Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

SHEP

Angel and I got to the shop with plenty of time to make it appear like everything was cool. I baked some muffins, some of which I had, with Angel's medical expertise, dosed with GHB. Our hope was that Wes would eat a muffin and pass out. That way we could just bring him to the house. If not, we'd have to take him by force. Angel and I each had a syringe filled with GHB as well that we'd use if we had to.

We didn't want to hurt Wes. He was a victim like Four, and GHB wasn't exactly a legal drug—and for good reason. It was dangerous and could kill. Thankfully, Angel knew the perfect dose that would merely put him to sleep. He'd be able to monitor him as well.

The muffins were cooling when the bell over the door rang.

"Let me go out there, you get the muffins ready." I rushed out of the back in time to see Wes in the middle of the floor.

"Hey, Boss." He smiled, and for a moment I wondered if we were wrong.…Nope, saw the video.

"Hi, Wes, you're the first one here, unless did Darby or Lizzy come with you?"

"Nah, I took the early bus."

I made a show of checking my watch. "Huh, okay. Well, I just made muffins for our meeting. Hungry?"

He smirked. "What kind?"

"Lemon poppy."

He laughed and rubbed his belly. "Uhhhh…my favorite! Maybe in a bit. I just ate with my dad."

Lies. All lies. "Okay, my brother Angel is here too. You haven't met him yet, I don't think."

He grinned as though he didn't have a care in the world. "Nope. But I was telling Lizzy how I hoped I'd get a chance to meet all the brothers."

I bet you did, Satan. Wait, no he's a victim. Focus, Shep.

Just then, Angel walked in holding a tray of muffins. "Oh, hey. You must be Wes."

Wes surged forward to take the tray. "That I am, and you're Angel?"

"One and the same. Can't you tell we're brothers?" He quirked a brow, and Wes looked from him to me. We couldn't be more different. I was white with a Vikinglike appearance and Angel was a bald black man with a beard and absolutely no likeness to me.

"This is a trick question, right?"

Angel cackled. "Yeah. I love messing with people when they hear we're brothers."

"Cute." Wes glanced at the muffins with longing. "Damn, they smell good. You're an amazing baker."

"Thanks, Wes."

He picked up a muffin. And turned it around in his hand. His blue eyes sparkled as he sniffed it. "You could make a fortune if you expanded Saintly Sweets." He looked at me, and something was off. "Why not just do this for a living?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He put the muffin on the table with a sigh. He closed his eyes for a beat and when they opened, it was as if all the lights had gone out. The sunny demeanor was gone, and in its place was a dark and dangerous killer.

"I'm far from an idiot, Shep. I'm aware you lured me here, for what? To kidnap me? Torture me until I answered all your questions?"

"Are you feeling okay, Wes?" Angel made to circle the counter.

"How about you stay right there, big guy?" Wes didn't move an inch, and it was as if I were watching at perfectly programmed robot.

"What's going on?" I tried to go for shock, but Wes saw right through it.

"Cut the bullshit." He slammed his hand down, smashing the muffin. "Seems you all figured out who I was, huh?"

"We don't want to hurt you." Angel's hand was reaching for his back pocket, near the syringe. We only needed to get Wes to hold still for a second.

Wes laughed as though he really found Angel funny. "I like how you think I'll be the one hurting here."

"Wes, please. Come with us. We can get you away from the consortium, help you." I held out my hand.

His smile fell. "Like you did Four? Do you think he's safe? That at some point they won't find him and bring him home?"

"Where you're from isn't home, and you know it."

He narrowed his eyes. "You know nothing."

I cocked my head. Okay, maybe nice guy wasn't working. "I know that you were taken as a child, and you don't know what it feels like to be loved. I understand you were trained to be a killer, and all of your dreams were stripped away. I know somewhere in that head of yours, you don't want to be in that prison anymore."

He didn't say anything, just stared at me. I thought for a moment maybe I was getting through to him. I was sorely mistaken.

With my next breath, he did an aerial cartwheel, kicking the tray of muffins upward. It hit Angel in the face, and then Wes was on me. Like, did he fly? What the fuck?

"You. Know. Nothing," he growled and scratched across my face.

"Fuck." I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him away. "Stand down!" I shouted but nothing happened. He just cackled and went for my face again, this time with his teeth.

"Hold him!" Angel shouted.

I was trying, but he was like a rabid porcupine. There was no way to hold him without attaining bodily injury.

"Two, that's your name, right? You need to stop."

But he didn't. In a blink-and-you'd-miss-it maneuver, he flew back and immediately forward, kicking me flush in the jaw. My head snapped to the side, and I fell into one of the glass cases.

"Shit!" Angel shouted. I glanced up and saw Wes's attention was now on him.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the syringe. With Wes thinking I was out, I popped the top and stood as slowly and quietly as I could.

"What do you got, big guy?" Wes taunted.

Angel was stepping away from him, and Wes was following easily. I held the syringe up and while there were parts of the body that it would work faster if injected, I just wanted this guy to pass the fuck out.

He went to kick Angel, and I stabbed him right in the side, pushed the liquid in, and jumped away fast.

"What the…" He looked down at me. "What did you give me?"

"GHB. It won't kill you."

He spun on me. Normally GHB took fifteen to twenty minutes to take effect if ingested, which was what we'd be looking at if he'd eaten the muffin. But I'd injected him, and I had to hope it would work a hell of a lot faster.

"Shit." Wes grabbed his side. "Why'd you do that?"

"Seriously?" I gestured to my face. "Can you not see what you did to me?"

"You really don't understand." He sighed. "It won't matter what you do to me or what answers I give you. They're big and powerful."

"We've dealt with big and powerful." Angel stepped up behind him. "That shit's in your system, no two ways about it. You gonna fight until it takes effect?"

"I have to."

"Four didn't, and you don't."

He narrowed his gaze. "Four is weak."

"No, you're both strong. It's not fair what happened to you." I stepped closer and he lunged.

I held him to me; we couldn't dose him again without causing him serious harm. He squirmed a bit, but there was no fight in him.

"It's working." I tilted my head toward the door. "Let's get him in the car and to the house. He'll be out in a minute."

By the time we got Wes into the seat, he was passed out. Angel had to remove his tracker, and we hoped it was in the same spot as Four's. In the back seat he sanitized it as best as he could and then numbed the area.

"Cross your fingers," he said before he sliced. "Bingo." He plucked out the tracker and tossed it out the window. I waited for Angel to stitch him, and as soon as I got the all-clear, I sped out of there.