Page 68 of Gray Area

“Hey Tim,” he says gently as he sinks down to crouch beside Tim. Slade has that way about him, and he turns whatever he possesses all the way up. “See, my brother Declan here thinks you’re lying, but he can’t communicate that with you because he’s got his rage face on. And when he gets that way, it doesn’t generally end well for the folks we are talking to. And we don’t want this to get out of hand, you know, right?” Tim nods in agreement at Slade. “Great, so if you have any information, nomatter how small, that you can tell us, well, that would really help you now.”

“Some guy came and asked if you lived there,” Tim finally says, glancing at me.

“Who was he?” Slade asks like a therapist, but Tim shakes his head. “You got more in there, buddy. I know you do,” Slade encourages him, but I can see that even he is getting pissed off with this guy.

“They didn’t say who they were,” he says.

Slade nods at him and looks away, then stands up suddenly and grabs Tim’s throat in his hand and squeezes. “This will seem like a fucking walk in the park if I walk out that door and leave you with them,” he says fiercely. “My brother’s girl was in that building; did you know that?”

Tim shakes his head as he wheezes in air, and Slade lets up a little. “I didn’t know they would light it.”

“Who?” Slade asks.

“They’ll kill me,” he wheezes.

I knock Slade aside and pick Tim up by his clothes and bring him to me. “I’m gonna fucking kill you, fucking slowly and painfully, if you don’t start flapping your fucking gums,” I say with my teeth clenched and throw him against the cement wall , and crumple to the ground.

I walk over to him and put my boot on his chest. “Who?” I ask.

“Said his name was Runge, Eric Runge,” he murmurs in between gasps.

“Did you hire him?”

“I told you his name—”

I kick Tim on the side of his chest, and he grunts out. “You better fucking answer me,” I say as I lift him up by his clothes and press him against the wall, holding him there. “Did you fucking hire him?”

“No.”

“Who then?”

“I don’t know,” he is barely able to groan out. He seems to be losing consciousness, and I can’t have that. So I grab my knife from my pocket, open the blade, and poke at Tim’s balls. His eyes pop open, adrenaline pumping through him now.

“What did he say?” I demand, my jaw pulsating as I clench the words out through my teeth.

“Came…to me,” he wheezes, needing a breath to get it out. “Asked…for Falco…told me…he’d fix my problems with you…to get out…”

I push the knife a couple of millimeters, and Tim livens up again. “Didn’t know…told me…to…get…fuck…out…or dead.”

I drop Tim and he falls in a heap on the floor.

“I don’t think he has any more to offer, Declan,” Slade says.

“Agreed,” Axel chimes in.

“Let’s get him out of here,” I say, and Axel calls some of our guys who come and take Tim out and dump him in a nearby alley. Axel uses a burner phone to call the police, and I tell the guys to make sure his wallet is on his chest so there is no confusion about who he is.

“Where was he?” I ask Axel.

“Family’s house in Brockton,” Axel replies.

I take that in and then I think about what he said. “You guys know anyone named Runge?” My brothers both shake their heads.

“Dad might know,” Slade says. “Sounds like he has it out for us, asking for Falco by name. Maybe he had some interaction with him recently, or a while ago.” He shrugs. “He’s the only other Falco to ask.”

I don’t want to bother or upset my dad, since he’d said the stress hadn’t been great for his MS. He’d gone for his steroid treatment and was definitely getting around better, but I don’t want to set him off and make him regress. But I need to figurethis shit out. Vivian almost died, and I need to make sure the threat is gone.

“Yeah, good thinking,” I praise, giving Slade a brotherly pat on the face.

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