Chapter 15

~Chapter 15~

Lexy sat on the couch, unmoving. Josh’s revelation to her had left her paralyzed.
“Shocking, isn’t it, Lady Sharktooth?”
Lexy spun around to see Wraith leaning against the bar, watching her with his deep green eyes.
Lexy rose and walked over to join him at the bar.
“What did you call me?”
“Lady Sharktooth.”
Lexy sat at the bar and looked at the man in confusion.
“Why Lady Sharktooth?”
Wraith shrugged and reached into the mini fridge at the end of the bar for a couple Cokes.
“Josh’s name in the Underworld is “The Sharktooth”. He got it during a mission in Hawaii where the natives compared him and his ferocity in battle to that of a Great White shark.”
Lexy laughed, “So he is the Lord Sharktooth?”
Wraith smiled and handed her a Coke.
“Yes, it seems to fit you. I see the capability for the same ferocity in you that I saw in Josh when his family was killed.
Lexy accepted the Coke and took a chip from the bowl he offered her.
“He still isn’t over it, is he?”
Wraith walked around the bar and sat on the stool next to her.
“No. He hasn’t told you what happened afterwards, has he?”
Lexy shook her head, “You mean there’s more?”
Wraith took a sip from his Coke and nodded.
“Oh, much more. You see, Josh’s family is a large crime syndicate that works out of New York. It is lead by a group of a hundred of the US’s top crime bosses who have control over every crime business in the US. Everything from drug running to gun smuggling, to murder and kidnapping, the Board has a say in it.”
Lexy nodded, impressed by the scope of the syndicate’s influence.
“So, that’s how they arranged to have Mariah and Mara killed and got away with it.”
Wraith smiled slightly and shook his head.
“But they didn’t get away. After the initial investigations and interviews with the police had been finished, Josh got together me, Scarlet, Nathan, and a few other friends he had in the Underworld. Then, with our help, he went and did what no one else would dare to do. He started attacking the Board’s investments, foiling their operations, and killing their contacts and associates. He did quite a bit of damage, even managed to kill seven Board members.”
Lexy didn’t understand at first, “Wait, how many people did you kill altogether?”
Wraith thought a moment, “As a group we killed one-hundred ninety-six high ranking operatives, seven Board members, and sixty mercenaries. That’s about two-hundred sixty-three people, and that isn’t including the security personnel and employees who were killed during the process. Not even I could keep track of all those.”
Lexy couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Hold on, you are telling me you killed over two-hundred people?”
Wraith nodded, his face serious.
“That I know of. But no one kept tabs on Josh the whole time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Nathan or Scarlet killed a few extra Board minions along the way and didn’t report them. But you must understand, Josh was insane with grief, He was berserk with anger and he actually did the country a small favor.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, the Board is the biggest criminal organization in the US, and possible the world. Because of what we did, many of the Board’s plans had to either be put on hold for a few years, or forgotten altogether. And the Board still hasn’t completely recovered from it. Because of it, Josh has become a legend within the Underworld, and nightmare for the Board. It was actually very surprising that the Board allowed the recent attempts on Josh’s life. If Josh ever decided he wants to finish what he started, he has all the inside knowledge he needs, and half the Underworld would join his side.”
Lexy thought about that a moment.
“Why doesn’t he?”
Wraith looked out the window by the kitchen table.
“After about two years of killing and getting revenge, Josh just stopped. He sat out there on the back step for months, just letting his life fall apart. Finally, I was able to talk him into taking the job your father offered him, and he snapped out of it.”
Lexy looked out the window with him, her mind on Josh and his past.
“But, just because he snapped out of it doesn’t mean he has recovered.”
Wraith shook his head and a sad look crept into his eyes.
“No, Lady Sharktooth. It doesn’t.”

~June 28th, 2014: 4 Days After Bombings
Lexy ate breakfast with Wraith, Josh was no where to be found. Wraith guessed that Josh was either sleeping in, doing some research on their assailants, or had left early without anyone knowing to do some errand.
Lexy was surprised to find three boxes of Apple Jacks cereal in a kitchen cupboard. She threw a questioning look at Wraith, who shrugged and grinned.
“I knew it was your favorite.”
“How!?”
“Simple, when you father hired Josh I did some research on you and your father, which involved taking a quick inventory of your house and reading your blog.”
“And you remembered that!?”
“Yes.”
Lexy shook her head and had to smile. People who knew the things Wraith did should probably scare her, but she was completely at ease with the green-eyed man and his instant-recall mind.
