And Reno and Mick went inside, closing the door behind them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Although Javon Douglas was in Recovery, he was wide awake. He’d been shot, several times, but all of his wounds, according to that doctor, were superficial. Which meant two things to Reno and Mick: Either he was not the target at all, or he knew the shooters and they purposely injured him gently to give him plausible deniability.
Either way, they didn’t like it.
And Reno let him have it as soon as he walked up to him. “Remember me?” he said to Javon.
“How’s Trina?” Javon asked with sincerity in his eyes.
“She’s still in surgery fighting for her life. They tried to kill her, while they only grazed your ass. I wonder why that is, Javon?”
“What are you implying? I don’t know those motherfuckers. I was just the messenger.”
“How did they get in touch with you?” Mick asked.
Javon was shocked to see Mick Sinatra standing at his bedside. Reno Gabrini was bad enough, but he’d heard about Mick the Tick. He knew not to play games with him. “They would text me. Tell me what the demand was. Or email me a video or photos.”
“Of what?” Reno asked him.
Javon hesitated. “Of your wife.”
“My wife doing what, asshole? You know what I meant.”
There was another pause. Reno grabbed him by his hospital gown. “Doing what, asshole!” he yelled. “Doing what?”
But Mick released his hands from Javon. “That’s enough, Reno.” Then Mick looked at Javon. “Answer his question.”
“The video showed her . . .”
“Showed her doing what, motherfucker? Just say it!” Reno was so scared he could hardly contain himself. What was it that they were blackmailing his wife over? What could it be?
“The video showed her . . . physically harming children,” he said.
Reno and Mick froze. It sounded so crazy to them that they literally froze. Then Mick frowned. “What?”
“That’s what it showed,” Javon said. Tears were in his eyes. “That’s what they got on her.”
“Harming them how?” Mick asked because Reno couldn’t even speak.
It was obvious that Javon didn’t want to say how. But he eventually spoke up. “She took’em out,” he said.
That got Reno going. “What the fuck you mean she took’em out? What are you talking?”
“She took’em out,” said Javon. “You know what that means.”
Reno couldn’t believe it. His heart began racing and his knees nearly buckled as he grabbed hold of the bedrail for support. Was this guy for real? It had to be some sick, twisted joke. “Why would she do that?” he asked Javon.
“She never told me why. But I saw it with my own two eyes. She took’em out. All of’em.”
Mick looked at Reno. For the first time in his life even he was stumped. But if he had it bad, he saw that Reno had it worse. He assisted him to a chair. “Sit down, Reno,” he said, “before you fall down.”
Reno sat down, and then he looked at Javon. It went from rage to pure puzzlement. “I don’t understand,” he said. “Is that some A.I. shit? Is that what that was?”
But Javon was already shaking his head even though it pained him to do so. “I wish that’s what it was. Lord knows I wish that’s what it was. But it’s not A.I., it’s none of that. It’s the truth. It happened.”
Reno couldn’t believe it. And he was too afraid to ask anything more about it. “I have to see Trina,” he said, rising to his feet. “I have to talk to Trina! Only she can clear this shit up because it’s not true. Trina? Doingthat? You’re out of your fucking mind. That’s not true and nobody’s going to tell me it’s true! Nobody!”
