Chapter 21
Carnage
It’s just Whisper and me as he navigates to the north side of town and I contemplate how I’m going to motivate this Brooklyn guy to tell me what I need to know to find Leon.
It might be a long shot, but it’s all I’ve got for now. If he does regular business with Leon, he must have at least an idea of where he could be.
“Does Brooklyn die tonight?” Whisper asks.
“Depends on how helpful he is.”
“He could tip off Leon that we’re looking for him.”
I grin at that comment. “I don’t think he’ll do that. Not by the time we’re done with him.”
Whisper chuckles. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’m agitated. Too much pent-up energy.”
“Let’s burn some of it off, then.”
“Fuck yeah.”
“So…” I shift in my seat to face him slightly. “What about you and Blush? Is that a thing?”
“I’m playing it chill with him. I can tell there’s a lot under the surface that he’s hiding. I want to know what it is before I take him to bed.”
My brow creases. “Why?”
“No fucking clue, man.” He glances at me, a smirk on his lips. “Might sound dumb as hell, but I just had a feeling that should be my approach. Don’t get me wrong, I want to fuck him, bad, but I don’t know what it is, I just know I have to come at it differently.”
“Interesting. He seemed into you.”
“Yeah, but it’s also his job.”
“He didn’t flirt with the rest of us.”
“I know.” He shrugs. “Call it intuition, but this is my angle.”
“Alright, man. Hope it works out.”
“Me too.”
A few minutes later, Whisper exits the freeway and we head toward where Brooklyn’s cell phone last pinged.
If I recall, it’s a pretty shitty part of town where a lot of drug deals and sex work go down.
There’s a woman campaigning for mayor who wants to legalize sex work and I’m all for it.
These people deserve better, safer conditions.
Our city is pretty liberal, so I have hope.
It won’t end trafficking, but maybe it’ll help reduce at-risk populations.
We cruise down a long, dark street where there are a few cars parked, but my attention is pulled to the end of the block where several cars converge in the street, blocking any potential through traffic.
“Want to check that out?” I ask.
“Let’s do it.”
We pull right up and pause, waiting to see the reaction. Whisper has his gun in his lap while I’ve got my knife ready to go.
A huge guy with massive muscles stalks toward us, wearing a black leather jacket and jeans. Tattoos cover his bald head, face, and neck, and I imagine the rest of him too. He has a menacing scowl on his face meant to intimidate us, but obviously, we’re not deterred.
I roll down my window, motioning for him to come over.
“The fuck do you want?” he asks, his voice thickly accented. I’m pretty sure it’s Irish.
“Looking for someone. You know Brooklyn?”
One eyebrow rises as he subtly looks in the direction of his friends. “Who wants to know?”
“I do.”
He grunts. “And you are?”
“My name isn’t important. All I want is information Brooklyn might have. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
He scoffs at that. “You threatening me? You two? I could snap you in half with one hand.”
Quickly reaching out, I twist my hand around the collar of his t-shirt, pulling him hard into the door of the van and pressing my knife to his neck. “And I could have you bleeding out in seconds. Your call.”
Big Man raises his hands in surrender. “Alright, chill, man. Brooklyn is over there, with the red hair.”
“Thank you.”
I release him and step out of the van. Whisper joins me, and as I stalk over to Brooklyn, I keep one eye on the group of about six men hanging around. They look more curious than dangerous.
“Brooklyn?”
He turns to me, his eyebrows raised. “Who the fuck are you?”
“No one. I just need to know something, and I think you can help.”
“And why would I do that?”
Shrugging, I smirk. “Your choice. You can help and I can leave, or you can be a dick and see how I handle that.”
Brooklyn pulls his head back slightly, his eyes flicking between me and Whisper. “What do you want to know?”
“You know Leon. I’m looking for him.”
“Leon. Leon.” He repeats it as if he’s unfamiliar with the name. “I got nothing.”
“I have it on good authority that you do know Leon. Now you can tell me where he is or where you think he might be, or I can get it out of you anyway.”
Whisper chuckles. “You don’t want him to do that.”
“The fuck you guys think you are? This is my territory, and I suggest you get the fuck out.”
“I don’t give a fuck about your territory or what you’re doing here. I just want to find Leon. Are you gonna cooperate or not?”
“How about not?”
He’s barely finished his sentence when I close the distance between us, grab his neck, and body slam him to the ground. Whisper pulls his gun out, making sure the others know he has no problem using it.
I kneel beside Brooklyn, replacing my hand with my knee on his neck. He gasps, trapped and flailing beneath me.
“I’m not fucking around, Brooklyn. You can give me information and I’ll leave, or you can be an asshole and die tonight. Which is it gonna be?”
