Chapter 11 #2
“We’re digging into their connections now,” Armel said. “I don’t know. They were tight-lipped about their associates, but we did get a link between them and a guy named Santoro who’s got ties to organized crime and a witch on speed dial. We’re still digging.”
“Sheriff, thanks for having his back,” Justin jumped in. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“All in a day’s work, I guess,” Armel grumbled. “I’ll let you know what we find out, and if we need you to make a statement. I’m trying to figure out how to work around the coyote part.”
Armel ended the call, and Scott leaned on Justin. “I think we need to call Amy and Becca,” he said. “Because I don’t think it’s over yet.”
Ghosts make our fur stand on end, his coyote complained. They make me nervous.
Amy and Becca might be able to help. That’s worth ruffling our fur, Scott pointed out. His coyote huffed and then retreated in his mind, but Scott knew his other side would come around to the idea after a good night’s sleep.
The next day, Scott and Justin met with Amy, Becca, and Liam in the back room of the library. The three had already heard the grapevine version of events, but they listened soberly as Scott gave them his version of the attack at the café and confessed his fear that there would be new attackers.
Scott knew that Justin could read his fears clearly through his psychic abilities.
He picked up on Justin’s apprehension with his own heightened coyote senses and knew they were both stressed and anxious.
Amy worked protective spells while Becca closed her eyes and listened for the ghosts.
After she had been silent for a while, she looked up at them.
“The ghosts want revenge,” Becca told them. “And it sounds like you’d like a piece of Santoro’s hide as well. Maybe that can be arranged.”
“What did you have in mind?” Justin asked. “I get wanting to punish someone who seems to be above the law, but I’m worried about additional risk.”
“We’re going to take down everything the ghosts are telling me,” Becca replied. “We can turn that over to Brent for him to confirm independently through other channels. That’s our ace in the hole.”
“How do we use that to bring down Santoro and his witch?” Liam asked.
“We could stake everything on what Brent can find out based on the ghosts’ testimony.” Becca exchanged a look with Amy. “Or we could go fishing and see what we catch.”
“Meaning what?” Justin sounded worried.
“Set a trap,” Becca said. “Let Scott draw out the witch and any new henchmen, nab them, and let them rat out Santoro. Or maybe Santoro himself shows up, and we nail him to the wall.”
“You want to use Scott as bait?” Justin’s eyes widened. “No!”
Scott laid a hand on his arm. “Let’s hear the whole thing before we decide.”
Justin turned to him, alarmed. “You are not expendable. I’d rather all the mobsters in the world go free if you’d have to get hurt to catch them.”
“They killed Mike and Bill,” Scott reminded him, grief clear in his voice.
“There has to be another way,” Justin protested.
“And maybe we’ll think of one,” Amy said. “But it doesn’t hurt to talk through the options.”
Justin crossed his arms over his chest, outvoted and unhappy. Scott laid a placating hand on his thigh, but it didn’t soften his resolve.
“Anything we did would have Scott magically protected up the yin-yang.” Amy smirked. “That’s a technical term, ‘yin-yang.’”
“Meaning what?” Liam glanced between Amy and Justin, who guessed the librarian was trying to ease the tension.
“We let them see Scott, and think they’ve got a shot at him,” Becca said. “We have him heavily warded and lure them to a place of our choosing that is also protected. They make their attempt, and Armel swoops in to clean up the trash.”
“Even a bulletproof vest only goes so far,” Justin pointed out. “One head shot and game over.”
“Won’t happen if the confrontation goes down someplace weapons won’t work,” Amy noted. “We control the information that gets leaked, and that includes the timing and location. They think they’re getting the drop on him, but we’re getting the drop on them.”
“The ghosts are very willing to help protect Scott,” Becca said. “The hardest part there is keeping them from ripping the hitmen limb from limb.”
“Maybe we should,” Justin said. “How sure are we that the courts will do their job? The Mob has a long history of buying off judges.”
Liam cleared his throat. “What I’m going to say has to be kept in strict confidence.
” He looked from one to another as they nodded in agreement.
“We have some of our people—shifters—in the legal system, locally and on a state level. It’s basic self-protection.
But they’re people known to our community here and folks whose integrity we can vouch for. ”
“That’s all well and good, but what if the case doesn’t go to one of them?” Justin protested.
“Nothing a few magical nudges can’t arrange,” Amy said. “Tampering with justice for a good cause.” She winked.
