Page 45 of Property of Anchor

There was a pause.

Then Skull said, “We’ve got another one.”

I closed my eyes.

Pearl went still in my arms.

The weight of her against me, the heat of what we’d almost had, vanished in an instant.Replaced by something cold and suffocating.

“Where?”I barked into the radio.

“Boat dock.Push is already there.It’s bad.”

I dropped my forehead against Pearl’s.She didn’t pull away.Her eyes met mine, wide and searching.

“I have to go,” I said softly.

She nodded, silent.

I stepped back, tugged her tank top off the floor, and handed it to her.Her hands trembled as she pulled it back on.

“Stay here until I come and get you,” I said.“Keep Bernice close.You’re safe.We’re always watching.”

She nodded again, but I could see the questions in her eyes.

I didn’t have time to answer them.

I gave her one last look, burned her into my mind, and then I was gone.

I ran toward the dock and wondered how many more bodies were going to show up before this island turned into a fucking graveyard.

We’ve got another one.

Those four damn words punched me straight in the gut.I hadn’t even had time to catch my breath from the last body, and now there was a third.

The dock came into view, and I spotted Push, Skull, Vin, and Wannabe standing in a tight cluster at the edge of the water.

The body floated just a few feet from the edge, face-down, shirtless, and slightly bloated.His arms drifted lifelessly like kelp beneath the murky surface.

“Push, Vin, get him out,” I barked, skidding to a stop.

They didn’t hesitate.Both men stepped onto the lower dock and leaned out, grabbing hold of the body’s limbs and hauling him out of the water.His skin was pale and puckered from the water, lips sewn shut, but it wasn’t the water that had killed him.

“Anyone know him?”I asked, eyes sweeping over the body, then to my brothers.

Heads shook slowly, one by one.Skull, silent and grim.Wannabe, pale as ever.Vin let out a breath through his nose.

Same as the others.

Mouth sewn shut with thick black twine.

KOAMC carved deep across his stomach, letters jagged and violent, done with the same hand as before.

Fuck.Fuck.

“Same deal,” Skull muttered.

“Yeah,” I rasped.“Exactly the same.”