The Locust Job by Craig Schaefer

Author:Craig Schaefer
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 9781944806187
Publisher: Demimonde Books
Published: 2019-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

22.

My best-laid plans didn’t account for a tractor-trailer crash on US-93. We sat in motionless traffic, the rented SUV’s engine making clunky little ticking sounds as I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel.

“If we’re lucky, they took the same road,” I said. “If we’re really lucky, Ada took my note to heart and decided to stay home.”

Melanie shifted in the passenger seat. She shot a look at the side mirror, gazing back at the sea of cars behind us. “And if we’re not?”

It sounded like Ada was bringing her entire crew. Overkill for a job like this, but if she expected to find Marcel’s hideout somewhere nearby, like I did, it made sense. Get it all done in one trip.

“We’ll scope it out when we get there and play it by ear.”

I drummed louder, like the rhythm could jolt my thoughts into order. I had filled Melanie in on almost everything. Almost. An unspoken part of the conversation had been lurking around the edges of our drive, an obligation waiting to be fulfilled. I needed to stop putting it off.

“It probably won’t even come up,” I said, “but if it does, I don’t want it to hit you by surprise, okay?”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s that?”

“Ada’s crew. They’re calling themselves the Redemption Choir.”

Melanie’s pale cheeks faded one shade closer to eggshell white. She sank in her seat.

“But they’re not—I mean, they’re not really…” She trailed off.

“Near as I can tell, Ada studied Sullivan’s bag of tricks back in St. Louis. Took a master class from him, call it Demagoguery 101. When we broke the Choir up, she gathered the diehards and started hunting for fresh recruits.”

“So everything that happened back then,” she said, her voice softer now. “We didn’t even win. It was for nothing.”

“No.” I reached over and took her hand. She looked like she was trying to shrink to nothing, to fade into her seat and vanish. I needed to pull her back. “No. It wasn’t for nothing. Sullivan is dead and gone.”

And so was Melanie’s father.

He’d betrayed us all, turning double agent and working to deliver the Ring of Solomon into his master’s hands. All for Melanie. Trying to “save” his half-demon daughter. Turned out she didn’t need saving from anyone but him.

Only three people alive knew what happened that night, behind closed doors in an abandoned brothel. Me, Caitlin, and Emma, Melanie’s mom. The official story was that I killed the man. He jumped me from behind with a knife, and I took him out in self-defense. That was the story we decided on, to save Melanie from the truth.

The truth was he died empty-handed and down on his knees, begging for mercy. Emma snapped his neck. Melanie didn’t need to know, didn’t need to see her mother like that, and I could take the weight of the kill. So I took it.

“The people you convinced that night,” I said, “the cambion who turned their backs on Sullivan—they’re doing all right now, yeah? Their lives are better now.

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