Page 28 of Justified (Ruthless Vigilante #1)

“I’m touching them just fine. Walter Darring is dead as fuck, trust me.”

With the mention of his name, I saw her eyes widen in shock.

Walter’s disappearance had been all over the television.

So, it was no surprise that she’d known of him.

Hell, Walter’s sister even put out a fifty thousand dollar reward to anyone with information that would lead to his whereabouts.

I was tempted to call for the reward money, but decided not to get too involved.

“You killed him?” she asked, and the expression on her face told me she knew a little bit more about Walter than the average news-watching citizen.

I snorted. “As I’ve been saying this whole time, what part of, ‘I will kill you if you piss me off,’ don’t you understand?” I asked. “I don’t give a shit about how big or small your bank account is, or who you are.”

“I only delivered the money!” she exclaimed. I could tell she was terrified. Her body was slick with sweat and the look in her eyes showed just how much she wanted to survive this encounter.

“Who did you deliver the money to and what was the money for?”

“I was just told to leave the money in a designated spot. I don’t know who picked it up or what it’s for,” she said, telling what I believed was a lie.

“That bitch is lying,” Jordan said through my com, and I agreed.

“Okay, fuck this shit.” I grabbed her arm, and this time I didn’t hesitate.

I squeezed to get the vein, took the top off the syringe with my teeth, and then jabbed that bastard into her arm as she screamed.

I pushed the serum in quickly, which I knew had to hurt, then pulled the needle out, setting it on the nightstand.

The drug worked relatively quickly, making her nice and docile.

Plus, it shut down all that stupid screaming.

I had to be careful about how I asked the questions.

With her being under the influence, I needed to make sure what she told me was indeed the truth.

I had to know how to wade through all the incoherent nonsense I was sure I’d have to decipher.

I decided to change forms. Maybe if I looked like the mayor to her, she’d be more trusting.

I walked into the bathroom with my purse, removing a photo of the mayor I had.

I memorized every detail of her face and body, then began to make my transformation.

As always, it hurt like a son of a bitch and I moaned in agony as my bones broke, shrunk, and then reformed to fit the size and height of the mayor.

My skin loosened to accommodate the woman’s age and, for sixty-two, Mayor Cecily Danvers wasn’t a bad-looking gal.

She wasn’t out of shape, either. I checked myself over in the mirror once the change was complete and nodded my approval.

Mayor Danvers had a silvery-blonde bob haircut, gray eyes, and not as many wrinkles as one would expect.

After approving my look, I walked out of the bathroom and noticed right away that Nancy was ready to talk.

I sat down on the bed and caressed her face.

“Hi Nancy, are you with me?” I asked in Mayor Danvers’ voice.

The best thing about my ability to look like another person was the fact that I sounded like them without any extra effort on my part. It was all in the vocal cords.

She looked up at me with extremely dopey eyes. “Shhhhhh, someone with Mercedes’ face is on to us. Or… or maybe… Mer—Mercedes isn’t who I—I thought she was.”

Well, this was even easier than I thought it was going to be. Turns out, Nancy had a lot of loyalty toward Cecily. Her first response was to warn her about me. Better play the part.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

She shook her head slowly. “I… I don’t know how she found out.”

“We need to be careful, Nancy. Do you have any recording devices in this room?” I wanted to make sure she wasn’t some kinky freak that liked recording her sex games while the other person was unaware.

I had nothing against people making personal sex tapes as long as they both agreed.

Other than that, it was a violation of privacy.

Nancy shook her head. “No. I… swear.”

I nodded. “Good. Now, tell me, what did she find out?”

“The… K—K—Kill—” her voice trailed off as she looked at me, confusion written all over her face.

Come on, spit it out, bitch . “Tell me, Nancy. What do they know about the Killing Game?”

“That you… you’re a member.”

Yeah, I thought this bitch knew more than she had let on. “Does she know that you make my money drops for me and who you give the money to?”

“I… I onnnly toold her that I make the dr…drops. She does… doesn’t know… about Mr. Chance,” Nancy stammered, revealing a new player.

“What do you know of Mr. Chance, Nancy?”

“He always… collects your… money,” she replied in her drugged-up state, her words slurring in between pauses. One had to have a lot of patience when interrogating someone who was pretty much high as fuck.

