Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
“Did Wrath outlaw the camp?”
“Saxton’s still working on it. He’s dotting t’s, crossing i’s.”
“Isn’t that the other way around?”
“And you think I struggle with a sense of humor.”
Butch rolled his eyes. “Well, I do think you’re right—not about the alphabet, though. The drugs are all we’ve got, so let’s head out into the field now. Marissa’s already at Safe Place working, and I heard Doc Jane leave earlier—she’s at the clinic, yeah? We can skip First Meal, grab some Arby’s, and go.”
V shook his head in awe. “You complete me.”
“I know. And I had you at Arby’s—although that shit has to level up to get to Taco Bell’s gastric distress standard. I’ll never understand why you eat it.”
“Old habits die hard.” He clicked out of his email, grabbed his phone and texted Tohr. “I’ll let the boys know what we’re doing.”
“I’ll weapon up.”
Butch disappeared back down his hall of fancy-dancies, and it was hard not to thank—well, not the Scribe Virgin because she wasn’t around anymore, and V sure as shit wasn’t going to be grateful to Lassiter for anything other than that fallen angel moving out of the mansion…
Fine, he’d just thank the Creator for having that male in his life.
With that thought, V stood up and began gathering some hand-rolleds and—
With a frown, he leaned down to the monitor. The Caldwell Courier Journal’s website was a subscription service he disdainfully paid six bucks a month for, and he’d been trying to figure out how to cancel the goddamn thing. For all his IQ, he couldn’t remember the email address he’d used to create the account eight years ago, or what credit card he’d put in, and with the password lost inside his computer somewhere, it was just too fucking much work to either break into the stupid site itself and cut the vampire charge or go into the weeds of his absolutely-not-an-Apple tower to track the account shit down.
Plus all he really read the thing for was the relationship advice column—not because he cared about the stupid crap the humans wrote in about, but because he enjoyed crafting responses in his head that were considerably more direct.
But as he bent over and reread the CCJ’s splash page, for once he wasn’t focusing on the annoying monthly bill or the Ann Landers stuff.
He was looking at an article about that break-in he’d seen on the news when he’d been with the Jackal in the training center’s cafeteria.
“You ready?” Butch asked.
“Hold on a sec.” V scrolled up and did a full start-to-finish on the reporting. “It was a pharmacy.”
“I’m sorry?”
As his roommate came over, he pointed to his screen. “Last night, upstate, someone broke into a pharmacy in Leczo Falls, New York. Ransacked the place.”
“Yeah, and? They were probably looking for oxys or something.”
“They took more than that, though.”
“So they wanted some Mountain Dew and a bag of Doritos along with their federal felony charges. Mmmm, tasty.”
When V just stared at the website, like he was somehow going to pull out extra details from between the glowing lines of typey-typey, Butch put a hand on his shoulder.
“Are we going to Leczo Falls, by any chance?” his roommate asked. “Maybe you’ll tell me why?”
V glanced at the brother. “If you were running a prison camp, and you had just moved it how many miles away? Wouldn’t there be casualties you’d need to treat? Or what if there was an escape and the wrong people got hurt? You’d need medicine.”
“But how do you know what they stole?”
“It’s all here. Bandages, tape, surgical gloves… that’s not just oxys.” V pointed to the lines in the article and shook his head. “Little town upstate. Not many prying eyes, lots of land and privacy, but it’s next to an exit on the Northway for transporting product. Come, it’s not that farfetched—and even if they didn’t steal from the town they’re in, they’ll be somewhere close.”
Butch shrugged. “Well, it can’t hurt to head up there. God knows we have nothing else to go on, and the drugs will always be waiting for us in Caldwell.”
“You got that right,” V muttered as he grabbed his holster off the floor to arm himself.
“Only problem is it’ll take forty-five minutes to drive there. You need backup.”
“No, I don’t—”
“What if you find the prison camp.” Butch shook his head. “Sorry, but safety first, and I’ll tell on you if you don’t take someone else.”
“What are you, five? And since when have you become Tohr.” When the brother just stared back at him, V rolled his eyes. “Fine. And I know who I can ask.”
As he took out his Samsung again and sent a text, the former cop cleared his throat. “Can I ask you something?”
“No, I don’t know why Lassiter is still hanging around when he could be cooling his jets in my mahmen’s Sanctuary.” As the response V wanted came back on his phone, he strapped his weapons belt around his waist. “Come to think of it, maybe I need to install a TV up there.”