Page 76 of Pretty Ruthless Monsters: Complete Series

ATLAS

Quinn’s eyes widen in surprise as she takes in what I just said, a flurry of emotions flashing through her gray irises as the news sinks in. Clearly, she wasn’t expecting this right now.

But it passes quickly, and I can see when she shoves down her surprise and whatever else, nodding and slipping into ready mode. The leader in her takes over, ready to get this shit done.

“Let’s go,” she says.

We head downstairs, where Nico and Killian are already waiting.

Killian’s hair is wet, just like Quinn’s is, and I spare a second to wonder what they were up to before Nico and I got here. But there’s no time to think about that.

Nico steps forward, taking control the way he always does. “We can handle this,” he says to Quinn. “Your people have already done their part.”

Quinn’s eyes narrow as she looks at him. “What? I’m not fucking staying behind. Not when we have a chance to get this bastard.”

“There are three of us,” he insists, gesturing to himself, me, and Killian. “If any one of us gets hurt, then Carnage still has leadership. It won’t throw everything into chaos. But if you get hurt, that’s chopping the head off Enigma. And your gang is still recovering from that happening once.”

Quinn’s brow furrows, and she opens her mouth, clearly ready to argue more. But then she stops herself, biting her tongue. “Fine. You can go alone.”

There’s something odd in her expression when she says it that doesn’t sit right with me. She’s usually not one to give in this easily. But I can’t figure out what it is, and I assume she just let it go because she knows we don’t have time to argue right now. Every second counts for this.

She steps back, watching the three of us as we take our leave, rushing to our bikes and tearing off toward the pawn shop.

Nico takes point, and Killian and I flank him, weaving in and out of traffic as we go. It’s dark out now, and we meet up with the members of Enigma who had eyes on the pawn shop for tonight.

I know Quinn told them to report to us the same as they would to her, but they still don’t look thrilled that we’re the ones here instead of their leader.

We gather in an alley down the street from the shop, and Nico steps forward.

“Report,” he says, all business.

“Silas went inside about fifteen minutes ago,” one of the Enigma crew answers, ruffling bushy brown hair as he speaks. “He hasn’t come out yet.”

Nico nods. “Good. You all clear out of here. The fewer people around when this goes down, the better.”

The three of them look at each other but take the dismissal, handing over the borrowed surveillance equipment and leaving us to it.

Nico, Killian, and I set up across the street and down the block a little way, watching from a safe distance. No one will be able to see us unless they come this way specifically, but we have a good view of the front of the shop. Silas isn’t getting out without us seeing him.

“The plan?” Killian asks, never taking his eyes off the shop. I can feel the tension radiating from him, everything in him coiled to strike.

“We’re not going to take him out here,” Nico says. “Like we talked about, we need to know first and foremost if he’s working solo or with some new group. So we’ll tail Silas after he leaves the shop and see where he goes. Figure out where his base is and go from there.”

Killian grunts. I know he’d prefer to have this over and done with right now, and I can’t say I blame him for that. I understand Nico’s reasoning, but there’s a part of me that’s too impatient to wait any longer now that we have Silas where we want him.

But I nod anyway, letting out a breath.

We don’t have long to wait before Silas comes out. The pawn shop door opens less than three minutes later, and a tall blond man emerges.

I study him, comparing the reality of him with the description we’ve been working from. I can’t get a great look at him from a distance at night, but it’s good enough.

He looks maybe early thirties, muscled and broad. There’s nothing overtly eye-catching about him, with his blond hair and average face. The scar on his cheek is his most unique feature, and I definitely don’t recognize him.

“Let’s go,” Nico says quietly, and we mobilize, waiting for Silas to get in his car and start driving off before we head to our bikes and start to tail him.

We ride after him for a while, keeping cars in between us and maintaining our distance from each other. It’s less suspicious if we’re not all in one group following him.

Eventually, he leads us to a house about ten minutes from the pawn shop. He gets out of his car and heads inside, and we wait for the door to close and the lights to come on inside before we move any closer.

Even then, we keep our distance, sizing the place up and casing it with critical eyes. We scan for cameras, trying to make sure there’s nothing obvious before we make any moves. There’s always the chance that a neighbor has a doorbell camera or something, but there’s not much we can do about that.

