Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
And wait.
Because my vicious, inhumane uncle always gets what he demands.
62
BRAD
* * *
I don’t think there’s ever been so many people in this office. All attention on me. It’s time to fill everyone in. “Has Higham gone?” I ask.
“Rose was seeing him out.” Goldie’s staring at the rug, pissed off.
“Nolan’s being held in a motel,” I tell them as Otto sets his laptop on the desk and turns it to face the room. The image of Nolan tied to a chair fills the screen. Proof of life. But he’s black and fucking blue. My teeth grit. “The X5 that Otto put a tracker on stopped at a shitty motel off the freeway near MIA.”
“I got this CCTV footage from Target’s parking lot,” Otto says as we all lean in and see the X5 driving through the lot, then soon after, a truck pulling a jet ski. I point at it. “That’s King. I expect he was driving this truck pulling that jet ski when he took Nolan from the boatyard.”
“Because no one would question a truck pulling a jet ski at the boatyard,” James grunts.
“Correct.” I drag my pointed finger to the X5. “That’s Sandy.” And then a Lexus comes into view. “And that there is Luis.”
“Fuck me,” Danny breathes.
Otto changes the screen, and we all watch two men dragging an unconscious body from the trunk of the X5 to a door. “King took Nolan from the container. Sandy has him now.” Thank the Lord for Otto. Quite honestly, I’m not sure how Danny and I got through our debased, criminal lives without his tech genius brain. “Nolan’s an insurance policy. We know Anya was working for Sandy. Anya knew Pearl and I were together, and she told Sandy, but King asked for Pearl intact, so we know Sandy hasn’t given King that information.”
“Wait,” Ringo says, a halting hand held up.
“Let me finish,” I say flatly, and he backs down.
“We also know King took up golf and got friendly with Bean to track down Pearl.”
“Or two-hundred-million-dollars,” Danny grunts.
“We know Anya bugged Danny’s phone and gave Sandy the cell numbers of our women. Sandy gave those numbers to King. We think Sandy tried to have Pearl abducted so he could use her as bait to ensure he gets what he wants from King. Guns. Because he doesn’t trust him.”
“So now can you wait?” Ringo’s hand comes up again. “And don’t tell me you’re not finished.”
“I’m not finished.”
“Tough. I need to know. Why the fuck wouldn’t Sandy tell King Pearl’s no longer a virgin? It’s the perfect way to turn King against us.”
“Because then she’s worthless to King,” Danny pipes up.
“Sandy needs King to have some skin in the game,” I go on. “Something worth having. No Pearl, no money, no skin. He needs King’s guns and can’t risk him leaving town without supplying them. Money is King’s prize, we are Sandy’s.” Fuck me, my head could fall off it’s so full.
“If money’s King’s prize, why the fuck isn’t he simply taking Sandy’s money for the guns?” Ringo asks.
And that’s the unanswered question. “It could be as simple as Sandy hasn’t got what King wants.” Two hundred million.
“Could be,” James muses, thoughtful. I’m not the only one doubting that.
“So this is the plan,” I say.
“Great,” Danny sings. “There’s a plan. And there I was worried we were going in blind.” He goes and lines up a dozen tumblers and tips a bottle, running it up and down the row of glasses a few times, haphazardly filling them. “Anyone want one?”
A collection of mumbled yeahs fill the room, and a flurry of bodies move in and claim a drink.
“The deal is two hundred million for Nolan, Pearl, and no guns for Sandy and Luis.” Many cheeks expand in disbelief, but not James’s and Danny’s. They remain thoughtful. “I don’t trust King to return Nolan in the exchange. Sandy has Nolan, and Sandy won’t release Nolan without getting his guns or us. King won’t supply the guns until he has his money from us. If he supplies the guns at all. There’s nothing to say he won’t fuck off once he’s got what he wants. Basically, no one trusts anyone, and they’re both covering their arses.”
“King’s trying to get what he wants without giving Sandy the guns?” Goldie asks.
“It’s looking like that, yes.”
“That’s good for us, right?”
You’d think so. “I’m not taking any chances. I don’t trust King.” I say quietly. “Chaka’s going to move in on the motel where Nolan is being kept at the same time I’m meeting King in a location yet to be agreed.” Because I’ve no doubt he’ll want to call those shots. “I’ll need you all to have my back if I need it. We have to let King think he’s in control. Where he wants to meet, I’ll meet him. What time he says, I’ll make it work. Any demands he makes, I’ll accept.” He won’t risk two hundred million for the sake of seeing Pearl. “I’ll transport the cash to a designated location. Again, King’s choice.”