She poured herself a bowl of cereal, grabbed a spoon from a drawer by the sink and the milk from the fridge, and sat next to Wraith at the kitchen table. After a moment of eating in silence, Lexy looked up at Wraith, her mind full of questions.
“So… Wraith? I assume that isn’t your real name.”
Wraith shook his head as he swallowed a bite of bagel.
“No, it is not.”
“What’s your real name?”
“Wraith.”
“But you just said…”
Wraith sat back and Lexy felt like his green eyes were going to swallow her up.
“The man I used to be no longer exists. A few years ago, Josh helped me to effectively kill the person I was to become what I am now.”
Lexy thought she understood what he was saying.
“You faked your own death.”
Wraith smiled and nodded his confirmation.
“Yes, now I am invisible to everyone who tries to find me. No family, no known friends, no past, no future. I am a shadow, a wraith. So now I am known only by the name I am called in the Underworld, Wraith.”
“The Underworld is basically just the world of crime, right?”
Wraith thought a moment, “I wouldn’t say crime, per say. Maybe unlawfulness. It isn’t just the drug dealers, gun runners and smugglers. There are also informants like me and vigilantes like Josh.”
Lexy spoke around a mouthful of Apple Jacks.
“So, do all people who work in the Underworld have codenames?”
Wraith got up to take his dishes into the kitchen. He answered her questions while rinsing his plate and loading it and dishes from dinner the night before into the dishwasher.
“Most do.”
“How do they get their name?”
“Some choose their name, sometimes people give it to them.”
“And Josh’s codename is the Sharktooth? How did he get that?”
Wraith waited to answer until he had scrubbed some dried food off a plate and was able to shut off the water running into the sink.
“He was on a mission of some kind for his family when he was fifteen. He was already an excellent fighter and a ruthless opponent in combat. He was sent to Hawaii, and while I’m not sure exactly what happened, he got into trouble with a gun dealer down there. He was forced to storm the man’s main warehouse, along with all his security and bodyguards. The Hawaiians involved who saw him in action compared him to a Great White shark, and that name evolved rather quickly into simply “Sharktooth”.”
Lexy nodded, trying to imagine a fifteen year-old Josh Taske fighting and beating an army of thugs. It actually wasn’t that hard an image to conjure up.
“What’s Nathan’s codename?”
“The Wolf.”
“And Scarlet?”
Wraith leaned against the bar, “Scarlet is her codename. But she answers to it more than she does to her birth name, so it might as well be her real one.”
Lexy took her dishes in to the kitchen and began to wash them off. She flashed a smile at Wraith.
“And my codename is Lady Sharktooth?”
Wraith picked up a set of car keys and a small pistol off the end of the bar near the wall.
“Yes, as far as I’m concerned.”
Lexy watched him, “Cool. Where are you going?”
Wraith was halfway out the backdoor.
“I have to go pick Scarlet and Nathan up from the airport.”
Lexy watched him leave, then turned back and, after loading her dishes into the dishwasher and starting it, went to stand in the middle of the living room. The room was quiet and, Lexy thought sadly, rather lonely.
“Have fun, Wraith.”

Wraith returned a little over an hour and a half later with a worn and tired Nathan Wolv and Scarlet. Scarlet had a duffel she brought with her, which she emptied onto the kitchen table to reveal a small collection of weapons and tools, not to mention a few changes of clothes. She promptly began organizing and cleaning the contents of the duffel while Lexy looked on.
Nathan went straight for the fridge and, after grabbing a bottle of tequila, went into the living room and literally crashed in the big leather couch.
Josh came down the stairs a few minutes later and stood in between the kitchen area and the living room, his sharp gray eyes taking in both Nathan and Scarlet. After a moment, he approached Scarlet as she worked to fine-tune her small crossbow.
“Scarlet, how was your flight?”
Scarlet threw a crabby look at Josh.
“Great, if you like traveling with a half drunk jackass who smells of alcohol and blood. The slob snores as well!”
Josh and Wraith exchanged glances. Scarlet was not in a good mood, and they could guess Nathan would be in a bad mood as well. And Scarlet and Nathan together in the same room when tired, mad, drunk, or all three, was never a good thing to witness.
“If you want, Lexy has offered to share the guest room. Or you can have a couch in the living room.”
Scarlet nodded at Lexy with something akin to disgruntled thanks. Then she threw a nasty glance in Nathan’s direction.
