seymoure | The Bedlamite Obligation (A Matt Savage Adventure) Chapter 48

My Life as Bait

“Don't gamble on the future,
act now, without delay.”
-Simone de Beauvoir

“You know the basics of this,” Cooper told me as the fries were shoveled into the endless abyss that was my stomach; “You’ve seen it with other stings.”

It was amazing how hungry you can get when you haven’t eaten during the time you were being beaten and almost killed. This, however, is not a diet plan that should be recommended, though I’m sure there would be some market for a plan called “The Torture Diet.” That’s how nuts the country is these days.

It was good I ate when I did. Just after I got done, word came that would have taken my appetite away. About 7 this morning they found the children’s bodies. This was the final atrocity I was going to allow that horror to commit.

“We’ve got you moving into the same building that your secretary lives in,” the Detective informed me, “He shouldn’t have trouble believing that, since he burned down your place, you would find this a viable place to settle for the moment.”

I wiped my mouth with the hotel eatery’s cloth napkin, “Who moved me in?”

“We used a company that uses college kids to move other college kids into off-campus residences,” he admitted. “We figured they would be a good source of rumor spreading.”

“So they got the whole story?” I asked.

“You have been in the hospital since Texas Jack tried to kidnap you. Now you just want to be alone.”

“I’m sure he plans to ruin that plan,” was my thought, “Let’s hope we can turn that around on him.”

“I’ll be staying in Rayleen’s,” Hugo stated, and I smirked in return, so he snapped back, “I’ll be on the couch.”

“We’ll have a large armed force within seconds of there,” Cooper countered.

“The smaller the group, the less chance of a leak,” I said, shaking my head, “We can’t take the chance. And not too close; he’ll see them. He’s evil, not stupid.”

“We’ve done this before,” my friend defended. “And I’m not taking the chance that monster will get his hands on you.”

I tapped the table, and Hugo lifted the box I had asked him to bring. I opened it and displayed a pair of the largest pistols I had ever owned.

“Hugo has a . . . friend in the business. I told him I wanted to kill a charging rhino. He sold us these.”

All the policeman did was whistle.

Like passing a graveyard.