ChapterFive
With a sigh, I step back and take a seat in the chair Law vacated earlier, leaving Hank to sit in his.
“I know you wouldn’t have come back now in such a dramatic fashion if it wasn’t important. Not after how much effort you put into disappearing.”
“You know I had my reasons for doing what I did, right?”
He waves me off. “Didn’t I tell you years ago that you were more than what happened to you? You always deserved better than the hand you were dealt. I’m not mad at you, Mal. How could I be? You saved my ass, stepping in when you did and letting me keep running the place. I don’t know who I am without it. The sweat, the tears, it’s all I know.”
“I’d have bought it for you if you weren’t such a stubborn asshole,” I grumble, but it’s an old argument that I’ve given up trying to win.
“No, it’s better this way. It means Mike can’t get his hands on it should anything happen to me.”
“Hey, nothing is going to happen to you.”
“I know. I’m just not a spring chicken anymore, that’s all. Now, enough about me. Spill.”
“You hear about those people a while back that kept turning up dead, beaten to hell and back?”
He frowns. “The ones dumped on the streets that had everyone scratching their heads?”
“Yeah, them. Well, the agency I work for is now investigating since there have been a shitload of vagrants disappearing too.”
“And you think they’re linked?”
“It looks like they could be. Yeah.”
“Shit.” He looks at me, questions swirling in his eyes. “When you say agency, you mean—”
I cut him off with a shake of my head.
“No, none of the alphabet agencies. I’m not sure I’d fit in at Quantico.”
He snickers at that. “Tell me what you need from me.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure right now. As it stands, I’m going to be relocating back here. At least for now, until we can catch this guy. I need to use this place as a home base.”
“It’s your place, Mal. You can do what you want. Why here, though? What’s the significance?”
“We think the people that are being taken are being forced to fight. In these cases, to the death.”
I let that hang between us for a minute before he cusses up a storm.
“Are you sure you want to get all tangled up in this? You got out, Mal. Not many people can say that.”
“Right now, I’m the only person that stands a chance of stopping whoever this is.”
He bows his head and runs his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair.
“Like these kids don’t have it hard enough, we have some asshole out there taking them out?”
I don’t say anything. I’m all too aware of how unfair the world can be.
“I’ll catch him,” I tell him softly.
He lifts his head, his eyes staring into mine for a long moment before he nods sharply. “I know you will. Anything you need from me, you got it. I want this prick nailed to the wall.”
“I need info and a rundown of all the new players in town. Me coming back will bring people here that remember me, but I want to know about the ones who came after I left. I also need you to keep your ear to the ground, see if you can catch wind of where these fights are taking place.”