Chapter 12 #2
Jasper pulls his head back, like Bash did. “We don’t have all fuckin’ day to wait around for you to realize we’re holdin’ all the cards. You need to open your mouth and speak, asshole, if you want to make it out of here alive.”
Bash chimes in, “Maybe he doesn’t understand what we’re saying.” He steps closer and looks down into his eyes. “What my club brothers are saying is that if you don’t tell us what we want to know, we’re gonna give you a dirt nap.”
“There’s no need for that. Untie me, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
Jasper shoots back, “You’re not in a position to make demands, asshole. Tell us what you were doing in our sleepy little town. What was your fuckin’ mission?”
“Someone hired us. He said he worked for the Terrance family, but he could have been lying about that. You know, saying shit to scare us into doing a good job. They do that sometimes.”
Jasper growls, “Get to the fuckin’ point already.”
“Somebody has been calling salvage yards in the LA basin asking questions about a black sedan. We were sent to find out who’s asking about the vehicle and why.”
“Are you telling me you didn’t come for the girl?” Jasper asks.
“Girl?” he asks. “I don’t know nothin’ about a girl.”
“What about the old guy you roughed up?”
“Okay, She was a secondary target. That’s all I know. They wanted us to find out where she’d gone.”
I stoop down again and look him in the face.
“I’m the guy who’s been asking about that vehicle.
Take a fuckin’ look at me and ask yourself who you want to cooperate with.
” Slamming my hand against my chest, I say, “The guy who could rip you limb from limb or the assholes who sent you to hunt down someone like me?”
I watch his Adam’s apple slide up and down his throat, and he begins nodding before I even get the question out.
“What do you want to know?”
“Don’t be dense. You already know the answer to that fuckin’ question.”
He quickly states, “You want to know where that sedan is, right?”
I look him dead in the eyes. “Yeah, I do. I have a feeling that getting my hands on that vehicle will tell me more than a gun for hire like you.”
He looks away, and I can tell he’s struggling with whether or not to take that final step into betraying the asshole who hired him to track me down.
“If they find out that I’m the one who told you, they’ll probably kill me.”
“If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I’ll kill you. Tough situation, I know. So, take a minute to think it over.” I don’t move because intimidating him is my best leverage.
After a moment of silence, Bash interjects, “I don’t know where your fuckin’ brain is on this one. But if I were you, I’d pick the clear and present danger.”
“Jesus, alright. The vehicle you’re looking for is at Reynard’s Salvage on the outskirts of LA.
They bring in a mobile crushing machine on the last Tuesday of each month and crush them all at once.
They’ll make crushing that one a priority because if the car goes away, so do all the problems associated with it. ”
I come to my feet while Davis quietly freaks out at betraying the dangerous man who sent him to me. I tell Jasper, “That gives us less than a day. We should leave now.”
“Fuck that. I say we send some brothers from our LA chapter to get the vehicle and tow it here. Saves time and effort.”
I don’t like not going myself, but Jasper is right. Someone local could show up within the hour and drive off with it.
“Yeah, that makes more sense. Tell them to go right away and buy the damn thing if they have to.”
“As long as they have the vehicle in hand, it doesn’t matter whether we get it today or tomorrow, right?”
Running one hand through my hair, I agree. “We got this asshole, and his partner’s probably a million miles away by now. I don’t see the point in breakin’ a brother’s back to get it a few hours early. Just tell them not to open the doors or trunk. I want it intact.”
Jasper looks at me for a long minute before responding. “That goes without fuckin’ saying, brother. We can trust them to get the job done.”
“What about this asshole?”
“Use him to send a message. If you don’t, we’ll be crawling with hired guns in no time. I’ll tell our LA brothers to play it off like they’re lookin’ to buy parts, or they stumbled on it while lookin’ at other cars. The salvage yard might not buy it, but that’s not really our problem.”
“Alright, that sounds more than fair.”
“I’ll call them now,” he says, stepping further away to make the call.
I walk back to our hostage and tell him how it’s gonna be.
“Davis. Today’s your lucky day. After we secure the vehicle, we’re gonna cut you loose.
Not because we like you but because you’re gonna deliver a message to the person who hired you.
Tell them the Sons of Rage have the woman they’re looking for, and she’s now under our protection.
We’ll drop anyone else they send in their tracks.
We won’t tell them you turned on them to save your own skin. ”
“We’re clear.”
“Yeah, but they’re probably gonna come for you in numbers, ‘cause that’s how they are.”
“Sounds like fun. You just do your part, and we’re square, alright?”
Before he can answer, I tell Bash, “Take his vehicle and phone. It’ll sell the idea that he didn’t tell us anything and we fleeced him for it. Drop him off at the bus station with enough cash to get home.”
Bash grins. “Cool, I get a free stolen car, right?”
“We don’t care about that vehicle. I’m more interested in his phone. But I think you should wipe it clean of fingerprints and ditch it.”
We head back to the clubhouse in the late afternoon, having accomplished a lot in not much time.