“He went underground, man,” Brooklyn croaks, clutching at his neck. “No one’s seen him in a while but he’s still in town. He did a deal a few days ago, but I had to meet him in this piece of shit abandoned warehouse downtown. Haven’t seen or heard from him since.”
“You know more than that. I can tell.” To make my point, I lift him up by his shirt collar then slam him back down. “Talk.”
Brooklyn coughs but nods. “Okay, okay. Two nights from now, he’s supposed to meet me at the old flour mill in Mistone.”
That’s an iconic building so I’m well aware of it. “What time?”
“Ten. He’s getting a shipment from me.”
“Who do you work for?”
“Myself,” he says, an edge of defiance in his voice, but I can see the shamrock tattoo on his wrist.
“That so? No big boss somewhere? How do you get your shipments?”
“I ain’t telling you all that. What are you, undercover or something?”
“Do I look like I’m undercover?”
“Maybe you dudes are getting smarter.”
“How about you just tell me what I want to know?” I pull my knife from my back pocket and press it to his neck. “It’s sharp enough that you wouldn’t even feel the cut until you were choking on your own blood. Want to see?”
“Dude, you’re fucking unhinged.”
“And?” I glower at him. “You’re in a gang?”
Brooklyn scoffs. “It’s not a gang. It’s a professional organization, man. We’re gonna run this city.”
“Tell you what, Brooklyn. You tell your boss, whoever it is, that if there’s some human trafficking going on in this city, he’ll wish he was never born. Sell your drugs, I don’t give a fuck, but leave innocent people the fuck alone. Got it?”
I expect him to challenge me, but he nods. “I don’t do shit like that.”
“Good, ’cause I don’t tolerate it, and I’m not alone.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. So here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna give me Leon’s number.”
“Can’t, man. He’s been acting really paranoid and shit. We always meet up at Redlight, but he said no. He either doesn’t have a phone or he’s using a number he’s not giving out. I only know where I’m supposed to meet him and what he’s buying, I swear.”
I believe him. “Alright. Old flour mill, ten o’clock, night after tomorrow?”
“That’s right.”
“Here’s what I recommend: You don’t tell Leon shit about this interaction and you show up late or not at all to the flour mill.”
Brooklyn gazes up at me, wide-eyed. “Okay, man.”
“Because if Leon isn’t there when you said he would be, if I find out he was tipped off, I’ll hunt you down and I won’t be so nice next time. We clear?”
“Yep.”
I pat his cheek. “Good. Thanks for the info.”
“You won’t tell him it was me, right? He’ll fuck me up.”
“I won’t tell him.” Besides, he’ll be dead at the end of our meeting, so it doesn’t really matter, but I keep that part to myself.
I get to my feet and offer Brooklyn a hand. He takes it cautiously and I haul him up. The guys he’s with are watching the whole interaction, but Whisper still has a gun pointed at them.
Whisper and I back up slowly to the van before jumping in. We always have to be ready for them to think they can rush us, but none of them move at all, simply watching us as we reverse down the street. When we get to the end, Whisper turns and we head back to the freeway.
“Fucking losers wouldn’t give me a reason at all.”
I chuckle. “No, they were pretty compliant. Maybe they haven’t been in the game long enough.”
“Yeah, maybe. Got what you wanted?”
“Think so. I know where Leon’s supposed to be two nights from now. Brooklyn had a shamrock tattoo on his wrist.”
“No shit? Like those scumbags we found at that house with the Ukrainian girl?”
“Yep. He said he doesn’t do human trafficking and I believed him, but that doesn’t mean his crew doesn’t.”
“Something to keep an eye on and tell Shadow about.”
“Exactly. Let’s swing by Redlight just to check in.”
“You got it.”
Twenty minutes later, we pull into the parking lot of the seedy club where my path first crossed with Rue’s. I can’t hate the place now.
We pay the cover charge to get in, alert for any sign of Leon. His usual table has people at it, but it’s not Leon or his crowd, and a quick lap around the club shows he’s not here.
I decide to chat up the bartender to see what he knows. “Hey, man. You seen Leon around?”
He glances at me while filling a glass with beer from the tap. “Leon who?”
“You fucking know who Leon is.”
He shrugs, turning to hand the beer off to the customer. I pull a twenty from my wallet and hold it out as he turns to face me again. He takes it, glances around, then leans across the counter, closing the gap between us.
“He hasn’t been around for a few days. Word on the street is he’s acting paranoid and jumpy. Hiding out somewhere. That’s all I know.”
“Thanks.”
I turn toward Whisper, who’s still casing the place.
“Not here,” I say.
Whisper nods. “Find out anything?”
“Same as what Brooklyn said. Leon’s being paranoid and jumpy and hiding out somewhere.”