“So, we kill two birds with one stone. We make Gary here call up the major players and get them to agree to meet them somewhere desolate, say Gary’s cabin. Then you lock them in, set it on fire, kill the stragglers as they run for their lives. That takes them out all at once and the fire will hide the evidence. It ain’t sexy, but it will work.”
As far as plans went, it was more than a little risky. It was madness if Adam was being honest. But it could be done. Quickly if need be. Adam knew just the place. Not Gary’s cabin, but somewhere equally as desolate.
“Damn,” Asa said with a laugh. “That’s fucking cold, bro. I like it.”
“No way. These guys all deserve to suffer,” Avi said, once more kicking Gary’s fallen chair.
August snickered. “You just like butchering people.”
Avi gave him the finger. “I’m not the one who has a kill playlist on Spotify.”
August bristled, giving an offended scoff. “You know all the screaming and begging gives me a migraine.”
Adam shook his head. He liked guns. They were clean. Efficient. Portable. And left very little mess if you knew what you were doing. Which he did. He didn’t kill for fun. He did it because he knew it needed to be done. Because his father said it was what they were born to do. But his brothers…they weren’t like him. They didn’t just like it, they fucking reveled in it. All but Aiden. Aiden was a lot like Adam. More a soldier than a monster.
But, in this particular case, Adam was willing to forgo guns and knives for fire and flames if that was what Noah wanted. There was some divine justice in watching them all burn. It wasn’t like they didn’t have it coming. He just had to convince his brothers to skip the gore and theatrics for a clean kill.
Adam sighed, looking at August warily. “You don’t always have to use blades. You could just put a bullet in the ones who try to run. I know for a fact you’re an excellent shot,” he reminded, trying and failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
August rolled his eyes. “Are you seriously bringing this up again? I shoot one of your targets, and you harp on it forever. I did you a favor. You froze up.”
“I was thirteen,” Adam shot back.
“You wouldn’t have made it to fourteen if I hadn’t stepped in. So, you’re welcome.”
“Enough!” Atticus shouted. “Can we save the witty banter for later? What Noah is proposing is most definitely the smarter plan.”
Avi shrugged, pouting. “I guess. Can we at least hurt this one?”
Noah frowned. “Are you guys really disappointed that you can’t stab somebody when the alternative is to just set them on fire?”
Asa nodded. “No offense. It’s just a little…hands off for our taste. We take pride in our work.”
“Look, I don’t care how you take them out, but we need to do it all at once and Gary is the key to doing that,” Noah said. “Can we all at least agree on that?”
Adam’s brothers all looked at each other before Atticus nodded. “It will work. We just have to get this one to make the call without signaling the others.”
Adam looked down at the man, still making distressed noises from behind his gag. “Oh, Gary here knows the alternative is a slow, painful death versus a nice quick bullet to the head.”
“He’s going to play ball,” Noah assured them. “Right, Gary?”
The man frantically bobbed his head. Atticus nodded towards the twins and they grabbed the back of the chair and set it upright. Gary’s eyes darted from person to person.
Adam was surprised when Noah approached the man, dropping down onto his thighs until they were nose to nose. “How does it feel to be scared?” he asked, tone chilling. “How does it feel to know you’re going to die?”
Gary didn’t respond, just stared wide-eyed at Noah. As did the others. This Noah had been born of so much pain and trauma and had come out stronger for it. His brothers seemed fascinated by Noah, but Adam… Adam had never been so horny in his whole fucking life. Noah looked fierce and so fucking sure of himself that it made Adam want to drag him out to the car and fuck him right then and there.
But there was no time for that. There was truthfully no time for any of it, including Noah perched in Gary’s lap, head tilted, as if he was truly trying to gauge the man’s fear.
“Noah likes to play with his food before he eats it,” August said. “Excellent.”
Noah stood but continued to stare down at the older man.
“I mean, it’s only fair he’s the one who gets to kill Gary,” Avi said. “Right? That kill belongs to Noah.”
Adam snapped his head around. “Noah’s not killing anybody. Just because he’s being inducted into the family doesn’t mean he needs to be initiated with blood.”
“Every one of us had to make our first kill,” Archer said, as always sounding inconvenienced.
“Noah said it himself,” Avi reminded. “He said this was a test. Dad is clearly using this as some sort of experiment. If Noah is part of this family, he’s going to have to get his hands a little dirty.”
“No—”
Noah cut him off. “I’ll do it.”
“You don’t have to,” Adam swore.
Noah looked at Gary, his gaze almost frigid. “I don’t have to. I want to. But not until it's over. I want him to watch the others die first.”
“Then it’s settled,” Archer said. “Get the man’s phone and let’s get this over with.”
“What if they don’t show?” Noah asked again for the hundredth time, chewing on his thumbnail as he watched Adam gaze out the window through a pair of binoculars.
They sat in an abandoned shack that had once been a bait and tackle shop, approximately five hundred yards away from an old wooden building that had once been a fish hatchery, whatever the hell that was. Adam had said the whole marina had shut down years ago and had sat abandoned for more than a decade. It was one of the forgotten properties in Thomas Mulvaney’s vast portfolio.