also closed back up tighter than before to give her time to escape. She could hear the bastard crashing behind her as chairs were being tossed and punches being thrown. Last she heard as she burst through the back door was his deep bellowing roar.

    “Claude!” He exclaimed.

    “Shit.” She dunked under an arm reaching to stop her. She came back up swinging, putting all her upward momentum into it. She caught the fucker under the chin and sent him sprawling ass first into the dumpster. Matt had thankfully parked his bike next to the back door tonight. She hopped on and jammed the key in the ignition. Usually riding Matt's hog would be a no-no, but extenuating circumstances allowed her the privilege. She managed to get the jacket on, belatedly realizing she had grabbed Matt's by mistake when her hands didn't pop out the end of the sleeves, and got the bike turned around when the tall Brit came barreling through the door. He must have knocked her friends unconscious. He wouldn’t be standing otherwise. He managed to get a fingertip glance off her throat as she whizzed by, but she got out of the alley and sped down the street towards the safe house. Right before she turned the bike though, she could have sworn she caught a white bushy tail disappearing around the building.

     “Damn it!  She’s a girl!” Claude said again. He was rubbing his chin, pacing in front of the rented van.

    “Yes, I noticed. You care to explain to me how you and the others didn’t pick up that tidbit from the Columbus group? I noticed it right away.” His eyes had trained on her first out of everyone seated at the table. She had a beautiful profile while she was laughing. Her eyes were the color of cognac and had an exotic tilt to them. Her hair was shorter than he usually liked, but it was full of voluptuous black curls. The kind you ran your fingers through and they bounced, holding their shape. That was the excuse he was using on why he hadn't effectively caught her on the way out of the door. He was stunned by her beauty.

   “Everyone referred to her as 'Vic'. I just assumed. She had left the group two or three weeks before the attack so I didn’t probe deeper at the time,” he said, guiltily.

   “Alright Claude. It’s fine. We’ll find her. Where are Dom and Gloria?” As soon as he asked they appeared from around the corner, dragging a bloodied Were between them.

    “What have we here?” Adam asked.

    “Gloria beat the shit out of this guy with an impact baton. He was already out when I found them,” Dom explained, giving a wide eyed sideways look towards Gloria. The male signal for "This bitch is nuts."

    “I thought you said you were untrained Gloria?” Adam asked as they lifted the male into the back of the van.

    “I said I was untrained in Investigations.” Was all she replied, slamming the double doors after they roped him. Claude looked wide eyed at him too.

    “So you have some training in self defense then, is that what you’re saying?” He probed a bit.

    “Yes, self defense. As well as Aikido, Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Krav Maga, and Muay Thai.” She leveled a stare at all three of them, as if to warn them she could and would kill them in seven thousand different ways given a chance. Why it hadn't come up before now was a mystery. He chalked it up to lack of choice on their part. Her Father probably didn't give Dom a chance to interview her. If at all possible Claudes eyes had grown wider.

    “I apologize formally for mentioning your breasts earlier today. Let me say I hold you in the highest respect,” Claude said, completely serious. She just snorted, opened the passenger door, and sat down.

    “I wasn’t joking. That’s the coolest shit I’ve ever heard. If she wasn’t Joneses Daughter I’d ask her to marry me,” he said.

    “Yeah, can you imagine Jones as your Father-in-law?” Dom said. They all shuddered.

    “Can we go? He's not going to stay knocked out forever,” Gloria yelled from inside the van.

    “Did you notice she listed that shit in alphabetical order?” Claude whispered to Dom as they walked to the front of the van. Adam hopped into the driver seat and they left the seedy end of town and headed to the Mandarin. He drove into the parking garage and had to take their unconscious friend up the service elevator, with Dom on point checking for witnesses. As soon as they were all settled in the room, Claude pulled a chair from the dining room and they tied the Were to it. Claude fished around in his pockets, finding a knife, seven dollars and his cell phone.

    "Jackpot," he said holding it up.

    "Got anything we can use?" Dom asked. Claude scanned it for a few seconds.

    "He got a text at 12:10 saying that the pub was being watched and to get out. It just says "D". Whoever it is must have seen us and tried to warn them."

    "He must not have checked his phone then." Adam reached out for the phone and Claude handed it over. All the contacts were labeled with one letter initials but there was a "V". Hopefully they could match it to Vic Brown.

    “Now what?” Gloria asked moving up behind him. She stood in front of the Were feet braced shoulder width apart.

    “Now we beat the shit out of him until he tells us what we want to know,” Adam said, knowing full well the Were was awake now. Gloria looked up at Adam and smiled.

    “Best idea you’ve had all day.” She approached the Were. He finally looked up and noted Gloria coming at him. He lurched back.

    “Hold on, were going to give him a chance to talk first. If he cooperates then fine, if not then you can beat the shit out of him.” Adam pulled a chair up and waved Gloria over. She moved to stand behind his right shoulder.

   “Now, Pauly I believe it was? Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?” Adam asked sweetly.

    “Fuck you,” he replied.

