CHAPTER THIRTEEN
– HEART –
“He looks like a bunny about to be scooped up into the air by a hawk’s claws,” Fatal murmurs from beside me.
I keep my eyes on Digby who is running from his car to a motel room, frantically whipping his head in every direction. He knocks on the door and a few breaths later it opens. The guy in the motel room looks familiar.
“The fucker who just opened the door was there that night,” I tell my prez.
“Then we’re getting two for one. How many were there in total?” Fatal asks.
“Four, and one didn’t make it out alive. Three ran off, but I shot one.” I keep my eyes on the motel room where Digby slipped inside. “Might be more, who knows? Digby’s father clearly is aware of shit, because he’s sending money to his son to lay low for a while.”
I wonder what the hell was worth stealing and dealing with the damn backlash of it. If it were those watches then they wouldn’t have been sitting at Rob’s apartment. My phone vibrates and when I pull it out of my pocket I notice Karev’s name flash across the screen.
Tapping the screen, I bring my phone next to my ear. “Heart. Those fuckers stole Roman coins. Golden ones. Three of them. I’m gonna send you a picture. Calvania wants them back or he’s going to raise hell. Seriously, we don’t need that shit, Heart. We’re going to come your way again so we can...”
“Stay put,” I grunt. “We have eyes on two of those fuckers in a hotel room and are about to go in. Send me the picture and I’ll check if they have them. If they don’t, I’ll show my old lady, maybe she’s seen them.”
“Fine. But if those fuckers don’t have them? You better make them shit on a bucket and make sure they didn’t swallow them to keep them safe ’cause they know those coins are worth millions.”
“Motherfucker. Millions? No shit?” I mutter.
“No shit. Keep me updated,” Karev says, and ends the call.
“I’m not going to put anyone on a bucket and go through shit. If he wants it done? Karev can come here and do it himself,” Fatal grumbles from beside me.
He clearly heard our conversation, which makes me rumble, “Let’s go in and make sure those fuckers don’t swallow anything.”
I nod. “If they do, I’ll make sure to cut the coins out of their damn throat or stomach, better than going through shit.”
Snapping my fingers, I get Kepner and Gael’s attention. “Go around back and make sure no one gets away. Laith, Wesson, keep an eye on the front.”
I step forward and Fatal moves along with me. Reaching for my knives, I take one in each hand and rotate them. Knives are my weapon of choice. Less noise than a gun, and with the right aim you can either be lethal or simply make an escape very painful.
Those fuckers don’t look smart, which is why I tap on the door with my knife and say in a high-pitched tone, “Room service.”
Fatal raises one of his eyebrows in a “the fuck?” gesture, making me shrug.
The door opens and Digby shoves his head between the crack. I reach for the doorknob and pull. Shoving and pulling once more to squash his head in between a few times. I finally push the door open and shove the fucker in the chest, making him stumble back.
Fatal steps in behind me and points his gun at the other man in the room. “Freeze, motherfucker.”
His eyes go wide and the idiot lunges for a gun sitting on the bedside table. Releasing a sigh, I fling one of my knives his way. It hits him in the shoulder, and the idiot falls to the floor, wailing in pain.
I’m standing next to him in three strides and bark, “Shut the fuck up or I’ll make you.”
The idiot whimpers.
I shoot him a glare and snap, “Who’s the third fucker, or anyone else who was in on the plans to steal the coins?”
From the corner of my eye, I see Fatal give Digby a hit to the face with the back of his gun.
“Fucking answer,” Fatal snarls.
The guy sitting at my feet with a knife in his shoulder whimpers again and says, “That night...in the forest...we lost Pat. Jash was shot...”
“Shut the fuck up, Oswin,” Digby growls.
“Pat, Jash, Oswin, Digby. Anyone else in on it too? How about your father, Digby? He in on shit as well? Was he going to pawn those coins?” I ask.
