Page 59 of Requiem & Reverie

The moment I turn my head, something pricks my neck, and a warm, fuzzy feeling settles over me, weakening my muscles. I slump against the passenger door, unable to hold myself up. Alarms go off inside of me, as Simon withdraws a needle from my neck that’s since gone numb.

“No more questions, Nola. I promise everything will come to light. Soon.”

21

Voss

The directions lead me to some strange little town that modern society must’ve forgotten about. I turn my car into the mechanic shop at the end of the road, where I perform a quick weapons check, slipping a new magazine into my Glock and clipping the push dagger horizontally to my belt.

Carl isn’t here. I know that because he isn’t stupid enough to leave an address where I might find it, and he sure as hell wouldn’t stick around long enough for me to catch him. But the location is a trap, and my guess is that Nola’s car is here, somewhere. I set my hand on the handle of the entrance to the place, but pause on seeing a bell on the other side, through the window. Rerouting, I round the building, Glock leading the way, to three bays inside, one of which has been left cracked open. Approaching the door, I pad quietly, listening to the voices from inside the building.

“Quit fiddlefucking around. It’s just a graze. I’m fine.”

“I’m just telling you. My uncle thought a bullet grazed him, when it really went through the skin, and he ended up dying from some bad infection.”

“Yeah well, your uncle was a drunk who probably couldn’t feel his own dick from a hot dog.”

“Man, fuck you.”

Lying flat on the concrete, I peer inside, catching sight of boots past the undercarriage of a vehicle that’s parked in front of the door. The gap is just wide enough to slide beneath, and I army crawl into the garage, to the other side of a vehicle, realizing that it’s Nola’s white Jeep. Peering around the edge of the car, I see two men, one about my height with peppered hair, the other slightly shorter and chubbier. The taller one has a square of gauze taped to his bicep, red bleeding through it.

A fresh wound, no doubt.

The other, shorter one, tosses medical supplies into a box, wearing a patch of gauze on his arm, too.

I fire a warning shot that whizzes past the taller one, hitting a hub cap behind him with a loud ping.

“’The fuck!” The man stumbles back, as the clang rattles and echoes inside the building.

Coming out from my hiding place, I aim the gun at the short one, who slowly raises his hands up into the air.

“You lost, friend?” the tall one asks. He nabs a shotgun from the desk beside him, but before he can line up a shot, I nail a bullet in his hand.

“Motherfucker!” he says, dropping the rifle to the ground.

“The Jeep behind me belongs to a woman,” I say, ignoring his moans of agony. You’re going to tell me where she is, or I’m going to put a bullet through his skull.”

“That Jeep don’t belong … to no woman. Guy brought it in … a couple days ago. Transmission went out.”

“You’re lying. But I’ll let that one slide.” I advance just enough to kick the shotgun out of his reach, then back away once more. “Now, tell me where she is.”

“Already told ya—”

I aim low and pull the trigger, nailing the short one’s leg, and a scream bounces off the walls inside the garage. “I missed.”

“Look, friend, you can fill us both up with lead. I’m not saying a fucking word.”

I tip my head and smile. “Is that so?”

In two shots, I take out both his knees, and the bastard drops to the floor. His screams reverberate as I pull my push blade, and in four quick strides, I’m close enough to grab the shorter one by the back of his neck and stab a hole in his cheek.

Another scream.

He falls, clutching his bloody cheek, and I slice the blade across his throat.

A sharp pain strikes my calf, the burn traveling up the back of my knee, as I stare down at the knife lodged into my leg. Yanking it from my flesh, I turn to where the taller man claws at the concrete to get away from me. Nabbing his ankle, I tug him toward me, and he flips onto his back.

“I don’t think you know what you’re doing, man. Two of us are members of the Devil’s Disciples.”