Chapter 5
Hawk
“I’m telling you ... I didn’t have anything to do with it,” Danny’s hands were bound over his head, his face black and blue with bruises, and his eyes were almost swollen shut. Shotgun had been doing a real number on him, but Danny still hadn’t fessed up to a damn thing. “I swear it.”
“I’m not buying your bullshit. Not for a goddamn second,” Shotgun growled. “The brothers have been over to your place. We know you were packing up your shit. It’s time for you to explain where you were going and why.”
“I ... uh ...”
Shotgun reached up and grabbed him by the throat, squeezing tightly as he snarled, “Think before you speak, Danny. Any more bullshit and I’m going to break out my tools, and trust me, you don’t want that to happen.”
“You’re right. I was getting out of town.”
“Why?”
“I … um ... had to go out on a run.”
Anyone in that room could see he was lying, especially Shotgun.
With an angry scowl, he walked over to the counter and picked up an ice pick, then carried it back over to Danny and quickly stabbed it into his outer thigh.
Writhing around like a worm on a hook, Danny wailed out a stream of curses.
Once he started to settle down, Shotgun growled, “What don’t you get, Danny?
I already told you that I’m done with the bullshit. Where were you going?”
“I-I was gettin’... out of town,” he stammered.
“Why?”
“’Cause I had to.”
“Why?”
Shotgun waited for Danny to respond. When he didn’t, he walked back over and grabbed another ice pick. His swollen eyes widened as he watched Shotgun saunter back over to him, then he started to squirm and plead, “Wait. Wait! Please don’t.”
Showing no signs of hesitation, Shotgun took the ice pick and slammed it into Danny’s other thigh, causing him to once again bellow out with anguish.
As I stood there watching the scene unfold before me, I couldn’t understand why Danny was being so fucking stubborn.
He was only making it harder on himself by holding out.
Shotgun ground the ice pick further into his flesh as he warned, “Don’t make me ask again. ”
“I found out ... that the coke I gave ... you was counterfeit.” He heavily panted. “I knew you’d come after me ... so I was gonna skip town before that happened.”
“You found out?” Shotgun grumbled. “You saying you didn’t know it was counterfeit all along?”
“Had no idea until I got the call.”
“What call?”
“A friend tipped me off ... told me everything was fucked up with the last take.”
“What friend?” Shotgun pushed.
He hesitated for a moment, but the second Shotgun started to turn towards his tools, Danny mumbled, “It was Tracy ... Tracy Earnhardt.” When Shotgun didn’t respond, he continued, “You know ... ‘Starlight’ from the strip club.”
Shotgun glanced over his shoulder at Viper and me, and there was no missing the anger in his eyes.
Tracy had been working at Stilettoes for over a year, and we’d always thought she was one of our best girls.
As far as we knew, she was a good kid, always on time and did as she was told, so hearing that she’d been running her mouth was difficult for both of us to digest. “You telling me that Starlight called you and warned you about the coke being counterfeit?”
“Yeah. She was worried you guys would think it was me who fucked with the product. But it wasn’t me, I swear it!”
Shotgun took a step back and glared at Danny, mulling over everything he’d admitted. “So, I’m supposed to believe that when you delivered our two hundred grand worth of product that you didn’t have any idea it’d been fucked with?”
“Look, I know it might be hard to believe, but I didn’t know shit about it.
I just did what I always do. I placed the order and went to pick it up.
” Danny actually sounded sincere as he continued, “I ain’t stupid.
I’ve been working with you guys long enough to know what you’d do to me if I tried to pull some fucked-up shit like that.
Besides, you guys tested the shit, same as I did.
You saw for yourselves that it was the same as always. ”
Viper stepped forward and asked, “Which brother tested it?”
“The guy who came to my place. The one I shot. He tried it out and said we were cool.”
“He’s right,” Shotgun replied. “But he didn’t test each bag. With the size take we had, there was no way we could test it all.”
“I’m telling ya, what I tested was good. I assumed it was all good.” Danny repeated once again, “I’m telling ya, it wasn’t me who did this shit.”
“If it wasn’t you, then who was it?”
“I got no idea. Maybe it was somebody on your end.” Shotgun started towards his tools, this time grabbing his blowtorch and carrying it back over to Danny.
“Easy man ... I didn’t mean that shit. Maybe it was my handler or even the man at the top.
