“How do you feel about her now?”
“Huh?” Fox had gotten a faraway look in his eyes, and I sensed his mind was elsewhere.
“Rose. How do you feel about her? In the cold light of day.”
“Oh. Well, now that I’m over the initial shock, it’s business as usual. Nothing has changed. I want to see her broken and on her knees. I want to take her down and make her wish she was dead, just like she did to Jules.” The words were there, but something about the way he delivered them didn’t sit right.
“You sure man?”
“What?” He looked at me as though I was smoking crack. “Why wouldn’t I be? You know how long I’ve wanted this. How many nights I’ve dreamed of getting even, of getting closure, and revenge, and more importantly, some kind of justice for Jules. My only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner.”
He stared me down angrily, as though daring me to challenge him further. I decided to back off. If he wanted to maintain the charade that everything was okay, I’d let him for a little while longer. I knew him better than that, anyway. I shrugged and looked away, which was Fox’s cue to calm the fuck down.
“So, I went to see our fearless leader this morning, as requested.” It was a very unsubtle segue into a different subject, but I wasn’t going to call him on it. I got the impression I wasn’t going to get any more answers from him, anyway.
“And?”
“And he’s on board, and everything’s moving in the right direction. He’s given me the combination to the lock on the storeroom to get the masks and cloaks, and even going to figure out access to that warehouse down by the docks for us. Apparently, Pixie owes him a favor, just like pretty-much everyone in the known universe, including me, now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, well, you know what he’s like. He only does shit that somehow serves him, or might be useful when he needs to call in a favor down the track, never just out of the goodness of his heart. Everything comes at a price, and he’ll always cash in those chips at some point, even if it’s years later. I don’t care though, so that’s a problem for future Fox to worry about. Right-now Fox is just happy the plan is coming together.”
“So, he had no problems with it?”
“Nah. Not that I went in there leaving much room for anything other than it going my way. Truth be told, even speaking to him at all was a mere formality. I don’t need his permission for shit. And honestly, even if I did need it, I would still have gone ahead with or without his blessing. This is way more important to me than any friendship.” I raised a questioning eyebrow. “You know what I mean, man. I don’t count you in that. You’re more than my friend. You’re my brother,” he assured me.
I nodded, and he continued. “I would walk away from all of the guys, and the whole Cygnus thing if I needed to in order to get this done. Zero fucks given, no looking back.” I believed it. “Anyhow, in the event, that won’t be necessary. It was really more of a ring-kissing exercise than anything, and it worked like a charm.”
“You kissed Xavier’s ring? I didn’t realize he was that way inclined.” I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face with my dumb words.
Fox flipped me off. “You know what I mean, and no, he definitely doesn’t swing both ways. In fact, he has it so bad for Rocky, it’s actually kind of funny. He’s this harder than hard, impenetrable guy with every aspect of his life, and everyone, except her. I hope she doesn’t know how much power she has over him, because honestly, if she chose to use that power for anything other than good, she could bring the whole house of cards tumbling down at any moment.”
“Yeah, I know. Of all the fucking people I’d have picked to lose it like that over a girl, he was pretty much last on the list. The not-so-funny part is that if the empire does topple, like you said, then we’re all going down with it.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely not so amusing when I think of it that way. Fingers crossed she doesn’t take a wrecking ball to the king pin, and have the rest of us falling like hapless skittles.”
“Well, not that she’s responsible, but that kind of is what’s happened.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well think about it, Drew and Bear are down too, ass over apex in love, just like Xavier. We’re the last men—or should that be pins?—standing.”
Or are we?
Chapter 20
Fox
“Go!” I screamed the word as I slammed on the brakes of the generic-looking black van I’d hired using a fake ID I’d procured from another one of Xavier’s many dubious contacts. In the back, Kane quickly slid open the side door, and jumped out.
I watched in the rear-view mirror as the action unfolded. As we’d predicted, it had been over in a few seconds. We’d caught her unaware, just as we’d planned. She’d seemed so wrapped up in her own world, that she’d almost made it too easy for us.
Kane had her hooded and bundled into the back in moments. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t try to put up a fight. She did, but she was no match for his built, but athletic frame, and years of martial-arts training. He had her hands flex-cuffed behind her back in no time, while she bucked and kicked. Her screams were muffled by the velvet hood, but still very much audible.
“What’s going on? Stop it! Ouch! No! Let me go!” The occasional grunt from Kane told me that ineffectual though they might be, she was managing to connect some kicks—probably to his shins.
“Ow! Jesus. Stop that, before I make you stop.” The metallic twang of his voice rang around the van.
“What the fuck? Mike, is that you, or Darth Vader?” Definitely not Mike.
Kane had gone to the precaution of putting the mask on, even though we figured she wouldn’t see his face when he leaped on her from behind, and shoved her into the van.
We’d heard of too many bungled crimes because the idiots trying to pull them off had failed to account for the things that might go wrong. We weren’t those guys. I had a Plan C for my Plan B, all way to Z.
If it turned out she was also a black belt in karate or some shit, and put up a worthy fight, for example, and he couldn’t get the hood on, or she somehow managed to get it off, we didn’t want her to be able to ID him. Not initially, at least. Not only that, but the voice changer was built into the masks, so if we wanted one, we had to have the other, and I was fine with that. It all added to the element of surprise.
For my part, even though the windows of the vehicle were heavily tinted, I was wearing a balaclava as I drove. I figured the Anonymous mask was too much of a red flag, but I wanted something just in case we were somehow caught on camera some step of the way, even with the tints. I had literally every base covered.
Kane laughed. I always found it exceedingly freaky when anyone did that wearing one of the masks. Not only was the sound eerily incongruous—yet at the same time totally fitting with the facial expression of the mask—but it really just sounded bizarre. “Less Darth Vader, more Grim Reaper, so I’d watch my mouth if I were you.”
“Well you’re not me. You’re some dipshit coward who gets off on scaring, and now hurting, women, but you don’t even have the guts to show your face while doing it. It’s so easy to hide behind the keyboard, or phone, or a hood. Such a big man. Not.”