Kindred Spirit - Noah Harris Page 0,34

two men had woken and pulled himself up. A gun lay in his lax hand as he slumped against the wall, two bleeding holes in his chest.

“I don’t think they’re going to let you be left alone,” Jacob murmured.

I...I’m sorry, Levi. I wasn’t...I was distracted by him. I didn’t even…

“It’s fine,” Levi muttered, pushing himself to his feet. “Could have happened to anyone.”

He was trying to kill you, it’s not fine!

Levi’s attention was on Jacob instead, who was moving toward the two men. “What are you doing?”

“Checking something. Can you let me confirm these are who I think they are before you end up shooting me?”

Levi wanted to tell him no just on principle, but he was a little curious too. It was mostly the government he was afraid of, but he knew there were plenty of crazies out there who wanted him dead or locked up.

Jacob took his stony silence as consent and bent down beside the dead man. Reaching out, he pulled the collar of the man’s coat back, and that of the shirt as well. Levi had to lean around to see what caused the low growl from Jacob. On the man’s collar bone was a tattoo. On the left side, Levi could see XXII, and on the right side, he saw XVIII.

“Damn it all,” Jacob muttered. “I was really hoping it wasn’t them.”

“You know them?” Levi asked.

“Not these two specifically, but I know the group.”

“And they are…?”

Jacob pointed to the left side tattoo. “Roman numerals for twenty-two.” He pointed to the right side. “Eighteen.”

“2218?” Levi said in confusion.

I don’t know either, but don’t trust a word he says. Everything could be lies.

Jacob let the shirt go and sighed. “Exodus. Book 22, chapter 18, ‘thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’. It’s their running motto, their title, and their mission.”

Levi frowned. “I’m...not a witch.”

Jacob looked up at him. “You’re something, and that’s more than enough for them. We’re talking the Inquisition in the modern age. They’re tenacious bastards, and they don’t let people get away from them if they can help it. Stopping them once only makes them more determined. I think it’s part of the whole religious zeal thing they have going on.”

Levi had always known there were people out there who would have preferred to have him dead than walking under the sun. In his entire life, though, he had managed to avoid dealing with any non-government groups. There were individuals, superstitious, or particularly religious who saw the odd things that happened around him and feared him.

He could clearly remember his six-month stint in Houston. Coming back to his apartment to find his elderly neighbor in his living room with a priest, desperately trying to cleanse the place. Lou had thought it the greatest thing since, well, since he’d dumped the nosy busybody on her ass with a sweep of whatever ethereal limbs he possessed. Levi had been horrified to find other people in his apartment and still had no idea how she’d managed to get inside.

And now he had a group of nuts trying to hunt him down?

Levi. We have to go.

“I thought you said you didn’t trust anything he said,” Levi said softly.

I don’t. But either he set this whole thing up to make you trust him…

“Which is pretty paranoid, even for us.”

Or he’s telling the truth.

“There has to be a first time for everything,” Levi muttered.

Jacob was watching him, his curiosity bright and obvious. Levi ignored him, looking down at the two men, one dead and the other still out cold. It wasn’t the first time he’d come under attack by someone after him, and it wasn’t his first time seeing a dead body. Any other time, it had been Lou who had protected him, sometimes dealing a killing blow. Yet this time, it had been Jacob who had reacted with unnerving speed and deadly intent.

“Aren’t tattoos against something in the bible?” Levi asked.

Jacob snorted. “If history has taught us anything, it’s that people who get obsessed with one part of a whole ideology also don’t mind ignoring other parts.”

“Cherry picking,” Levi said, sighing as he looked out the dark living room window.

“I think that phrase works for the normal believers who turn a blind eye to some of their beliefs. These are fanatics, and when word gets back to them about what happened here, they’re going to come after you, they’re going to do it hard and fast.”

Levi raised a brow. “Dealt with them before?”

Jacob shook his head. “No, not