Page 39 of Zombie

All hands on deck. 10 PM tonight. Urgent.

A pit formed in my stomach. Did Sarah know what was going on with the investigation? Did she have someone on the inside besides me? Questions swirled in my mind.

I sent my typical thumbs-up emoji to let her know I received her message.

Before I headed to the warehouse, I stopped outside Lennie’s place, making sure to park a couple blocks away. I needed to get a glimpse of the beautiful woman that occupied my brain at all hours of the day.

It was a little past ten o’clock, and lights filled the second-floor condo where I could see Lennie dancing in the living room with the goth woman, who I’d learned was named Darcy.

A smile filled my face when I saw Lennie use her wine glass as a microphone as she shook her hips to whatever they were listening to. I promised myself that next time I was over there I would place some cameras so I could really see what was going on inside instead of being the creep who stood outside in the dark.

I continued to watch, and before I knew what was happening a gun was cocked and pressed to my back.

“Put your arms up and turn around, you sick fuck.” I recognized the gravelly voice as Bohdi’s.

I turned around and came face to face with the behemoth of a man. His eyes were dark and steely, and he had a no-nonsense aura around him.

He looked confused when he saw it was me before his steely complexion returned. “Zombie, what the fuck are you doing here?”

My heart started to hammer in my chest as I tried to come up with an excuse as to why I was out here.

Think. Think. Think, I yelled internally.

I kept my hands up where he could see them. “I live a couple of blocks away and was going for a walk. I saw Lennie dancing her butt off and thought it was funny.” It was partially the truth, so I hoped that he would go along with it.

Bohdi lowered the gun and gave me a wary look before holstering the weapon. I continued on like this was a normal occurrence.

“Are you on duty tonight?” I asked, pushing my hands into my pockets, attempting to look as non-threatening and casual as I could.

If things got really bad, I wouldn’t stop myself from shooting this fucker in the face. I didn’t care who he was.

Bohdi seemed to relax a little and ran a hand over his long hair, which he was wearing down rather than in his usual bun. “Yeah, gotta make sure that she's safe.”

I gave him a nod when I really wanted to tell him I had it handled. But I kept that to myself. No need to poke the bear.

“I’m glad that Kade is still having you guys keep an eye on her. I’m going to continue my walk. Have a good night, man.” I swung a thumb over my shoulder to indicate that I was going to carry on my merry way.

Bohdi shot me another calculating gaze before giving me a nod. “You too, Z.”

On that note, I turned around and started walking the long way to my car. By the time I got to my vehicle, my heart was hammering. That had been a close call. I really needed to step up my game if I wanted to continue to keep an eye on Lennie. Especially now that I knew Kade was still having someone on guard.

I drove to the warehouse with my mind racing. I had so many thoughts swimming through me that I was unsure what to focus on.

I mindlessly followed the roads to my destination until I reached the warehouse. More cars were there than usual, and I wondered what it was all about. When I walked inside, Sarah stood in the front of a crowd of twenty or so men who were speaking animatedly.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Sarah said frankly.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to her in front of the group. I knew most of these men at this point and had been planning how I would dismantle their lives for being part of such heinous crimes against humanity. I knew how ironic that sounded—I too was part of these heinous crimes, whether I wanted to face that or not.

I stood next to Sarah as she began to speak. “Alright, listen up, the feds are starting to investigate the missing person cases a little more thoroughly now that Daddy is gone.” She paused and placed her hands on her hips. “Even though I have my connection at the station, we need to come up with a new game plan for how to dispose of the bodies.”

She turned to me, and I felt my face pale.

“That’s where you come in, my dear brother.”

My brows knitted together. “Why me?”

She gave me a cruel smile. “Because you are the king of the dead and know the most effective ways to slice and dice. Taking after Dad so well.”