Page 58 of Cinder
“The Knights are grateful,” Beast says.
“But there’s more,” Hammer adds.
“You’re the gift that keeps on giving,” Beast replies, waiting for more bad news.
“Despite the warning from our friend at the ATF, we intercepted the truck anyway. Ain’t no ATF or Bratva asshole is gonna tell me what I can and can’t do in my goddamn town.”
“And?” Beast asks.
“Wall-to-wall guns. AKs. Russian military. Caches from ATF busts.”
I lean forward. “Olicheckoff has the ATF in his pocket?”
“One or two agents.”
Beast folds his arms across his broad chest. “The driver you got the information from, he got loose lips?”
“Not unless you’re familiar with a Ouija board.”
“You killed him?” Beast asks.
“He tried to run. Couldn’t let him run back to whoever is behind this and bring heat to the Rattlers. As it stands, no one knows it was us who intercepted the shipment.”
“Did he give you anything before he died?”
“No. Just started shooting and running.”
“And the truck?”
“Bottom of Hangman’s Bayou.” Hammer rises from his chair. “But while you were enroute, we came across a second shipment. Another truck. Full of guns. Headed for Miami.”
“Did you speak to the driver or is he dead too?” Beast asks.
Hammer grins. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
Beast and I watch Hammer walk toward a side door leading out of his office.
“You mean he’s here?” I ask, Beast and I leaving our chairs to follow him.
Hammer swings open the door, and it opens into a poorly lit supply closet where a bloody and beaten man sits tied to a chair. His eyes are closed. His head slumped forward. His blood-stained shirt stretched across his belly.
“Merry Christmas, boys,” Hammer says.
“What happened to him?’ Beast asks.
“Razor can be very creative in retrieving information.”
Razor is the Devil’s Rattlers enforcer.
I check the man’s pulse. “A little too creative.”
“Oh shit, he’s dead?” Hammer sounds surprised.
“As dead as can be,” I reply.
Hammer chuckles. “Razor can get a little enthusiastic.”
“He say anything?” I ask.
