“I don’t know much more than that,” Nicky said. “He didn’t tell me his name. He was one of the little aliens, not the big guards. And, um, I don’t have a clue what they are or what they do. He just gave me the locations and told me what time to go to each one, and to point that thing at the box and hold the button for twenty seconds. I swear, that’s all I know.”
Bree holstered her gun and took the bottle with the scorpion from Jason. Careful to keep the map lid on tight, she moved closer to Nicky and held the bottle down by his face, shaking it a little. “Are you sure about that, Nick? Or should I put this on your dick?” Bree looked over at Jason and asked, “Jase, how many of these do you think you could find?”
“They’re all over. You just have to know where to look. How many do you want?” Jason smiled and bounced on his feet. He was getting the hang of this.
Nicky closed his eyes and tried again to burrow into the boulder. “Please, don’t do that, I don’t know anything else, I swear!”
“How do you get paid?” Bree stood up, but kept the scorpion bottle over Nicky’s body.
“I send a text after I do each one, and he sends directions where to get my money. Can I have some water, please?” Nicky croaked and looked pleadingly at Jason.
Jason looked at Bree, who shook her head. She wasn’t quite done with her prisoner.
She took a big swallow from her bottle of water. “Oh, that tastes good. It’s hot out here.”
Nicky licked his lips and stared at the water.
“What else can you tell me?” Bree shook the scorpion again.
“That’s it. I can’t tell you something I don’t know.”
Bree let out a big sigh. “Okay, Nicky-boy. You’re an absolute fucking dipshidiot, but I believe you. I don’t fully understand what’s going on, but I do know that these things are ruining people’s lives. Did you know that?”
Nick the dick blinked back at her. “Uh… what do you mean?”
“They are fucking with people’s brains. People are getting hurt. People are getting k-snagged. Others are in comas. And, you are up to your thick neck in this, Nicky-boy.” Bree paused for effect. “So, I’ve got a deal for you. We won’t turn you over to the families of the folks hurt by these zapper boxes and, in turn, you get to come with us. Deal?”
Nicky hesitated.
“The other option is for us to tie your feet and leave you here with a group of scorpions to keep you company until we let a few pissed off people know where you are. Would you prefer that?” Bree shrugged, indicating either option would work for her.
The now sweat-soaked man shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Like that’s a choice.”
Bree smiled, showing teeth. She missed breaking bad guys.
14
Bree and Jason led Nicky back to the Jeep. She helped the man into the back seat, then climbed in after him. Jason raised a brow at her. She always insisted on driving. Always, except for now. Hell would have to grow massive fucking icebergs before she would let her brother sit in the back seat with a bad guy again. Even one who had his hands secured behind his back and wouldn’t risk getting k-snagged by attacking them. No way. No how.
She tossed the keys to her brother and he got into the driver’s seat.
Once they got through town and out of sight of most people, Bree blindfolded their prisoner so he wouldn’t see the location of Max’s place. No one but family and a very few trusted friends knew how to find it. Max’s paranoia came in handy once in a while.
When Max had started talking about “the end of the world as we know it” and building a secret bunker, she’d assumed he’d lost his mind. Clearly she’d been wrong. There was a first for everything.
As Jason pulled behind the house, Bree’s stomach dropped when she saw Max’s truck was there. He would blow a gasket when he found out she brought a stranger to his secret hideout. Especially one involved with the brain zappers.
She braced for the fight, because she’d had no choice but to bring him here. Bree needed to make sure Nicky-boy didn’t contact his boss. Plus, it would keep the idiot safe until she got all she needed from him. After that, he’d be on his own. She sure as shit wouldn’t lose any sleep worrying about his safety then. Despite everything, Bree still believed in regular old-fashioned karma.
Do bad shit and bad shit just might get done unto you.
Jason parked the Jeep next to the truck and hopped out. When Bree didn’t see Max’s bug-out vehicle, she assumed he was off on some special project on his land. She shoved Nicky out of the back seat and followed behind him. She thought about strapping him to a chair out back to interrogate him. The heat had her rethinking that plan.
