Page 27 of Gold Rush
They took him to the hospital, and Murphy and the others followed. All of them paced, but twice, Hippy took Goldie aside. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re gonna get the money, like we planned, but the diversion is going to be a little different.”
Hippy smiled. “Oh?”
“Yeah.”
After they got Abs back to the pub, Goldie sat with him, holding his hand as Abs curled up on the bed. A knock came to the door, and Abs nodded at him, so Goldie hollered for whoever it was to come into the room.
It was Dean.
“Hey.”
Abs got off the bed after letting go of Goldie’s hand and went straight for Dean. Goldie tensed for a moment, but there was no need. Abs encircled Dean in his arms, embracing him sweetly.
“I’m so sorry I ever doubted you. That man…he’s just evil.”
Dean nodded on Abs’s shoulder, tears coming from his eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Goldie left the two alone to talk and went to Hippy, who was at the second floor common area. “You ready?”
“I thought you’d want to spend more time with Abs.”
“We’re doing this tonight,” he said. “As soon as the sun goes down, plan A, and if that doesn’t work…Plan B.”
Plan B was the one where they went in with weapons and took out all the goons and the pimp. That one…it scared him only insofar that he’d likely go to prison. Even with their police and federal contacts, that much carnage couldn’t be dismissed.
Hippy, Goldie, Cosmo, Taran, and Haze left Mims and Dean to care for Abs. They started in the neighborhood near the pimp’s building and spread out, each heading to separate businesses and residential homes and a small apartment building. After three hours, they met at the local diner and each had coffeesitting untouched in front of them as they reported the bad news.
“Not one wanted to get involved,” Cosmo said with disgust. “Not one.”
“Me either,” Taran said. “It’s not uncommon, though. The police don’t do enough to get rid of these types from neighborhoods. People will move rather than confront the guy with the money and the guns.”
“That’s what I went with,” Haze said. “This place will be the next to gentrify if they can’t take back control of their hood, but they don’t want to push it.”
Goldie slammed his fist on the table, sloshing coffee from each cup and having every eye in the place turn on him. “This is bullshit! This is their neighborhood. They should want these bastards out!”
An older black gentleman came to the table then, and he took a seat next to Goldie. “Son, I heard ya talking. Sorry, but you all aren’t exactly whispering.”
“Sorry, sir, we’re just…trying to help.”
“That’s the problem. They gotta want to help themselves, right?”
That didn’t help him at all, but he’d never disrespect his elders. He’d been drilled with that in his youth. “Sir, I appreciate that, but by the time they do…”
“You didn’t get what I’m sayin’, son. They gotta want to help themselves. That means they need to know how this is gonna affect them. Like, for example, I know two families lost their girls to that creep.”
Goldie perked up, as did the rest of them. “Who are they?”
The man took a napkin and wrote down the two names, folded it, then skid it over to Goldie. “I got a feelin’ that, if their kids are in danger, they’ll step up. It’s what we do as mamas and daddies.”
Goldie shook the man’s hand and then got out his wallet to throw down thirty dollars for the coffees and a tip for the waitress before they all headed out again, armed with the information and names. The first place they went, they went in a group.
The first name on the list was Terrance O’Day, and when they spoke to him, they learned Dane had tempted his sixteen-year-old daughter away just five months earlier. The second name, Margie Martinez, had her two kids lured into the stable by Dane.
The next time they took it door to door they had proof that the man was coming for their kids as much as anyone else’s. They were invited into homes, served coffee and by the time the sun went down, they thought they had the force they needed.
They went back to the pub and let Murphy in on their plan at last.
