Page 34 of Property of Anchor

KOAMC carved into the first guy.

The second body was his girlfriend.Same letters carved in.

It was like someone was trying to frame us.Or taunt us.

Either way, it was personal.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket.I pulled it out and saw a message from Piney:

DOC’S DONE.

I stared out at the black water and ground my teeth.

Someone had killed them and dumped their bodies here, and they’d done it recently.

That meant they were close.

Still watching.

Still waiting.

By the time I made it back to the clubhouse, most of the guys had turned in.Cross was passed out on the couch in front of the TV.Post was doing inventory in the back.Skull was smoking behind the bar, with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Anything new?”I asked.

He shook his head.“Just ghosts and dumbass teenagers.”

“Where’s Prime?”

“He went to talk to his contact at the docks.See if anyone’s moved through who shouldn’t have.”

I nodded, poured myself a glass of whiskey, and took it to the far end of the bar.

Skull watched me for a minute before stepping closer.“You think this is random?”

“No.”

“Same.”

“I also don’t think it’s a warning,” I added.“Not exactly.”

Skull frowned.“What then?”

I looked at him.“I think someone’s testing us.Seeing how far they can push before we break.”

His jaw clenched.“Then they’re about to find out we don’t fucking break.”

I downed my whiskey and stood.“Keep an eye on things.I’m gonna go over the footage for a bit.”

Skull nodded.“Holler if you need anything.”

I sat in the surveillance room, flipping through camera angles, double-checking gates, access points, docks, windows.Looking for something, anything, we missed.

Around three a.m., I switched over to the feed near Pearl’s cabin.

She was asleep.At least, the porch was dark, and no movement lit up the sensors.But I still stared at the screen, like somehow I’d see her heartbeat flicker in the static.

It wasn’t right that she was involved.