Page 33 of Rage's Solace
Venom grins. “I already got one blood brother, you looking to be adopted by my family too?”
Tex just shakes his head with a smirk. “Nah, I’m not gonna come between you and your fucking bromance.”
“Fuck off,” Rage and I both say in unison.
We take a few minutes to eat in silence before Tex speaks up. “I’m gonna fetch some more coffee and supplies. If we’re gonna be here all day, then we don’t wanna be distracted by hunger.”
I jerk my chin for him to go, wondering how much experience he had with stakeouts when he was a Texas Ranger. They drivesome brothers right up the wall, but Tex seems quite chipper about it.
***
We keep an eye on the house for most of the day, true to his word Tex kept us topped up with fresh coffee and made sure we didn’t get hungry. That stereotype about cops and donuts? Given the sugar-dusted ones he brought us with our lunchtime coffee and burgers, there must be some truth in it. I guess carbs and sugar keeps the blood sugar from dipping, though after this stakeout I’m gonna need me some gym time.
When Tex comes back after dark with a pizza, we all sit around watching the house. Venom complains, “We’ve had club brothers here for the better part of twenty-four hours off and on. We’ve yet to see any sign of life. Obviously because it’s such a massive place with thick walls I can’t use my thermal imaging drones, but other than the lights, there’s no fucking activity.”
Tex sighs, “How long are y’all thinking of staking out this place before y’all break down and check the house to see if anyone is even home?”
My head snaps around to look at Venom. “Tex’s right. We’ve been here long enough, we need to eliminate this as a potential capture site for Malcolm. The old man could be dancing with show girls in Vegas or sunning himself on the French Riviera for all we know.”
Venom finishes his slice of pizza and grins at me. “I’m game for a little breaking and entering tonight.” He wipes his greasy fingers on his jeans and pulls out his gloves then looks from Tex back to me.
Tex curses under his breath. “Fucking boy scouts.” Reaching into the black leather duffle bag he brought, he pulls out a set of overalls and tosses them to Venom, then takes out another set for me.
“What the fuck is this all about?” I ask.
Tex gets to his feet and begins pulling on the solid black garment. By the time he zips it up, I see the benefit with my own eyes. Against a black backdrop he looks almost invisible. Reaching into his pocket he pulls out thick black rubber gloves and a ski mask. By the time he’s geared up, his fucking mother wouldn’t recognize him.
“I’m guessing y’all probably have your DNA in the system? I know mine is on file from my previous life. This way we don’t leave any evidence.”
He’s right, because in my job as a medic I often end up at crime scenes, I’ve been asked to provide a sample for exclusion on a couple of occasions. They say it’s destroyed after the case is closed, but I ain’t taking any chances, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Venom and I scramble to get into our overalls as well. Tex pulls out a case with a sniper rifle fitted with a silencer. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t totally fascinated by the new guy. When he was prospecting, he just kept his head down and did as he was told, now he’s a fully patched in brother we’re learning all sorts of interesting shit about him. He raises his rifle and shoots at a transformer on a nearby power pole. He keeps shooting and reloading until the transformer pops. Then he states, “We’ve probably got about ten or fifteen minutes until the utility companies show up and call the police.”
We scramble down and do a circuit of the house to check for signs of life. Looking through the lower floor windows with ournight vision goggles there’s no heat signatures. It’s too early for anyone to be in bed, so it’s pretty safe to assume the house is empty. I run up to the back door, I was gonna try and force it, but Tex moves me aside and starts getting to work with a bunch of tools. He makes short work of it and a minute or so later there’s a soft click as it opens just as if someone used a key. The power’s out so we don’t have to worry about any security systems. We begin searching the house for Malcolm or Ashton, each of us taking a different floor. Once we get out of the main living area, I know we’re not going to find anyone here because the fucker has moved. Every other room is totally empty except the spacious living room. It doesn’t take us long to regroup and head out the way we came.
Venom is pissed. “This has been a gigantic waste of time.”
Tex peels off his overalls and crams them back into the duffle. “We need to get the fuck outta here before the police show up, once the utility repair men see the bullet holes, they’re gonna freak.”
Ven and I pull off ours as well, put them in the duffle and then load up and get the hell out of dodge. When we’re miles away, we stop to refuel.
Tex steps closer and asks, “Do you think we should check the house where Priscilla used to live? What are the chances he’s there?”
I shrug, “Pretty much zero. It’s still a crime scene, isn’t it?”
“Nope,” Tex says. “Got released back to the Whitmores last week, they had a cleanup crew come out. I don’t know what they’re planning on doing with the place, it’s not listed for sale.”
Venom chimes in, “I’d be willing to do this all in one fell swoop. We need to find this dude. If there’s a chance he’s hiding out there, then we need to check.”
I agree so we head in that direction.
Pulling up to the house gives me the creeps, not because a man died here but because Priscilla was shot here. We gear up again and slip in through the back again because it can’t be seen from the street. The electricity is already off, maybe like someone didn’t pay the bill or it got turned off by the old man. Our flashlights come in handy, and we stay together on this one. It’s pretty clear that no one is living here, the living room carpet has been taken away, as have the sofas and there’s a strong smell of bleach and chemicals in the air. I see fruit is rotting on the dining room table in a large bowl, I guess the cleanup crew were only focusing on the biohazards.
“This brings back memories,” Tex mutters under his breath. I assume he means because he used to be a law enforcement officer and saw a lot of crime scenes and knows that the absence of soft furnishings means that the blood splatter was extensive.
Venom has nothing to say, and I can’t see his expression.
“Priscilla hasn’t got any of her, or Mia’s personal items. Maybe we can collect that for her?” I suggest.
“Good idea,” Tex replies. “Asshole isn’t here, so we may as well make it worth our while.” We head upstairs.