Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 241: A Lead

Laz was interested in the fact that the second body hadn't been withered, but it made since considering they were on a bit of a schedule. What he didn't know was that Ivy was still digesting her first kill and had no room for the second.

Seeing the bodies of his friends, the third guy didn't even need any help, he just started the story at the beginning which had been Ivy's goal. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/children-of-a-lesser-god_12217418205098505/a-lead_51199650790696580">/book/children-of-a-lesser-god_12217418205098505/a-lead_51199650790696580 for visiting.

They had been a part of a small gang about a year and a half ago, doing mostly just robbery and small thefts, nothing worth talking about.

One day, their boss comes in and says he got a job offer, but he wanted everyone's opinion. The job was going to be to pick out some low risk targets, take them hostage and then bring them to an office building over on 7th street. They would go around to the gated area in the back, make a drop off, get some cash and leave, no problems.

Hearing this, most of the guys in the gang said no, although there were only nine of them. They mostly hung out together to hang out and have some people they could trust to work with them. Only three of them were interested in it.

The boss, not thinking much of it, gave them the card he was handed with the offer and left to go meet up with his girlfriend. They ended up calling the number and giving their first and last names, something that a smarter person would never have done. After that, they were just told to wait for three days when they would be given a list of what the clients were looking for, people wise.

Hence, three days came and went and the guys got the call. Over the course of that time, they had only been talking to each other and debating how smart of an idea this ways. You rob or steal, you could end up with a few years and out on good behavior. You kidnapped someone, especially if they wanted kids, and you would be the prison bitch.

You'd be lucky to survive a week.

Knowing this and thinking it over, the guys decided that they would ignore the call and tap out on doing the job. It would be safer to not do the job.

Or at least, they tried too.

"When... when we ignored the call, acting like we didn't get it, we suddenly got a text message. It only said... 'go to your hideout.' So we went, wondering what was up. And when we got there, we discovered that everyone had been killed. And not just killed killed... Their heads had been placed on fucking pikes man. They cut their heads off and put them on fuckin pikes. Who does that shit?"

Laz kind of understood, only because he had watched a ton of syndicate movies in the past. When you needed a crew to do a job, you hired them. When you wanted to make sure no information got around, you removed them. In this case, they did it to eliminate the ones who knew about the work and didn't want to do it as well as motivate the new guys. It was a win win tactic for everyone, unless your head was on a pike.

"Go on," Laz encouraged. He didn't feel bad for the deaths of these people since it could only be called their misfortune. When you play on that side of the law, bad shit happens. Strangely though, Julia seemed to look a bit more pale after hearing this. This wasn't the type of world she was used to living in.

"So we got this list, ok? And on it weren't names or nothing, just... payrates for age and health. Like, if the person is young, healthy and in good shape, you would make a killing off of them versus some old grandma. They would also be harder to get. After the person was evaluated, the money would end up in your account, no questions asked. All yous got to do is have a certain number delivered each week and you're golden. Course, that's on the grounds that you don't try to back out or escape."

"What do you mean?" Julia asked.

"We only heard rumors, ya know? It's not like we have some sort of club or something. But the rumors said, anyone who tried to run was killed, no questions asked. And when they came back, their bodies were displayed at the drop off point like a warning."

"And you saw this?"

"No. NO. You... can't leave a body outside for long cause shit happens. So like, we never had to do a drop off when there was one. But that didn't mean we didn't run into people who did. And they all said the same thing. 'You're burning in hell anyway so might as well see it to the end, right?' 100 sins or a 1000 sins and all that?"

"Interesting work ethic," Laz understood. It was a boat that once boarded, you only got off when you were dead.

"Yeah. So... we didn't have a choice here. We had to take people. Besides. we made sure they didn't have any connection with people in town. That was the safe way so it wasn't your friends or nothin, right?"

The guy almost sounded like he thought he was being noble by doing this. Laz could only shake his head and look over at Ivy who shook her head back no. Laz then looked at Julia..

"Anything else you want to ask?"

"What happens to the people you take?"

"I don't know. Once they go in, they don't come out while we're around, ya know?"

"Who's in charge?" That was Laz's big question.

"I don't know. We don't know. Only those higher up would know."

"And who is higher up than you?"

"There's... some guys...."

"What some guys?" Laz was getting annoyed.

"At the drop site, in the office. There are the guys responsible for the prisoners. They would know."

"And... where exactly is this drop site?"

"Before... Before I tell you, you have to promise me you will let me go."

"Even if we let you go, they will find you and kill you. What's the point?" Laz asked, getting even more annoyed since he was being bargained with. He had wanted to personally kill this man himself.

Laz was no saint and he had done some shady dealings in the past, but compared to these guys... The only person he ever put in harm's way was himself. These guy were nothing but predators on the street. And who was to say that they would turn things around even if they did get away? Instead, it was better to end them now.

Still, since Laz needed the info, he was going to have to swear to it for now.

"Fine. You tell me what you know and you can walk out that door, no questions asked. I'm surprised you're not fighting for your friends too." Laz finally replied.

"Even if they came with me, they would only drag me down like this. In fact, I can act like I died with them and have a better chance to live..."

So he was just going to yeet them now that they were no good. Laz couldn't help but feel a bit bad for the two who were still being eaten. They never should have put their trust in this guy.

"Whatever."

The remaining kidnapper gave Laz the information on where the drops were made. He looked over at Julia and Ivy to make sure they had gotten the address since they would be more familiar with the city and while Ivy was as stoned face as ever, Julia looked surprised.

