Chapter Five
About twenty minutes later...
They heard gunshots and Sage jumped at the sound.
Erika didn’t jump, she just closed her eyes and prayed. She had gone to get her son. The baby cried though because he was startled but Erika hushed him.
The gunshots didn’t last very long.
Dax listened for a moment then looked at the laptop. He told Erika, “The guys are coming back, maybe you should take the baby to another room.”
Erika nodded and got up with the baby in her arms. She looked at Sage. “You should probably come too. I’m not sure you want to see what’s coming.”
Sage glanced at Dax and at his nod she got up and followed Erika down the hall.
Dax stood and went to the garage. The boys were already there waiting for him. He went to a cabinet and unlocked it, then he pulled his bag out and set it down on the table.
They had Roger sit in a chair and they were busy tying him to it. Roger looked a little bruised. He was protesting and running his mouth a lot and very loudly too.
Saint stood back and let his men tie Roger down.
Then Thrasher slapped the back of his head as he would not shut up.
Roger snarled at him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Don’t you know who the hell I am?”
Saint snorted. “Yeah, we know who the hell you are. You’re the scumbag that’s poisoning our children.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Roger snapped.
Saint shook his head and listed what he meant, “You have... oh excuse me, you had a cousin that ran dope and other illegal shit up and down the Mississippi river on a boat he called the Brawdy Lass. You work for the Paulo Cartel and you are trespassing on our land. Oh, and you started shooting at us first. We just returned the fire and you tried to get away.” He shook his head.
“Not our fault you tripped over a tree root and we caught you.”
Roger just glared at him.
Saint stood back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Explain yourself.”
Roger was just beginning to feel uncomfortable but he knew he couldn’t let them know it. “So what? I stopped on the road and took a walk, what’s the big deal? I’ve been driving for a while and I needed to stretch my legs. I didn’t hurt nothing.”
Saint raised his hands to rub his temples with his fingers. “Man, shut up, all your caterwauling is giving me a fucking headache. You have been sitting there for hours, watching our farm. So quit with the lies. Everyone here knows exactly who you are and what you do.”
“Yeah? Well, as far as I know this is still a free country and I’m allowed to go wherever I want,” Roger blustered. “What’s the big deal if I stop along the highway and take a little walk? I’m not bothering anything or anyone.”
“But why here and why now?” Saint pressed him. “Did you follow someone to this farm?”
Roger pressed his hands into fists behind his back. “What the hell are you talking about? I just stopped along the highway and that is all.”
Saint leaned forward and repeated his question, “Did you follow someone here?” he spoke clearly and calmly. “Someone named Sage Marlow?”
Roger now had a bead of sweat on his upper lip. “Don’t know anyone by that name,” he muttered harshly.
Saint smiled faintly. “Oh, you don’t huh? Well, she says otherwise and I’m more inclined to believe her than you. She says you’ve been stalking her for a while now but she doesn’t know who you are. Or at least she didn’t until we told her your name.”
“So what?” Roger scoffed. “How do you know that she isn’t lying?”
Saint leaned back against the counter. “Why would she lie? I think you know exactly who she is.” He looked around the room.
Then his gaze went back to Roger. “We know who you are and we know you’re working with the Paulo Cartel.
Tell me something, is the cartel worried about some missing dope?
Or maybe the money Tommy Sayor was supposed to give them for the sale of that dope?
You do know he’s dead, right? He came here looking for his grandson.
When we caught him, we told him his grandfather knew what he was doing in the company and that he’d already changed his will.
And let’s just say Tommy didn’t take that news very well, so he jumped through a window slicing his own throat.
He bled out before help could get here.”
Roger just stared at him and now sweat began dripping down the sides of his face. “Tommy’s dead? When did that happen?” he finally muttered.
“About four months ago,” Dax told him.
“He’s been... gone for four... months?” Roger stammered. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Who the hell was supposed to tell you?” Saint snapped.
Roger looked upset. “Oh no, this ain’t good, this ain’t good at all,” he whispered to himself and looked up at Saint. “That bastard owed me money... serious money, like 11 million dollars money.”
Saint snorted in disbelief. “And you expected what? To come here and find him alive and well... living like a king off your filthy blood money? What kind of fool are you?”
Roger fought against his restraints. “He didn’t owe me that money, he owed the cartel that green!
And the cartel isn’t worried about who owes it, they know Tommy was running the dope but he worked for my cousin and me.
We have to pay that bill and we don’t have that kind of money.
Ever since my cousin went and got himself dead, the cartel has been watching me, hounding me and they gave me two weeks to come up with it or they would send Bruno for me.
And let me tell you if they send Bruno after you...
he doesn’t quit until he finds you and you won’t live long to give him any excuses. ”
Saint just shook his head. “Well damn, boy! That sounds like you’re caught between a sharpass rock and a fuckall hard place. So tell me why you have been following Sage?”
Roger sneered. “Because she’s Tommy’s kid, I figured if anyone knew where Tommy was, she would.”
Saint looked angry now. “Tommy may be her father but he never acknowledged that fact. He never gave her a dime and he even let her go into the system because he couldn’t be bothered with a kid.
So much for him being her father. He was nothing more than a pitiful excuse for a man all the way around. ”
Roger frowned. “He came here for his grandson, you said. I didn’t know he had another kid.”
Saint nodded. “Yeah he did, in fact you might have known her mother, she was working for your cousin. She was a junkie and he made her whore for him to pay for her drugs. Nice guy, your cousin.” He sneered.
Roger looked confused. “Are you talking about Lainey Grant?”
“Yeah, I am.” Saint glared at him. “Tommy got her knocked up and wouldn’t you know it?
He told Lainey to get an abortion because he didn’t want to be a father.
At least in that regard he told her to dump the kid before she was even born.
But Lainey didn’t do it, instead she held on to her daughter and dragged her all over the place.
Erika saw things no child should ever have to see.
She started working at the age of 12 to keep a roof over her own damn head and to buy food when her own mother just didn’t care.
Lainey even took your fucking drugs to Tommy to sell.
Then when Lainey was so strung out she couldn’t be trusted to deliver, your cousin Mack made Erika do it.
So don’t ask me to feel sorry for what happened to Mack, to Tommy or what’s about to happen to you. ”
“You lousy motherfucker!” Roger shouted. “I don’t have that kind of money. Tommy owed 11 million, where the hell am I supposed to get that much money?”
“You sold dope, surely you have the money to pay the cartel? I mean what have you been doing with all the money your runners turn over to you?” Thrasher asked with a growl.
Roger shook his head. “I didn’t handle the money. Mack did all that. When he died his accounts got locked up. I was more like the silent partner.”
“And you don’t have access to Mack’s accounts?” Saint smiled. “Well, that puts you in a real pickle with the cartel then, doesn’t it? So why did you follow Sage all the way here? She never even met her father.”
“She has to know how or where her dad stored his money!” Roger shouted out as more sweat beaded on his face.
“Like I said before, loser... she never even knew him, how the hell do you think she would know where his money was?” Saint smirked.
“But I need that money,” Roger exclaimed as if he didn’t hear a word Saint told him. “I have to pay the cartel or they are going to kill me, Raul Paulo is not a man you don’t pay.”
Saint shrugged. “Seems you are in some real trouble for sure Roger. But you know what? No one made you sell drugs or backup drug dealers, did they? Bad choices often bring bad outcomes. Even most teenagers know this lesson.”
Roger hung his head as if he was finally listening to what Saint was telling him.