“Windows on every floor,” Killian murmurs, his gaze tracking over the house. “Side door, back door, front door.”

Nico nods. “From what I saw of the back of the house when we rode up, it looks like it just faces that abandoned lot back there. Easy to break in without being seen, but we don’t know if he lives here alone. One car in the driveway doesn’t mean much.”

I scan the top of the house, looking to see if there’s an attic or roof access anywhere, but come up short.

“Windows could be a good access point,” I say. “But it’s risky without knowing if anyone else is in the house, unless we manage to get in completely silently.”

Killian shoots me a look that says he’s more than capable of that, and I snort because he’s right. He could get through a window without alerting anyone he’s there. He’s done it plenty of times before.

“If you can fit through it,” I mutter, and he huffs a breath that might be a laugh if it were anyone but Killian, then refocuses on the house.

I do the same, peering through the night vision goggles and scanning the darkened windows, trying to make out any hint of movement that would indicate more people are inside.

But I don’t pick anything up. The house is quiet and dark, except a single light shining from one of the first floor windows.

As I lower the night vision goggles a few minutes later, the light in the window suddenly flicks off.

“Movement,” Killian grunts, lifting his chin.

Silas emerges from the side door of the house and gets back in his car, pulling out of the driveway and onto the road before heading in the opposite direction from where he came.

“What do you think?” Nico says, glancing to me and Killian.

“I think it’s empty,” I tell him. “And even if it’s not, I think this is our best chance to figure out who the fuck this guy is and what he wants.”

Killian nods in agreement. “We can get in and out before he gets back. And if there’s anyone inside…” He cracks his knuckles. “We’ll deal with that when we come to it.”

We wait for a couple more tense minutes to make sure Silas is really gone. Then we don our masks and make our way stealthily toward the house. The whole building is dark and quiet now, looking just as sleepy and peaceful as every other house on the block.

“Back door,” Killian murmurs decisively. “No one can see it from the road.”

Nico and I nod, and we start our operation.

I slip around back first, my gun drawn, keeping my eyes and ears peeled for sounds of anyone lying in wait, my gaze scanning the back of the house for any sign of obvious security cameras.

Once I’m satisfied there’s no one waiting to ambush us, I signal for Killian and Nico to join me.

They do, moving quietly as shadows along the pathway that leads around to the back of Silas’s house. We stare up at the windows we can see, looking for signs of movement.

Nothing.

“Get the door,” Nico whispers.

Killian nods and steps past us both, going to the back door. It has both a knob lock and a deadbolt, and he gazes down at them as he fishes something out of his pocket.

“You got this?” Nico asks as we flank him on either side, keeping a lookout.

“Yup.”

Killian’s one-word answer is all that’s needed.

Honestly, Nico probably didn’t even have to ask the question.

We’ve seen Killian pick dozens of locks over the years, and he’s both skilled and fast. I know he broke into a ton of homes when he was surviving on the street after that shit went down with his mom.

He didn’t have anyone to look out for him after the person who should’ve loved him most betrayed him, so just like Nico and I did, he learned to look out for himself, doing whatever it took to survive.

And this particular skill has come in handy more than once since the three of us formed Carnage.

It takes less than two minutes for Killian to take care of both locks. He steps back from the door, and Nico opens it and pushes it inward carefully. Whatever this back room is, it’s dark, and he flips on a small light, shining it around quickly as he checks for cameras.

“One,” he murmurs. He darts forward and moves to the camera, quickly covering it.

There’s a chance it caught him on film, but we’re all masked up, so there’s no way Silas will be able to tell it’s us if he sees the footage, or if there are any cameras we missed.

Nico does another sweep and then whistles low twice. The signal that it’s all clear.

Killian and I move inside the house, closing the door behind us.

We don’t turn on any lights, instead using small flashlights to poke around. It seems like we’re in a small storage room of sorts, with a short flight of steps leading up to the main part of the house.

“Split up, but don’t go far,” Nico whispers. “Look for anything we can use to help us figure out what he’s up to.”

The two of us split off from him, sweeping through the first floor first.