"What's wrong?" Laz asked.

"It's just... I thought that place was a sublet office building. But for them to be dropping off people there... the only way that could happen is if the entire place was in the hands of one person. If not, then there would be no way that someone wouldn't notice something going on," Julia said.

"Probably is nothing but a front, don't think on it too much."

As they were talking, the man who had been freed of his restraints ran for the door. He turned back just enough to see that they were ignoring him before he bolted.

'Like I can fucking get away. The only thing I can do now is to let my boss know that these people are coming for them. Hmm... I wonder if i will get a bonus for this?' The man thought to himself as he bolted out the door.

He barely got two steps before a throwing knife had embedded itself in the back of his head. As his body tumbled down while his vision blackened, he finally realized that he had only just gotten out of the door, which was what he had been promised.

'Fuck...'

Laz lowed his hand which was holding a gun that had been pointed at the escaping man. At the same time, Ivy's hand came down as well.

'Seems she was faster than me.'

Laz looked over at Ivy, only to see her emotionless face looking back, almost as if she was saying, 'allow me.'

Julia looked at both of them in shock, knowing that neither one of them had been willing to let him leave alive. Besides being relieved, she was also shocked at the speed of their actions. She hadn't seen either of them move before the gun had been pointed and the knife thrown. Julia couldn't help but feel very under classed at the moment.

Laz shook his head and put his gun back into the pouch, somewhat thankful he didn't have to fire it. It would have been very loud to have done so indoors. Without a word, Laz got up, walked over to the two bodies and looked back at Ivy.

"Did we need anything else form them?" He asked.

Ivy shook her head no.

With simply a nod, Laz released two small puffs of black fire that floated down and hit the bodies. In less than a blink of the eye, both bodies were reduced to puddles of goo, spreading out along the floor while the fire burned out quickly. It looked surreal.

"And that's that."

Laz walked back over to the two ladies who were standing there.

"So now what?" Laz looked to Ivy first, only to see that she looked disinterested. He then turned his gaze to Julia.

"We... should get some info first about the building and take it from there."

"Fair enough. Can you do that?" Laz asked.

"Yes, but.."

"But?"

"Their group is the strongest in the area. Well, them and the Vodun. I'm just part of a council of the weaker ones that have joined together. Although we have a decent number of people on our side, everyone on the council just plays a game of politics trying to be the leader."

"So why don't you just pick someone to lead and have everyone else agree to follow. Or something like that?" A snake without a head was pretty useless.

"How? There is no one who is powerful enough to get the respect of the entire council. Once you add that into everyone wanting their own power, it becomes worse."

"Well, they were consenting enough to send you to find the kidnappers to make things less troublesome right? I mean, if people kept disappearing, it would shine a light on things that were better kept in the dark. With that in mind, how bad could they be?" Laz asked. After all, for them to take this with concern meant that they couldn't be complete idiots.

"That's..."

"That's?"

"That's cause I yelled at the main council during the last meeting and called them all idiots who were going to get us all killed. So... since they wanted to get rid of me and make it seem like they were doing something, they assigned me to figuring out what was happening. That's also why I joined up with your group. I figured since they were targeting tourists and outsiders, I could use you all as bait."

Laz felt like his eye was twitching after hearing this response. This was her punishment and her whole game plan was using Laz, Abraham and the others as bait? He took back what he said before, they were all idiots.

Laz looked over at Ivy who shrugged her shoulders. She had already long heard of this council and it was Freya's opinion that they were useless. After that, she didn't bother with them.

Thinking about the fact that this would be a larger operation, Laz felt that working with Heaven or Hell would be better. As such, he simply said,

"Can I get your help?"

Ivy thought about it and walked closer, until her mouth was right up next to his ear.

"Tomorrow after work. Talk to Freya." Was all she said. Ivy then collected her gear and left without looking back.

"Well, that's something." Laz watched her as she left. It didn't seem like a promise, but it wasn't a dismissal either. Looks like he would have to negotiate with the boss on this one.

"What should we do now?" Julia asked, looking around the room. The place was shitty and there wasn't much of anything around. She honestly wanted to leave, but she was going to wait until Laz said so. Having been convinced of his strength, she started looking to him for answers as well.

Interestingly enough, Laz didn't leave right away and instead took a look around. Spreading out his sense, he found what he was looking for.

"Jackpot."

In the floorboards in the living room, covered over by some debris, Laz found almost one hundred grand stashed in a lock box. With but a flick of his finger, the lock was broken and Laz found the money. Besides that, there was also an interesting looking necklace in there as well. It looked kind of old and gave off a weird vibe. Considering the guys who lived here, he knew that it wasn't theirs. He pocketed it without thinking about it and handed half the money to Julia.

"What's this? I don't want this. This is money they earned by selling people's lives..." Julia quickly understood what Laz was doing and how these poor ass guys had gotten this kind of money. She was immediately disgusted.

"Suit yourself. But let me say this now. At some point, the fact that you're an infected is going to make it impossible for you to live, much less work. At some point, this money could be the deciding factor of your life. And even if it was made by selling people's lives, we are the one's who got vengeance for them. If we don't take it, who knows where it will end up." Laz's 'sweet' words made sense to Julia and she got over her disgust fast enough. After all, he was right. No amount of self righteousness was going to save her life in a pinch. But almost fifty grand might do it.

"You have to adapt to the times. If not... You'll be the body laying on the floor."

As Laz left with Julia following close behind, one last spurt of black flame hit the final corpse, dissolving it completely.