“I’m with you on that one, brother,” Jasper says. “Slate, you have the compound. Onyx, keep in contact with SORLA.” He doesn’t bother to give his old man commands because he won’t follow them. Rock does as he likes.
Heading for the door, Jasper says, “Let’s move out.”
***
The ride to the west side of Cedar Falls takes twenty minutes. Bash meets us at the entrance, and Jasper shakes his hand. “Good job tracking this asshole down. He’s a high-value target.”
Bash shrugs carelessly with one shoulder. “Glad to do it. Chasing this idiot was a fuckin’ pleasure.”
“I hope we can get him to talk,” I say. “We seriously need to figure out what’s going on.”
Bash responds, “I don’t know how helpful the stupid asshole’s gonna be. I’m thinking the one that got away was the brains of the operation. This one thought he could just blend in with the locals. It didn’t work out that way because he stuck out like a sore thumb. We parked their SUV out back. I gave it a once-over and had our contact at the Cedar Falls PD run the plate. It’s stolen and registered to a Honda Civic with an LA address.”
Bash walks over and grabs the man by the hair and jerks his head back. Looking down into his face, he explains, “He says his name is Donald Davis and claims to be an insurance investigator.” Our club brother shoves his head back down and slaps the back of his head for good measure.
Jasper snorts a laugh before crouching down in front of Davis.
“I don’t know why you thought it was a fuckin’ brilliant idea to come rolling into our territory like you own the fuckin’ place, much less start asking crazy questions about the locals. You were being too obvious. Now, you and I are gonna have a little talk. If you’re smart then you’re gonna answer all my questions like a good boy. If not, then my friend here can be very persuasive.”
Bash cracks his knuckles and gives Davis an evil grin.
“I don’t know nothin’. All I know is insurance. My partner was the one asking all the questions,” Davis splutters.
“If stupid is how you want to play this, we’ll run with it, but I don’t think it’s gonna turn out how you think.”
Davis says desperately, “There is nothing to tell.”
Jasper rubs his jawline and glances at me. “We could just waterboard him. They always talk after a little waterboarding.”
“A throat punch is easier,” I say, crossing my arms across my chest.
“We want him talking, not croaking.”
I pull out my gun and press it against the front of his shoulder, where his arm meets his collar bone. “If I blow his arm off, his mouth still works just fine.”
Jasper responds, “Your call, brother.”
We’re just messing around, hoping to scare information out of him so we don’t have to do any of the nasty shit we’re talking about. I look down at Davis and ask, “Do you have any idea what a forty-five will do at this range?”
Davis is sweating through his nice button up dress shirt right now. He’s staring at me but still not speaking. I pull my gun back and smash it against the side of his face. It’s not hard enough to break his jaw but it’s definitely a wake-up call. When he doesn’t talk, I get more creative. Taking my free hand, I give his ear a nice hard twist. He wasn’t expecting that, so he let out a little scream.
Jasper looks at me like I’m crazy, but Davis finally begins babbling. “Look, we don’t have to do this. I don’t have useful information on the Terrance family.”
I state flatly, “So you work for the Terrance family, do ya?”
Davis closes his eyes for a second before backtracking. “I didn’t mean to say that. Of course I don’t work for the Terrance family.”
“That name rings a bell with me.” Glancing at Jasper, I ask, “Aren’t they that big crime family everyone is always talking about?”
Jasper pulls his head back, like Bash did. “We don’t have all fuckin’ day to wait around for you to realize we’re holdin’ all the cards. You need to open your mouth and speak, asshole, if you want to make it out of here alive.”
Bash chimes in, “Maybe he doesn’t understand what we’re saying.” He steps closer and looks down into his eyes. “What my club brothers are saying is that if you don’t tell us what we want to know, we’re gonna give you a dirt nap.”
“There’s no need for that. Untie me, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
Jasper shoots back, “You’re not in a position to make demands, asshole. Tell us what you were doing in our sleepy little town. What was your fuckin’ mission?”
“Someone hired us. He said he worked for the Terrance family, but he could have been lying about that. You know, saying shit to scare us into doing a good job. They do that sometimes.”
