Page 18 of Murder & Mayhem
I squatted so I was eye level with him and pointed my gun in his face. I wouldn’t use it, but I didn’t have the time or patience to be anything but blunt with this guy. The moment for subtlety was long gone.
The guy tried to scramble back, only to hit the wall. “What the fuck? I-I don’t have anything, I swear! Sloan took it all!”
That was interesting. I looked at Jamie, but he seemed out of it again. I needed to get him outta here and somewhere safe, and quickly.
“Keep him talking, Nicky. I’ll see what I can find.”
I didn’t answer Ari because duh. I wasn’t a newb. I pressed the gun in between the guy’s legs, making a mental note to clean it after it touched that filthy underwear. It mightnot be my favorite weapon, but it deserved more respect than that.
“What don’t you have?” My voice was level, calm. Conversational even. That didn’t seem to ease this guy’s fears though.
He whimpered but didn’t answer, eyes glued to the pistol that was ready to blow his junk to smithereens. He better not fucking piss, otherwise I was pulling the damn trigger.
I cocked the hammer, and he jumped. “Answer my question. What the fuck did Sloan take?”
“Everything! He took my money and said he’d be back, but he never came back! And the whole stash is gone—even the safe was emptied! All that was left was what was in that needle. I swear. I got nothin’ to give you. You gotta take it up with Sloan.”
Anger coursed through me as my fingers wrapped around this asshole’s throat. I squeezed, slamming him into the wall behind him and then painfully mashing the pistol into his junk until the guy was screaming, or at least trying to scream as I choked him.
“I’ll ask you one more time. What stash? What was Sloan supposed to be bringing back?”
I let go of him. Behind me, Jamie gasped, but I ignored him for now. If I lost focus, I wouldn’t be able to do what had to be done.
The guy was shaking, and maybe I would’ve felt bad under normal circumstances. But honestly, all I felt was disgust. And a little nausea because he fucking stunk. He was worse than our foster father, Mitchell, and I hadn’t thought that was possible.
“Jesus fuck! What the hell is wrong with you?” The guy looked at Jamie like the boy would help him. I finally forced myself to turn toward him. Thankfully, Jamie seemed okay. His pupils were a little dilated, and he was backto clutching the hilt of the knife so tightly, I was worried it would slip and he’d cut himself. At least he didn’t seem to be stuck with the ghosts that had been haunting him earlier.
“Don’t look at me, dude. I’m not the one about to blow your junk off,” Jamie said with a shrug and more audacity than I thought he had.
“H-he won’t do that. That’s fucking sick,” the guy denied with false confidence.
Jamie snorted. “Wouldn’t be so sure about that. Yours wouldn’t be the first dick he removed today.” I laughed. Okay, the kitten had some claws.
That freaked the fuck out of him “Y-you’re lying!”
Jamie shrugged. “You can choose to believe me or not. It’s you on the line, not me.”
When the guy finally looked back at me, he was terrified. I gave him my most evil grin. “I’m losing patience—what’s your name anyway?”
“D-Dan.”
“I’m losing patience, Dan. What was Sloan supposed to buy?”
“Drugs! Well, I thought it was only drugs. That’s what I was comin’ here to get from him. But then he told me about this big deal, could make us fucking rich. He needed more money though. I agreed to help out if I could get some of the profits.”
My tone turned deadly. “What was the deal, Dan?”
Finally, somewhere in his drug-addled mind, he seemed to realize how serious I was being. “I don’t know the details, man! Just that he was picking up some kid. Said he was getting him off some old junkie and then he was gonna make a fortune on him! But! But I had nothing to do with that! I only wanted the money! I swear!”
I couldn’t look at Jamie. I couldn’t listen to Ari cursing inmy ear as he typed furiously. If I did, I would lose it. And I had a job to finish.
“You said Sloan was supposed to come back here and he didn’t?”
Dan looked like a fucking bobblehead, he nodded so fast.
“Was he supposed to bring the kid here?”
He started to shake his head then. “N-no. No. He had to drop him off with someone else, then he was coming back. But he never did. I swear to fuck! He should’ve been back forever ago.”
