Page 86 of Eagle

Falcon took a swift kick to the big guy’s back as I walked back to Kelvin. “Who told you that?”

His whole body shook and I leaned closer. “The guy with your vest. In one of our meetups at the airport, he told everyoneto stay away from Destiny’s Desires.”

“Did he say why?”

“We didn’t ask. But he worked there, right?”

“When’s the last time you were there?”

“It’s been months. Not long after I got roped into this bullshit.”

“Tell me again how you got roped into kidnapping women,” I said with a curious tone.

“Shut the fuck up. They’re gonna kill you anyway,” the big guy said. I didn’t look over, but heard another kick.

Shrugging, I said, “He may be right, Kelvin. But here’s the thing. You’re not as smart as this guy. We know about your wife, and we’ll find anyone else close to you. You don’t want anything bad to happen to them, right?”

He started sobbing. “Please. I never meant for this to happen. I didn’t know what they were gonna do with them until it was too late.”

“You hear that? It was an accident.” I stood. “Just a big misunderstanding.”

Falcon scoffed and I chuckled. The man was shaking even harder. “I swear. I just got in over my head and they said I just had to do a couple of transports and I’d be done.”

“But you used your own car. Which, sweet ride by the way. But your friend Butch took off with it. Did you not think about that? How easy it would be to track you down?”

“Look, man, I run a landscaping company for golf courses. I’m not a criminal. And they said just a few times.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “You just said a couple. Which is it?”

“I–I mean c’mon, man. They said it would wipe my debt. My wife can’t find out.”

“So you’re married to a woman, but had no problem picking up other women to be sold off?” I asked, still holding my stance.

“I didn’t know what I was agreeing to until I got my first assignment.”

“And you went along with it because…?”

“I told you. They said they’d wipe my debt, and I’m not dumb. I couldn’t tell them no just because I didn’t like it.”

“How did this offer come about? To clear your debt.”

“Your guy found me.”

Hawk didn’t get to that part yet, but Falcon already seemed to know by the look on his face. They’d already been in here and I didn’t get much info from Hawk before I flew out of Church to come talk to them, myself.

“So Butch approaches you and you accept. Then what?”

“He gave me a phone and said to wait for instructions.”

“Where’s the phone now?”

“In the car.”

Frustration boiled over and I closed my fist and threw it, the smack and the crunch of connecting to his jaw setting off a series of blows to his head from me. I followed him to the floor, unable to stop the repeating hits.

Before I beat the man to death, Falcon was pulling me off. “You’re bleeding, man.”

Looking down, blood splatter was on my shirt but I thought it was his. I pulled my shirt up, though, and sure enough, my stitches had busted and blood was trickling down my side. “Well, look what you did. I’m gonna be in trouble now.” Thatwas a true statement. Lacy would be upset, and Shiv would probably prefer to let me bleed out for being reckless rather than stitch me back up.

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