Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
But I can’t stop thinking about it.
God how I wish I could.
“I will so long as you never scare me like that again.”
He coughs, and pain flashes through his eyes. God he’s strong. “Deal.”
His eye lids start drooping, and I know it’s time to go.
He needs to rest, now more than ever.
I squeeze his hand. “I’ll come back later, check on you.”
He releases my hand, and I slip out of the room, exhaling a sigh of much-needed relief as I walk down the hall back to where they’re waiting for me.
“How is he?” Alarick asks.
“He’s good. Tired, but okay. I think he just needs some rest.”
He nods. “I’ll see him later. Let’s get you home. Unfortunately, I’ve got shit to deal with and I need to get that shit dealt with now.”
“This is about to get really really dangerous, isn’t it?”
Alarick nods. “Unfortunately, yeah. Let’s go.”
With that, we leave.
And I keep my prayers rolling out that the next few weeks are just as lucky as today has been.
Oh, please god, let them be.
17
FLICK
“Mykel was shot,” I say pacing across my father’s floor, my head spinning with the million things I’m trying to work out. “Dax and his men, sendin’ a message.”
“He okay?” King asks, lighting a cigarette.
“Just, but yeah. We got the guy, turns out he fuckin’ won’t give out any information. Got someone lookin’ for his identity so we can find somethin’ to use against him, but it all feels fuckin’ pointless. He keeps sayin’ over and over that Dax isn’t who we should be scared of.”
King looks up, and then inhales deeply, breathing the smoke in before letting it slip out of his nose. “Had a suspicion Dax wasn’t the top dog.”
“You didn’t care to share this suspicion with me?” I bark, crossing my arms.
“First of all, it was just a fuckin’ suspicion, son. Second of all, no operation that big runs on one man, of course there’s more fuckin’ men out there. They’ve got cops goin’ corrupt, it ain’t somethin’ that’s just small.”
I figured that, but fuck, taking Dax down was going to be how this all ended. If he ain’t the only one we need to take down then we’re running in circles chasing our fucking tails. This isn’t good, and I’m not sure we have the manpower to bring this kind of operation to its knees.
“What do you suggest we do?” I ask, staring over at him.
“I think you fuckin’ stop focusin’ on whoever Dax got to shoot Mykel and start focusin’ on the one person that can get you an in on all of this ...”
“The cop.”
“Yeah, the fuckin’ cop. He’s got the answers you need, you just gotta get your hands on him and make him talk.”
“You’re yet to tell me how to do that,” I point out.
King stands and walks over to a safe, unlocking it. Then and only then does he pull out a file and hand it to me. “Everything you need is in here. Bring that fucker down, you take him down, you’re takin’ a huge link out of Dax’s chain. If he doesn’t have cop coverage, things are goin’ to get a lot harder for him. The only reason he’s able to get away with this is because Bennett is coverin’ it all up. No Bennett means no fuckin’ protection.”
He makes a valid point. Without protection, then Zariah can take her forces in and do the dirty work from there, we just have to get the information we need and remove the cop from the picture. The rest is up to her.
“You say this will work,” I ask, opening the file and looking at the stack of papers.
“It’ll fuckin’ work alright, Bennett might be dirty but his career is everything. He’s done a great job at hidin’ that right there, if it comes out he will be destroyed in more ways than one. He isn’t goin’ to want that. Make him talk, Alarick. You’ve got what you need.”
“You think he’s got the goods on Cova?”
“Don’t know, but I do know that Dax has those goods. You weaken his system, you’re more likely to get that information. Keep your girl in there, get her in with Dax before you take Bennett down. You’re goin’ to need her, one way or another.”
He’s right about that.
I turn and walk toward the door.
“Son?” he calls out.
I glance back at him. “Yeah?”
“Stay safe. This is dangerous.”
Oh. I know.
I fucking know.
“I MET DAX,” WAVERLY tells me, sitting in a chair across from my desk and looking over at me. “My god is he charming.”
“Warned you of that,” I point out.
“Yeah, no, I know. Anyway, Bennett took me to his place. You were right, it is where we suspected, but we knew that anyway. I played the part well, and he told me he could help me out. I pretended to need a hit of drugs, and even let him catch me trying to steal cash. I’m his perfect little victim. I’m going back over there tonight, apparently to meet some of his ‘friends.’”