“You won’t tell him it was me, right? He’ll fuck me up.”
“I won’t tell him.” Besides, he’ll be dead at the end of our meeting, so it doesn’t really matter, but I keep that part to myself.
I get to my feet and offer Brooklyn a hand. He takes it cautiously and I haul him up. The guys he’s with are watching the whole interaction, but Whisper still has a gun pointed at them.
Whisper and I back up slowly to the van before jumping in. We always have to be ready for them to think they can rush us, but none of them move at all, simply watching us as we reverse down the street. When we get to the end, Whisper turns and we head back to the freeway.
“Fucking losers wouldn’t give me a reason at all.”
I chuckle. “No, they were pretty compliant. Maybe they haven’t been in the game long enough.”
“Yeah, maybe. Got what you wanted?”
“Think so. I know where Leon’s supposed to be two nights from now. Brooklyn had a shamrock tattoo on his wrist.”
“No shit? Like those scumbags we found at that house with the Ukrainian girl?”
“Yep. He said he doesn’t do human trafficking and I believed him, but that doesn’t mean his crew doesn’t.”
“Something to keep an eye on and tell Shadow about.”
“Exactly. Let’s swing by Redlight just to check in.”
“You got it.”
Twenty minutes later, we pull into the parking lot of the seedy club where my path first crossed with Rue’s. I can’t hate the place now.
We pay the cover charge to get in, alert for any sign of Leon. His usual table has people at it, but it’s not Leon or his crowd, and a quick lap around the club shows he’s not here.
I decide to chat up the bartender to see what he knows. “Hey, man. You seen Leon around?”
He glances at me while filling a glass with beer from the tap. “Leon who?”
“You fucking know who Leon is.”
He shrugs, turning to hand the beer off to the customer. I pull a twenty from my wallet and hold it out as he turns to face me again. He takes it, glances around, then leans across the counter, closing the gap between us.
“He hasn’t been around for a few days. Word on the street is he’s acting paranoid and jumpy. Hiding out somewhere. That’s all I know.”
“Thanks.”
I turn toward Whisper, who’s still casing the place.
“Not here,” I say.
Whisper nods. “Find out anything?”
“Same as what Brooklyn said. Leon’s being paranoid and jumpy and hiding out somewhere.”
“Then we better make the most of it when we find him in a couple of days.”
“Damn right. It might be my only chance.”
“I got your back.”
“I know.”
We leave the bar and head back to Crestvale House, and the closer we get, the less I think about Leon and the more I think about my beautiful Rue. I want to keep him, and I want him to know without a doubt that he’s safe. So safe.