    “That’s not very nice. Why don’t you tell me some more about your time in Yosemite? I here it’s lovely in the Fall,” Adam taunted him a bit.

    “Fuck. You.” Pauly glared daggers at Adam. His face turned an interesting shade of red. His hair was shorn close to his scalp but was growing in an almost white blonde, and the contrast looked ridiculous.

    “You keep that up and I’m going to assume you enjoyed Gloria beating the shit out of you.” Adam no sooner spoke the words than Gloria snapped her impact baton to full length. Pauly was saved by an interrupting knock at the door.

    “Whoa, don’t let the crazy bitch near me! Where did she even pull that thing from?!” Pauly was practically having a seizure in the chair to keep Gloria from touching him. Adam got up to check the door. He heard a quiet “Yeah, man, where did she get that thing?” from Claude.

    “Who is it?” He looked through the peep hole. There were three men stationed at the outside of the door.

    “Master Orleans sent us.” The lead Were said quietly. Adam opened the door to wave them in.  They trailed in and took in the scene playing out with Gloria and Pauly. She was now caressing him with the baton.

    “Pauly Nickols. My, you do get around, don’t you?” One of the Weres said, laughing.

    “You know him, then?” Adam asked.

    “Oh yeah. We go way back, don’t we, Pauly? This fucker has the worse luck in the world, I swear.” The Were chuckled. He held out his hand. “Chris Totopolos. This is Derick Hamilton and Brandon Nakata.” Adam shook hands with the males and then introduced Gloria, Claude, and Dominic. They all exchanged handshakes, except Gloria who wouldn’t put the baton down.

    “Let me guess. All your getting from Pauly is “Fuck you’s and Blow me’s?” Chris asked.

   “Well we hadn’t got to 'Blow me' yet, but yes. You clearly have some experience with his pleasant demeanor,” Adam said. Chris turned to Derick and reached his hand out for his bag. He reached inside and pulled out a case, fiddling with things inside the bag.

   “You wanna see something great?” Chris asked.

    “Don’t even do it, asshole,” Pauly warned.

    “Is it spectacular?” Adam asked sarcastically.

    “Fucking A. Watch this.” He turned and leveled a .45 at Pauly’s chest and fired.

    “What the fuck?!” Dominic yelled.

    “Ha! Calm down, it’s a dart gun.” He showed everyone the rounds. They all turned to look at Pauly. He was slumped over in the chair.

    “Yes, we’ll get some real answers out of him now.” Adam rolled his eyes and turned to sit on the couch.

    “No. Wait for it. Wait for it,” Chris said. Derick and Brandon laughed. Just then Pauly raised his head. It was slow going, and a bit wobbly, but he finally looked up at everyone.

    “We partyin’?” He murmured. Dominic and Claude laughed.

    “What the hell did you give him?” Claude asked.

    “Sodium Pentathol.” Chris grinned.

    “You gave him fucking truth serum? Seriously? That shit almost never works,” Claude said.

    “I know, but you should hear the shit he says. It’s great. And it's the only way you get any real info out of him.” Chris folded his arms and just stood in front of Pauly waiting. Gloria turned and cocked an eyebrow at Adam. He just shrugged. They all waited.

    “How many times have you done this?” Dominic asked.

    “On Pauly? Six times. I swear the guy’s dumber than a rock.” Chris said. Then he held up his hand.

    “What? I didn’t do nothin’. I know you guys think I’m some kind of criminal genius…”

    “No, we don’t.”

    “But I’m just the fall guy. You got nothin’ on me.” He was staring at the ceiling now as he spoke.

    “I got the ’93 case. You remember that?” Chris said.

    “’93? Was that? Wud I do? That the sheep thing? Pfft. Nobody missed ‘em.” He slurred.

    “No, not the sheep thing. The kidnapping and extortion thing. Remember? You got a record as long as my dick.” He turned to look at Gloria. “It’s pretty long.” She sneered back at him. Claude was making the cut off neck gesture behind her.

    “Extortion, exsmorshun. I told you that shit was Tommy's idea. I gave you Tommy, didn’t I? Huh?! He was like a fuckin’ brother to me!” Pauly was screaming now. Gloria smacked him. He yelped.

    “Yeah, you did good. Now, I need to know who you've been running with this time. You’re in big trouble again. I can help you, but only if you give me some information,” Chris said.

    “You say that every time. I ain’t tellin’ you shit.” His lip was sticking out. Hand to God.

    “Tell us about Vic. What’s she doing in your gang?” Adam asked patiently.

    “Vic! She’s so pretty. But mean. Really mean. Don’t make her mad, boy,” he chuckled.

    “Yes, she’s very pretty. But why are you two running together?”

    “Colin," was all he said.

    “What about Colin?” Adam asked.

    “He brought her in bout three months ago. Said she was his sister but they don’t look nothin’ alike. Act close though. Like they loooove each other. Sometimes Matt gets jealous. Matt likes her. Maybe she likes him too, who knows. Nobody likes me," he said, sticking his lip out again.