Reaper by Edward Kendrick Page A

quickly toward Seventh.
    “No shit.” Reaper saw Zip at the end of the block and started toward him, saying, “Is he still around?”
    “Who the hell are you?” Zip asked.
    Reaper chuckled. “The new, improved Reaper.”
    “Aw shit, man. Why? You ain’t nearly as scary like that.”
    “I’ll tell you later. Right now, where’s the car?”
    “Around the corner. The dude pulled up and parked but he didn’t do nothing yet ’cause none of the girls approached him.”
    “How many girls?” Reaper asked as they started walking.
    “Two. Colly’s keeping an eye on them.”
    “Colly being?”
    Zip grinned. “My guy.”
    “Okay. Good that he’s there, but let’s hope he didn’t scare away our perp.” Reaper got into character again, shuffling onto the side street. Ahead, about halfway down, he saw the girls and a skinny kid who was maybe seventeen, if that.
    Hardly someone who’ll terrorize the guy we’re looking for.
    Unfortunately, those three were the only people in sight. The car was gone. With a sigh of disgust, Reaper led the way to the kids with Zip and Wrath right behind him.
    “There wasn’t nothing we could do to keep him here,” the boy said to Zip while looking askance at Reaper and Wrath. “She”—he pointed to one of the girls—“went over to talk to him but…” He shrugged. Then his expression brightened. “I got the plate number.”
    “Excellent,” Reaper said.
    “What’s he? Undercover cop?” one of the girls, standing in a shadowed doorway with her companion, asked Zip.
    “Nope. He’s one of the good guys,” Zip replied.
    Reaper chuckled, glancing at Wrath. “Nothing wrong with cops,” Reaper told them.
    The girl just snorted softly.
    Returning his attention to Zip’s boyfriend, Reaper asked for the plate number. The kid handed him a torn scrap of paper, saying, “You think you can find him? He’s really…weird. Kept eyeing Missy like she was primo and he wanted some of her, but was afraid to make the first move. Then, when she went to the car he…” The kid looked at the girl Reaper figured was Missy.
    “He said he wanted me to come with him behind the building. I was like, no way,” the girl told him, coming over to stand by Colly. “I said he should turn off the car, then I’d get in and blow him. He waved a fifty at me and damn I was tempted, but I heard about other girls going missing and Colly said he could be the guy, so I told him to fuck off and he got real pissed. Tried to grab my arm, but I moved away fast.” She grinned weakly. “Then he took off.”
    “Can you describe him?” Reaper asked.
    “Uh-huh. Red hair, mustache, maybe…thirtyish? Had muscles. I mean big ones. Here.” She put her hand on Reaper’s bicep. “Least they looked like they’d be big. He was wearing a sweatshirt. Blue with a logo on it.”
    “Do you remember what it said?”
    She shook her head. “It was too dark and the letters were black.”
    “All right.” Reaper asked the other girl if she had anything to add.
    She shook her head.
    “You all did a great job,” he told them. “Now Wrath and I have more to work with.”
    Zip looked at Wrath. “That’s what you call yourself?” He grinned. “Like the wrath of God my mom always threatened me with?”
    Wrath nodded. “Sorta. But I don’t have lightning bolts.”
    “Huh?”
    “Saw that in a picture. God with lightning coming from his fingers,” Wrath explained.
    “Man, that’s cool.”
    “Is, isn’t it? But not something I can do.”
    “Bummer.”
    Reaper shook his head then suggested the kids head back to wherever they crashed, especially Missy. “And watch your backs. He’s probably gone, but there’s no sense taking chances. We’ll tag along behind you for a few blocks, just to be sure he’s not hanging around.”
    The teens nodded. Zip and Colly walked on either side of the girls, obviously intending to keep them safe if the predator reappeared.
    “They’re very protective of each other,”