Delgano: The Intro - Page 97

Trevor cleared his throat.

They both turned around.

“Three of these are glass containers, Gano,” Trevor said. “But go ahead. Carry your little rifle. Trevor doesn’t need help.”

“Do you need help, Trevor?” he asked.

“Yeah, mate. Thanks for asking.” Trevor handed off two containers as he passed. “And hurry up, you two. The civilians aren’t here; Lee checked while we were upstairs. Let’s go back so you can see your little girlfriend.”

They returned to the truck and climbed in. At the last minute, Lee decided he wanted to ride into the truck bed, and his “What the fuck” made Trevor stop in the middle of turning the key.

Adrían stepped out and went around to the back. In the middle of the truck bed were two flour sacks. One sack had a knife stuck in the center. The other was littered with several pairs of shredded panties at one end and partially wrapped in colorful cloth at the other.

“What’s this?” Lee pulled out a flashlight, crouched, and aimed the light at the “head” of the bag with the blade. A bundle of yarn the color of tomato paste sat above a feminine-looking face drawn in marker. On the other, only its eyes could be seen between the cloth.

“Let’s fucking go,” Adrían said.

Trevor started the truck.

Lee hopped inside.

Adrían checked his phone for the feed to make sure Hannah and Sayeda were still all right, but all that returned to him was pure darkness. The sacks were obviously supposed to represent Hannah and Sayeda, which was bad enough.

But it was the panties.

His head twitched.

The fucking panties.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FIVE

This man was evil personified.

And then he’d shown up with a friend who stood off to the side, arms crossed, as Novi faced off with Hannah.

Sayeda watched the scene unfold from a screen in the villa’s safe room. When Hannah first noticed the duo, she told her to hide. When she asked Hannah if there was anything she could do, Hannah had made it clear—these men would be a problem for her, Trevor, Lee, and Adrían.

So, she hid.

Barnes had come rushing when he heard the commotion but must have read something in the other half of the duo’s body language; all Barnes did was clench his fingers, rising into his toes every so often, as if not helping Hannah was physically painful.

Then there was Spettro.

“Will you stop blubbering,” she whispered to the lump of human excrement beside her.

Spettro, nodding, lowered the decibel of his cowardice. Because he was, essentially, the team’s brain, did that have to automatically mean he was otherwise useless? Atlas, whoever he was, seemed highly intelligent, and she hoped he also had a little bit of bravado to go with it.

She tried Adrían one more time.

Still, there was no signal.

“Can’t you at least fix the signal issue?” she asked, just shy of swatting Spettro with the phone.

All he did was continue to shake.

Hannah was a highly skilled fighter, but the maniac made her look like a rookie. Then, he fought with blades, and it was like the craziest ones always used some sort of melee weapon. Close combat probably allowed them to smell their victim’s blood, maybe even catch a sprinkle or two.