Page 95 of An Eye For Illusion

Me: Be there in ten.

I set down my burner phone and pull out my other cell phone that I keep in the car. I immediately call Donovan.

“Frankie just called. Vinny wants me to do a run with him.”

D curses over the line then blows out a heavy breath. “I’m assuming you are doing it.”

My eyebrows knit together, “Of course I’m fucking doing it. This is it, it’s what we need to put the nail in Vinny and Moore’s coffin.”

“Only if it’s not a setup to take you out, Colin,” D sounds frustrated and pissed.

“What choice do I have, D. What I have so far is a lot of talk around his fucking goons, but I don’t know where they are storing the product and neither do the police.”

“Where does Frankie want to meet you?” he asks.

“At the bar in 10 minutes.”

Donovan curses again and I hear rustling in the background. “Stall him. I will be right behind you.”

“You coming?”

“Of course I’m fucking coming, Colin. You are in over your head with these guys, but I won’t be where they can see me.”

I bristle at his lack of confidence in me. “I can fucking handle it, D.”

“Yeah, well I would rather you not end up dead. Make sure you stall him a bit at the bar and stay as visible as you can. I’ll have your back.”

“What if this shit goes sideways?”

“Then I’ll be there to take them out.”

There’s no time to waste as I make my way over to Donovan’s with all of the evidence, we need to end this once and for all. He calls on my way over.

“Damn that felt like it was too easy, bro.”

I feel an unsettling feeling in my gut about how that all went down but I got the information I needed. “Do you think it was a set up?”

“I don’t think so and if it was to take you out you would have never left that warehouse.”

My stomach flips at the thought of never seeing Jade again. “They must trust me then,” I say.

“They never trust anyone, Colin. Never.”

“I’m just glad I didn’t actually have to do the damn run,” I add.

“Yeah, you are one lucky son of bitch for sure. What happened? Honestly thought shit was about to go down when Frankie looked over at you after taking that call.”

“Dude, I know. I almost shit my pants, but he said that it was Vinny and that the deal was off.”

We were loading up in Frankie’s truck with the bricks of cocaine just as that call came in. “It was a new client, and they must have done something to spook Vinny enough to not want to go through with it,” I say.

The whole thing played out more perfectly than I could ever imagine. So perfect that it has me second guessing that it actually happened. That I actually got what we need.

“Did Frankie say anything to you when he dropped you back at your truck?” D asks.

“Nothing besides he would see me later.”

“Yeah, hopefully behind fucking bars. I’m pulling into my apartment complex. See you in a minute," Donovan says.

---