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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 1 of 2))
Granted, she had expressed her disapproval of the Triplets before the war began. She was now inclined to cut them a modicum of slack for having to deal with such an unexpected development in their mission.

And as tempting as it was to blame them for their recklessness, a part of her felt as if she would have done exactly the same thing in their shoes.

They may have been young. They may have been a bunch of goofballs.

But they were not meek.

They had put themselves in danger just to increase the odds of their mission's success. To save those poor townsfolk.

Just because their plan hadn't worked out perfectly for them didn't meant they hadn't acted like true Rainlords.

Regardless, she was still planning to give Raul a piece of her mind when she saw him.

The limousine came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road, and the passengers all looked around in order to figure out why. It didn't take long to noticing the line of people standing in front of the car--followed by a few more who appeared at the vehicle's flanks.

Their driver muttered something in Valgan. Evangelina didn't speak it, but the timbre of his voice made his fear apparent to her, nonetheless.

Shouting arrived from one of the men standing in the road. More Valgan.

Ezura, Evangelina's reaper, was kind enough to privately translate for her. 'They said, "Come on out of there, whoever you are."'

Hmm. Evangelina didn't recognize any of their faces, but she almost didn't even need to. The expressions on those faces... she'd seen them countless times before.

The smiles of madmen.

And their behavior? Standing in the middle of the road? Just for a chance to talk to a few people whom they apparently knew nothing about? It was a fair bet that this was Morgunov's side of Abolish here.

Side Story #1 - Colt - Page 33

<<Page 32 || Side Story Table of Contents || Page 34>>

Colt craned his neck to get a look at the front of the line.

"Yeah. Thanks, Fred." The husky voice belonged to a man who was almost wider than he was tall. He wasn't fat, exactly, just very short and broad. And he was wearing a coat, but Colt could see something bulky beneath the left sleeve. A cast? Or maybe just bandages. Either way, it meant he'd sustained some kind of injury.

Much like Brick.

And supposedly, this man was Brick's true owner. Colt doubted the coincidence. Had they both been injured at the same time? By the same thing? Brick seemed like the protective sort, so it would make sense if he got hurt defending his master.

But if that were the case, why wasn't he still with his master? Had they somehow gotten separated during whatever happened? Hmm, that seemed unlikely, too. Brick, despite being an asshole, struck Colt as a pretty intelligent animal. If he'd gotten separated from his master, he probably would've been able to find him again easily enough, either by scent or just by returning to their home.

Unless...

Colt's eyebrow twitched as the thought occurred to him.

Did they both have injuries because they fought each other? Had Brick been attacked by his owner?

Colt supposed the opposite could also technically be the case. Maybe Brick was the one who attacked his master. But given the way the dog had been acting around the kids and around Alice, Colt didn't want to believe that. True, the bastard did seem to have a real attitude problem with him specifically--and perhaps men in general--but if Mr. Beaumont really had raised and trained Brick, then that shouldn't have mattered.

It was extremely rare for dogs, especially well-trained ones, to go against their masters. For any reason. In fact, it was so rare that Colt was beginning to think that this guy might not actually be Brick's master, after all.

'Boh, I think I found Janet's father,' said Colt. 'I need you here.'

'Where are you?'

'Orden. Largest store in town. It's called Anything.'

'Okay, I've seen the place. I'll be there shortly.'

'Hurry. I'm not sure he'll be here much longer.'

Indeed, the man was already on his way out of the store. Colt tried not to stare, but he must not have succeeded, because Mr. Beaumont stopped as he was passing and looked straight at him.

The man rubbed his own cheek with his free hand. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Oh, ah, no," said Colt. "Sorry. Thought you were someone else."

"That right?" Mr. Beaumont smiled. "Who, if you don't mind my asking?"

Colt did mind, as it so happened. "Doesn't matter. Why you askin'?"

"Heh. Curiosity. Y'know, it's pretty normal to recognize people in this town. And yet you, I don't. What's your name, friend?"

Really? This guy was one those people? Colt wouldn't have guessed just by looking at him that he was some kind of social butterfly. Somehow, that made him seem like less of a suspect in Rex's murder, but Colt wasn't about to rule it out, either. Charismatic killers certainly existed, too. "Colton Thompson," he said. "But you can just call me Colt. You?"

