Chapter 10 #4
When a shout came from farther down, the two men looked at each other, and then headed over, not sure whether they had been called or they were looking for an update.
As they moved along, Riley and Cain slipped in behind them, moving silently along the rocks, keeping to the shadows.
Riley crept up closer to where the first two had joined whoever else was here.
And, sure enough, Riley noted two more men, standing together, with one flashlight on the floor, giving the area some light.
And Derek? The old man sat on the ground, just about three feet from either pair, a defeated expression on his face, as he realized just what he was up against.
Riley stared at the mess, trying to figure out who the players were, who was responsible.
So, the two cousins, Rory and Billy, were here, plus Derek and the other two men—a man in a suit and tie, who stuck out in these tunnels, plus a gym rat guy, probably the hired muscle.
Gym rat guy was armed, but that suited man worried Riley the most.
Any unknown quantity was always something that required a second look, and this businessman didn’t look to be terribly friendly about anything. An old friend of the family? Who knew? Somebody who expected a payout obviously.
Derek looked up at the kid, shook his head, and muttered, “Really, Billy?”
Billy flushed. “Man, I don’t know what’s going on,” he muttered awkwardly.
The old man eyed him shrewdly. “Not even you are that stupid at this point.”
Billy flushed angrily at the insult.
The unknown gym rat laughed and declared, “He’s not exactly the brightest kid in the bunch, but that’s okay. We’ll keep him around.”
“You mean, for the moment,” Derek clarified, frowning at the kid. “Billy, you do realize that your participation in this will put you away for a very long time, right?”
Billy shook his head and snapped, “I ain’t done nothing. I don’t even know what’s going on.”
Derek snorted. “You know that your cousin Timmy was drowned in the tunnel waters. So don’t tell me that you do or don’t know anything because it’s already in play. It’s pretty late to try to call off anything,” Derek ranted, as he glared at him. “And where is Riley?”
“No clue,” the businessman replied, staring at Derek. “We figure you’re just lying about him, and he’s really not coming.”
“Right, and that’s why you keep checking my phone each time it dings to read the texts he keeps sending? You think I set that up too?” Derek asked, with a hard glance. He looked from one to the other and asked the two strangers, “One of you two actually killed my boy, didn’t you?”
The two newcomers glanced at each other, but the gym rat just laughed and said, “If he wasn’t such an idiot, he would be alive today.”
“Yeah, you want to tell me all about that?” Derek asked, his jaw working. “The least you can do is tell me exactly what went on, especially since you’re planning on taking me out too.”
“What the hell?” Billy cried out. “That’s not true.”
Derek shook his head at him and snorted. “You really don’t get it, do you? You stupid, stupid boy.”
Anxiously Billy shifted from one foot to the other as he looked at the other men. “Come on. We are family.”
“Yeah, I’m family,” Derek confirmed, “but if you think that makes a damn bit of difference right now, you haven’t thought this through, Billy. I know that you think people are all good, but, at times, you’re dead wrong, and this is one of them.”
The kid stared at Derek in shock and exclaimed, “We’re not the bad guys here.”
The old man just rolled his eyes and didn’t say anything.
Still, Riley found something odd about the whole setup, and he wasn’t sure who he trusted at the moment.
It seemed like Derek was a prisoner, and Riley sure as hell hoped so because, otherwise, it meant Derek had something to do with his own son’s death.
If so, Riley would struggle with that reality.
Riley noted a subtle shift in Cain’s stance, and he immediately placed a hand on the dog to hold back his reaction, while Riley searched into the gloom, to see if more people were coming.
When a shout came from the far side, he realized that another fake wall of brick had already been taken down.
He couldn’t see very well but he could tell that they had not gone quite so far inside that new opening.
He watched as two more men exited the nearby cave to join the others. One was Gerald, who had been giving Riley grief, so that made more sense now. The other one spied the old man on the ground and said, “Well, look who’s here.”
Derek stared at him and asked, “What the hell?”
“Yeah, what the hell is right,” he replied, with a shrug. “Did you really think that after all those years of being your brother that I shouldn’t get anything?”
“You’re not my brother,” Derek snapped, spitting on the ground. “You just always acted like you were.”
“What the hell?” Billy added, looking from the newcomer back to Derek. “He is your brother. What are you talking about?”
