Adrenaline flooded Victor’s senses. In frustration, he pulled at the handcuffs that kept his arms behind his back. He watched the violence unfolding in the tattoo shop and tried not to be sick.
For the first time in years, Victor was afraid. Fear hadn’t touched him like that in a long time. And he couldn’t remember the last occasion he’d been concerned over anybody outside of his own skin. Not even for Fat Mike, who’d been with him for over thirty years.
But he was afraid now for his son, whom he’d barely gotten to know. A man was supposed to be afraid for his son. Victor didn’t want to be, but he saw so much of himself inside Bobby Lee that he didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
And he was scared to death that something terrible was about to happen. All he could do was sit and watch.
“Bobby Lee,” Urlacher said over the loudhailer.
Inside the tattoo parlor, Bobby Lee spun toward the line of cars out in the parking lot. He brought the pistol up to the side of the young woman’s face. The barrel was superheated from the recent firing. She jerked her head away as the barrel seared her flesh.
Don’t shoot, Bobby Lee. Victor willed his son to hear him. She’s just scared and hurt. You still got her. But for a moment he thought Bobby Lee was going to shoot anyway.
Instead, Bobby Lee pulled the pistol back and clubbed the woman’s ear. She stumbled and nearly fell, but she stayed on her feet in front of him. A handful of ruby laser dots danced across Bobby Lee’s face.
Victor stopped breathing and waited for one of the snipers to empty Bobby Lee’s brainpan.
“Hold your fire,” Urlacher ordered.
Bobby Lee yanked the woman in front of him again. He propelled her to the door and opened it a little. “I want a car!” he yelled. “And I want an airplane standing by at the airport.”
“Kid’s seen too many movies,” the FBI driver said quietly.
Victor cursed at him and kicked the back of the seat.
Urlacher and the FBI driver ignored him.
“Bobby Lee,” Urlacher said, “I’ve got your father in the car with me. He doesn’t want you to get hurt. He wants you to surrender.”
“You lie!” Bobby Lee yelled. “My old man wouldn’t give in to nobody like you!”
Urlacher turned to Victor and spoke through the mesh. “It’s your play. You want to talk to him or sit on the sidelines?”
Victor hesitated only for a moment. “I’ll talk.”
Urlacher nodded at the driver. “Get him out of the back.”
Gingerly the driver eased back and opened the rear door.
Looking back, Urlacher locked eyes with Victor. “You try to run, I’m gonna shoot your legs out from under you. That’ll probably spook Bobby Lee; then these men out here will blow him out of his socks. You be sure and think about what you’re doing.”
“I am,” Victor gritted. He didn’t try to get out of the car. “Can you make this go away too? If I give you what you want?” If Tran didn’t kill him first.
Urlacher hesitated. Victor wouldn’t have believed the man if he’d just said yes like it was nothing.
“It’ll take some doing,” Urlacher said, “but I can convince the right people that what you’re going to tell us will be worth it.”
“Even after Bobby Lee killed them men?”
“It’ll be a tough sell,” Urlacher admitted. “But I’ve sold worse.”
Victor nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this.” He slid off the seat and stood beside the car. He raised his voice. “Bobby Lee, can you see me?”
Bobby Lee jerked his head around. His Confederate flag bandanna hung askew and allowed his hair to trickle down into his face. He looked worried and scared and lost.
Just like a kid, Victor realized.
“I can see you,” Bobby Lee said. “What are you doing with them?”
“They got me under arrest.” Victor smiled like it was all one big joke and he was just getting to the punch line. He turned slightly so that the handcuffs showed.
“Why?” Bobby Lee demanded. He looked more lost than ever. He kept turning his head from side to side, trying to take it all in.
“Bobby Lee,” Victor said, afraid he was going to lose him, “look at me.”
Bobby Lee settled a little.
“You’re gonna have to turn yourself in,” Victor said.
“No way.” Bobby Lee shook his head vigorously. “I ain’t going to prison. I got me a hostage. They’re gonna give me a car and a plane, or I’m gonna kill this girl.”
The ruby lights hung on to Bobby Lee’s head, face, and exposed shoulder like a clutch of predatory insects.
“That’s stupid talking,” Victor said. “I cut you a deal. They’re gonna let you go free.”
Thirty years and more of dealing with Tran, and Victor was going to burn that bridge in a heartbeat for a son he barely knew. It almost didn’t make sense, but blood was blood, and Bobby Lee was his boy.
“Don’t need you to cut me no deal,” Bobby Lee shouted back. “I’m gonna cut my own deal.”
“They ain’t gonna let you out of here, Son,” Victor said in the calmest voice he could manage. “They can’t. Goes against FBI rules.” He didn’t want to tell Bobby Lee they could kill him in an eye blink because that might unnerve him even more.
“You scared?” Bobby Lee asked.
The question startled Victor. “No. Why?”
“Because you ain’t never called me son before.”
Victor hadn’t, and he only then realized he’d called Bobby Lee that. But it had seemed so natural calling him that when he was trying to calm him down.
“Just give up the girl,” Victor said. “Put your weapon down. We’ll get through this just fine.”
Bobby Lee hesitated; then he shook his head again. “I can’t. I don’t want to go to prison.”
“You ain’t gonna go to no-”
“Shut up!” Bobby Lee roared. “I don’t know how they got you here to lie to me, but I ain’t gonna believe you! You ain’t never cared about me!” He pointed the pistol at Victor.
Not knowing what to do, Victor stood silent and helpless. His stomach turned sour, and bile burned the back of his throat.
“Get me a car!” Bobby Lee ordered. “Get me a car and a plane or I’m gonna kill her and kill as many of you as I can before you get me!” He fired three shots at the unmarked sedan where Victor stood.
The bullets smashed through the windshield and caromed off the top of the car. The federal agents ducked to cover. Victor never flinched, but he grew cold and still inside as he waited for the FBI to return fire.
“Hold your positions!” Urlacher ordered. “No one shoots!”
You’re a greedy man, Victor thought. Still wanting what I can give you. He watched the FBI agent from the corner of his eye, but his attention was focused on Bobby Lee.
“Get me that car!” Bobby Lee shouted.
Pride thrummed through Victor, but it was short-lived as he watched the big man with the dog slowly push himself to his feet behind Bobby Lee. Victor had clearly heard all three gunshots when Bobby Lee had shot the man at almost point-blank range. There was only one way the man was getting to his feet.
He’d been wearing a bulletproof vest.
And if he’d been wearing a bulletproof vest inside the tattoo shop, that meant he was some kind of cop.
“Bobby Lee!” Victor yelled. “Look out! Behind you!”
If Bobby Lee had turned instantly, if he’d trusted the warning, Victor knew he would have caught the big cop stone-cold. But he didn’t. He hesitated for just an instant, and by then it was too late.
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