“If that mine reopens, it’ll be a death trap,” Scott said in a sober, quiet voice that made them all focus on him.
“It cost a lot of lives back in the day, but Santoro won’t be any better.
He’ll cut every corner to bring in a profit to save his skin with the higher-ups.
They’ll recruit non-union miners who won’t be missed and other people who don’t have the ability to rebel. We can stop that.”
“In theory, I agree,” Justin said. “But actually doing what we’re talking about scares the shit out of me. And I’m pretty sure it’s all illegal,” he pointed out.
“Legal methods haven’t stopped Santoro and his goons,” Becca said.
“And we’re just making sure they get their day in court, with all the evidence against them.
Once we foil their attempt on Scott and we get the full testimony from the ghosts, with Brent’s independent verification, there’ll be enough to put them away for the rest of their lives. ”
“There are more mobsters out there,” Justin said. “Santoro’s boss could keep sending gunmen until someone gets lucky.”
“That’s where magically engineering a cataclysmic explosion and cave-in comes in,” Amy mused. “No one else ever needs to get the same idea because the mine wouldn’t exist anymore.”
“The ghosts will finally rest in peace,” Becca added. “Which also means the spirits don’t become violent. We’ll deal with any ‘monster’ that might still be lurking in the depths. And the miners who died are vindicated when the truth comes out in court.”
“Scott—” Justin started.
Scott took Justin’s hand in both of his.
“I know I’m asking a huge thing from you,” Scott said.
“I know you just want to keep me safe. But I can’t hide forever, and unless we put an end to this, someone will always be out there gunning for me.
If not them, some other of Santoro’s flunkies.
And if he moves forward with reopening the mine, it will be worse. Please—”
“I don’t want to lose you,” Justin blurted.
“I don’t want to get killed,” Scott replied. “But it’s the only way to get my life back, short of going into the Witness Protection Program.”
“I’d go with you, if it came to that,” Justin vowed.
Scott smiled warmly at him. “I believe you. And that would save us. But what about the others?”
“I want to hear the whole plan before anything gets put in motion.” Justin leveled a glare at Becca and Amy. “We need to get Brent’s information and compile the ghosts’ testimony. Anything our psychic friends can add would help, including any premonitions or warnings.”
“That’s reasonable.” Scott gave Justin an encouraging half-smile. “Take all precautions, including the supernatural ones.”
“It will take a day or two for me to have the wards and other spells ready,” Amy said. “That gives Becca and Liam time to record the ghosts’ testimony and run more details through Brent’s resources.”
“I still don’t like it,” Justin growled. “And if there’s any other way, I’m in favor of a change of plans. But I can’t argue with the logic, if we can do everything possible to make sure Scott stays safe.”
He turned to Scott and looked him in the eyes. “No dead heroes. Do you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.” Scott leaned in to kiss him. “You’ve given me the best reason possible to make sure I’m around for a very long time.”
“Make sure you remember that,” Justin grumbled.
“I think we made a lot of progress,” Liam announced with a clap of his hands to lighten the moment. “Thank you, everyone. Let’s get busy, we all have work to do.”
“My top priority is keeping Scott safe.” Justin clearly believed in laying his cards on the table up front. He and Scott were strategizing the next day with Amy, Becca, and Liam, with Travis and Brent on speakerphone.
“Justin,” Scott objected quietly.
Justin shook his head. “We aren’t cops. I’m all for stopping Santoro and getting justice for his victims and kicking the Mob the hell out of town, but not if it costs me you.” He took Scott’s hand. “You’ve already had several close calls. I don’t want to know if the next time’s our unlucky charm.”
Before Scott could object, Amy cleared her throat. “What if we could pull off a strike against Santoro and drastically minimize the risk?”
“What did you have in mind?” Scott asked. He and Justin had debated the topic the whole way to Amy’s shop, where they had set up in the back room for the meeting. Justin knew Scott just wanted to end the danger Santoro and his henchmen posed and send the Mob packing.
Scott understood that Justin had already been through waiting outside a hospital room, praying for good news. He had no desire for either of them to be in that situation again.
Justin had argued for them to leave the matter to the officials, offering whatever assistance they could but staying out of it.
Scott pointed out that since Santoro seemed to have put a hit out on him, he couldn’t move freely until the mobster was stopped permanently, whether that was prison or death.