Page 30 of Slice

He stayed to see if either one of them pulled a gun as they rang the doorbell and waited for an answer. He couldn’t see anything on them, but the woman had a puffy coat, which could be hiding something.

Once he heard Beth let them in, he walked into the hallway, then paused when Faith answered that she recognized the man as her previous neighbor. Slice waited to see how everything unfolded.

“I was surprised to hear you’d found a relative so quickly for LB. How did he come to be left?” Beth asked.

“Well, my sister isn’t well, and she had the boy and left him. I didn’t realize, or I would have taken him in.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Is she going to be okay?” Faith asked, turning as if to check on LB.

The woman pulled a gun and held it out toward Faith. “You don’t need to worry about that. Just give us the baby, and we’ll be on our way.”

War stepped out of the kitchen with a gun, the sight on, pointed at the woman.

“How about you put down your gun and I tell my guys not to fill you with some nasty bullet wounds?” War said. Slice leaned out and saw four red dots on her chest with two red dots on the man’s chest. Slice wasn’t in a position to fire because of crossfire.

The woman glanced at her chest and then held her gun up in the air, taking her finger off the trigger. Beth turned, disarmed her, and had her in cuffs in seconds. Cruise came from behind and slipped zip ties on the man. As their Enforcer, he had wanted to be in the house. War kept his gun on the man until he was secured. The red dots disappeared, and Slice assumed the guys outside were coming in.

“How about you tell us who you really are,” War said.

Slice walked out of the hallway. “The man lived in Apartment B previously,” Slice said. He wasn’t giving any more information about Faith identifying him because she already had a target on her back.

“Hmm, interesting. You must have known the woman, if she was your sister, was pregnant if you lived together. I’m just wondering where she is unless you’re her,” War said, staring at the woman.

“Hey, I just know him from the bar. He said someone had stolen his nephew and he needed someone to act like they were with DCFS. He said he’d pay me a thousand dollars. I needed the money,” she said.

“And that makes it okay to steal a child?” Winnie asked.

The woman stared at the floor. Slice wasn’t sure whether she was telling the truth or not.

War nudged the man’s legs with the toe of his boot. “Look at me.”

The man turned his face up to War.

“Do you know who I am?” War asked. Slice wanted to get in there and beat the answers out of the guy, but he trusted his President to lead them where they needed to go. What would have happened to Faith and the boys if she’d headed home without hearing the phone message?

“You’re the wannabe MC in town. Playing at being bikers,” the man said.

War chuckled, and a shiver went down Slice’s spine. Holy heck, he’d never seen this darker side of War. War squatted down in front of the guy.

“Wannabe MC? I agree that we’re not a one-percenter MC, but maybe you don’t know my background. Former military who was a police detective, but I left that life to come home and take over my father’s legacy at the MC. It coincided nicely with me being tired of seeing the criminals win, and I was tired of losing because I followed the rules. Now I don’t need to follow the rules. So, the question is, how much is your life worth to you?” War said.

Slice kept his eyes on the man. He squirmed a little and leaned back from War. War stood and shook his head.

“It’s your choice what happens next. Maybe a little time thinking about your issues will have you change your mind. Blindfold him and let him think about his life choices. You know how I want him kept,” War said, motioning to Cruise and also Bear, who’d come into the room during the questioning.

Cruise and Bear each grabbed an arm and lifted him off his feet, carrying him outside.

“Now what to do with you,” War said.

“I really didn’t know anything. I just needed the money,” she said, sniffling.

Beth leaned down, slid her finger under the woman’s chin, and tilted her face up.

“Answer me, what did you need the money for?” Beth questioned.

“I’m behind with my drug dealer. I needed a fix,” she said.

“Do you want to get clean, or do you want to stay the way you are?” Beth asked.

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