With her own comfort in mind, Bree decided to take the ass-head down into the bunker. It would be cooler in there. Plus, she wouldn’t risk him getting a look around the area. Not likely that he’d get any clues about where they were or how to find his way back, but better safe than sorry.
Bree led Nicky to the back hatch of the bunker. Jason opened the hatch and she nodded to tell her brother to go first. It would take some finesse to get Nick-the-dick down the ladder.
“Okay, Nicky. I’m going to cuff your hands in front of you so you can go down a ladder, but don’t get any ideas about running. I’m gonna hang on to a rope tied to your hands. Plus, we are so far off the beaten path you’d never find your way back to civilization before you die of dehydration. Capiche?”
“Whatever,” Nicky mumbled.
Bree cut the rope Jason had tied and cuffed Nicky with his hands in front. She secured a piece of rope to one of his hands, then wrapped the other end around her wrist. “The blindfold stays put, but I’ll give you a peek at where you’re going.” With a hand on the back of his head, she pushed Nicky-boy’s head down and lifted one side of the blindfold to give him a quick look at the ladder. Bree nudged him to start down.
Once inside the bunker, Bree secured Nicky to a chair with the handcuffs, then she duct taped his ankles to the legs of the chair before removing the blindfold. With no windows, he’d never be able to identify their location.
Despite the lack of natural light, Max had designed the bunker to ward off the negative effects of living underground. He’d installed special faux windows and faux skylights with images of Sedona scenery and plenty of full-spectrum lighting. Add a dash of imagination and you could be in Max’s above-ground living room. Almost, anyway. The layout was identical.
“Okay. Nicky-boy. You just sit tight. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Can I have some water now?”
The man did look rather peaked. Bree supposed he’d be no use to her dead from dehydration.
She grabbed a bottle of water from the bunker’s kitchen and stood in front of Nicky. “Open up.”
Nicky scowled. “What? You aren’t going to uncuff me? It’s not like I can go anywhere.”
Bree had no intention of uncuffing his hands. If the shithead refused to drink, well, at least she’d offered. “Do you want some water or not?”
Nicky huffed, then he tilted his head back and opened his mouth.
Bree poured some water down the hatch. The man drank as fast and as much as he could. She kept pouring until he turned his head and coughed a little. He’d nearly downed the whole bottle.
Okay, time to regroup. They needed a plan. She patted Jason on the back and steered him to the other end of the bunker. They went up the front hatch, which led directly into Max’s house. A beer and some chips and salsa sounded mighty good.
The damn tingling in her head grated on her nerves. Maybe food would help that too. She still hadn’t noticed any major shifts in mood one way or another. She hoped like hell it stayed that way.
About ten minutes after Bree and Jason sat down with their snack, Max came in looking like he’d been rolling in red dirt.
“Hey, Max! We’re just sitting here eating.” Jason looked at their uncle with big round unblinking eyes and the corners of his lips turned up in an attempt at a sm
ile.
Bree made a mental to note to work with Jason on his poker face.
“Hey, yourself.” Max didn’t move his head but his eyes darted back and forth between them. “What are you up to?”
“Well, we brought a guest back with us. He’s down in the bunker.” Bree stared at Max, waiting for the reaction.
“A guest?” Max’s eyebrows moved a fraction of a millimeter. “I’m not going to like this, am I?” He turned around and grabbed a beer from the fridge.
“We caught a guy messing with those brain zapping things while we were in Cottonwood. Dude, you should’ve seen Bree. She was awesome! She threatened him with scorpions to get him to talk.” Jason laughed and looked back and forth between Bree and Max. “Fricking scorpions! You know, so we didn’t risk triggering the nano-trackers and getting k-snagged.” His laughter faded when he noticed no one else was laughing. “I thought it was brilliant.”
Bree winked at her brother in appreciation of his compliment, but the good feeling wavered as she waited for Max to respond.
