Peter was a guard and was always with Mama Lou. He liked Terrier because Terrier and Peter shared a similar code. They looked at the women differently than the rest of the men.
Peter had been born in the bunker, but he remembered how the women had brought him up—to respect ladies and each other. Many of the other men had forgotten this over time, but Peter hadn’t.
“What happened?” Mama Lou cried, rushing to Natalie with her arms wide.
“Shane.” Terrier nodded his head down the tunnel.
“That dirty no-good cocksplurt again,” she spat. “Are you okay, Natalie?”
“Yes, I’ll clean up and go back to class,” Natalie assured her.
“Are you sure?” Mama Lou asked.
“Yes. Thank you, Terrier.” Natalie left to get herself together.
Mama Lou patted Terrier’s broad shoulder. “Thank you for helping her. Are you here to see the kids?”
Terrier tugged at his dreadlocks. “I’m trying to find a place to hide.”
Mama Lou looked around quickly for any guards and then pushed Terrier back down the tunnel. “What happened? What did you do?”
“I let Ryder escape.”
Mama Lou gasped. “He made it out?”
“Yes, and he’s coming back for us.” Terrier still referred to Ryder as a man since no else knew her secret. He would let her reveal the truth when she returned. “I’m hiding until he gets back. If Sergei and the other hunters find me, they’ll try to take me to Afana—then I’m fucked.”
“Fucked would be the least of your worries.” Mama Lou pushed her lips together and made a clucking sound. “Hide down the last tunnel. Ryder knocked out the last two cameras. We’ll keep you hidden for as long as we can.”
Turning to leave, he looked back at Mama Lou. “Thanks,” he said, with a nod of his head.
“No, Terrier. For Natalie, thank you.”
He smiled broadly. “No one mishandles a woman, not in front of me. Right, Peter?”
The young man grinned. “Damn straight.”
Chapter Fourteen
Tank and Knuckles made their way down to Level Six for their reward. Tank snickered, breaking the silence.
Knuckles turned to him with a sneer. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” Tank replied, still chuckling. “Just, the guys are gonna laugh their asses off when they hear what the general made you do.”
Knuckles grabbed the front of Tank’s shirt and shoved him up against the wall, pushing his face right into the other man’s. “If you breathe a word of it to anyone then I’ll kill you in your sleep, you get me?”
Tank held up his hands in submission. “Okay, okay. I won’t tell anyone, I promise! Geez.”
Knuckles let go and they carried on down the corridor. Tank kept his amusement to himself. There was no way he wasn’t going to tell the others at the first opportunity he got.
Promise or not, it was too funny not to share.
Tank and Knuckles walked toward the cadet guarding the most desirable women in the bunker. These ladies were separated from the others. They had their own private bathing area, they dressed nicer, and they were viewed as an all-around better class of woman.
Martin Murray, the cadet guard, smiled at the two men as they walked toward him. He was General Murray’s son. “Hello, would you like to lick my boot as well?” he called out.
Tank didn’t have to worry about Knuckles killing him in his sleep anymore, since it appeared that word had already spread. You couldn’t keep a secret in the bunker. Gossip and women were the only forms of entertainment.
Knuckles marched over to Martin, gripped him by his shirt, and lifted him off the floor. “Don’t you say another fucking word. Not a fucking word! Show me the whores.”
The guards down here were used to being manhandled, so Martin stayed calm. “You mean the ladies. You know, I can’t let you near the girls if you’re in a pissy mood like this. Put me down now, or General Murray may be inclined to keep you down here and let the women decide your fate.”
Knuckles clenched his teeth so tightly Tank thought they were going to crack, but he dropped Martin to the floor. The cadet didn’t look flustered at all. He just smoothed his uniform, placed his hands behind his back, and rocked forward.
“Mama Lou will see to you. Be nice to the women —or else.” He stepped aside to let the men pass.
Knuckles looked Martin up and down.
“Come on,” Tank told Knuckles, pulling him down the tunnel.
When Massimo and Kelvin got to Scott’s house, he was laid out on the ground in front, and there was a bloody pool around his head. His legs were twisted at unnatural angles. It looked as though he had jumped from a second-floor window.
Massimo looked at the two-story home. The front door was open, but otherwise, nothing looked out of place. “Did he fall from one of the windows? Why do you think it was a murder? It looks like an accident or a suicide to me.”
Kelvin pointed up at the second story. “The windows are all closed, and there’s no roof or overhang to stand on. How could Scott have closed a window after he jumped? That would be one hell of a trick, if you ask me.”
“Good observation,” Massimo agreed. “Looks like we’ve got our very own midsummer-night mystery on our hands.” There were no police or detectives in the town, so he’d have to become one. “What did Annie say?”
“It was hard to work out what she was saying—just that Scott had been murdered. She was all worked up, and still in her night clothes.”
Massimo thought about the detective shows he’d watched so many centuries ago and what they would do next. The intro theme from ‘Law and Order, Special Victims Unit’ played in his head.
Images of Olivia Benson came to his mind. She was one of the main reasons he had watched the show. Massimo really liked strong, sexy women. He tried to shake the thought, however pleasurable, from his mind. He needed to focus.
First, they would investigate the crime scene, then go and speak
