“I promised your aunt,” I said, telling him part of the truth. “I told her I’d find you.”
“You did that.”
“My promises are all-inclusive. Finding you means keeping you safe.”
“I can keep myself safe.”
“Really? That why you’re hiding out here? That why you were hiding behind Malia’s door when I showed up?”
His chin dropped and he looked away from me, his jaw locked tight.
I sat down in the chair. “Linc, I’m not trying to embarrass you. But you’re in over your head right now. You’ve told me as much. I’ll clean it up. It’s what I do.”
He picked at his shoelaces, his head still hung. He looked like a puppy that wasn’t sure how to grow up.
“They killed my brother and my girlfriend,” he said quietly. “I’m not gonna let that go.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m telling you that I will take care of it. It’s better that way.”
He grunted and then looked up at me, confusion and frustration on his face. “What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
This was the part I didn’t know how to explain to him yet.
“I’m gonna put you someplace where no one can get to you,” I said, pulling out my cell phone.
He smirked. “Where? The Arctic Circle?”
I scrolled through the phone book, looking for the number I wanted. “A lot closer than that.”
The smirk changed to wariness. “Where?”
“Jail,” I said.
“What the fuck?” Linc said, leaping to his feet and knocking the phone out of my hand.
Lunging out of the chair, I caught Linc right in the sternum and shoved him backward. His head popped back when he hit the sofa and cracked against the wall. Before he had a chance to recover, I rolled him over onto his stomach and put my knee into his back. A holding cell was the safest place for him right now, even if he didn’t understand that.
“Linc, trust me,” I said
“Yeah, Linc. Trust the homeboy,” a voice said behind us.
I turned around.
Deacon and Wesley were standing in the doorway, each armed and smiling like they’d won the lottery.
Forty-one
Deacon jerked his head at Wesley. “Check the rest of the place.”
Wesley dutifully moved out of the room with his TEC-9 and disappeared into the back of the house.
“Bring it out,” Deacon said to me, fixing a massive handgun on me. “Slow.”
I moved off of Linc and reached around to my waistband, pulling out my Glock.
“Lay it down.”
I did.
He looked at Linc. “You been runnin’ from me, boy.”
Linc rolled over and stared at him, no fear or anger on his face. Just resolution.
“But you knew I’d catch you,” Deacon said, smiling at him. “One of my boys was watching your crib this morning, and damn if he don’t see some dude look just like you hauling ass outta there.” His smile got bigger. “Can’t nobody run from me.”
“Empty,” Wesley said, coming back into the room. “Some guns are back here, though.”
They were smart. Deacon stood by the front door and Wesley stood behind us. We were in the middle and cut off from any exit.
“I’m sorry about your sister,” I said, looking to buy a little time and try to throw him off track.
Rage bubbled up in his eyes. “Fuck you, you motherfucker. Don’t talk about my sister.”
“I tried to help her,” I said.
“Great fuckin’ job.”
“He tried to help her,” Linc said. “We both did.”
Deacon’s eyes shot fury in Linc’s direction. “You didn’t fuckin’ help my sister, you white cocksucker. It was your goddamn fault that she ended up like she did.”
“I didn’t want it that way,” Linc said. “I didn’t. I just wanted to be with her.”
“You are so fucked up, boy,” Deacon said. “I mean, so fucked up, okay? You think I was gonna let my sister date a little piece of shit like you? For real?”
Linc stayed quiet.
“She didn’t need you screwing her up, man,” Deacon continued. “She was gonna do something, alright? Get the fuck out of our ghetto house and do something with her life. But then you went and got all gigolo on her. And now she’s dead, motherfucker. Dead like you’re gonna be.”
Linc stared at the floor. “I loved her.”
Deacon took a step toward him, his muscles rigid. “What, motherfucker?”
“I loved her.”
Deacon shoved the barrel of the gun against Linc’s forehead. “Say it again, motherfucker. Say it again.”
“He loved her,” I said, trying to draw his attention.
Deacon moved the gun in my direction. “What the fuck you know?”
“They wanted to be together,” I said.
Deacon’s nostrils flared, his eyes ready to burst out of his head. “She ain’t here to love now, boy, is she? She gone and neither of y’all did shit to stop it.”
“Not true,” I said. “Think what you want. I’m sorry she’s dead. But Linc and I tried to prevent it.” I paused, weighing my words. “If anyone’s responsible, it’s you.”
Deacon took several slow steps back, looking at me in disbelief. “I know you didn’t just say that.”
“Those guys just swooped in and took her,” I said. “Come on, man. No one was looking out for her. You were sleepin’ on the job.”
Deacon shook his head, anger flooding his eyes. “No. Fuck you, man. This is your fault.”
“And what the hell, Deacon?” I continued, figuring I was already in deep. “You always wanna kill guys that date your sister? Maybe if you hadn’t shot his friend and acted like a maniac, Linc wouldn’t have had to hide from you and I wouldn’t have had to start looking for him.” I paused. “If he doesn’t have to hide from you, maybe Malia is left out of all this. And she’d be alive.”
Deacon’s hand clenched tighter on the gun. My words weren’t backing him off. He was looking for payback for his sister’s murder and he wasn’t going to stop until he got it.
“And bottom line,” I said, “neither of us pulled the trigger.”
He blinked and I thought maybe I’d gotten through to him, maybe hit on the tiny part of reason that was left in his mind.
But then it was gone.
“I don’t give a shit about none of that,” he said. “All I know is my sister’s dead and she was fine until you two motherfuckers showed up in her life.”
He had a point.
“Wizard give you the okay on this?” I asked, looking to buy some time. “On taking us out? I mean, I know you can’t do anything without his approval.”
Moreno walked slowly toward me, the gun aimed at the center of my forehead. He pressed the barrel into my skull.
“Listen up, you cocksucker,” he said quietly. “I can do whatever the fuck I want. You understand that?”
“Didn’t seem that way to me when I talked to Wizard,” I said evenly.
“Wizard don’t control me,” he said, his voice now rising. “No one does. Wizard’s in charge ’cause he likes all the business and shit. Thinks he’s some sort of professional dude.” He shook his head. “He just like the rest of us, just more of a pussy. That motherfucker doesn’t even remember what it’s like to put a bullet in anybody no more.