"Malcolm Beaumont. Good to meet you, Colt. You new around here?"

"I am."

"Adorable little kids you've got there."

"Thanks. You got any of your own?"

"Sure do. Just one, but she's a handful alright. She's already twenty-three now, but most days, I don't feel it. I don't look old enough to have a daughter in her twenties, do I? Be honest."

He actually didn't, Colt thought. Barely had a gray hair on his head, even if he did have one of those impossible-to-age faces. "Nope," he said.

Malcolm's smile only widened. "That's what I like to hear. You're a good man, Colt. Telling the truth like that."

Colt supposed that had been a joke, so he tried to return a small laugh. He expected the conversation to die there and for Malcolm to move on, but for whatever reason, the man just continued standing there in the middle of the store. Sure, they were at the back of the line, so they weren't getting in anyone's way, but it was still awkward as fuck.

Impulsively, Colt wanted to ask him what the hell he was doing, but this was actually ideal for the investigation. He was buying time for Boh to arrive and memorize Malcolm's soul signature. This was a lot better than following the guy out of the store and around the town.

Soon enough, though, Malcolm found a new subject. "Hey, you like beer?"

Colt almost wanted to lie but decided against it. "Not particularly. Why?"

"Oh. Uh. Was just wondering if you wanted to share a couple." He held up his lone shopping bag, which harbored a six-pack, some hot dogs, and a few other things that Colt couldn't quite make out. "If you don't drink, though, I understand."

Colt couldn't hold his tongue anymore. "You're awfully friendly, y'know that?"

Malcolm gave a curt laugh. "Nice way of putting it. Desperate to make a friend might be another."

"That so? You made it sound like you already knew everyone in town."

"Fair point. Lookin' for a certain kind of friend, though, if you know what I'm saying."

Colt didn't, really.

Wait a minute.

Oh shit. Was this guy coming onto him?

"What's with that look?" said Malcolm. "I say something weird?"

Colt, despite himself, tried to be delicate. "I think you might be barkin' up the wrong tree here, pal."

Malcolm seemed confused for a moment, until a surge of realization washed over his face. "Oh! No, no, no. Not like that." He snorted a laugh. "Holy cow, not like that at all. I'm looking for a drinking buddy, okay? Nothing beyond, er... that."

Frankly, Colt didn't believe him. But the goddamned reaper still wasn't here yet. "You ain't got anyone to drink with?" he asked.

"Not no one," said Malcolm. "I got a few. But I could use another, know what I'm saying? I'm a man of many varied tastes and interests. Helps to have different folks to shoot the sh--the stuff with."

Well, if nothing else, Colt appreciated the man's ability to censor himself in front of the twins.

What a fuckin' weirdo, though.

<<Page 32 || Side Story Table of Contents || Page 34>>

Page 2289

Leo's reaper had remained at Warrenhold, but everyone else had brought theirs along. If they were to be confronting the Killer of Krohin, it was likely that they would have need of hyper-states.

Hopefully, that would be all they needed their hyper-states for.

Here in Ridgemark, the potential danger was obvious. Just walking the street, she could feel the presence of powerful people in this city. Precisely how powerful, she couldn't tell, but with all the unknown reapers she saw flying around, any obvious conflict that broke out would either be quickly put down or immediately escalate to city-destroying levels.

According to some last-minute intel that Lord Goffe had provided for this mission, the major players in Vantalay were not just the Vanguard and Abolish but also the local companies. Apparently, Ridgemark's "peace" was being maintained by powerful business owners, primarily the hotels and casinos.

Which was why Ridgemark was still allowing foreigners into port, much to the chagrin of the Vantalayan military.

It was honestly amazing how this city could still have so many tourists when it was so close to several active war zones. However, it was thanks in part to all these tourists that their plan to conceal their souls was at all viable here. The city's patrolling reapers would've had a far easier time noticing their little group of repeated souls, otherwise.

And even now, that was still a risk, Evangelina knew. They needed to get out of Ridgemark as soon as possible.

Raul Blackburn was not there to greet them at the docks, but he did hire a driver for them and left a code word that confirmed it was his doing. After the capture of his two brothers, Evangelina was actually somewhat relieved to see that he was taking extra precautions. She had not been the most confident in the Triplets' suitability for this mission, and thus far, her fears had not been proven unjustified.