1.56 Dirty Work

It's been two weeks since I've been with Black Dawn. The snow had fallen two days ago and now everyday is as cold as shit, I can feel the ice forming around my heart too. I miss everyone and I wish I can just talk to them even just for a minute. Surreptitiously, I look at my phone. I managed to swipe it last night from where Uncle Fern had hidden it and with my luck, it had run out of juice.

"He's not here yet, is he?" I ask the kid, the only person with me in this shithole of an apartment, enduring a stakeout that we're tasked to do.

"Not yet, Ma'am." the kid replies, spreading the takeout that he had just brought in on the table between us. He's a tall, lanky teen, who couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen. I want to ask his name, but he was probably forbidden to tell me.

"How the fuck did you end up here?" I ask him instead, hoping at least to fill the silence between us.