Shank had easily picked up the route Quill had taken with Delta and the rest of the miscreants who had dared to make a run for the hills. He had chuckled when he found the graveyard of microchips and it only took a few moments of scouting the area to find the signs of their passage.

But, he remembered wryly, Jenaro was with them. He'd seen his nephews name on the list. Jenaro was no one's fool. This trail just might be a decoy Shank realized. He idly wondered if Jenaro had joined forces with these absconders and if so, why hadn't he mentioned it? Jenaro had never indicated being unhappy but again, perhaps this was an elaborate test. He had to know being involved was going to ruin him. Doubly. No triple ruin him. He had to know that.

Why else would he agree to such stupidity as helping the offspring of an allegiant escape. Perhaps he had a plan. Shank hoped this was the case. Jenaro had been an invaluable asset to him in the past and he'd hate to have to turn him in with the others. If not, he'd go down with the rest. Shank hated the thought.

He had spent years preparing Jenaro to join the ranks of the CI as a bounty hunter. Having relatives inside the tight knit circle of elites was the only inroad to a comfortable life.

Was it really possible Jenaro had willingly thrown it all away? Shank highly doubted it. Hugh Alitto had used some pretty sketchy tactics to test new entrants for approval into the ranks. Perhaps, this was Jenaro's trial run. Shanks brows rose in thought.

Damn. Hugh Alitto was a genius if this were the case. Shank laughed. Damn if Hugh Alitto didn't have more backbone than Shank had given him credit for. His mind drifted to his conversation with Hugh yesterday.

No.

Not a chance in hell Hugh had come up with this. Not with his own brother's children. Shank smirked. Also not a chance in hell they were Gerard's kids. Either way though, they were allegiant kids. And that in itself was a death sentence. No, Hugh wasn't that stupid.

And when he found the partially frozen body of Zoey with a crossbow bolt in his neck, he knew for a fact, none of this was Hugh Alitto's idea.

Shank's mouth was set in a grim line across his face as he knelt and carefully extracted the bolt from the neck of the boy. His fingers deftly traced along the bolt until he felt the tale-tell markings he knew would be there. The three slanted lines etched deeply into the metal bolt at its base told him what he already knew.

They were the marks of Pho.

The Pho-Baseline Clan, a violent group of guerilla revolutionist assassins who worked like ghosts in the Territories. The Delano's had been seeking their leader for years. They were worse than the alliegents in many ways. Was this a botched assassination attempt?

Someone must have really pissed them off. One of their own absconders perhaps? Pho didn't take lightly to their own ranks leaving the fold and they never missed their target. It would be very unusual for them unless, the kid was the target.

Shank wouldn't doubt it. Pho was always leaving messages like this for the Delano's, but he highly doubted they would have known about this. More than likely they were sending a message to someone else, and he imagined it was one of their own gone rouge.

Someone Pho didn't actually want dead.

Yet.

But who? There had not been any leaked information or Jenaro would have told him about it already.

This was unfortunate. It put a whole new spin on Shanks situation. Once Hugh found out the shit was gonna fly and more than one fan was going to be hit with it.

He eased back over to the road hog and dug his Flir Optical handheld out of the duffle in the back, scanning the surrounding forest carefully. When he was satisfied there were no hot bodies lurking in the dark depths, he went back and stood there over Zoey's body considering what his next move would be. If he returned now, with Alitto's dead kid, he could be blamed just as easily as anyone. Hugh would be very hard-pressed to quickly find a scapegoat. He didn't want to be that person. He could bury the body and continue the original directive. Or, he could go after Pho.

Shank paced the area even knowing he was losing valuable time, and that was what settled everything in his mind. He was breaking the directive.

He would go after Pho.

There was no choice in his way of thinking. No way was he going to be railroaded for the death of Hugh's kid. He knew for a fact that if he brought in the dead kid, the truth would spill, and he did not want to blamed for it. Fuck that. But, if he came in with the kids killer, well maybe they would increase his credits enough that he could retire from this god awful profession. That would be fine with him.

Someone else could have the dirty job of finding Alitto City's Mermaid Scavengers.

He had been alone far too long for any man to endure. He thought about his own kids. Tucked away safe and sound in his home city of San Leone with his now ex-wife.

She, having had enough of his lone wolf life had sought permission to divorce and obtain protection which she had readily received but only because of Hugh's deviant minded desire to trap Shank into his current role. Damn it to hell, he had to go and be the best in the business. It had left him lonely and bitter. So much so even Brenda's sly advances had left him disgusted. Hugh probably set that up too.

No, he was his own man. And he was about to show Hugh Alitto just how much. He wouldn't be so vain as to reveal all he knew about Hugh's little agreement with Gerard or that his niece and nephew were actually his kids. He would save that for another, more opportune time. Like when he brought in Pho, who the Delano's had wanted on a spike for a long, long time. A hard smile formed on Shanks face. He went to the road hog and grabbed a shovel. Best to put the evidence under raps for now.

-An Inside Look-

Pho is more than just a tasty dish.
What does pho symbolize?
The inception of pho is a perfect example of Vietnamese survival skills, demonstrating the resourceful resilience of the growing urban working-class Vietnamese population, despite the changes French colonists brought. During the Vietnam War, pho became a symbol of the Southern, Democratic cause.Feb 27, 2019
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Vietnamese History Through Pho - Scribe