Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (47 page)

As I slid into the back of the car with Brett, he smiled at me as he ran a hand through his hair. “You have a piece?” he asked suddenly as the car pulled out.

I gulped and shook my head, immediately knowing what he was talking about. “No, but I don’t want one anyway,” I answered.

He made a scoffing sound and reached under his seat, pulling out a black duffle bag. Dread washed over me as he unzipped it, so far I had gotten away without having to touch one of those, but I guess tonight I wasn’t so lucky. He pulled open the bag and motioned for me to take one of the guns he had nestled inside it.

“Brett, really, I don’t want one,” I protested.

He shook his head firmly, his hard eyes telling me that it wasn’t really an offer, but an order.

“You’re coming to the front with me, you need to be armed,” he stated.

Front? Damn it.

I sighed and looked in the bag, seeing about ten guns in there, ranging in sizes from shotguns to small handguns. I shoved my hand in, picking up one of the smaller guns, a black handgun. I knew how they worked, I’d been taught how to use one but I’d never actually fired one at a real person.

Usually these were just carried for show, so that people wouldn’t think about a double cross, hopefully tonight would be no different.

Tonight Brett was meeting with the head of a rival syndicate from the next state. The Lazlo family had mob connections and were known everywhere across the US. Tonight they were trying to make various deals, drugs and guns mostly. They’d never met up before; Brett was hard-core, and well connected, but this guy that he was meeting with tonight, he was in a different league entirely.

Hopefully they’d be able to come to some sort of deal tonight; if they could then they would form a partnership of sorts, making Brett part of the largest crime syndicate in this side of the US. Brett was small time compared to this guy Dominic Lazlo and this was his shot to get in the major league.

“Why am I coming to the front? Doesn’t Ed usually do that?” I asked, not wanting to get that involved. I didn’t even want to be here, usually I would just stand at the back and look intimidating, but now it appeared that I would actually be involved in the talks too? This night sucked big time.

He rolled his eyes as if I’d said something stupid. “I need this guy to be impressed with me. Having my best man there looks good for me, I don’t think you understand the high regard you’re held in by your peers, Kid.”

I frowned, wishing this night was over with already. “But I’m not gonna be here from tomorrow, so what’s the point in me getting involved in anything?” I asked, shrugging.

His face turned hard. “Don’t mention that in front of Dominic. I haven’t told people you’re leaving, so as far as tonight goes, you’re on my team to stay,” he said fiercely. “I really want to form this partnership with him, if I do then my income will practically double overnight. Not only will I have all my usual customers, but I’ll have the ones that he can put my way too. It works both ways, people that usually come to me for guns and I’d tell them to find someone else, well, I’d pass them onto Dominic, and in return he’ll pass the boosts to me. I’ll also get the benefit of a reduced price supplier. He shifts more drugs and gets a bigger territory with people to do all the dirty work for him, and I get a higher profit margin. It’s a win-win situation.”

I nodded, it all sounded good and to be honest they’d both be crazy not to agree, there was no downsides to it really. “But what about when the orders come flooding in, and you have no one to fill them?” I asked curiously.

He frowned, sucking his teeth with his tongue. “I’ll sort something out. You never know, maybe you’ll be done trailing around the world quicker than expected, and you’ll want to come back to work. I could make it worth your while, if this deal goes through then I’ll double your boost fee, how about that?” he asked, looking at me hopefully.

I smiled apologetically. He’d tried everything to get me to stay, money, respect, more power within his organisation, threats of violence towards Ellie - that one didn’t go down very well with me so he apologised and took it back pretty quickly. But none of it was enough to get me to stay, I wanted out and after tonight, I was.

“I’d recommend you try and get Vincent on your team,” I suggested. That night that I worked with him, he was an incredible booster, he talked too much for my liking but I would definitely recommend the guy.

“Who’s Vincent?”

“Oh, right, Dodger,” I corrected when I realised that Brett probably didn’t even know his real name.

“Man, that has to be the worst nickname in the history of bad nicknames,” I muttered, shaking my head, laughing to myself.

