Page 47 of Property of Anchor

Vin let out a frustrated grunt.“It’s gotta be Venom.It has to be.No one else would go this far and try to pin it on us.”

Skull nodded.“We need to reach out to a few of his old contacts.See if he’s surfaced recently.”

“What about Razor?”Skull asked.

All eyes turned to me.

“I’ll get in touch,” I said.“If anyone knows where Venom is, or what the hell this means, it’s Razor.”

“Think he’ll even answer your call?”Push asked.

I shrugged.“He owes me.”

Silence fell for a beat.

Then Piney muttered, “This isn’t random.Someone’s targeting us.”

“They’re sending a message,” Vin agreed.“And I don’t think it’s just for us.”

I didn’t like the way that sounded.

I also didn’t like the look Skull shot me.

“Think it’s time to tell the others?”he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.“Push, you let them know.Tell Post, Prime, and Bob to keep their eyes sharp.No one moves around this island alone.Not even to take a piss.”

Skull grunted.“We need eyes everywhere.Surveillance, patrol, inside the house, everything.”

I nodded.“After this, I’m going through every inch of footage we’ve got.Someone’s on this island without our say-so.And I’m gonna find out who.”

Doc stood up, wiped his hands, and stretched his back.“Same story as before.You got yourself a serial killer with a grudge.”

“Yeah,” I muttered.“I just need to know who the grudge is against.”

He packed his bag and looked at me.“I’ll be at the bar.Again.”

“Make room at the counter,” Skull grumbled.

Lost followed Doc out, while Vin stayed back, his jaw tight.Skull went with them to secure the path back up to the surface.

I turned to Push.“Go stand guard at the haunted house.”

“You got it, Prez.”

He took off, and I was left alone in the cold silence of the cellar, three bodies lined up behind me like grim reminders of what I’d failed to see coming.

I didn’t like this feeling.It had my gut twisted and my fists clenched.

I left the morgue and headed out into the woods.

Time to walk the island.

Time to see what the hell I was missing.

And after that?

I’d be tearing through every frame of surveillance we had because someone was walking our land and leaving corpses in their wake.