Max let out a huge puff of air, then sat down to wait for the rest of the story.
“This asswipe, Nicky, says some Kusharian paid him to tamper with the zappers, but he doesn’t know who it was, or what the damn things are. He doesn’t think this Kusharian is the one responsible for putting them out in the first place.” Bree paused. “I couldn’t just let him go.” She glared at Max, daring him to disagree.
“Okay. What’s your next move?” Max’s words were measured and his voice was steady, if a little tighter than normal.
Bree washed her shock down with a swig of beer. She’d been prepared for an argument, not this. “Uh, we were just about to make a plan. You want in?”
“Seeing as how he’s in my bunker, I guess I don’t have much choice do I?” Max remained in control, but his nostrils flared slightly.
Bree shook her head. “Look, we’ve come this far without you. You want in, fine. If not, we continue without you,” she grumbled.
Max glared back at Bree. “Get over yourself, Bree. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Shit! A sharp pain sliced through her head. She blinked and coughed in effort to cover her flinch. If she didn’t know better, she might’ve thought that Max’s hate stare had literally pierced through her skull. Given that was impossible, Bree decided it must be a migraine coming on.
“This idiot doesn’t know anything, but I’m gonna use him to flush out the Kusharian he’s working for, get to the bottom of this clusterfuck, and shut the zappers down.” Bree pushed her chin out and used the tone she reserved for bad guys. She hadn’t figured out the finer details of her plan, but she wasn’t giving Max the opportunity to jump in and take over.
Max’s lips tightened and his head moved like a bobble-head doll. “Sounds good.” He swallowed hard. “How are you going to do it? And what the hell are you going to do once you flush the Kusharian out?”
Damn it. Couldn’t he have stopped after the first comment? “Look, if you’re going to be a dick, then back the hell off. I believe that I said we’re about to make a plan. Not that we had a plan.” Her bitter tone nearly caused her to pucker. “Asshole,” she added under her breath.
“Okay. Okay.” Max shook his head and put his hands up in surrender. “How can I help?”
Bree sat silent for a few moments, debating whether to kick his ass out of the kitchen or accept his offer. Part of her wanted to hug him and say, ‘yes, please and thank you.’ But, this man, her uncle and close confidant, had changed so much in the last year. She no longer understood him. Could she still count on him as she had in the past?
“You have any secret intel that would help? Like how we can subdue a Kusharian without alerting the goon squad?” Bree suspected that his black ops unit had known about the Kusharians before the general public.
“I talked with Spyder. He doesn’t know much about these devices. He says there’s a little chatter from the Karma Council about them, but they seem to be mostly in the dark too.” Max sat back in his chair and extended his legs in front of him with ankles crossed.
“What? Does he buy that?” Bree spit the words out.
Max shrugged. “He thinks they’d hear more talk if the Council was responsible. To be honest, I think you know more than he does at this point.”
“Does he at least know if this is happening anywhere else? Or is it local to Arizona?” Bree asked.
“Seems contained to our area. For now.”
“Huh… that’s weird. Good, but weird. So, who would know how to do this? Who would have access to the technology?” Bree’s voice drifted off as she got lost in her own questions. “That’s got to be our focus at this point.”
The boys nodded in agreement.
“Until we hear back from your sources, we need to deal with your guest down there.” Max pointed his thumb in the direction of the bunker below.
“I’m thinking we text the Kusharian with Nicky-boy’s phone. Tell him he’s finished the job and is ready for the next one. Whaddya think?” Bree looked at Max.
Max nodded. “Sounds like a good plan to draw out the Kusharian. I’ll call Spyder again to see what intel he has to help figure out what to do with him once we find him.”
Bree couldn’t help but feel a little relief at Max’s use of the word ‘we.’ She didn’t need his help, but could sure as hell use it. Things were getting more complicated than she’d anticipated. Maybe getting involved would help snap Max back to his old self.
Jason looked at Bree, his groomed brows furrowed. “Can’t you just do what you did with Nicky? You know, use scorpions on the Kusharian? That was awesome.”
