Page 79 of Clean Slade
So I tucked Mac into bed, bid goodnight to Slade, and waited for quiet to fill the house before I escaped to my car and disappeared into the night.
I drove up and down Hummingbird Road twice before I spotted it. The abandoned farm that had been inexplicably blown to pieces last summer.
That was the only place he could be, right? The only place he’d risk going into without leaving traces? He wouldn’t dare rent or buy a house here, not with the feds sniffing around the island.
I stopped in front of the farm and put the car in Park before getting out.
The whole place was charred, yet somehow, the structure still held. Although the roof was all but gone, leaving behind the skeleton underneath it.
I approached the front door and walked inside. The distinct smell of burned wood still lingered.
A shadowy figure was waiting for me in one of the rooms. He was too muscular to be Father, so it could only be one other.
“Nino!”
He stepped into a sliver of light streaming through a hole in the wall, and I all but jumped due to his intimidating expression.
“You found it,” he said.
“Next time, giving me the address would be more helpful.”
“You’re a smart boy. You figured it out. Stop complaining.” My father stepped into the room behind me, scaring the shit out of me.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
He ignored me, instead walking past me and joining my brother.
“You’ve got the product?”
“I said so, didn’t I? It’s in the trunk.”
Nino went to retrieve it, leaving me alone with my father.
This is it. This is my chance.
Why hadn’t I brought my gun with me? Why had I left it in the car? It would have been so easy to shoot him in the head while Nino was busy carrying the drugs inside.
Next time. Next time, I’ll take my chance.
“Very good,” Father said as soon as Nino returned.
“What are you going to do with it?”
I didn’t know why I was asking as if I didn’t know.
Perhaps I was hoping it would end up in the trash or something, but that pack was probably worth more than my life.
“That’s none of your concern,” my father answered. “Now, contact him tomorrow and tell him you need more.”
I winced.
“If I tell him I need more so quickly, he’ll get suspicious. That’s a lot of coke to get rid of in such a short amount of time.”
“Don’t be stupid. You had all weekend to deal with it.”
I didn’t know how, but my jaw dropped.
How the hell did he know I’d had it for a whole weekend already? Did he have someone stalking me? I knew Nino mentioned he was supposed to keep an eye on me, but I’d made sure I wasn’t being tailed.