“No, Nick’s not my brother and never has been. He’s been treated like part of the family, but he’s not blood kin.”
Riley was interested in Billy because he clearly wasn’t fully involved in this scenario and was becoming more confused by the minute.
Yet still Riley knew the odds were deadly against him now because it was six against two, Riley and Cain—or maybe three, depending on what kind of condition the old man was in.
Derek muttered, “I didn’t even realize you were part of this, but I should have. And you just had to kill Timmy, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t have to. I mean, I gave him options.
I told him the way it was going to be, but he didn’t seem to think that was a good deal.
He also didn’t seem to think that was something his granddad wanted, but he didn’t know all the facts,” Nick said, “because I am your brother, just by another mother.”
“Yeah, so you say,” Derek snapped, “and you’ve been spouting that talk forever, but you never got a DNA test to prove it, so it never changed a thing. You can say whatever the hell you want. People have been lying and cheating for decades to get money,” he noted, “but that doesn’t make it right.”
Nick shrugged. “I don’t have to do a DNA test,” he explained, “and Granddad—as you like to call him for the grandkids’ sake—was fully aware of how I felt about all this.”
“Which is also why he cut you out of the will and gave everything to my youngest son.”
“Yeah, and you never wondered why you didn’t get it?”
“Of course I did,” Derek admitted, “but, as long as it stayed in the family, I was good with it. Not to mention the fact that the years are going by, and I’m not sure that I want all that work.”
“So then why all the kerfuffle over letting me have it?” Nick asked in surprise.
“It’s not about not letting you have it,” Derek replied in disgust. “It’s about it going to my youngest son, who’s the rightful heir.”
“Oh, BS,” Nick exclaimed, with a snicker. “I mean, if Dad had actually believed that—”
“He did,” Derek snarled, “until you got a hold of him, I gather.”
“I did maybe press down on him a little bit too hard, and it caused him to change his damn will and give it to your son, but Jesus. Timmy was definitely not the person to handle that pub.” He snickered.
“With these tunnels under here, do you know how much more money we can make? How much more income we can bring in for everybody?”
At that comment came murmurs from the other men.
Nick nodded, then continued. “This is a fucking gold mine, and this can be huge here.”
“Huge in what?” Derek asked, staring at him. “Smuggling?”
“Why not? I mean, look at the setup we’ve got here. I’ve already got connections,” he declared, as he pointed to the stranger in the suit, more appropriate for an office meeting than warring with men in underground tunnels and caves.
Riley thought, Likely the brains behind the operation checking on his minions.
Looking at the suited stranger, Derek asked, “Is that your Zodiac out there?”
“Well, it was until it disappeared”—the stranger inclined his head—“and I want that back.”
“I think it’s moored a few blocks out, around the corner when you get back to the wharf area,” He glared at him. “Don’t let me stop you from looking for it.”
The stranger laughed. “I’m not worried about that.” He smiled at Derek. “You ain’t going to be around here for much longer anyway.”
The kid gave a loud swallow, as Billy looked from one to the other and asked, “Seriously, are we going to kill Uncle Derek over the pub?” Shock filled his tone.
Rory, his cousin, turned on him and grumbled, “Just shut your damn mouth.”
Billy closed his eyes and swallowed again.
Derek’s brother Nick added, “Yeah, much better, at least if you want to stay alive. Who is this one anyway?”
“He’s one of Beltran’s grandsons, the youngest of all,” the unidentified businessman replied. “He’s just a kid and doesn’t really understand business yet.”
“So why the hell did you bring him down here?” asked Nick, astonished.
“Wasn’t me,” suited guy said. He pointed to Rory.
Nick told Rory and Billy both, “This isn’t a place for babies, and it’s damn sure not a place for people who haven’t made up their mind which side of life they’re on.
This is for people who actually know the score, who understand what’s happening and where the money is,” he declared.
“That other kind of BS can get you killed.”
Within seconds, Nick had a weapon in his hand and held it up against the kid’s head.
Billy squawked nervously, and one of the other men hollered, “Hey, hey, hang on a minute. Everybody just settle the hell down. We don’t need to kill him. He literally doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.”
By this time, Billy was completely panicked.
Derek stared from one to the other and asked, “Seriously? So now you guys are killing off all your family so you don’t have to share the wealth? Is that who you were raised to be?”
Rory and Billy, the two younger cousins shuffled uneasily.