Page 30 of Jack of Hearts
And, without even trying, he’d won Ramon’s respect, which was everything in the world to these thugs. Go figure. “I’m waiting, Mr.Terrance.”
“Yeah, man, you fucking nailed it. Happy?” Hatred shone in the man’s eyes.
“Deliriously. How many men you got on Javon? One? Two?”
“One,” Terrance said, giving a sigh of defeat.
“Say what?” Ramon yelled, jumping up.
Alex stood. “Keep an eye on him.” He left, silently slipping down the hallway. The first door he came to was a bathroom, and after making sure it was empty, he eased up to the next open doorway. He found his man in the last room he came to.
“You can have everything. Just don’t hurt them.”
That was Javon’s voice, and who the hell wasthem? Alex risked a peek around the doorframe, and at seeing a woman cowering on a bed, a little girl clutched in her arms, his blood threatened to boil over. Who terrorized women and children?
Alex backed up a few feet, cleared his throat, and, impersonating Terrance’s voice, said, “Yo, bring that douchebag here.”
“That you, Terrance?” a voice called back.
“Who the fuck else would I be?” He slipped into the room closest to where Javon was being held, and waited. Javon walked past, followed by a man also wearing a ski mask, his gun poked into Javon’s back.
Alex kicked his foot up, sending the gun flying. It hit the ceiling, taking several bounces down the hallway. He twisted midair, putting the heel of his boot hard against the masked man’s ear.
“Fuck,” the man hollered, flattening his palm over his ear as his knees buckled under him.
Alex straddled his back, pressing his gun to the man’s already-assaulted ear. “Bang, bang, you’re dead.” He glanced up at Javon. “Go tell Ramon I need some more ties.” Instead, Javon ran back into the room where the woman and child were. Alex sighed. What a fun night this was turning out to be. He twisted the man’s arm, forcing him up.
“Look what I found,” he said, pushing his captive into the room. Ramon tore some more strips, and after tying up their second prisoner, Alex took out his phone.
Ramon eyed the two men lying facedown on the floor. “What’re we going to do with them?”
The more Alex was around Ramon, the more he realized that the man was pretty much useless. Did Ramon even realize he’d probably be dead now if Alex hadn’t ridden along tonight?
“I’m calling my brother to come get them.” He punched in Nate’s code.
“What’s he gonna do with them?” Still clutching the Beretta, Ramon stuck it in the waistband of his jeans.
“Don’t ask.” He held out his hand. “Gimme that.”
Ramon put his hand over the butt of the gun. “I’m keeping it.”
“So if it’s been used to kill someone, what’s gonna happen if you get caught with it on you?”
Alex stood outside Javon’s house, huddled with Nate and Rand Stevens, another FBI agent. He handed Nate the Beretta, along with the weapon he’d taken from the second man. “Idiot wanted to keep the Beretta.”
“Ramon?” Nate slid the guns into a pocket of his jacket.
“Yeah. Who else? He thinks you’re gonna take those two dudes to the Everglades and feed them to the gators.” The two in question were hog-tied in the backseat of Nate’s SUV. They’d be taken to a safe house and held under guard while the bureau chief decided what to do with them.
“So you’re Ramon’s hero now?” Rand said.
Alex nodded. “Appears that way.” If he’d tried, he couldn’t have set things up better. Whatever doubts about trusting him that Ramon might have had before tonight, they were gone.
“I better get back inside before he comes looking for me. He wanted to go with you so he could watch you feed the gators.”
Nate slapped him on the back. “You did good in there, little brother.”
Praise from the man who’d stepped in and raised him didn’t come often, but when it did, Alex treasured the moment. Once the taillights of Nate’s car disappeared, he headed back inside so he and Ramon could finish the drug deal. The sooner it was done, the sooner he could go the hell home and take a shower.
