But that girl had told me to listen. I’d saved her life, and I couldn’t imagine she held any ill will toward me. If anything, I imagined she’d want to try to do right by me.
“He’s dead,” I said.
“Shame,” the voice answered. “Though I can’t say I’m upset. Abram was one violent, disgusting piece of shit.”
“Can’t say I disagree, but why is it a shame?”
“Because the mafia is going to be onto you sooner or later. I’m sure you worked that out for yourself though.”
“I did, yeah.”
“We can help you, Brooks.”
“Why the fuck would you help me?”
“Because we know who you are and what you’ve done. We know you let these girls go when that went against your best interests. We know you haven’t killed Emma yet, and I don’t think you’re going to.”
I stared at Emma, completely knocked off balance.
How the fuck did the Spiders know this much? They must have been following me from the very start if they could have figured out this much. But why? I’d barely had any interactions with the Spiders. As far as I could tell, I’d never killed a Spider or even had to fight one.
I couldn’t figure out what the fuck this person wanted from me. I had nothing to offer them as far as I could tell. I wasn’t particularly well connected and wasn’t that high up in the ranks. Sure, I was a talented killer, but I wasn’t a boss.
“Tell me what you want,” I said, “and tell me right now, or else I take Emma and we disappear.”
“I don’t doubt you’re capable of that, Brooks,” the voice said, “but please just listen carefully.”
“Start talking,” I said, annoyed.
“Brooks, your people call us the Spiders, but that isn’t how we see ourselves. Think back to what you’ve heard about us. What has been our main target?”
“Slave trade,” I said. “You’ve been hitting the girl trade.”
“That’s right. Brooks, we’re a group dedicated to protecting those who can’t protect themselves. We’ve heard about you. We’ve heard about the killer who doesn’t hurt women. We thought they were just rumors until little Natasha here told us about you letting her go. And when we didn’t see Emma come out of your apartment in little pieces, we began to suspect that you feel the same way we do.”
“You don’t fucking know me,” I said, “and I don’t know you.”
“You’re right. You don’t know us. That’s a problem that I’d like to solve. I’d very much like to meet you, Brooks.”
“You want to meet me?” I asked, trying not to smile. “Seems like a bad fucking deal for me.”
“We want to help you with Emma. We can offer you protection, resources, options. We can do much more for you than you could ever do alone. All I ask is one short meeting, face to face. You can pick the time and place.”
I leaned up against the wall, thinking fast. Letting me choose the time and the place was a good move on their part. It made me feel more comfortable, but it didn’t really matter considering they were a gang and I was just one man.
Still, what they were saying made sense. I’d only ever heard of them attacking the human trafficking rings so far. I’d assumed they were stealing the girls and selling them, but I’d never actually heard of the girls showing back up anywhere else. As far as I could tell, they just disappeared.
What if they really were helping these women?
“You come alone,” I said. “One person. We’ll meet tomorrow afternoon at one. There’s a little lunch cart outside the museum, real busy around that time. You meet me there.”
“Okay, Brooks, but you need to bring the girl.”
“What?”
“Bring the girl. She’ll be safe, but she’s going to want to hear this, too.”
“No. She stays behind. No way I’m bringing her into this.”
“She needs to choose for herself.” Suddenly the phone went on speaker. “Emma, come with Brooks tomorrow. You should be allowed to speak for yourself.”
She blinked at me. “Who is this?” she asked.
“Someone who wants to help you.”
“You fucking cock,” I said.
“See you tomorrow, Brooks.”
I threw the phone onto the ground, grabbed the hammer, and smashed it into tiny pieces.
Emma kept staring at me, confusion on her face. “What the hell was that, Brooks?”
I sighed. “That was a fucking murderous and dangerous gang of people. Apparently they want to help us.”
She cocked her head. “Why did that person say I needed to make up my own mind?”