“You don’t get to make assumptions, Tucker,” Jedd told me.“Not you. That’s not who you are. You’ve always been upfront, straight to the point. Next time you think I’ve got a problem with you being happy, either ask me outright or fucking man up and realize that I could never have an issue with you finally wearing a fucking smile on that grim-ass face of yours. This isn't just about you anymore. Get that into your thick skull once and for all. You don’t get to be the only guy around here making sacrifices that send you off to jail for five years. Harry did it, and if I want to do it, too, then screw you, I’ll fucking do it whichever way I see fit.”
Eric’s huff of laughter had me looking his way, watching as he dipped his chin to his chest to hide his smile and ran a hand over his forehead.
I turned back to Jedd, resting my elbow on the bar. “You quite finished with your dramatic speeches, you big pussy?”
“For now.”
“Right. Bravo. Glad you got that shit off your chest.” I smirked, unable to hide how good it felt to know a man like Jedd cared so much about Ayda and me, he was willing to do whatever it took to keep us safe. “Now tell Slate and me everything we need to know. What does Winnie have on us?”
“If she wanted us all to go down, she has enough evidence to put a few of us away for life.”
My face fell, and all the nightmares of returning to prison swirled above my head like a dark, cold cloud of doom.
But Jedd’s flat smile slowly rose into a contradicting shit-eating grin.
“What do you mean,ifshe wanted us?”
“We’re not enough for her now. She’s got bigger men to chase—ones that could earn her the promotion she’s always dreamed of. While I was inside, Eric was putting things in place to tie our very own Sinclair, Jon Taylor, and Mayor Walsh together.”
“How?” I asked, looking at Eric who was now leaning backagainst the bar wall with his hands folded over his chest.
He shook his head like the information he was about to part with didn’t matter. “I took a trip to Dallas to visit Clint’s family. They send their love, by the way.” He paused, taking in my reaction and seeming somewhat pleased with himself. “They gave me Clint’s old letters. I even got the ones mentioning Harry in them. I took them to Jon Taylor’s house. Jon’s widow was very accommodating in getting me the key to their place via Howard Sutton.”
“Sutton’s been in on this?” I scowled.
“Not really,” Eric answered. “But the guy loves you, too, and he was happy to help. So I got the key, planted the letters in Jon Taylor’s house, along with some of the evidence Ayda pulled from Owen’s place and Harry’s files. Evidence that made it look like Taylor was confiscating the letters from the prisoners before they were sent, and keeping them in safe hiding for Mayor Walsh and Sinclair.”
I blinked hard, trying to keep track of it all, but Eric’s voice was soon taking over the room again.
“Mix that with the evidence I left in the back of the repo truck I dumped in the water just off his land, there was enough to suggest some shady shit has been going down between those three men. Shit that was done in an attempt to pin murders, corruption, drug deals, and money laundering on The Hounds of Babylon.”
“Fuck,” I whispered, looking back at Jedd. “How did all this get back to ATF?”
“When Sutton was on shift, he came to visit me in the cell. He told me whenever Eric had a message, and he passed those messages on.”
“Messages telling you the evidence was in place, and you could give the ATF your suspicions?”
“Something like that.” He beamed, clearly proud of himself.
“And she bought it? Winnie trusted you?”
It was Jedd’s turn to swallow, a look of bashfulness creeping over him for a split second before he smoothed down his long, black beard and cleared his throat. “Let’s just say that a bond was forged in there. One I think Winnie actually believes exists mutually.”
I raised my brow in question.
“It never hurts to have people in high places wanting to fuck you.”
“You fucking snake,” I forced out through a proud smile. I had no idea if there was more going on with Jedd and Winnie than he was letting on, but right now, I couldn’t think about that. “Okay, so what about Walsh? Where does Rubin tie in with all this? I know you said he’s working for us on the inside, but how?”
“He’s getting ready to set his father up as we speak.”
“Just like that.” I shrugged sarcastically. “No remorse, no guilt, no questions?”
“Apparently not.”
“And how does he plan on doing that? How does he plan on going against someone with Walsh’s obvious experience of being a two-faced triple threat?”
“You need to have more faith.”