“When was the last drop that you made to Mr. Chance for me?”

“Two months… ago.”

“How much was it?”

“One million, two… hundred thousand dollars. You always… pay in cash… no trail,” Nancy said as if she admired her boss’ shrewdness.

It was true. Jordan had discovered this info about the mayor through her IP address that wasn’t as protected as she thought it was.

Jordan had done a money trace and discovered that Cecily’s funds came through illegal means.

The more I questioned Nancy, the more I was seeing her as an accomplice rather than someone who was just forced to do their job, even if they didn’t want to.

It was time for me to continue the interrogation.

I smiled. “That’s right, Nancy. I had won the bet that night. Do you remember?” I wanted to see just how much Nancy knew.

Nancy laughed in a drunken manner. “I remember. It was a fat man with… sweaty skin… looked like he stank.”

I laughed to play along. “Yeah, that’s right. He was disgusting. What did I want done to him, Nancy?”

“It was… awesome. You’re soooo gooood… to me, baby.

I love you,” Nancy cooed, and I had to maintain my demeanor after that revelation.

So apparently, Nancy and Cecily were also lovers.

I wondered if Mercedes knew. Furthermore, this bitch was as guilty as Cecily since she was sitting back and enjoying the show as well.

Dainty, delicate flowers my ass. Women could be just as horrible, viscous, and evil as any man.

Lucky for me, I was an equal opportunity avenger, baby.

I didn’t discriminate when it came to getting justice, and Nancy was about to learn that first hand.

But before I put an end to her… just a few more questions.

I interrogated her ass for another hour, getting her itinerary for Cecily, all the way down to which flavor coffee she liked and from where.

I also learned a great deal about Cecily’s finances and how some of the money she used to pay her annual fee came from city taxes.

Fucking crooked ass politicians got on my damn nerves.

But I learned that when money was involved, very few people were honest. In addition to all that info, I was able to confirm that Nancy knew how Cecily’s last victim had died and it was pretty fucking horrible.

Damn, thinking back, it was beyond horrible.

I know I believed in an eye for an eye, but this shit was going to test even my limits.

“You did so good telling me the truth, Nancy,” I told her, and she smiled like a little obedient puppy.

“I will always… be… loyal… Cecil…Cecily,” she slurred.

“Yes, you are.” Thanks to all the information Nancy had given me, I knew just how I was going to take out Cecily.

I had all my men’s clothes in the trunk of my car, but had managed to stuff a pair of black boxers in my purse.

I was tired of looking like a woman, and even though I would have to take Nancy’s form in the morning, I wanted to sleep in my own skin for the night.

I stood up while Nancy watched, then leaned over, gagging her again.

Chances were this little show was going to freak her out.

I didn’t want her screaming and attracting attention.

Now that I had her undivided attention—well, as much as I was going to get considering the drugs she was on, I began my transformation.

Her eyes widened as she saw my body grow taller, firmer, and more muscular.

My vagina dropped two balls and my cock grew, which had been a missed feeling between my legs.

Hair grew on my arms and legs and dusted my chest; and before long, I had my own male body again.

It was going to hurt like hell when I had to change into Nancy, but it was worth it to be me again.

Also, the look of shock and horror on Nancy’s face after witnessing my transformation was priceless.

I walked into the bathroom and retrieved my purse, then returned to her bedroom.

Climbing onto the bed, I removed the scalpel from my purse and held it up for her to see.

Her eyes grew even wider as more sweat beaded her flesh.

She was drugged, but still had enough sense to know she was in danger.

“I was going to let you live if you were just a person who made a dumb decision and felt trapped by your boss and her evil dealings. That was until you told me that you enjoy watching people be tortured to death. Well, that just changed up my whole plan.”

I took the scalpel and began carving my name, Cobra, into her chest, right between her perky breasts. She cried and whimpered as blood bubbled up from the wounds. I made sure to go deep with it, too, so it would really hurt.

“I like to leave my calling card on some of my victims whose crimes were so horrendous they deserved to stand as warnings to others,” I said as I worked on the “A” in Cobra. “Ah, there. That’s as nice as it’s going to get.”