SIMS

FIVE: Thy Brother's Keeper Chapter 11

  Two more men dead!

  "Shit-shit-SHIT!" Luca Portero screamed as he smashed a glass paperweight against his office wall. He didn't have to worry about anyone hearing; security staff was minimal on Sundays.

  Luca hadn't seen the bodies yet, but Lowery, who'd found them, had told them that both their skulls had been cracked like eggs. That sounded eerily similar to the way Ricker and Green had bought it off the Saw Mill. But this was in broad daylight, damn it!

  Could things get any fucking worse?

  As if in answer to his question, the secure phone rang. He hesitated - because, yes, things could get a lot worse - then answered it. He repressed a sigh of relief when he heard Lowery's hello.

  "What?"

  "I've been checking around the area and found some squatters in this broke down old apartment house on the same block. "

  "Did they see anything?"

  "Not what happened to Snyder and Grimes, but they did see this black van parked on the street - "

  "They're sure it was black?"

  "Double-checked that. They swear it was black. But here's the meat: the one looking out the window says she saw a very swollen looking female sim being led into the black van. "

  Oh, no! No! They've found her! Snatched her right out from under our noses! How the fuck could this happen?

  "She's absolutely sure?"

  "No question. "

  "Who was doing the leading?"

  "Two men - one 'very strange looking,' according to her, but she was kinda vague about that - along with a woman, and another sim, an old male. "

  Luca dropped into his desk chair and cradled his head in his free hand. Cadman and Sullivan. Had to be. Plus that old sim Sullivan kept around, and someone else working with them.

  And they had the pregnant sim.

  "All right," Luca said, straightening. This wasn't FUBAR yet. It still could be salvageable. "We abandon Newark. Divide the remaining men into four teams: one on Sullivan's apartment, one on his office, one on Cadman's apartment, one on her office. You see them, grab them. "

  "But - "

  "I don't care what you have to do to nab them, just get it done. If there's any flack we'll straighten it out later. I want one of those shits and I want them brought to me!"

  He'd interrogate them personally and they'd lead him to this pregnant sim. No need to worry about being recognized because whoever he dealt with would not be leaving vertically.

  But what if they'd all gone to ground?