Mo had no clue who “Jack” was.He didn’t remember Lottietelling him about one of the women who had a man named Jack.
He still said nothing.
“And what about you?”Smithie asked Hawk.“Not realprofessional, one of your boys tags the woman he’s guarding.”
“It’s been platonic,” Hawk ground out.
“Right,” Smithie said.
Mo was done.
With a number of things.
What they were discussing right then the least of them.
“I’ve touched her, that way, once.Tonight.When I neededher to focus and I put my hands on her face.Once,” Mo growled.“Lottie wanted a new bodyguard so we could start things up, but no one could beon her, but me.We held off.Now we need to make a decision about this guybecause it’s done and that means my job is done which means I can claim mywoman, so I’m done with this chat.”He turned to Hawk.“What do you want todo?”
“What doyouwant to do?”Hawk asked calmly.
“I want him dead.”
Hawk didn’t even blink.
“But I’m pissed as fuck and I’m tweaked as hell right nowwhich means I can’t fully get behind that,” Mo continued.“So I want you tocall Lawson and Lucas and get his ass in jail.We really got no choice but tolet justice take its course, not that I can’t live with the other option, orSmithie can’t, or you can’t, but because I’ll probably have to explain it toLottie and she won’t be able to.”
“Shit, fuck, you just had to bring Mac into it,” Smithiemuttered irritably.
“She’s not being brought into it,” Mo shot back.“It’s allabout her and has always been all about her.If I had my say, any victim wouldbe able to choose what punishment their offender would get.That would berandom and chaotic, but I don’t give a fuck.It’d be fair, and it’d giveclosure and power to the people who were stripped of it.I don’t get to decidethe way our criminal justice system works.But from the second those journalswere found, I was unofficially off the job, and the path was cleared I couldofficially claim Lottie as mine.So now Idoget to decide how she’sprotected inall ways.And I’m notgonnaaskher to live with the fact that she knows some guy had his tongue cut out, evenif I, personally, would like the opportunity to pull it through a gaping holein his throat.”
“I think I like you,” Smithie announced.
“I don’t care,” Mo replied and looked again at his boss.“Are we done?”
“You might have to give false testimony, Mo,” Hawk remindedhim.
“I don’t care about that either,” Mo replied.“Are we done?”
“You were on her, so no one has to know you were in thehouse,” Hawk muttered.Then said, “We’re done.”
Mo turned on his boot and walked toward the door.
“You got two days leave, Mo,” Hawk called to his back.“Starting today.”
Mo said nothing as he walked out of that house.
Though he did that thinking, not for the first time, hisboss was the shit.
The sun was coming up in the sky.
The dawn of a new day.
Mo was looking forward to it.
He just hoped like fuck he didn’t run anybody over gettinghis ass back to Lottie.
Hawk
Hawk stood looking out the window at Mo’s trucktaking off.
