“You’ve got my word. I will never arrest anyone or do anything if I think it will jeopardize your position. Once we haul you out of here it’s too late to change your mind. You could be looking at life in prison. You won’t be any good to your family in there.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate what you’re sayin’, but no, I’m still not turnin’ in my brothers.” He gave a weak smile, then added, “As they say, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time!”
Jack picked up the picture of Lance’s wife and children. “I’m no psychic, but I have a feeling that if you don’t cooperate, you’ll be a widower soon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you don’t cooperate, I’ll arrest you now and charge you with stealing the car. Considering your record, you’ll probably get about six months in jail. I’ll put in a good word for you so you’ll be out as soon as you’re eligible.”
“You’re only going to charge me with stealing the clunker?” Lance gave Jack a puzzled look.
“Later tonight,” continued Jack, “we’ll pick up Wizard and Rolly and charge them with attempted murder. They’ll end up getting life. Especially with the parole reports I’ll do on them.”
Lance gawked up from where he sat on the floor. “What do ya mean? You already know who they are? I tried to kill ya just as much as…” He stopped talking when he saw the grim smile creep across Jack’s face.
“You can’t! They’ll think I cut a deal with ya! That I gave ’em up to save myself!”
Jack nodded. “Life’s a bitch, ain’t it! Your own brothers, as you call ’em, will do you just like Lenny. Except with you, they’ll probably take it a bit more personal. I doubt they’d kill you as quickly as Lenny.”
Lance sat in a stunned silence, slowly shaking his head. Jack knelt down so they could look at the picture together.
“Nice family. Tell me, I’m curious to see what will happen. You know your bros better than I do. If we see to it you serve your time in protective custody, where they can’t get at you … what do you think they’ll do?”
“You fucking bastard! You know what they’ll do!”
“Oh, well,” said Jack, standing up. “What did you say? Live by the gun, die by the gun? Well I have one you can tell your family: If you fly with the crows, expect to get shot at.”
Lance’s face turned pasty white, and for the first time his trembling body betrayed his fear. He looked up and his voice quavered. “Okay, you guys win, but I gotta tell ya, you got someone on your side who’s talkin’. Someone big.”
Jack and Danny looked silently at each other for a moment, then Jack turned back to Lance. “We know there’s someone. Who is it?”
“I don’t know, man. I really don’t know.”
“Don’t give us that shit!” said Danny. “If you cooperate, you go all the way!”
“I am fuckin’ cooperating! Do you think I’m gonna fuck with you two, with what you’ll do if I lie? I really don’t know! Look at me, I’m shakin’ I’m so fuckin’ scared. If I knew who it was, I’d tell ya, just to make sure I stay alive! I told you I’d cooperate, and I will. I’m just sayin’ you better fuckin’ watch who you tell, ’cause I’m puttin’ my life in your hands!”
“We’ll be very selective on who knows,” said Jack.
“If you’re not, I’m dead.” He nodded toward the desk and asked, “Can I get up now and sit down?”
“Got a piece in your desk?” asked Jack.
Lance smiled briefly. “No, it’s not in my desk. It’s fastened in a holster under the drawer. I wasn’t gonna do you guys. I bet someone knows you’re here?”
Jack ignored the question as he retrieved the pistol from underneath the desk drawer. “Not a bad piece of hardware: 9 mm,” he said casually, before returning the pistol to where he had found it.
“You’re not takin’ it from me?” asked Lance.
“No, it would only inconvenience you until you got another one. We don’t want to change how you operate. We just want to be informed. So have a seat. We have a few questions.”
Lance got up off the floor, and after a few nervous glances at Jack and Danny, he pulled out the chair from the desk. He was careful to place his hands flat on top of the desk as he sat down. Jack sat on the edge of the desk, looking down at him, while holding the shotgun in one hand with the barrel pointing toward the ceiling. Danny stood to the side and held his weapon with both hands.
“So why, Lance? Why’d they try to kill me?”
“It wasn’t you! We thought you were a rat!”
“Who told you?”
“Wizard an’ Rolly. They have someone on the inside who lets them know what’s goin’ on. They call ’im The Suit. I don’t know his real name and have never seen him. He likes young broads. I heard Wizard and Rolly laughing about him one day. Does sort of a power trip on ’em. I think he uses a dog, too. Rolly used to handle the whores. I think that’s how they met the guy.”
Jack thought about Marcie. He became conscious that the bullet wound in his upper arm hurt and realized that his fist was clenched. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Lance continued, “This guy has been talkin’ for years, but except for maybe Damien, the rest of us don’t know who he is, just in case.”
“In case what?” asked Danny.
“In case you guys infiltrate the club somehow. Only a select few know what’s goin’ on.”
“Last week in the alley, how did Wizard and Rolly know what I looked like?” asked Jack.
“Wiz knew some bitch who knew you. Red’s her name. You must know her; she said you’d been buying from her.”
“I knew her.”
“She met us in a room at the BW about half an hour before we tried to do ya. She told us what you were wearing. Don’t think she could help ya now. Wiz had her pegged as a loose end. Said he was gonna take care of her.”
“She died of an overdose,” said Danny.
“I’m pretty sure Wizard gave it to her,” replied Lance.
“That’s what we figured,” said Jack. “How about Lenny? What happened with him?”
“It was the same way as you, except with Lenny, we didn’t have any problems. I drove. Wiz shot ’im with a .22. It was the middle of the day and people were around, so he used a potato for a silencer. Rolly carved him up after. If somehow he got past them and ran, then I was supposed to drive over him.” Lance looked at Jack. “Just like with you, except I didn’t expect ya to run toward me. I couldn’t drive over ya because that dumb, fat Rolly was right on your ass.”
“Does Wizard still have the gun?” asked Danny.
“Naw, he probably threw it in the ocean. He never keeps it once he’s done a job.”
“So tell me, Lance, who was it that blew up Crystal?” asked Jack.
“Crystal? Was that the whore on the freeway who tried to skip out?”
“Yes, that one,” said Jack, glancing at Danny. The knuckles on Danny’s hands turned white as he gripped the shotgun.
Lance took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Oh man, I just don’t know,” he mumbled, putting his elbows on the table and holding his head with his hands.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” yelled Danny.
“That’s not what I mean,” muttered Lance, shaking his head. “I just don’t know if I’m doin’ the right thing by talkin’. I didn’t mind about Lenny, ’cause I knew you had that one figured out, but…” His voice trailed off and there was silence as Lance grappled with his uncertainty.
Jack picked up the family picture. Lance eyed him nervously as he laid the picture down on the desk between Lance’s elbows. Lance looked down at his family. They disintegrated before his eyes as Jack smashed the butt of his shotgun into the glass. Splinters of glass sprayed out while other pieces tore into the faces on the portrait. Lance fell back in his chair. His eyes were wide and his mouth opened and closed. Fear and anger made him speechless.
Jack reached for the telephone and said to Danny, “I’m calling the office. We’ll have Wizard and Rolly arrested tonight.”
“It was Axle and Nails! Don’t call, man! I’m tellin’ ya, it was them!”