For the first time, Quinn saw something in Jimmy’s expression that seemed to suggest he wasn’t as into whatever he was doing with the gang as he’d thought.
“What’s going on, Jimmy?”
“The trafficking. I…” Jimmy’s gaze wandered from Quinn to a map of Nevada on the wall and he seemed to get stuck staring at it as he thought. “I thought it would be easy, you know, just…just business.”
Ah. A criminal with a conscience. How refreshing.
“You know that’s why Ian or even Robert never went into it, right? Because that’s first-hand seeing what it does to people,” Quinn spoke quietly, as if not to disturb the weird balance in the room.
Jimmy nodded slowly. “Yeah…I thought…I thought it was a pussy move, not to take the offer from the Skulls.”
Quinn made an educated guess. “But now you can’t exactly say no?”
“Yeah. They should be bringing in a load at some point tonight.” He looked disgusted briefly. Before he could continue, his phone buzzed on the table.
Jimmy sighed and grabbed it, then frowned at the text. He quickly tapped out a reply to whatever it was and chuckled.
“For fuck’s sake…” For a moment, he looked so incredibly done it almost made Quinn worried.
“What’s going on?” he asked, and when Jimmy looked into his eyes, he saw something…off.
“I’m not sure yet.” There was something weird in the tone, too.
The back of Quinn’s neck tingled unpleasantly, so he continued the previous topic. “So, you kinda want out of the deal before it even starts, but you can’t back out now.”
Jimmy nodded. “Exactly.” He looked at Quinn. “If youweremy Arthur, what would you do?”
Quinn took the question seriously, because this was nothing if not a serious fucking situation.
He thought for a moment, tried to put himself in the shoes of Jimmy’s right hand man, like Arthur had been for Ian for the last decade.
“I wouldn’t have gone into business with them in the first place, and no, it’s not because of Ian or Robert’s beliefs, it’s because of my own,” he started. “But if this was the situation at hand, I’d try to do the bare minimum for as long as I could. Now, I don’t know what exactly you’ve agreed to, but I’d find a fucking excuse to get out of the deal, because those people, they’re the most vulnerable ones and…” Quinn was getting riled up, so he stopped talking and took in a deep breath.
The phone buzzed again. Jimmy picked it up and frowned, then put it down. Then he opened a desk drawer and pulled out a gun that he placed on the desk next to the phone.
“So you’re a cop?” His expression was neutral, his hands off the pistol.
A weird, sudden calm came over Quinn, then. He nodded. “Yeah.”
Jimmy let his gaze fall to the gun and sighed. “I don’t get the point,” he said quietly. “Why are you here?”
That made Quinn chuckle tiredly. “I fucking wish I would’ve been smart enough to ask that question a few weeks back.”
“What?” Jimmy looked at him like he was nuts.
“See, IthoughtI was here to oversee the situation of you taking over. Because Ian was almost gone before you interfered with the process.” He couldn’t help the tone his voice took then.
“Look, taking Dad out wasn’t…”
When he didn’t elaborate, Quinn shook his head with disgust. “The Skulls wanted him out of the way because of the shipment coming in tonight?”
“He was knocking on death’s door anyway.” Jimmy shrugged. He looked distracted for a brief moment before leveling Quinn with a gaze. “So?”
“I thought I was here for you, but it turns out I’m here for your friends out there.” He pointed at the door over his shoulder. “They needed someone here to figure out if the Burned Skulls are moving into town once Ian’s gone. We just didn’t know you’d interfere.”
“You’re being awfully chatty for an undercover fucking cop,” Jimmy said. “Why?”
“Because I figure I have very little to lose here. Now that you know, I fully expect to end up in a shallow grave in the desert before sunrise.”
