Page 23 of Vicious Deception
Philadelphia Commercial Hood & Fire Systems.
Fire systems.
Oh, shit.
We enter the restaurant from the back. Axel has a key, which feels too easy, but it sounds like he’s been planning this for a while. When he opens the door, we’re met with complete silence.
“What did you do to the alarm system?” one of the guys asks.
With a smirk, Axel shuts the door behind us. “Made sure the closing manager conveniently ‘forgot’ to turn it off. Don’t worry, she’ll keep her mouth shut. I made sure of it.”
The two men exchange a nervous glance with each other.
“Remember,” Axel says, “don’t make it look like it’s been sabotaged. Best case scenario is that it appears as if the system was installed improperly or there was a malfunction.”
They nod before disappearing into the back.
I’d ask what they’re doing, but I’ve already put it together. They must be fire suppression system techs. Hell, maybe they even installed the system in this building. It makes them the perfect people to have along on this job. They know exactly what equipment they’re working with.
“And what about us?” I ask.
“You’re not doing anything,” Axel replies. “Just stay close.”
As we move through the dining room, memories flood my mind. Hours before we killed Edgar Williams, we watched Wren run right into him in this very building. Then we watched her have a rather uncomfortable dinner with Adam and their parents.
God, seeing the way she looked at Thomas had alarm bells going off in all of our heads. She held her own well, though. Even when Adam followed her out of the restaurant and grabbed her in that alley, she managed to defend herself until Oliver came to help her.
“Move, Elliot,” Axel snaps. “We don’t have much time.”
I didn’t realize I’d stopped right outside the swinging doors. Tearing my eyes from the table Wren sat at all those weeks ago, I duck inside.
Axel wastes no time heading to the fryers. With gloved hands, he pulls some tools out of his jacket pocket and gets to work. I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing—I’m a hitman, not an electrician—but I can guess that the thing won’t work right anymore.
There’s no denying that this is a blatant act against Ludo. And, I realize, there’s no way it’s Axel’s first.
“You’re the rat,” I say, “aren’t you?You’reLudo’s rat.”
When Finn told us that Owen Harris was Sparrow’s man on the inside, it just left me with more questions. Someone told Huxley where Aubrey would be while her and Ludo were in Florida, and there’s no way Sparrow would endanger her.
My thought process went two ways—first, Owen Harris wasn’t as loyal as Sparrow thought. Or second, Ludo has more than one rat.
Looking back, it makes perfect sense that it’s Axel. All along, he was trying to convince Holloway thatwewere the ones selling him out. He was trying to make sure the heat stayed off his own back.
He almost got Wren and Rhett killed,I realize, but my anger is short-lived. This is the best chance at freedom we’re going to get. I can’t sacrifice it because Axel has his own motivations.
“This isn’t the time to talk about that,” he snaps. “Just let me work.”
I figure the less time we spend in here, the better, so I do as he says and keep my mouth shut. There are only two fryers, and Axel repeats the same process with the second as he did with the first.
After he finishes closing the fryers back up, his eyes sweep the area before landing on his target. A few steps away from the kitchen is a storage area. Several jugs of oil sit on one of the bottom shelves. One appears to be open and partially used, although it’s still mostly full. Axel carries it into the kitchen and sets it on the counter right next to the fryers.
“Breakers,” he mutters to himself, moving out of the kitchen. But then he stops abruptly. “You two done?” he calls to the techs.
“Just finished,” one of them calls back.
With a sharp nod, Axel resumes heading to the back of the building. I follow without a sound, although I’m not sure he’s paying enough attention to me to notice. I could probably run out the door—shit, I could probably kill him—by the time he realized what I was doing, but I can’t. Not with everyone still trapped.
Axel opens up one of the electrical boxes in the back, running his finger along the edge before frowning. Again, I’m not an electrician, but I know that all those are set to on.