It’s an insult.
A big ‘ol fuck-you from the Feds.
And he let them do it.
Not that I was gonna cut Brick any slack about this shit—a rat, is a rat, is a rat. Maybe, before I did my time, I’d have listened to his argument.
It’ll keep us all out of prison.
They’re gonna pay us.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
But after Whitefall, fuck that. Hell, no. No fuckin’ way.
Rats are the lowest scum of the earth.
And I’m in a club with forty-seven of them.
Diesel appears at my side, matching my pace as I head toward the Dyna. His massive frame blocks the sun, casting me in shadow.
"This isn't what you think," he says, voice pitched high enough for me to understand that this is his assigned role in the charade we’re playin’. "I need to tell you something, Legion…"
I sigh, blowin’ out a breath. “OK.” I play my part too, because I know every set of eyes is on me now. Including Brick’s. All the Feds.
I am the weak link and they need me to turn or whatever they’ve set up here, it all goes to shit.
“He’ll wave the fine. He just… wants you on board, ya know?”
I stop walking because I’ve reached my bike. I look Diesel in the eyes. I want to hate him right now. I want to cuss him out and call him a traitor.
“Patched in,” I say. “What a fuckin’ joke.”
“I got you,” he says. Sighin’ a bit. “I felt the same way.”
“Until?” I look behind me, watching Brick watch me. All the Feds are laughin’ and jokin’. Like splittin’ up brotherhoods is just something they do on Tuesdays.
“Until they gave me no choice.”
I look back at Diesel. “Is that what this is? They’re gonna kill me if I don’t pay up?”
“No. Brick... he doesn’t want that to happen, Legion. He gave you the fine knowing you can’t pay so you’d?—”
“Agree to be the rat with him? With you? With all of you?”
“Look,” Diesel says. “I don’t like it any more than you do. Do I wanna be a rat? Fuck, no. But do I want Mama Jo to go to prison for shit I did? Another ‘fuck no’.”
“Is that what they’re threatening, then? The families?” I picture Ratchet and June. Their little ranch. Six kids, the dog, all of it at risk.
If I had that, I guess I’d turn too.
But I don’t have that.
I got nothin’.
“Let me ask you somethin’, Diesel. And I want the truth now.” I look him in the eyes. “If I say no, you still got my back? Or was that nothin’ but words to you?”
He lets out a long breath, lookin’ over his shoulder at Brick. When he looks back at me, his words are low again. Meant only for me. “I got you.”
