Swords of Exodus [Dead Six 02] (50 page)

Somebody has Hawk!
I mouthed to Skunky. His eyes went wide.

A new face appeared on the screen. I’ll never forget it for as long as I live. He was an old man, with gray hair and hard lines in his face. His eyes were pale and piercing.

“Mr. Valentine,” the man said. “We’ve been waiting for you to call.”

“Who . . . ?”

He interrupted me. “Now you listen to me, boy. You have no idea the world of shit you’re in. My name is Underhill. You know who I work for. I was retired up until about two weeks ago. They called me out of retirement and gave me every resource at their disposal for the sole purpose of finding you.”

My eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”

“If you want Mr. Hawkins to live, you’ll do exactly as I say. You will tell me where you are, and you will wait for me there, for however long it takes me to arrive. Then you’ll come in with me, and we’ll sort this whole thing out. If you refuse, I will kill this man, and I’ll still find you. That part is inevitable, nonnegotiable. One way or another, I’m bringing you in. You only get to decide how much you, and Mr. Hawkins here, suffer before it’s done.”

Before I could answer, Hawk shouted to me. “Val! Don’t listen to him, boy! I’m already dead! You run! You—” I couldn’t make anything out for the next few seconds. The phone was tossed around so fast, with the lag, I couldn’t tell what was going on. There was commotion, yelling, a fight. Somebody shouted at Hawk again.

“Fuck you!” was the old gunslinger’s reply. Then a pair of gunshots, then silence.

I felt the color drain out of my face. I looked up at Skunky. His eyes were wide, and he covered his mouth with his hands, but he said nothing. My knees went weak. I wanted to throw up. I struggled to maintain my composure as my heart raced and my head spun.

After a moment, Underhill’s face returned to the screen. He looked as ice cold as ever. “Mr. Hawkins is dead,” he said flatly. “His choice, not mine. Now you have a choice, son. No one else has to die. Tell me where you are, and this all ends. If you don’t tell me where you are, I will kill however many people it takes to get to you. Either way, I’ll find you. So what’s it going to be?”

My heart rate slowed. My senses were heightened. Everything slowed down just a bit as
The Calm
washed over me. My blood ran as cold as the arctic wind blowing against my face.

“I’ll tell you how it’s going to be, old man,” I said slowly. “You people have taken everything from me. I have nothing left to lose. You won’t have to find me, because I’m going to find
you.
I’m going to find you, Mr. Underhill, and I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill
all
of you. That is a promise.”

There was a pause from the lag of the satellite connection, before an unpleasant, predatory smile split Underhill’s face. “We’ll see about that.”

I pressed the end button, hanging up before anything else could be said. Skunky stared at me wide-eyed as I slowly lowered the phone. My hands started to shake. My teeth ground together. An icy rage bubbled up from deep inside me.

This isn’t over.