Wolves among men (29 page)

“
Good point.” I smirked.
“Anyway, so I had a thought,” She nodded. “Maybe trying to find
Malik is a lost cause.”

“
I’m going to guess you
have another idea.”

“
Maybe.”

“
And it involves this
guy.” She pointed to the picture of Jonathan.

“
Maybe.”

“
Do you think he’s
important?”

“
I don’t know.” I smirked.
Sam rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t give up on me yet.”
I smiled as she opened her mouth to speak.

“
Okay.” She laughed
lightly as she motioned for me to speak.

“
I just figured he was the
one sent to find Cordillia after the treaty was broken.”

“
Wait, he wasn’t looking
for you?” I shook my head.

“
No he didn’t even know my
name, he just kept asking for Cordillia.”

“
How did he know
hers?”

“
I killed one of theirs
behind a diner just outside of Barstow,” I sighed.

“
I know, your
sister-”

“
I know you know, Sam.” I
smiled weakly. “But I kind of need to say it.” She nodded and
waited for me to continue. “There was a waitress that worked
there.” I sighed. “She remembered Cordillia’s name after Jonathan
forced it out of her.” Sam gasped slightly and shook her
head.

“
It wasn’t-”

“
My fault I know.” I
smiled weakly as I finished her thought. “I know that none of this
was my fault, it just kind of happened but it feels like that’s all
I’ve been hearing lately.”

“
It’s true.” I
nodded.

“
I just want to fix this.”
I looked up at her. “Bring my sister home and go on with my
life.”

“
I hope we’ll have a part
in your life after all this is said and done.” She smiled over at
me. I wanted to tell her there would be but how could I make a
promise like that when I didn’t even know that I would be alive to
see the end of it? I nodded while opening the binder, flipping
through the pages quickly. I stopped at another article.

“
Anyway,” I pushed the
article toward her. “He was sent to find Cordillia when the treaty
was broken and he’s in almost every picture of Malik we
have.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah look here.” I
pointed to the article in front of her. “There was a rash of
murders in the northern L.A area in the mid-nineties.”

“
Is he posing with the
body?” She asked, shocked and amazed.

“
Yeah, he’s credited as
the man who found the last victim.”

“
That’s just
wrong.”

“
Oh it gets better.” I
chuckled as I pulled out the next article. “In the late eighties
near Lake Michigan for about a month or so random body parts began
showing up on shore. They ran this article,” I handed her the piece
of paper. “And mysteriously the killings stopped.”

“
He’s holding up a severed
leg.” She dropped the clipping onto the bed.

“
Kind of twisted isn’t
it.”

“
Oh God that’s messed up.”
She chuckled as she shook her head. “Okay so moving past the fact
that Malik seems to have a BFF, why in the world would you pose
with a body part?” I shrugged.

“
Did you expect something
different from the man who tortures people for fun?” She laughed
loudly as she turned the pictures over and cringed.

“
I guess not.”

“
There’s another one about
a woman who was found mutilated in a park in Chicago, do you want
to see it?” She shook her head violently and chuckled.

“
No thank you, I’ll just
assume he’s giving the camera a thumbs up and spare myself the
image.”

“
Your loss.” I laughed as
I laid the article back in the binder and closed it before pushing
it away.

“
So we’ve covered the fact
that not only is Jonathan important to Malik for some reason, he’s
also in desperate need of psychiatric medication.” she chuckled as
she crossed her legs under her and cleared her throat. “How long do
you think he’s been with him?”

“
I guess there’s no way to
know without asking him.” I smirked as I pulled a small stack of
photographs from the back of the binder. “I did find these earlier
though,” I handed her the pictures and watched as she looked them
over one by one. “James told me you tracked him down as a Nazi
doctor or something like that.” She nodded.

“
These are all from the
war.”

“
Yeah and Jonathan’s in a
few of them.”

“
Only two so far.” She
added as she placed the pictures down on the bed between us. “Oh
wow,” she grimaced as she held another picture up to her
face.

“
What?”

“
Make that three.” She
handed the picture to me and cringed as I took it from her fingers.
Malik stood next to a large gurney with a very dead and mutilated
man strapped down at the wrists and ankles. A malicious and
calloused smile spanned his face as he looked up at the camera, his
arms buried to the wrists inside the dead man’s chest but what
stood out more than that was the young man in uniform that stood
just to the right of Malik with an equally terrifying grin on his
face.

“
Wow, that’s one hell of a
photo op huh?”

“
If that’s what you want
to call it.” She chuckled. “Okay so where do we go from
here?”

“
Well, we know Jonathan’s
name and we know he’s close to Malik...” I shoved the pictures back
in their envelope and stuffed them into the binder. “I was just
thinking that if we can find out who he is maybe we can find a way
to Malik.” Sam nodded in agreement as she stretched her
back.

