“Speaking of the mutt, where is he?”
“He’s around. Nervous?”
Mallette actually was a bit nervous. He knew what that dog was capable of. And he was a little worried that Gunner was actually out there somewhere, waiting for him. It wouldn’t have surprised him if that were the case. He looked at Selby.
“Take a couple men and search the house. See if the dog’s there.”
“And if he’s not?” Selby asked.
“Then look outside. I wanna know if that dog is anywhere on this property.”
“And if he is?”
“Then kill it!”
Selby nodded, then motioned for a couple of the others to leave the room with him as they searched for the dog. As Mallette waited for word from them, he grabbed another chair, and set it up in front of Thrower. Then he sat down.
“So who might you be? You’re the mysterious tough guy who shows up everywhere with him, right?”
“Me?” Thrower asked. “No. No, I just work for the city sanitation department. I help take out the garbage.”
Mallette laughed. “You’re a funny guy, too, huh? You think you’re amusing?”
“Me? No.”
Mallette pointed at Jacobs. “Take a look at his face. You think you want similar treatment?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Well, you can. You can start off by telling me who you are. Maybe you can tell me where Franks and the dog are, huh?”
“Don’t know them,” Thrower replied. “I only go where he tells me. I’m just a hired gun, man. I don’t know anything about the behind-the-scenes stuff. I’ve heard him mention the names, but I don’t know where they are.”
Mallette nodded, looking like he didn’t believe a word he’d just heard. “So that’s what you’re going with, huh? You don’t know nothing?”
“It’s the truth. I can’t tell you what I don’t know. He just hired me to be his right hand, kind of.”
“Oh yeah? What’s he been paying you?”
“Five thousand a week?”
“Five thousand? He’s getting you cheap. I pay a lot more than that.”
“Really? You still hiring?”
“Why? Thinking of changing teams here?”
“Uh, yeah, it’s crossed my mind,” Thrower said. “Seems like the team I’m on is losing.”
“Lost. Not losing. Lost.”
“So how ‘bout it?”
Mallette grinned. “So you think I’d be able to trust you after all this? After you’ve helped the man I hate most in this life? After you’ve helped to kill men who’ve worked for me? You think I could trust you to be loyal after that?”
“Hey, nothing personal. It was just business.”
“Hmm. Well, maybe we could work something out, if you were to finally come clean and tell me your name.”
“The name’s Dave.”
“Dave, huh? What’s your last name?”
“Rogers. Dave Rogers.”
“I don’t suppose you have anything verifying your name, do you?”
“Oh, gee, I must’ve left my wallet in my other pants. If you wanna untie me, I’ll go get it and bring it back.”
Mallette laughed. “You’re an amusing guy, Dave. Where you from?”
“St. Louis.”
“St. Louis, huh? What are you doing here?”
“Told you. He hired me. It’s as simple as that.”
“I’ll tell you what, Dave. If you tell me where Franks and the dog are, I’ll let you go. You can just walk right out of here and go back to St. Louis like nothing ever happened.”
“OK. Just untie me and I’ll let you know.”
Mallette smiled and shook his head. “No. Information first.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly sure you’ll live up to your side of things.”
“What other choice do you have but to trust me? If you don’t, you will most certainly be dead anyway. So why not take the chance that I just might be telling you the truth?”
“I think I’d rather you just kill me.”
Mallette grunted, then angrily stood up. He walked toward the door again, putting his hand on the back of his head before turning around and facing his prisoners. “I’ll even sweeten the pot for you. Both of you. If either of you tell me where Franks and the dog are, I’ll let your dear Tiffany skate free of this. She’ll get a pass. If not, when I find her, if she’s with the others, I’ll kill her too.”
“I don’t believe you,” Jacobs said, his face turning red from the blood that covered it.
“I give you my word. All I want now are Franks and the dog. They are all that concerns me at this point. Once you’re gone, I don’t want to have to worry about them trying to avenge your death. The girl, she’ll move on to someone else. I don’t view her as a threat. The only reason for me to kill her is to cause you more pain. But if you’re already dead, that’s no longer an issue, is it? Just tell me where the others are.”
Mallette looked at Jacobs, who had a blank expression on his face that showed through the blood. Thrower just shrugged, at least as much as he could with being restrained.
“Nobody?” Mallette asked. He turned his attention to Jacobs specifically. “Don’t you love this girl? Don’t you care for her? Don’t you deeply care about her future? Because if you don’t tell me where Franks and the dog are, she’s not going to have one. Is that what you want for her? To go down with everyone else? I’m giving you the option to spare her life. Are you really just going to throw it away for a dog and a guy like Eddie Franks?”
With nobody responding, Mallette paced around the room for a few minutes, trying to figure out his next play. There really wasn’t one, though. If they weren’t going to tell him what he wanted to know, the only option left was to kill them. He wasn’t overly concerned about finding Franks on his own. It would’ve been easier if Jacobs had just told him, but if he had to do it the hard way, he
