Chapter 25
Aris
“Here’s the problem. We have yet another missing governor. And I’m supposed to be dead.”
“I mean, that’s two problems, Boss,” Shawn says as he hits the punching bag. We’re in the gym blowing off some steam. And, more importantly, trying to figure out what the hell we’re going to do with Declan Harvey. Not to mention, I’m still reeling from the fight I had with the god damn traitor and the fact that my old best friend beat my wife to a bloody pulp. “I can’t even visit my own wife, who’s currently in the hospital, because everyone thinks I drowned in the fucking bay. I want to fucking gut him, Shawn. I’m surprised I haven’t yet. I want to use his fucking intestines as shoestrings.”
“Do it,” Shawn says and smirks. “I’d be happy to help.”
I frown. “Tacy wants to turn him into the police. Show them the camera footage of him in the house,” I say and jam the heel of my foot into the pad on the wall. “Problem there is, they’ll see me…a masked guy, in the video.”
“I fail to see how that is a problem,” Shawn grunts as he punches again and again. Each hit grows louder and sends the bag swinging further backwards. “They don’t know who’s behind it, right? Tacy acts like she doesn’t know who you are in this case. Boom. Problem solved.”
“Sort of…but consider the fact that Tacy might be a potential suspect for the murder of Starkey. And so, she’ll say that a masked man saved her and shot Starkey. Then another saves her from being killed in her own home?”
“Yeah, they’ll likely think you’re the same masked man and that she knows who you are,” Shawn says and cracks his knuckles. Sweat glistens on his forehead. His knuckles are raw and nearly broken. “I’m sure the police are wondering how she ended up in the ER with broken ribs, fractured cheek bones, and black eyes.”
“You going to take a break?” I ask and point to his hands. “You’ll need those fists next week when we invade the stronghold.”
“Ahh, bloody knuckles heal fast,” he huffs. “Where is the fucking creep now?”
“Declan? Well…tied up in building F,” I reply. “I didn’t want him anywhere near Reggie in the back room. Don’t want them together so they can help each other escape or exchange information or whatever.”
“Reggie’s not talking,” Shawn says. “Thor’s tried and so has Clyde. He just keeps saying we’ve got the wrong fucking guy. Either way, we ripped that tracking device out of his neck and trashed it on the other side of town.”
“Good job on the tracker. But…is it possible we’ve got the wrong guy?”
Shawn shakes his head and throws another punch. “Seemed clear to me that he’s the fucking guy. A whole string of texts between him and a known Org member’s number. I mean…they were in code, but we were able to decode them easily enough. Reggie notified them of the drop. There’s no doubt about it.”
I kick the pad harder, visualizing that it’s Declan’s throat. I have to keep my shoulders still, ever since the slimy mother fucker stabbed me in the bicep. Luckily, it wasn’t too deep, and my on-site doctor was able to stitch me up and treat it in-house.
“What are we going to do with Reggie? I can take care of him, if you want,” Shawn says and wipes the sweat from his face with an old towel. “Got a round ready to go.” He makes a gun with his fingers and points them at the door.
I pause and shake my head. “No. We’re not going to kill Reggie. If anything, we hold him until we complete the mission and turn him in same time as Declan. Yeah…I think that’s our best mode of action. Take down The Org, and we can turn in all these conniving bastards at the same fucking time.”
“Yeah, if the entire police force hasn’t been paid off already. We know Deputy Jackson has ties to Declan. Seen ‘em together downtown on more than one occasion.”
I take a slug of water. The injury on my arm smarts, and I wince slightly. “These dumb pieces of shit. They think we don’t see them have dinner together. Drinking fancy fucking wine and eating hors d'oeuvres and acting like everything is normal. Why would a deputy have dinner at Le Grande with the governor other than to do something shady? Don’t worry about the fucking cops. I’ll handle it. And don’t kill Reggie. Or Declan…as much as it pains me to say it, we need him alive. As collateral.”