CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The door of the gas station chimed as Danny Walls walked in.
The clerk behind the counter was surprised to see him. “I thought they picked you up with Knuckles.”
“I wasn’t with Knuckles. Where’s the boss?”
“What you got?”
It was Big Mo’s voice. When Danny looked over the counter, he saw the boss seated at a table eating chicken wings. Danny walked behind the counter and sat in front of him.
“Don’t look like they gonna let Knuckles go any time soon.”
“You heard the way that fucker handled it?” asked Mo. “All he had to do was go to the office and that motel clerk would have given him the key. But no, he wants to play the big man and knock the door down. Then he wants to wrestle with her ass rather than shoot her and leave. Stupid fuck!”
“He always figures his hands was more deadly than any weapon,” said Danny. “You know how he is.”
“Now we got a problem,” said Mo.
“Is that why you called me in on this?”
Mo nodded as he wiped his hands with his already greasy paper towel. “This has got to be handled delicately. If we do it the way Knucklehead should have done it, then we got too much heat on him and he might crack. So far he’s holding up just fine. I got him a good lawyer and they already dropped that assault shit. Now it’s just a home invasion or whatever they call a motel room invasion charge. We have to be subtle now. It won’t look like us if it’s subtle. That’s why I called you in, Danny. You know how to finesse it to death, and then do your dirt. That’s what I need here. Do I have the right man for the job?”
“I won’t know that until I see what I can do,” said Danny. “Because sometimes you come easy, and that’s the way to go. But other times, if you see an opportunity you have to take, you take it. You go hard.”
Mo smiled. “After that response, there’s no doubt about it. I got the right one,” he said.