I don’t know. I’m just the go-between. They don’t tell me nothing. ”
“Who’s your handler?”
“I don’t know nothing about him. Just that he goes by the name Miller. I meet up with him in Pine Bluff when I need to pick up a shipment.” Blood trickled down from his lip as he spoke. “I just text what I need and meet him a day later with the cash.”
Danny had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Viper stepped forward and asked, “The number still on your phone?”
“Yeah,” Danny answered. “Last time I used it was when I made arrangements to pick up your take.”
Viper turned to Shotgun and me and nodded his head, signaling us to follow him out of the room.
Once the door closed behind us, he turned to me and said, “Get the phone to Menace. Have him track the number and see if he can find out anything about this guy Miller or their main supplier. We need to know exactly who the fuck we’re dealing with. ”
“You got it.”
“It’s late. Let’s call it a night. We can get back at it early tomorrow morning.”
I could tell by Shotgun’s expression that he wasn’t ready to stop. He was finally making some headway with Danny, but he’d never go against orders. “You want me to let him down or leave him strung up for the night?”
“Leave him. It’ll give him some time to think things over before we start in on him again.”
“Understood.”
Once we’d retrieved the cellphone from Danny, Viper and Shotgun headed out, while I took the phone to Menace.
After I gave him the rundown of what we needed, I went to check in on Delilah.
It was late, and just as I’d expected, when I opened the door, she was sound asleep.
Deciding it was best to let her get some shuteye, I closed the door and went to the room across the hall.
I hoped by staying there I could keep a closer eye on her.
Besides, I was too fucking exhausted to go back to my place, so I left the door open and collapsed on the bed.
As I lay there, I thought back to my earlier conversation with Delilah.
Hearing her talk about being there for her brother got to me.
Delilah didn’t care if her brother was in the wrong or that he should take the responsibility for his own actions, she wanted to support him just the same.
It was rare to find an outsider who held the same beliefs about loyalty and family as my brothers and me.
Our whole life was driven by the brotherhood, always having each other’s backs and being there for one another when times were rough.
It had me wondering if there were other things we had in common.
With each moment I thought about it, I found myself becoming more and more exhausted.
I could barely remember closing my eyes when I was jerked awake by the sound of Axel’s voice saying, “Hey, brother. Viper’s called us in. ”
As I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes, I asked, “What time is it?”
“Just after six.”
“All right. I’ll be right there.”
He nodded, then disappeared into the hallway.
I pulled myself out of bed, and after a quick run to the bathroom, I went to check in on Delilah.
Not wanting to just barge in on her, I tapped on the door as I unlocked it.
When I stepped inside, I found her still in bed watching TV.
When I glanced over at the screen, I was surprised to see she was watching Animal Kingdom—one of my favorite shows.
I’d stumbled across the series a few months back when I was nursing a hell of a hangover and quickly became engrossed in the crazy family.
The three sons and their lunatic mother were always into something, and I found it hard to believe that a woman like Delilah would be interested in all of their antics.
She drew me from my thoughts as she sat up and turned off the TV.
“Any news on Danny? Did you find out what you needed to know? Can I go home now?”
“Slow down, Delilah. As of now, nothing’s changed.”
“How long is this going to take?”
“Already told you ... That’s up to Danny.”
Worry filled her eyes as she asked, “So, he’s ... still alive?”
“He is.”
“Thank god.”
It was clear Delilah was relieved that her brother was still alive, but her face was still marked with worry. I couldn’t blame her. She was stuck in the middle of an impossible situation. Hoping to take her mind off things for a moment, I asked, “You a fan of Animal Kingdom?”
“Yeah, I guess.” She cocked her head with curiosity. “Why? Do you watch it?”
“From time to time. Smurf is something else, isn’t she?”
“She’s a nutjob, but she makes the show.”
“That she does.” As I started out the door, I told her, “I’ve gotta get going. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Okay.” She nodded, and just as I was about to close the door, she asked, “Hey, do you think I might be able to make a call into work? I need to let them know I won’t be coming in.”
“Doubt Viper will go for that.”
“It’s not like me to just not show up for work,” she pushed. “I doubt anyone but my mother would notice that Danny’s not around, but if I don’t at least text my lead nurse, they’ll get suspicious and—”
“I’ll talk to Viper and let you know.”
“Okay, but my shift starts in a couple of hours and—”