Page 24 of Justice

“How did you get in here, and how…?” Taking a seat across from Tobias, his need for answers clouding his judgment to reach inside the cushion beside him and grab his gun.

“How do I know who you are?” Tobias finished for him, pushing the footrest to the floor, bringing his upper body forward.

“Yeah.” Marino knew better than to play stupid with this man, his reach was so much more powerful than any resource he had.

“Your old man and I have a history. He busted me and my employer a few years ago. In my line of work, you get to know all you can about those who place you behind bars.”

“You know he is dead, right? He can’t lock you or Hannigan up anymore, so I don’t see why you are here.”

Tobias leans back in his chair, the gun still firmly gripped in his hand and a cocky look on his face. The pair locks eyes, both knowing bits about the other, but neither sure enough to open up and share too much.

“That's because you’ve lost your focus. All this bullshit Campbell is doing, instead of the job Hannigan hired him to do, is filling up your mind, giving you too much confidence, quieting the voice in your head who questions everything and everyone.”

Marino hated how right the criminal across from him was. He had lost his focus and allowed too much to slip by him, which was the real reason he couldn’t locate the printing plates.

“And you're here because?”

A slow smile drifts across Tobias’s lips, the kind that sends chills up a man’s back and fear into the pit of his stomach.

“Because Hannigan’s patience has run out. He knows Campbell spent his money and not done as he was hired to do. He no longer cares about the million, he wants blood.”

“And what,” Marino scoffs, his cockiness returning with a vengeance. “You not up to the task?”

Placing the gun on the edge of the side table on his right, his eyes never leave Marino. “Son, I could have killed you before you closed the front door. I could have done the same to Campbell several times today alone, but that isn’t my style. I prefer to face the man before I take his life, give him something to tattle to Satan as he walks through the gates of hell.”

“You know, Tobias, there is a fine line between cocky and confident. From where I sit, you're straddling the edge between the two, a flaw that could get you killed.”

Tobias tosses his head back in laughter, “You cheeky bastard! You do know who I am.” All joviality vanishes from his face, as his cold eyes bore into Marino’s. “So you know how deadly I can be.”

Marino takes a deep breath. His knowledge of Tobias Marks includes his accuracy with the gun beside him, his ability to blend into his surroundings, making him lethal as fuck to his prey. He also knows the man has an IQ off the fucking charts, all combined making him a recipe for a natural born serial killer.

“What do you need from me?”

“Campbell has been waiting at the bar for a rogue named Hawk. He’s seen the bike sitting across the street and yet hasn’t made a move to come over and inquire. The way I figure it, he’s either still the arrogant bastard he was when Hannigan negotiated with him, or he has never met this Hawk.” Crossing his legs, resting the ankle of his boot on the opposite knee. “I’m betting on the latter.”

“No one has laid eyes on Hawk, everything we know is by word of mouth.”

“I’ve seen him,” Tobias’s voice rings with an air of truth in it. “Dead as fuck and, by this time, alligator shit down in central Florida. The Harley the three of you have been creaming your jeans over for the past few days is his, or at least it was. It now belongs to Hannigan, and he is allowing me to borrow it.”

“Still haven’t heard what you need from me?” Marino replies with an edge, his muscles straining under the pressure of appearing relaxed. His inner agent is screaming in victory, while the biker he has become wants to shoot this fuck in the head for killing a brother in arms.

“I need Campbell to believe I am Hawk, open his gates and let me in.”

“And if I refuse?”

Reaching over, Tobias picks up his gun from the table and stands to his full height, placing the gun in the small of his back.

“Then we expose who you are. I don’t need to tell you what happens to rats inside an MC.”

Marino stands, unwilling to allow Tobias to look down on him. “Fine, there is an open gate night tonight, an invitation to potential Prospects. I’ll introduce you, but the rest is on you to go any further.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

Justice crouchedbehind the rusted metal fence. She found a two-inch gap between the sheets of tin, gaining her a perfect view of the yard. She had searched for any signs of her sister but came up empty.

As the sun began to set, the rays bounced off the white letters of the salvage yard’s marquee, sending her back to the first time she came through the main gate. Red had told the girls of the successful business he ran, how he sold car parts at a discounted rate and gave them away to families in need, but lacked the funding. He promised her mother a life of leisure, and she and her sister a room full of toys and pretty dresses. He painted a picture of rainbows and unicorns, cloudless skies and pony rides.

Her mother, Lavender, had bought it all, every lie he fed her. By the time the truth came out, it was too late; the ring was on her mother’s finger, and all their assets had been signed over to Red. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, her mother went from a mom who ironed every strip of clothing they wore and with a hot meal on the table three times a day, to a woman who no longer recognized her children’s faces and struggled to brush her own hair. The day he parked their car under the sign, was the day the unicorn lost its horn, the toys disappeared, and the skies opened, raining fire and brimstone.

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