Page 45 of Intrepid

“Or you could just tell me now.”

He snorted a laugh and sighed, coming to a stop where Eli had already rounded the corner into the dark room. “I like you kid, I do. Y’got balls. Big ones.”

I’d had a good look on the way out, at the space where we’d been kept, what it really was. A room devoid of all furniture, except for the large box set in the middle of it, about the size of a large dog crate, draped in the black curtain. The two closets stood off to the side, adjacent to one another—pantries that must’ve been used for storage at one time.

Looking past me, Fox took a drag of his cigarette and blew it off to the side. “Make sure you secure those headphones to his ears,” he said to the Pawn. “Strap that sumbitch tight and put that Megadeth song I like on loop. Bullet To The Brain.”

The Pawn flipped up the curtain, revealing that the box beneath was a cage, with a hole carved into the barriers of wood and steel. He guided Eli inside, and I turned to see Fox staring at me in a way that felt more leering than before. The kind of stare that made every hair on my skin bristle.

“You got a pretty face, son. Lucky for you, I’m not in the business of selling pretty faces. That was my brother’s gig, and he ain’t here right now.”

“What’s happening? Why’s he in there?”

Fox’s cheeks caved in with another drag. “In due time.”

16

Sera

Present day …

Books tucked beneath my arm, I stared down at the number the librarian had written down, for where I’d find the reference book checked out of every other campus library, forcing me to venture off campus. Not that the city’s public library was much of a hike. In fact, it sat just across Cass Avenue.

The Criminal Justice collection made up a small section on the second floor, nothing as extensive as the campus library, but when every other CJ major happened to be after the same books and articles, it was a miracle I found the one I’d been looking for.

I made my way down the aisle, until I reached the only copy of the book left on the shelf. Stacking it onto the ones already in hand, I shuffled toward the long desks set off from the aisles of books. A number of students sat scattered at various tables, but one in particular caught my eye.

Even with his back turned to me, hat spun around on his head and nose buried in the book in front of him, I recognized him from across the room. His size gave him almost a celebrity appearance, like catching a glimpse of a Lions, or Pistons, athlete out in the wild. He looked out of place at a public library, his face even more so, better suited for a billboard somewhere in New York.

I hugged my books and approached him slowly, looking over his shoulder to catch a peek of his reading.

“Interesting,” I said.

If I’d startled him, he certainly didn’t act like it, as he closed the book and swiveled around in his chair, in the same fluid movement as though he’d been expecting me.

“Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation? Is this what you do when you’re not climbing cranes?”

Lips kicked up to a half smile, his blue eyes stalked me as I rounded the table. “You’re definitely following me now.”

“So … should I be scared? You’re not a serial killer, are you?” I set my books down across from him and plopped into the empty seat, taking in the way he looked damn near edible, all sprawled out casual in his chair.

“I’m merely studying for our date. Hoping to impress you.”

“Ambitious, this one. If you really want to impress me, study these.” I pushed the stack of art books I’d gathered up from the opposite side of the library. Not that I needed to study. I just happened to like perusing the works.

He flipped the first book open on a woman slicing a blade across a man’s throat. “Wow. That’s macabre. Not much different from what I was reading.”

“Judith Beheading Holofernes. She saved her people by seducing and beheading the Assyrian general. This one was done by Caravaggio during the Baroque period. It’s one of a few versions. Not so macabre when you look at her through the eyes of a heroic woman, no?”

Leaning to the side, he stroked his chin—a distraction I found painfully sexy. “You think she was justified in killing him, then?”

“She embodies power. Taking back what was to be taken from her people.”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

I scanned the room, noting the proximity of the other students, whose heads remained buried in their books. “I believe in killing when there’s purpose behind it,” I said, turning back to him. “Not for one’s own amusement.”

He slid the next hardcover out of the stack and opened it. “Erotic Illustration and Literature.”