“What’s up with hiding those pretty locks of yours?” Boneyard asked.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Because ofthatkind of shit,” I replied, pointing back at him. “I’m not stupid. I know the hairstyles around this place tend to run on the short side. Let’s just say I wasn’t hoping to draw any unwanted attention.”
“Hell, I don’t give a rat’s ass if a man has long hair. The guys in Skynyrd had long fuckin’ hair. I’m just surprised no one made you their bitch down there in Florence. Or did they?”
“One guy tried,” I said. “My first week inside, a Unit Boss named Richie Harrow tried to punk me out. After the inmates saw the Picaso I made of Richie’s face, no one ever tried again.”
“I hope you don’t think you can muscle me like that.”
“And I hope you don’t try to fuck me in my ass.”
Boneyard laughed.
I pointed to the bar’s rear exit. “In less than two minutes time, you can see what this is all about, and what you stand to gain or lose.”
After a few tense moments, Boneyard addressed Bob and his bodyguards. “Y’all hang back for a second. I’m gonna step out back with Goldilocks here, and if I’m not back in exactly one hundred and twentyseconds, come out to the back, guns drawn. You understand?”
Nods all around meant we were good to go.
“You fucking try anything and you’re a dead man,” he warned.
“All I’m trying to do is make us a shit ton of money. I’m telling you this is gonna be the score of your lifetime.”
I followed Boneyard as he led us to the rear entrance of the building, where Orion should have been waiting in the running van, but when we got outside, there were only us two.
Shit.
“Alright, where’s this deal of the century? What do you want to show me that’s so fucking mind-blowing?”
At this point of the plan, Boneyard was already supposed to have a face full of chloroform and I should have been loading him into the van by now, but with no van in sight I was going to have to improvise.
Snarl
GODDAMMIT, ORION, WHERE the fuck are you?
The clock was ticking, and I had to think of something fast. If Boneyard suspected forone instant that I was conning him, he’d bolt, and I’d likely be beaten to death.
“So, what’s the deal?” Boneyard pressed.
I acted as though I was going to answer, but instead faked a series of wheezes and coughs. “Hold on a sec, brother. It’s my asthma,” I said, reaching inside my coat pocket for my “inhaler.”
“That shit sounds rough, man,” Boneyard said, his face twisted in disgust.
I held up the small canister to his face. “It’s not so bad, as long as I’ve got this,” I said, before delivering a direct shot of chloroform to his face.
“Hey! What the fuck was th—” was all Boneyard managed to get out before he dropped like a stone. Hishead hitting the pavement with a sickening thud.
I grabbed Boneyard by his cut and began dragging him towards the dumpsters where I planned to stash him for a minute while I figured out my next move.
“Where the fuck are you?” I hissed, scanning the parking lot for Orion and the van.
One thing was for sure. If the Supreme Riders had Orion, we’d both be dead meat.
I’d just started planning my own funeral when Orion came hauling ass towards me in the van, screeching to a halt mere feet from where I stood.
“Sorry, man,” he said, flying out of the van. “Some guys were giving me the eye. I had to get the fuck outta here before they made me.
“Help me get him in,” I growled.