Brett grinned and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, if it comes to it then I’ll talk to him. Maybe Ray could train up another little protégé for me too,” he mused, patting me on the knee. We lapsed into silence and I looked out of the tinted windows, watching the streets whizz past in a blur. My eyes were heavy; I could actually do with going to sleep right now instead of this.

“You know, I’m really sad that you’re leaving this life,” Brett stated seemingly out of nowhere.

I turned back to look at him to see a thoughtful expression on his face. “Yeah, but I never really wanted this life in the first place,” I muttered.

He nodded. “Your dad would have been proud of you getting out and starting over like this. He never really liked this life much either.” I looked at him curiously when he mentioned my dad. “He wanted out too but he wasn’t gonna get it, the person he worked for wouldn’t have let him go easily.”

“No?”

He shook his head. “No, he was too good at what he did; they wouldn’t have wanted to lose his talent from their team. You definitely got that from him. I’ll be sorry to see you go, and not just for your skills either,” he said, smiling affectionately at me. “I’ll actually miss you a lot.”

I squirmed a little on my seat, uncomfortable with the emotion that he seemed to be exuberating.

“I’ll miss you too, Brett.” That wasn’t actually a lie, he was a great guy and I’d always liked him - well, when he wasn’t threatening Ellie I liked him anyway. I’d miss a lot of the boys on the team; I counted them all as friends lately.

He smiled wistfully, fiddling with his buttons on his suit jacket. “I always thought you’d take over from me one day. I never had kids of my own, so I kind of always thought of you as my kid. If I had to hand my business to anyone, it’d be you.”

I laughed nervously. “I’m too good-looking to be your kid,” I joked, trying to break the intense mood.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. “And too conceited,” he added.

I chuckled. “And too smart.”

He raised one eyebrow, still grinning. “Don’t push it, I don’t like you that much,” he said, winking at me. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, holding it out to me. “I got you a little going away present.”

I took the paper cautiously, wondering what it was going to be. When I opened it up, I saw a bank account number and password written on there. I frowned. “What’s that?”

He smiled and shrugged. “I opened you an offshore bank account to help you get started with your girl. I know you always wanted your own car garage, well, there’s enough in there to help you buy one,” he answered, laughing.

I gasped, looking at him in shock. “Brett, I can’t take that,” I protested, holding the paper back to him again.

He shook his head and pushed my hand away, refusing to take it. “Kid, just take it and I hope it makes you happy.”

“I want to go straight, I don’t want to take this and owe you anything,” I countered, looking at him pleadingly. If I took that money then he’d always have a hold over me, I’d always be in his charge.

He made a scoffing sound. “There’s no strings attached. That’s yours, just take it and spend it on whatever you want. I know you want out, and I respect you for that. That’s a parting ways gift, kind of like severance pay,” he joked, winking at me playfully.

I opened my mouth to make another protest but the car pulled up into a workshop parking lot.

Immediately my business face snapped on, the deal came first, I could argue with him about the money after. I shoved the paper into the pocket of my jeans, smiling as my fingers brushed over Ellie’s panties that I’d confiscated earlier.

Brett sat forward in his seat, telling Ed to turn the car around and park near the door just in case. I looked out of the window; it looked like the other people were already here. There were four expensive looking cars parked even though it was half eleven at night now. Lights were already aglow in the workshop, casting an eerie glow over the parking lot. I spotted a couple of Brett’s guys getting out of their cars and heading over towards us, and another car pulled in behind us.

Brett looked at me and smiled. “Whatever you do, just don’t say you’re leaving, okay?” he instructed.

“Sure,” I agreed, trying to swallow my nerves. I’d never been to the front of a deal before, that meant I’d have to probably do a little talking too. The saying ‘fish out of water’ sprung to mind.

“Gonna put that away?” he asked, laughing as he nodded down at my hands.

I looked down curiously, only to see I was still holding the little handgun in my hands. I winced and nodded, scooting forward in my seat and shoving it down the back of my jeans, pulling my jacket down to cover it. Brett climbed out of the car, straightening his jacket as he spoke quietly with a couple of his guys. I climbed out and stood next to him. I forced my harder personality to take over, now wasn’t the time to start thinking about how much I didn’t want to be here, this was my last job as ‘Kid Cole’ so I might as well make it convincing.

