Peter spread his arms, watching him go. He turned to stare at the others, his eyes wide.
“That went well.” His thumb pointed back at the jeep wrapped around the tree, the body grilling inside.
Skull shrugged. “I miscalculated.”
“Of course, you did.”
“Well, he swerved, and the—”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure it was that.” Peter started walking back to the two jeeps still on the road. “At least we have two more.”
“Just one,” Phoenix said, and when Peter’s glare stabbed into him, held up his hands. “I didn’t touch nobody, he cracked his head. Your guy’s fine though, locked him in that trunk.” He pointed at the first jeep.
Peter shook his head, striding to the trunk.
Chad threw one more glance at the burning car, and caught Skull watching him. The giant held out his hand down low, and Chad slapped his palm as he passed by, holding back a smirk.
Peter looked at each of them before popping the trunk open and indicated for Skull to raise his mask. Mumbling sounded from the car, and together with Phoenix they hauled out a tied up, gagged man about six feet tall. His eyes bulged at the sight of the armed Ghosts, and his mumbling trailed off in a whine.
Phoenix clutched the back of his black jacket in his scarred fist, turning him to face Peter.
“I’m going to take out this thing,” Peter said, pointing at the cloth gagging him, “so we can talk. But if you scream, that guy behind you will rip off your damn head. That clear?”
The Commando nodded so hard, Chad thought his head might fall off without Nix’s help.
The moment the gag was out of his mouth, the man let out a string of words, none of which sounded familiar to Chad.
“Well, look at that,” Phoenix drawled. “Who needs all three of ’em when this one’s such a talker?”
Peter frowned. “You’re gonna have to repeat that, this time in English.”
The Commando blinked, swallowed hard, and stammered, “Y-you can’t kill me, or you’re never gonna find them. We’ve got about a-a hundred of your… kind, all hidden underground, and that’s aside from the ones in the lab. If you k-kill me, they all die. ’Cause I’m the last one. So you can’t, all right?”
“The last what?” Peter asked.
“Th-the officers. They’re all gone. Dismissed. Just the three of us left. And if you killed the other two, I’m the only one who knows where to find your people.”
Peter nodded. “I see. How about a deal then? You show us where they are, and we don’t kill you, but instead hand you over to our friends in the police?”
“Oh, no-no-no-no,” the Commando said with a wry smile. “I show you, and then you don’t need me anymore. And cops got nothin’ on me. No, you’re gonna let me go, and when I’m safe, I’ll text you the location. How about that?” He stared into Peter’s eyes, pleased with himself.
Peter shrugged. “Or we take you with us for now but chop off your legs, because you don’t need your legs to speak, but this way you won’t run from us. How about that?”
The shifty Commando gulped. “Hurt me, and I’ll never tell you anything.”
“Fella, at this point, I don’t even know for sure if you know anything. We’ve only just begun—we might just find everyone on our own.”
“No, not gonna happen. You’ll never find them without knowing where to look. Close enough, but nope, even a few miles are too much when you don’t know whatcha looking for.”
“Well, there are others in the lab. I’m sure, unlike you, they’ll be happy to cooperate.” Peter smiled at him, prodding further.
Again, the human shook his head. “They don’t know jack. That’s what the officers are for, don’t you get it?” he said, putting on an air of importance. “If everyone knew everything, this never would’ve worked.”
Peter took a step closer, peering down into the man’s eyes. “And it didn’t.”
He turned to Pain suddenly, waving for her to follow, along with Chad and her sister. To Phoenix and Skull, he said over his shoulder, “Put him back in the trunk.”
“Wa-wait! Um—” The man’s voice was muffled by the gag.
Chad looked up at Peter as they stopped a few yards from the jeeps.
“The guy’s wasting our time,” Peter said, lowering his mask and scratching his beard. “We have to get back to our plan, and we got enough out of him for now. Since you left, Rob has reported more activity in the building, as if they’re prepping more boxes or something. He has to stay in the air though, and a dozen men with him, to make sure that whatever happens down here, no one escapes from some hidden hole in the ground. The lab’s most likely in the basement. There could be a hundred of them down there, for all we know. So we’re going to need backup.”
“You want to send us to wait for backup?” Pain said with a grimace.
“No. You’re gonna go and look for those locked-up Ghosts, because you’re the only ones I can spare. I don’t want you here if it all goes to shit. He said it’s just a few miles, and the only place nearby is that storage four miles north. I want you to scope it out. Carefully.”
“While you storm the building, right,” Pain said, nodding.
“No. We can’t go in if there’s even the smallest chance they suspect something. I won’t lead our men into slaughter. It’ll take at least an hour for our backup to get here, and we’ve got to do something while we wait. Besides, if they don’t get here in time, you might at least bring a few more men to help maintain the
