Page 139 of Off the Rails

“Holy shit…” My jaw dropped as I realized where we were. The warehouse wasn’t empty. No, it was completely full.

Pallets and pallets lined the walls and aisles of the entire place.

Cyrus walked deeper into the brick building, moving toward the back.

I couldn’t move, not when I realized what was on the pallets.

But Blade’s firm hand on my back forced my feet forward.

Stopping next to one of the freight containers, I ran my hand along the shrink wrapped bricks. A white powder was compressed inside, one brick of thousands. I scanned the next one — blue pills in those.

I knew they must be dealers… they had to be with that kind of money.

How else would they have been able to renovate the loft to be a luxury apartment?

But this…

They were kingpins.

A shiver ran down my spine.

Did they have a hand in Jane’s death?

The thought made me sick, bile rising in my throat as I tried to push the idea out of my mind. I was no expert but I didn’t think this is what hard drugs looked like. There weren’t distinct bags of crystals or dark black heroin powder.

Even if it wasn’t, this kind of stock… I could only imagine what kind of control it would take to protect it. Or what kind of power it left my Freaks with.

I may have known these three when we were younger but despite my best efforts to get closer to them, it was clear that I still didn’t know them well enough to trust them.

Not really.

Was I willing to get caught in the crosshairs of a drug war?

Once I had my $40k in hand, I could decide what I wanted. But without it, I had no power or say for myself.

Pulling me from my spiral, Nash and Blade guided me to the back office.

Sensing my tension, Blade leaned into my ear. “We don’t do hard shit. We supply clean, party drugs. That’s it.”

“Right.” I nodded before they opened the office door and stepped inside.

Nash stood by the exit and crossed her arms. “Details.”

Leaning on the metal desk, Cyrus shook her head. “We don’t know much yet. But she was found dead. Likely overdose. Dumont is sending over the toxicology report as soon as the coroner has it. Should be any minute.”

“Fucking how?” Blade rubbed the metal piercing in her eyebrow. “We cleaned everything up. We sealed the cracks.”

“What?”

The three of them exchanged knowing glances, but it was Nash’s gesture to Cyrus that spurred the honesty. “We’d been in a turf war for years. When Dom and the Violence took control, she gave us authority to remove the bad actors.”

“We test all of our shit. We don’t sell to repeat users. We have a moral code. Something to live by.” Nash gritted her teeth.

“Then how…” I started.

Cutting me off, Cyrus growled. “Someone’s slipping past. But not through traditional means. They’re outsourcing. We knew it was a possibility. But an overdose will fall on us. Dom and her gang of bikers are going to want answers.”

“Fuck.” Blade was pacing now.