“We can still dictate terms,” Jane said. “We put whatever demands we see fit on the table and see what he does? There’s no harm in trying to figure out what it is that they can offer us.”
Lester shook his head, but he wasn’t as angry as before. “I don’t know, Jane. I’ve spent my entire life living in that man’s shadow, and I’m not in the mood to get back underneath it now. I wanted to build a new life with you, just us, together. Anything we do with my father will be tainted by him. I know it will.”
Jane walked over to reach for her husband’s hand, and she could barely wrap her entire hand around one of his fingers. It was times like this she was always reminded how small she really was compared to him and the rest of the world. She was a petite woman, but she had a fire in her that was only matched by the man standing in front of her. It was time to harness that potential.
“You are better than him,” Jane said. “Better than him in every way. And if he even thinks of trying to double-cross us, we will shut him down. You’re not a boy anymore. He does not have any sway over what you do. And if he crosses you, then you will put him in his place. That is the greatest revenge you could ever take against him.”
“If we do this,” Lester said, “the moment he tries to pull any type of shit, we need to shut it down. All of us, including Danny.
Jane nodded. “Of course. We wouldn’t do it any other way.”
Once Danny returned from the woods, Jane and Lester brought him up to speed on their thoughts. It didn’t take much convincing for Danny, he had been a yes from the beginning, but Jane made sure Danny understood the conditions.
“No more sneaking around,” Jane said. “The fact that you didn’t tell us about this has eroded some of our trust. And trust is the only thing we have right now.”
Danny avoided Jane’s eyes, staring at the floor. “I didn’t know any other way to get you guys to meet with him.” When Danny finally looked up, he turned to his brother. “I know what he did to us. I was there through it all with you. But we’re not scared little boys anymore. We can make our own way now. And we can do that together.”
Now that everybody was on board, all Jane had to do was hammer out the specifics of their deal. Danny led them out into the woods, where they found Buford waiting.
Jane decided to allow Lester to lay down the law when it came to his father. It was important for him to make it clear what their boundaries were and who was in charge. And Jane knew this was a big confidence booster for Lester, which would help him in his relationship with his father.
“You don’t do anything without our say-so,” Lester said. “Anytime we tell you to do something, you do it immediately, no questions asked. We’re not here to create a partnership. You would be working for us, along with all of the men that you bring with you.”
Buford rubbed his jaw and nodded along. “I don’t have a problem with those conditions, but my guys might have some things to say about it.”
Jane rolled her eyes. “And what do think your ‘guys’ would object to?”
“I don’t know, but we could go and ask them,” Buford answered. “They’re not very far from here, and I know they would probably feel more comfortable meeting you all.” He stopped himself and then immediately turned to Lester. “If that’s okay with you, of course.”
Jane studied her husband. He was out of his element when it came to dealing with negotiations, and it seemed that Buford was well versed. He was playing Lester like a fiddle. But that was what Jane was here for, to help keep Lester on track.
“I think that would be fine,” Lester said, but even as he spoke, he turned back toward Jane and saw his wife shake her head, and then he quickly changed his tune. “But first, we need to make sure your people aren’t armed.”
“We only have a few weapons among us,” Buford said. “But we can set them aside in order to talk this through.”
Jane approached Lester's side and whispered in his ear, “I think they should come here.”
Jane thought that having Buford’s people be the ones to travel here would put them in a position of power. And if things turned south, they would have a quick retreat to the facility.
“Bring your guys here,” Lester said, parroting what Jane told in. “Then we will talk.”
Buford nodded and then disappeared into the woods.
“What do we do if they decide to get violent?” Lester asked. “If he has as many guys as he says he does, it wouldn’t take much for him to mow us down.”
“If they start getting out of hand, we’re close enough to the facility to call for backup,” Jane said.
“I thought the point of this was to make sure the facility didn’t know what we were doing,” Danny said.
“The point of this is to build a case against the Rikers and put us in a position of power,” Jane said. “It doesn’t matter how that happens. We need a common enemy. If your father decides to attack us at this point, then he becomes the common enemy. By the time the dust settles on what happened, it won’t matter who Buford was or his association with this family. We’ll have defended people against a very violent and vicious attack.”
“So either way, we end up on top,” Danny said.
“Yeah,” Lester said. “So long as we’re still alive to see the victory.”
When Buford finally returned with the rest of his people, Jane confirmed that Buford was at least telling the truth about the number of