Digby venomously shakes his head. “No. Please, leave him out of this. He didn’t know and still doesn’t. It was just the four of us. I was working with Pat the day that guy walked into the pawn shop. I knew those coins were worth a fortune, and I offered to buy them myself to offer him more money.”
I snort. “Meaning you agreed to come to his house so you could fuckin’ rob him.”
Digby winces and I know I hit home. Fucker.
Twirling my knife in my hand, I rumble, “The why and how doesn’t hold my interest. What I do need to know from you two is where those coins are right now, and where Jash is.”
“Jash is dead, and we don’t know where the coins are,” Digby rushes out his words.
I fling my knife into the fucker’s gut. “Wrong answer, asshole. Where is Jash? And don’t give me any shit about not knowing where the damn coins are.
You were looking for the coins back in the forest, but then all of you were gone.
Rob’s place is trashed and so is my old lady’s store.
So, I’m going to give you one last chance... where are the coins?”
“Or say nothing and we’ll gut both of you to see if you swallowed them,” Fatal adds.
Both fuckers stay silent which makes me suggest to my prez, “We should take both along with us anyway. Karev might need to hand over proof to Calvania.”
“Smart thinking,” Fatal murmurs and pulls his phone from his pocket.
Thumbing the screen, he brings the phone to his ear and rumbles, “Get the van. We’re bringing some luggage with us.”
Ending the call, he shoves the phone back into his pocket.
Oswin whimpers once more. “Please. We don’t have the damn coins. I didn’t want to help them and should have known they were bad luck from the second Digby showed them to me on his phone. Everything was all Pat’s idea, he knew where the guy lived. Everything went to shit when he killed him.”
“Wait.” I frown. “Pat killed the man who owned the coins?”
Digby curses. “Shut up, Oswin. They’re going to kill us anyway.”
“Talk and I won’t kill you,” I promise Oswin.
Easy enough to promise when I have a load of other brothers who can kill him for me instead.
“He lies...” Digby’s muffled cry is silenced when Fatal hits him a few times with the butt of the gun.
“Continue,” I press as I stare at Oswin.
His gaze slides to Digby and I kick the fucker against his leg. “Don’t look at him, look at me and tell me how you became involved and everything else you know about the coins.”
Oswin sighs. “Digby called me. He needed a few guys to threaten someone. He promised me a few grand just to stay in sight. We were all wearing masks. Should have been easy in, easy out. Pat climbed up the rain pipe and snuck into the house from the upstairs bedroom. We went inside by picking the lock on the back door. Once we stepped into the house everything went to shit. We were downstairs. The guy was at the top of the stairs...Pat lunged at him because the man had a gun. They tumbled from the stairs and...the guy was dead. We wanted to search the place but someone was coming. We left and the next thing we know police and shit were called.”
“They ruled it a tragic accident,” Digby states. “We tried to go back for the coins, but there was always someone hanging around the place. Three days later a truck stops in front of the place and starts to load up boxes, clearing the whole house.”
Fatal’s gaze hits mine. That’s when Lina got involved.
“When did the truck show up?” Fatal asks.
Digby shrugs. “Six months ago.”
Six months? I raise my eyebrow at Fatal.
Six fucking months ago. That’s way before Rob got close to Lina.
The timeframe doesn’t make any fucking sense.
Which also means we were looking in the wrong place at Lina’s warehouse.
If this happened six months ago it isn’t considered recent.
Which means they must have seen something to put their attention at Lina.
“Why go after Rob and my old lady?” I question when there’s a soft knock on the door and simultaneously Fatal’s phone gives a notification of an incoming message.
Fatal checks his phone. “The van’s here.”
Digby shifts and grumbles, “I saw the big ugly clock sitting in Lina’s vintage store, the one the man with the coins had sitting across from the stairs. Next to it was a statue that was once his as well. I knew she must have been the one who bought all of his stuff.”
“So, you assumed she had the coins,” I conclude.
They both bob their heads. Fucking hell, what a damn shitshow.