Chapter 68 chapter 68

Chapter 68 chapter 68
Misty

There was a knock on the door later that night after Cricket went to bed. I had been watching the cameras from the day at Alpha Enterprises, I paused the footage on the screen as I bolted up. Beck pulled the gun out of his bag and passed it to me as I stood. He always kept it packed and ready to go, a set of clothes for each of us with necessities, in case the worst happened. I aimed for the door as Beck approached, my heart pounded in my chest, but my mind cleared, zeroing in on making a shot. Beck checked the peephole and rolled his silver eyes before looking at me. I kept my gun trained, it was all I had beside Beck to protect us and I wouldn’t fail. Beck paused, inhaling deeply. That sensitive bear nose of his dissecting the molecules of scent in the air. Able to discern more than my eyes and ears could ever tell me.

“It’s Negan and Donnie,” he let me know.

Why the fuck were they here? They weren’t supposed to show up here let alone unannounced. I motioned with the gun for him to open the door. A smirk quirked his lips but he obliged. Opening the door he stepped back giving me a clear view as I still aimed.

Donnie came through first and tried to back up the second he saw me but was impeded by Negan at his back.

“What the fuck, Misty!” he spat.

“What the fuck are you doing here,” I sneered back. “Showing up here isn’t a part of the damn agreement, my kid is sleeping down the hall. You and I aren’t supposed to let on that we are working together,” I hissed quietly, remembering suddenly that my neighbor was a shifter.

“Easy, Minxy,” Negan placated. “We just happened to be nearby and thought you would want a front row seat,” he insisted pointing to his phone. My human eyes from here couldn’t see shit but Beck was suddenly captivated by whatever it was.

“Shut the damn door and keep your voices down,” I hissed. Donnie stepped behind Negan and shut the door loudly and I trained the gun at him.“I swear on my grandmother’s grave, you wake my kid and you're dead,” I spat, clearly agitated and highly paranoid.

Donnie held his hands up in defense as I glared at him. Negan inhaled and I watched his face struggle for just a moment to conceal his disappointment. He’d have to get over it. I couldn’t stay in this town anyway. No doubt the apartment probably stunk of Beck and mine’s extra curricular activities.

I huffed and lowered the gun before Negan approached me, taking in my computer set up and what was paused on the computer screen and assessing me in an entirely different light.

“Creedon has his goons infiltrating The Black’s territory,” Negan explained. 

My eyes widened. So far they had been delving into records and biting off their financial support. Cutting off loans and harrying them with their dirty police. This was a big move. I set the gun on my desk and coded myself into the security audio line. It took a little extra effort to overcome the few new roadblocks they had placed for security but when I got in I motioned for Beck to turn the fan on to drown out the noise for Cricket before I flipped on the feed for everyone to hear. Negan rested his person’s live feed via his phone against the monitor.

“How are you getting this?” I asked.

“One of our girls has been spying on them for a while, she’s in a John's car but he was intercepted so she’s watching it all play out from the safety of his vehicle." He explained.

“So you employ prostitutes?” I asked, appalled.

His eyes closed and he took a deep breath before explaining. “We pay them for information. In return they get protection and get to keep their money without a pimp. Independent contractors if you will…I don’t own them.”

I guess it made sense, the women needed business and he needed information. I suppressed the judgement that wanted to run wild. It was the women’s choices, they probably were in the best situation they could be in, given their profession. Who was I to judge, noone. I let the subject drop and focused on the sounds coming through the speakers. 

“Vince, you have your orders, you and Rob, get that place torched”

Shadows shifted across the screen in the distance. I forgot to breathe. That is until Beck’s steady hands squeezed my shoulders. I let out a long breath as we waited.

“Operation fuck The Black’s is complete,” a voice came through minutes later. Three heartbeats later, a massive boom went off and a distant warehouse went up in flames. Chaos erupted, sirens sounded, the phone was yanked from the dash and all we could see or hear after was pavement and the sound of running feet as this woman of the night ran for her life.

Suddenly I realized this war had more victims than just Cricket and me. Whoever she was, deserved better than this. She shouldn’t have to stick around and gather intel for safety and a buck.

“What’s her name?” I asked as Negan collected his phone.

“What?”

“The woman who just risked her life for this. Negan, what's her name,” I demanded. 

He gave me a confused look before looking at Donnie in question.

“Persephone, at least that's what she goes by,” he explained for Negan, who clearly didn’t know.

“Tell her thank you, and I’m sorry she got caught up in this," I said. I felt robotic as I spoke and the magnitude of it all sunk in. These men had to be taken out.