DEATH (The Justice Cycle Book 1) by J Kiefer (best classic books to read TXT) 📗

exaggerated the muffled music coming from within. As soon as they opened the main door, the music burst through the opening like a living thing that had been struggling to break free.

Jared winced at the sudden assault of noise as the two of them made their way into the crowded auditorium. The concert seemed to already be well underway and Jared feared they may have already missed Steve’s set. The space was much more expansive than it appeared on the outside. It was crowded but not so crowded that they could not move around freely. They found their way through the throng to a table.

As soon as they took a seat, a pretty redheaded waitress wearing short black shorts and a low-cut black T-shirt came over and placed a napkin in front of each of them. She smiled at them and pointed to the menu on the table. Jared smiled back and pointed to the picture of a glass of soda. The women nodded and turned to Dana who pointed to the word water. The music was so loud that small talk was nearly impossible, so the waitress did not stick around after taking their orders.

Jared’s fears were proven to be unfounded as the band currently playing ended their set and cleared the stage for the next act. A burly African American man covered head to toe in tattoos with dreadlocks that hung below his waist strolled out onto the stage.

He flashed a wild smile as he grabbed one of the microphones that had been left on the stage. “Let’s give a good round of applause to Killing Lincoln!”

The crowd went wild in either appreciation or drunkenness, Jared couldn’t tell which. Either way, the atmosphere was both electrifying and terrifying. Maybe it was his cop senses acting up, but to him, it seemed that just underneath the excitement was a sense that the crowd could erupt into something more dangerous. He looked over at Dana and saw her tensing up. He smiled—you could take the girl out of the precinct, but you couldn’t take the police officer out of the girl.

Back on the stage, the curtain had been closed, leaving only the slick-suited emcee hyping up the crowd. Then he held up his hands. “Okay, everyone, give it up for… Richard Cranium!”

The lights dimmed and the curtains pulled apart. In the darkness, an electric guitar wailed loudly and angrily. The crowd roared, an amped-up human tide jumping, thrashing, dancing to the music. In a dazzling light display, Steve appeared on stage. He grabbed the microphone in one hand and the stand in the other, swinging his head to the thundering drumbeat. Jared smiled and saw Dana smiling too. Sure, this really wasn’t their type of music, but he couldn’t deny the concert’s power and excitement.

When the intro ended, Steve began to sing the first song. Jared couldn’t help but be proud of his brother. He wished his sister could’ve been there to share this moment. Of course his parents would never come, and that saddened him a bit. At least Dana and he were here, and he was sure that that would be enough.

Before long the concert was over, and Dana and Jared made their way through the rowdy crowd to the edge of the stage where the doors to the dressing rooms were. Two large men stopped them before they could enter the door. Both men were well over six feet tall and looked like they could be professional wrestlers. The one to the right put out his hand and stopped Jared in his tracks. “No one gets by here without a pass.”

Jared smiled up at the man as Dana quietly scrutinized the man. “We have passes.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out the lanyard he had hanging around his neck. “See?”

The man examined it before looking up. “What about her?”

Dana pulled her lanyard out for the man to examine as well. He did so, and when he was satisfied that they were legitimate, he waved them both through. Once they entered the small door, they were immediately assaulted by the noises and smells of a large party. People were everywhere, doing every kind of vice imaginable. The two detectives found it difficult to suppress their cop nature and ignore the obvious breaking of the law that was not so subtly being performed around them. It did not take them long to find Steve’s bandmates among the chaos. Steve, however, was not with them.

It took them forever to find someone sober enough to know where Steve might have gone, and as soon as they did, Dana left to go to the restroom. Jared was directed to a door in the corner of the large room and he headed for it. He shot Dana a text before pushing through the door, so she would know where to find him. The door slammed shut behind him with a bang. He stood staring at a long maintenance hallway that led from the dressing rooms to the rear exit doors. The lights were dim, and a few flickered in the dark.

He made his way down the hallway, passing a few other doors and the occasional straggler. One couple was pretty much having sex against one of the dirty walls, and to Jared’s great relief, they ignored him as he hurried past. He eventually came to the door marked “exit” and pushed through it.

“Steve, you out here...”

His words caught in his throat when he laid eyes on his younger brother. Steve was hunched over the prostrate form of a young woman. He jumped, startled by the sudden interruption, and his head snapped up, his eyes wild. The woman on the ground was covered in blood. So was Steve.

Disoriented only momentarily by the scene before him, Jared snapped to life as his training took over. He took in the scene before him as his mind came into complete focus, running through every possible scenario. First, he went to the girl on the ground