“Mr Lazlo’s already inside, he has about eight men with him,” Wesley told Brett.

Brett nodded. “Then I’ll take eight too. Tell Rob and Enzo to stay outside.” He looked at me and nodded towards the workshop. “Let’s go make the deal of a lifetime then, Kid.”

As we walked into the workshop, I cast my eyes around quickly, taking in my surroundings, sussing out the unfamiliar people. A guy in his mid-forties sat at a wooden workbench in the middle of the room, his bald-shaven head glistened in the bright light. He stood up, smiling warmly at us as we headed in. He was wearing plain jeans and a pale blue Ralph Lauren polo shirt. He wasn’t even that tall, maybe about five foot eight, a little stocky. He didn’t look that intimidating at all, the complete opposite to what I imagined a mob boss to look like.

The guy next to him was obviously his son or family member because they looked exactly the same, just years apart. Six guys stood behind them, all wearing the same threatening, menacing expression. Now
they
were intimidating! As we all walked in, I could practically feel the tension in the air, the uncertainty and unease as everyone assessed each other with calculating eyes.

Brett spoke first. “Mr Lazlo, it’s nice to finally meet you,” he stated, strutting confidently into the room - which meant that I had to go with him because I was his wing-man for the night. I pulled my shoulders back, keeping my eyes trained for any sort of trouble, and followed Brett into the Lion’s den.

Talking, boring planning talking. My eyes were stinging from tiredness now but I couldn’t rub them like I wanted, instead I sat straight, keeping my face in a neutral position as Brett and Dominic argued over territories and percentages of profits. I was sat at the bench next to Brett. Dominic and his son were sitting opposite us as they discussed things that seemed to have taken hours already. I had to chime in a few times about boosting, how many cars were possible in one night, how many staff would be needed and things like that. Other than that I just had to sit there and look confident.

In reality, the most prominent thing on my mind was the gun that was digging into my back to the point of cutting into my skin. I desperately wanted to reach behind my back and pull it out, but I daren’t touch it in case the six guys that came with Dominic thought I was trying something. They were already watching everyone intently, fingers twitching as if waiting for one of us to make a move. Guess there was going to be no trust in this partnership.

Finally, things seemed to be wrapping up, Brett and Dominic were both smiling as things seemed to be getting ironed out. The more I listened, the more I realised just how good this deal was for Brett, he’d be turning over a hell of a lot more money from now on. Dominic knew a lot people that were willing to deal with Brett if he was affiliated with the Lazlos, he estimated that he could push at least one boost a week in Brett’s direction, big ones for overseas clients. Brett’s territory would expand considerably for dealing too by the sound of the talks.

Brett sat back in his chair and slapped me on the back, grinning. “That’s great then. I think this’ll all work out really well and will prove to be a lucrative partnership,” he announced.

Dominic smiled, nodding in agreement. “Absolutely, this has been a good meeting.” He turned to one of his guys and nodded. “The sampler?” The guy immediately stepped forward, setting a black leather briefcase on the workbench in front of Dominic, popping the catch. Dominic smiled and lifted the lid, turning the case to face us and I felt my insides squirm because I’d never seen so much cocaine all in one place.

Brett smiled, leaning forward in his chair with a glint in his eye. “Excellent. You mind if I try it?” he asked, pulling out a little knife from his pocket. Dominic waved his hand and shrugged, obviously giving the go ahead. I watched as Brett picked up one of the parcels, making a little cut in the side of the rectangular packet. He dug his finger in there to get a small amount then rubbed it on his gums, nodding appreciatively. “It’s definitely good quality,” he confirmed. He nodded to Ed who was hovering behind us, and Ed stepped forward with a black duffel bag, handing it to Brett.

I was mentally counting down the minutes now. This was almost over, once he paid there would just be some pleasantries and then I could finally go home and flop into bed. I glanced at my watch, it was almost two in the morning now, we’d been here for so long that my ass was starting to get numb.