“It’s a very deep cut. We need to take him to Public.” Miss Gala stared up at King Kong who looked like he was about to throw up.
King Kong took deep breaths and forced himself not to be sick. “No Public. This will get the cops involved, and most of them know Danny. It will come right back to me. I don’t need that right now. You deal with it.”
“Okay. I’ll stitch it up, but he’ll be scarred for life.” Miss Gala continued to work.
“Danny? Danny, can you hear me?” King Kong asked as he bent over the couch, gazing down at his man.
Danny groaned and mumbled incoherently. Phil and Saddam stood by silently.
“King, look.” Miss Gala had her hands on Danny’s lips. “They glued his mouth shut.”
King Kong let off some curse words that caused the few strands of hair on Miss Gala’s head to stand straight up. “Those fools are dead!” He spat an expletive between each word.
“We’re lucky. It looks like superglue.” Miss Gala went into her bag of tricks and took out a bottle of nail polish remover. She used it to wet a cotton swab and applied it right on the glue covering Danny’s lips.
Danny groaned in pain when the acetone hit his injured lips.
“There’s something in his mouth,” Miss Gala said a few minutes later after freeing Danny’s lips. She used her fingers to take out a piece of paper and held it up to King.
King Kong grabbed the note. “There is only room for one,” he read aloud. His eyes flew to Phil and Saddam. “I guess Smooth Suave solved the puzzle.”
“So, the question is, what will he do next?” Phil had a big frown on his face. “You can bet Suave, Cobra, and Daddy Lizard won’t let this go. They didn’t kill Danny, which means they have something else up their sleeves. But what exactly?”
Chapter Seven
“Man, you are a genius.” Cobra slapped Suave on the back enthusiastically. “I couldn’t believe Danny spilled the beans like that.”
Suave grinned and shifted positions in his lawn chair. He crossed his legs and took a sip of his beer. “I knew Danny since we were kids. He was a coward then, and he’s a coward now. All of Danny’s power comes from the gorilla.”
Suave, Cobra, and Daddy Lizard laughed as they drank beers and smoked weed. They now had all the information they needed to bring King Kong to his knees.
“I still think we should have put out Danny’s lights.” Daddy Lizard’s face now held some concern. He wanted Suave to kill Danny when he was kidnapped. “He could be a problem later.”
“The man didn’t see our faces. We’re good.” Suave puffed on the spliff and blew smoke in the air. “Plus, I’m not scared of those fools,” he said, firing off a few F-bombs.
“Please don’t kill me. I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” Cobra mimicked Danny in a squeaky voice, his body trembling as if he had the chills.
Daddy Lizard spat out his drink as he roared with laughter, tears running down his face.
Cobra’s face became serious moments later. Fun time was over. It was time to talk business. “We need to put some men on the bar,” he remarked, referring to their headquarters where they conducted business. “That message to King Kong will no doubt reveal we knew he robbed us, and we had taken Danny. That idiot may try to hit some of our spots.”
“Get some workers on it now.” Suave nodded in agreement. “Tell them to shoot first and ask questions later.”
Cobra took his cell phone out of his pants pocket and proceeded to make the calls.
* * *
“Danny, how are you feeling, my brother?” King Kong took a seat in the white, padded accent chair by Danny’s bed. It was three days after the kidnapping, and King Kong stopped by Danny’s house to see how he was doing.
Danny’s face was still bandaged up like the Mummy. He groaned. “A lot of pain, man. But Miss Gala gave the wife some strong pain medication, and that’s helping a little.” Danny’s voice was very low, with his eyes shut tight as he lay propped up on two fluffy pillows in his king-sized bed. “I took a bad beating, King.”
King Kong nodded his head as if Danny could see him. Anxiety filled his eyes. What did Danny tell Suave? “So, did you see who took you?”
“Nah. Those cowards attacked me from the back, and then blindfolded me.”
“What did they want? Why did they say they grabbed you? What did you tell them, Danny?” King Kong jumped to his feet and began pacing.
Danny shifted restlessly on the bed and groaned as pain washed over his bruised body. “I didn’t tell them anything, King.” Danny opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with King Kong. “You think I would do something like that?” Danny began a coughing fit.
King Kong waited until Danny settled down. He could tell Danny was as nervous as a hen in a cockfight. The question was... Why? “You do know it was Suave, right? He sent us the same message we sent him.”
“I thought so at first. But when they didn’t ask me anything about the robbery, I figured I was wrong.” Danny glanced quickly at King Kong before looking away.
“See, what I can’t figure out is why these men kidnapped and beat you for nothing,” King Kong replied as he sat down again, pulling the chair closer to the bed. “Who knew about that message we planted on Suave’s men that we robbed, except Suave and his people?” King Kong leaned over the bed, his ugly face all twisted up in anger. “I am going to ask you again, what did you tell them, Danny?”
Danny swallowed hard. “They asked about our operation, but I didn’t tell them anything. Why do you think they
