Page 80 of Sweet Pea

“Let’s just say it’s in everyone’s best interest if you assist us in this investigation.”

“I’m not wearing a fucking wire,” I said.

“We don’t want you to. Just hear me out for a minute and then you can make your decision,” Taxi said. “Wolf wants a sit down with you, so we’re going to give it to him. He’ll probably search you when you arrive, so traditional listening devices are out, and we don’t know where the meeting will take place, so we can’t rely on a shotgun mic, but the bureau has a new recording device that’s nearly undetectable that we want to use. It’s super thin, completely shielded and since it’s a recorder and not a transmitter, doesn’t emit detectable radio frequencies.”

“Pretend I’m not in the spy game,” I said. “What the fuck does all that mean?”

“It means we’d send you into the meeting with an undetectable recorder sewn into one of the patches on your kutte. You get Wolf to admit to Char’s murder, the F.B.I. gets our man, and you get immunity for any and all past crimes.”

“No,” I said.

“What?”

“No,” I repeated. “It’s not enough. I want full immunity for the whole club. All past sins forgiven. What any of us does from here on out we’ve gotta pay for like everyone else, but as far as the Feds are concerned, the Burning Saints are as pure as the driven fuckin’ snow starting now.”

“I can’t authorize that.”

“Then you can get the fuck out of here. Before you go, be sure to leave a mailing address, so I can send your stunt heart back to you.”

“You have to be reasonable,” Taxi said.

“Reasonable? You want to use me as bait to get the guy who just tried to kill me, and is probably gonna try again, and you want to nickel and dime me?”

“Okay, I’ll tell my boss your terms first thing in the morning and he can talk it over with the prosecutor, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Fair enough.”

“And if they agree?” Taxi asked.

“Tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it.”

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