“I suppose if I choose the couch I’ll have to share the room with Lone Wolf Mc-Stink over there.”
Josh gave Wraith a subtle signal, and the informant casually walked into the living room to sit on the couch Nathan wasn’t occupying.
“No, I’m going to move a cot into my room for Nathan, and Wraith will have the other couch. Or Wraith and Nathan will share the living room if you decide you want the guestroom.”
Scarlet set the crossbow chord she was waxing down and massaged her temples.
“I guess if Lexy doesn’t mind, I’ll take the guestroom. And I feel sorry for you, you might want to put a few air fresheners up in your room, maybe some scented candles. Oh, and make sure he empties his guns before bed. You wouldn’t want him shooting you in his sleep.”
Nathan had been listening with a half-smile from where he lay on the couch. Now he reached up and used the back of the couch to pull himself up into a sitting position.
“Hey, Red, I seem to remember you getting your ass handed to you by that Brit back in DC.”
Scarlet turned in her chair to face Nathan, and Josh went around the table to stand protectively behind Lexy.
“Well, maybe I would have beaten him if I didn’t have to watch to make sure you got out the door without getting yourself shot!”
Nathan grinned and took a swig from his bottle.
“And if I’m right, you’re the one who wanted to drive that damn Corvette home instead of taking the airplane.”
“Uh-huh, maybe it’s ‘cause I like my car and don’t want to leave it with people I don’t know and don’t trust!?”
“Wow, that must be some car.”
Scarlet looked confused a moment, “What!?”
Nathan got to his feet and walking into the kitchen area to lean on the bar.
“I mean, you are normally the type to show up, show off, bed down, and then show yourself out in the mornin’. You ever been with a guy for more than a night?”
Scarlet stood up to face Nathan so fast her chair fell over.
“And how many women have you dated, only to leave when the next blue-eyed blonde with a nice butt walks by!? Or do they all just stay away from you, afraid you’ll shoot them on accident?”
Nathan cocked his head as if he was trying to remember something.
“Um… I seem to remember the last six guys that took you to bed woke up dead in the morning.”
He winked at Lexy, who was looking a bit worried at this point.
“She’s got a kinda weird thing going; she likes to sleep with her victims before killin’ ‘em. Kind a like a Black Widow spider, but she’s red and not black.”
Scarlet righted her chair and glared at Nathan.
“Black Widow, huh? Well you’re the Wolf, aint you? And male wolves eat their kids, don’t they?”
She smiled sweetly at Lexy, “That’s why women don’t want him, they don’t want him to eat the kids when their born.”
Nathan set his now empty bottle in the bar.
“Well, at least they kick me out, I don’t leave. You never have been good at settling down, have you? A bit to wild yet? Or is it not wild enough for you?”
Lexy didn’t even see the knife Scarlet threw until Nathan had caught it. Scarlet jumped him, but the next thing they all knew was Josh had Scarlet by the arms and Wraith had come in between Nathan and Scarlet and grabbed the hand Nathan held the knife in.
Josh glared at them, “That’s enough. Nathan, go lie down and get some sleep. Scarlet, you can finish your inventory either in the office or the guest room. But if you two decide you want to fight again, you can fight me. Understood?”
Nathan grabbed another tequila from the fridge at the foot of the bar and headed back for the couch.
“Sure, if she can keep her yap shut.”
Josh released Scarlet and she grabbed her stuff from the table and stormed up stairs. Wraith went back to sit with Nathan in the living room, while Josh went out and sat on the back step.
Lexy came out to join him. She sat down and placed her hand on his arm.
“What was that all about?”
Josh sighed and put his head in his hands.
“They do that every once in a while. This actually isn’t as bad as it has been.”
Lexy looked shocked, “Why do they do that?”
“I don’t know. Both have fairly bad tempers, and Nathan does drink too much. But I think there is more to it than that.”
Lexy, hesitantly, put her arm around Josh’s broad shoulders.
“What do you mean?”
Josh didn’t move, but he seemed to relax slightly at her touch.
“They both came from hard lives, and both have issues committing and allowing others to commit to them. I think spats like this are their way of keeping their distance from each other.”
Lexy rested her head against Josh’s arm, and he reached over and put his arm around her.
“That’s so sad. They were made for each other.”
Josh looked down at her, his thoughts not on Nathan and Scarlet anymore.
“Yes, they are.”
They sat like that, comforting each other, for a long time. Neither wanted to leave, neither wanted the day to end.
But, of course, all good things come to an end.