Page 75 of What We Bury

“Somehow,” he continues, happily tearing open the packets, “they’ve managed to acquire the kind of money that small countries would kill to have. Odin runs intelligence, Loki handles media and coordination. Thor is in charge of the private security, and Fenrir is the hacker. His people guard half the boardrooms in the country. They see everything.” He stiffens, glancing around. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said that. He’s probably listening.”

He lifts his head, calling out loudly. “Sorry, Fen! But she needs to be read in.”

I laugh. “The diner doesn’t even have cameras.”

“Fenrir has his ways.” He glances around one last time before leaning closer and lowering his voice slightly. “As I was saying, the four of them got together one night, the story goes, and decided that the legal system was, in their assessment, shithouse. Odin had a personal experience with what the system does and doesn’t punish. Fenrir did too. So they decided they’d stop letting the system have the last word.”

“And they came up with the kill squad?”

“Eventually. They tried the legal route first—funding politicians, tougher legislation, pro-bono cases. None of it stuck, because the men they were going after had the same kind of money. So they built a different mechanism.”

My hand stills on the silverware. “Murder?”

“Suicide, Sage, please respect the work.”

I stare at him. “Suicide?”

“Always. A murder gets investigated. A suicide gets filed and forgotten. By the time the body is found, every man on the list has, by all available evidence, taken his own life. Pills. Hanging. Carbon monoxide in the garage. Jumping off a cliff. Whatever the file calls for. By the time we arrive, the note’s already written, their phone has the appropriate texts going back weeks, if not months.”

“Seriously, you can do all that?”

“Eighteen men. Most classed as suicides. Even with the handful we had to adjust for, we haven’t created a single open file. We are, statistically speaking, very good at our jobs.”

“And Brock?”

“He was number eighteen—we’re counting your contribution to the arts. Was supposed to be a suicide. You saw the rope, we were planning to frame it as a hanging from the jetty crossbeam.The note was already written—recent job stresses, complicated financial situations. The story would have closed itself out by the end of the month.”

My heart thumps loudly as I realize exactly what I did. “But I?—”

“Improvised. Yep.” He nods, grinning. “Surprised the shit out of us. But that’s okay, that’s why we had plan B.” He leans forward, halfway over the counter. “You should always have a plan B.”

“Which was?”

“Disappearing him entirely. Loki’s people are very good. I am extremely good. The two of us together are honestly a public health concern.”

I press my fingers against my forehead, feeling a headache coming on. “But how did they find you?”

“They needed people who could do the work. Knox was first. He has a military background, did a bunch of high-profile security work until he landed at Unholy Desires doing security.”

“Unholy Desires?”

“It’s a sex club for the rich and famous. Super exclusive, and very fancy.”

“Is that the same club Micah works at?”

“It is. Good catch, kitten.” He grins. “Only the Elite get an invite. It’s owned by this old broad, Lilith, but the Norse Gods provide security. Odin recruited Knox for the role, but I guess he saw something else in him—I don’t know what, I don’t ask. They vetted him for six months before bringing him into the dark side of the family, so to speak.” He perks up. “You know, I never asked how they did the offer, but I assume it was like, ‘Welcome to the family. You kill bad guys for us now.’” He says it in a mock Italian accent that is like a horrendous Mario impression and absolutely, definitely racist.

I wince. “Please never do that again.”

“No worries.” He shrugs. “Anyway, he said yes—because whodoesn’tlike killing bad guys for money. He also worked solo for a while.”

“He did this alone?”

“Yep. He could execute a clean kill, but his technique was more missing person than the suicide cover we build now.”

I nod slowly. “That started after Eli took his sister’s attacker out?”

“Sort of. Knox saw it coming. He made the call after the kill, and Loki had a cleanup crew on-site within the hour—Holden among them. A cop on the books makes the narrative easy. Body shifted by morning, framed as a mugging gone wrong. By the time Eli came down off the adrenaline, Knox and Holden had already gotten the Norse Gods’ blessing to start their own squad. Just the three of them. Eli didn’t hesitate.”