Chapter 339: Aranya
*Some creep bought me out. Just wanted the spiders, nothing else. – Kelly*
It was not what any of the Saint’s wanted to see.
The pictures that Kelly sent Shiloh clearly showed an Aranya member.
“Thanks for your help, miss….?”
“Shiloh.” She smiled at him as she scooped up the tarantula and placed him back in the box. “I’m guessing that you don’t want him?”
“No!” Spider loudly declared and his brothers chuckled.
“You can keep him.” Toad chuckled.
She secured the lid on the box before going to get Christina.
“Why are you keeping them separate?” one of the men asked.
“Because he’s younger, smaller and weak. And she may try to kill him.” Shiloh said placing Christina on her shoulder. “She’s my most aggressive spider.”
“Aggressive?” Spider squeaked.
“Territorial. She won’t hurt you. Besides, Alyssa likes feeding them. They’re all getting a little plump.”
“Do you have a place for him?” Pagan asked.
“Yes. Alyssa asked for one and I have one set up for her. He will probably become hers.”
Pagan stood up and gave her a light kiss. “You going to stick around?”
Shiloh shook her head no. “I’m going to take her home so she can feed him.”
“I’ll take you down to where Charlotte is.” Pagan offered but she shook her head no.
“It’s okay. I saw her on my way in.” she hugged him and looked over his shoulder at Dom. The woman with the mohawk gave a subtle nod and a slight smile.
After she left, Toad ordered Pagan back to his chair and for Bearcat to call his girlfriend, a K9 officer for the Monroe Police Department.
“If you’re calling for a midnight bootie call, I am down for that.”
Bearcat shook his head and grinned at his brothers who were snickering.
“And if I’m calling for another reason?”
“Is there a chance that this will end in a bootie call? Work with me, babe. I’m horny as fuck right now and somehow, I don’t think using a vibrator in a patrol car would be appreciated.”
“Yes. We can have a bootie call.” Bearcat couldn’t help but laugh. “I probably should have told you that you’re on speaker phone.”
Murphy scoffed. “Like those assholes aren’t going to fuck someone after your meeting.”
There were several enthusiastic affirmations from around the room.
“Murphy, this is Toad. What’s going on with the Aranya?”
She sighed from her end of the call. The silence seemed to drag out before she gave a strange answer.
“No. Don’t ask anything else, D.”
With that the call ended.
Dom grinned as she sat on her stool in the corner. They all knew that there was history between the two women. They had served together. Worked together.
But how a food service specialist and a driver worked together was still a mystery.
No one was brave enough to ask for details.
“Alright, Dom,” Toad said once the call ended. “What do we do?”
“Nothing.” She replied. “Stay away from them and don’t take their bait.”
“That’s it?”
Her usually bored expression was full of excitement and anticipation. “Yup.”
“She has a happy look on her face.” Ink said with a little shiver. “That fucking scares me.”
“It shouldn’t.” Dom told him. “It’s not your blood that I’m going to play in.”
“Are you going to play in the blood of some Aranya?” Toad asked.
“If I’m lucky.” Dom gave her grin that made her look like a maniacal masochist. “I’ll get to play in the blood of several.”
After the meeting, but before Bearcat’s bootie call, Dom let herself into the small bungalow on Edgar Street. She sat at the small kitchen table and began to eat the tacos that she picked up on her way over. The sound of a car pulling up into the front driveway filled the darkened room as she unwrapped the second taco.
Liberty happily trotted to the kitchen and accepted the piece of chicken quesadilla that Dom held out for her.
“Quit spoiling my dog.” Murphy called out from the living room as she secured her service weapon and retrieved the other gun.
“Why?” Dom asked handing over a slice of the quesadilla.
“You’re just going to do whatever you want, aren’t you?” Murphy asked walking into her kitchen and flipping on the lights.
“Usually do.”
“Aranya have new backers and that’s why we’ve been seeing them again.” Murphy said as she got waters from the refrigerator. As always, she ran her hand over the bottles and lids feeling for minute puncture holes. Squeezing the thin plastic, there were no leaks, and she was confident that they were safe.
“Do we know who?” Dom accepted the bottle and repeated the same actions.
“Not yet?” Murphy said sitting down and claiming a burrito. “But I have suspicions.”
“Anything that you can say?” Dom asked. She broke off another triangle of the quesadilla and gave it to Liberty.
The other woman shook her head no.
“Dragon’s dead.”
“I heard.” Murphy admitted with a mouth full of food. “I still can’t say anything. About either.”
Dom nodded and then she began to clean up her mess. It was something that was ingrained at this point. There was never anything left showing that they had been there. No crumbs. No wrappers. No fingerprints.
Nothing.
In fact, there was nothing that could identify either of them. Thanks to the alphabet agency, facial recognition, fingerprints and internet searches only pulled what they allowed. It was a little odd to think that if you ran Dom through any system, that with her colorful mohawk and multiple distinctive tattoos, nothing would come up. Even if you ran her driver’s license, you got her birthname and address over in Boston.
19 N Square in Boston.
And unless you knew better, you would never consider that it was a fake address. If you searched it up, an old house came up on Google Streetview. But Murphy knew for absolute certainty that Dom did not live in Paul Revere’s home.
“I saw Shiloh.” Dom said quietly as she used the bleach cleaner to clean where she had sat at the table.
“How is she?” Murphy asked just as quietly as she handed Liberty the last piece of the quesadilla.
“She appeared fine. But there was fear in her eyes.”
“Keep an eye on her.” Murphy said as they both heard Bearcat pull up into the front driveway. “I’ll keep you updated.”
Dom nodded as she slipped out the backdoor just as Bearcat opened the front door.
