I kneel beside Brooklyn, replacing my hand with my knee on his neck. He gasps, trapped and flailing beneath me.
“I’m not fucking around, Brooklyn. You can give me information and I’ll leave, or you can be an asshole and die tonight. Which is it gonna be?”
“He went underground, man,” Brooklyn croaks, clutching at his neck. “No one’s seen him in a while but he’s still in town. He did a deal a few days ago, but I had to meet him in this piece of shit abandoned warehouse downtown. Haven’t seen or heard from him since.”
“You know more than that. I can tell.” To make my point, I lift him up by his shirt collar then slam him back down. “Talk.”
Brooklyn coughs but nods. “Okay, okay. Two nights from now, he’s supposed to meet me at the old flour mill in Mistone.”
That’s an iconic building so I’m well aware of it. “What time?”
“Ten. He’s getting a shipment from me.”
“Who do you work for?”
“Myself,” he says, an edge of defiance in his voice, but I can see the shamrock tattoo on his wrist.
“That so? No big boss somewhere? How do you get your shipments?”
“I ain’t telling you all that. What are you, undercover or something?”
“Do I look like I’m undercover?”
“Maybe you dudes are getting smarter.”
“How about you just tell me what I want to know?” I pull my knife from my back pocket and press it to his neck. “It’s sharp enough that you wouldn’t even feel the cut until you were choking on your own blood. Want to see?”
“Dude, you’re fucking unhinged.”
“And?” I glower at him. “You’re in a gang?”
Brooklyn scoffs. “It’s not a gang. It’s a professional organization, man. We’re gonna run this city.”
“Tell you what, Brooklyn. You tell your boss, whoever it is, that if there’s some human trafficking going on in this city, he’ll wish he was never born. Sell your drugs, I don’t give a fuck, but leave innocent people the fuck alone. Got it?”
I expect him to challenge me, but he nods. “I don’t do shit like that.”
“Good, ’cause I don’t tolerate it, and I’m not alone.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. So here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna give me Leon’s number.”
“Can’t, man. He’s been acting really paranoid and shit. We always meet up at Redlight, but he said no. He either doesn’t have a phone or he’s using a number he’s not giving out. I only know where I’m supposed to meet him and what he’s buying, I swear.”
I believe him. “Alright. Old flour mill, ten o’clock, night after tomorrow?”
“That’s right.”
“Here’s what I recommend: You don’t tell Leon shit about this interaction and you show up late or not at all to the flour mill.”
Brooklyn gazes up at me, wide-eyed. “Okay, man.”
“Because if Leon isn’t there when you said he would be, if I find out he was tipped off, I’ll hunt you down and I won’t be so nice next time. We clear?”
“Yep.”
I pat his cheek. “Good. Thanks for the info.”