“
Sure, I mean it can’t
hurt to try.” She shrugged.

“
You think so?”

“
Well,” She smiled. “it
can’t be any worse than searching for a ghost.”

“
True.”

“
Maybe he knows where
Malik’s hiding or at the very least if we can find him maybe we can
put a tail on him or something.”

“
I like how you think.” I
chuckled as she stifled a yawn. I grabbed the binders and tossed
them on the floor before offering her my hand and helping her to
her feet. “You look tired.” She nodded.

“
I think it’s about time
to call it a night.”

“
Thanks for helping me,” I
added sincerely as I walked her to the door.

“
No,” She smiled. “Thank
you for letting me sit in, I needed to catch up.” The sounds from
the party outside had died down and it wasn’t until we stepped
outside and into the hall that I realized just how tired I was.
“I’m curious what Grant will think of all this.” She chuckled as
she turned to me, her back pressed into her door.

“
A guy like that, I’m sure
he’ll find it interesting.” She nodded. I watched her as she looked
down at her feet, a shy smile shaped her lips as I searched my mind
for the proper way to say goodnight. “So can I ask you something?”
I blurted before I had the chance to properly think. She nodded and
looked up at me slowly.

“
Sure.”

“
You said you were
following me the night that you turned me.” Her cheeks grew pink as
she turned her face from me.

“
You would bring that up.”
I chuckled with her.

“
Last time I mention
it.”

“
You swear?” She eyed me
sternly. I held my hand to my heart and smiled.

“
Scouts honor.”

“
Okay.” She chuckled.
“What’s your question?”

“
I was just wondering if
you were still interested.” I rubbed at the back of my neck
nervously as her eyes locked with mine.

“
That’s an awfully bold
question.” I nodded.

“
You have no idea how much
it took for me to actually ask.” Sam chuckled and I couldn’t help
but laugh with her, anything to ease the tension and anticipation I
felt as I waited for her to answer. I looked down as her fingers
wrapped themselves around mine and smirked as she pulled me close.
My heart pounded in my chest, thundered in my ears as she lifted
herself on the tip of her toes and pressed her lips to my cheek. I
closed my eyes as she held herself there, relishing in the feel of
her fingertips as they grazed the back of my neck and the warmth of
her breath as it danced gently across my cheek before she pulled me
into her arms.

It wasn’t romantic but it wasn’t born
purely out of friendship either, somewhere in between is where we
met as I rested my chin on her shoulder and held her
tight.

“
You’re a good man,
Ethan,” she whispered as she pulled away. She smiled up at me as
she turned and opened the door to her room, stepping inside and
shooting a quick glance back at me as she slowly pushed it shut.
“Goodnight.”

“
You didn’t answer my
question,” I called as the door clicked shut.

“
Goodnight, Ethan.” I
chuckled and shook my head as her muffled voice echoed through the
wall that separated us.

“
Goodnight.” I smirked
before stepping into my own room and kicking the door shut behind
me. I stepped over the discarded binders and tossed myself down on
the bed, reaching over to flip off the tiny bedside lamp before
closing my eyes and allowing sleep to take hold.

“
Ethan?” I woke to the
sound of a sweet voice pouring through the room. This wasn’t a
pleasure call and this wasn’t the call for breakfast. She was
worried and I suppose that’s what it was that forced my eyes
open.

“
Yeah?” I groaned as I
rolled on my side to face her.

“
Jonathan’s
here.”

Chapter
Twenty

“
He’s here?” I shot up,
kicking off my blanket and getting to my feet in record time.
“Where is he?” Sam put her hands to my chest and moved in between
me and the door.

“
Please wait.”

“
Why?”

“
Just sit down.” Without a
second thought or even a moment’s hesitation I dropped back down
onto the mattress and waited quietly for her to speak. This must
have been what Mack was talking about when he said that it was
impossible to second guess a leaders command.

“
Where is he?”

“
He’s outside.”

“
Okay so let’s go talk to
him.” I huffed as she stared me down.

“
I want to make sure
you’re calm first.”

“
I am calm,” I
snapped.

“
No you’re not your face
is beet red and you’re about two seconds from barreling over me to
get to the door.” I took a deep breath as she sat down next to
me.

“
Does he have her?” I
asked after a moments silence passed between us. She shrugged
lightly.

“
I don’t know.”

“
Is he alone?”

“
I don’t know.” She
sighed.

“
I guess there’s no way to
know is there?” I smirked. Sam shook her head as she stood and
offered me her hand.

“
Can you do this?” she
asked quietly as I pulled myself up and sucked in a deep
breath.