Bree chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t think it’s gonna be that easy. We don’t even know how scorpion stings affect the Kusharians. Plus, how would we secure him without bringing on the goons. Hell, he might even show up with some KG goons. We’ve got to come up with something else.”
Jason frowned. “What about that Kusharian doctor that you met? Maybe she could help?”
Bree cringed at the thought. She could have sworn Max did too.
“Maybe they know each other or something.” Jason’s tone was tentative, but his eyes lit up.
Max’s jaw twitched. “He might be right.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Bree slid an angry glare at Max. “Aren’t you the one who blasted me for trusting her the other day?”
“Desperate times, desperate measures.” Max’s head dipped and his shoulders fell forward a bit.
The response was all kinds of weird, but forcing Max to talk would have to wait. As much as she hated the thought of asking for Ipeshe’s help, she didn’t have any better ideas. She scrolled through her contacts and called Nina. “When should we set up the meet? We should move fast or they’ll wonder what happened to Nicky-boy.”
“True. I suppose it should be in the morning. We’ll need to work fast though.” Max walked out of the room with his phone to his ear, probably calling Spyder.
With Spyder’s intel and Ipeshe’s help, the group decided to move forward with the plan to set up a meeting with Nicky’s boss. Jason followed Bree back down to the bunker so they could press Nicky for more information.
“Alrighty, Nicky-boy. I’ve got more questions.” Bree turned a chair around and sat down with her arms crossed on the back of the chair.
“I’ve already told you everything I know,” Nicky grumbled.
“Relax, you dumb fuckwad. It’s just a few more details. Where did you first meet this Kusharian?”
Nicky’s face reddened. “Uh, well.” He cleared his throat. “I owe a guy some money. I couldn’t pay him, and I kinda figured he couldn’t do much about it. You know, with Instant Karma and all. But then this Kusharian showed up and said Skinny Ed - my bookie - sent him. I don’t know how he got in my apartment. I woke up and there he was standing beside my bed. He told me that if I helped him out, he’d pay me enough to cover my debt.”
“What the hell? You th
ink this Kusharian assface is working for Skinny Ed?”
“I dunno.”
“But you’re telling me that the Kusharian showed up and offered you a deal in exchange for paying your bookie?”
Nicky nodded.
“I doubt this was a Council-sanctioned deal.” Bree’s brows furrowed. She believed Nicky, but this information didn’t make sense. “Who the fuck is this Kusharian? What was he wearing?”
“Regular clothes. You know, human clothes.” Nicky answered.
“Interesting.” Bree looked off in the distance trying to process this new information.
The Kusharians wore sparkly white body suits with different colored markings to designate rank or position. Much of the time they also wore flowing robes over the bodysuit. Bree had never seen a Kusharian in human clothes. Curiouser and curiouser. What the hell was this fucker up to?
“What color were his eyes?” Jason asked.
Bree nodded her approval of his question. She’d learned the Kusharians had three eye colors - purple, green, and blue. Each color represented a different tribe; however, she still didn’t really know much beyond that. Looks like she had some homework to do now.
“Green. He had the green ones. Does that make a difference?”
Bree looked at Jason. It was his question and he needed some experience interviewing if he wanted to continue working with her.
“I don’t know,” Jason said. “I just thought I’d ask.”
Swing and a miss. Oh well, everyone whiffed a few.
“That’s a good question for you to ask Ipeshe.” Bree blinked hard. There were two Jasons staring back at her now. Her mouth went dry and the room closed in.
Whoa! What the hell? The tingling in her brain ramped up several notches. She took a sip of water and cleared her throat.
“Are you okay?” Jason bit his lower lip and his eyes widened.
Thankfully she saw only one of him now.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired. That’s all.” Bree hoped he believed her. “Okay, Nick-the-dick. One more question for now. What did your creepy lil’ Kusharian friend call this thing?” Bree pointed to the thing she’d taken from Nicky that looked like a flashlight.
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