Page 60 of Graveyards & Greed

Leaning forward, Drakos got close to his ear. “You probably won’t make it, especially if I stop applying pressure to your wound. You’ve got one chance to live. Talk to me. Besides, what fun is it to keep something like that a secret? Don’t you want to rub it in a little?”

The man suddenly looked young and scared as he lay there in a puddle of his own blood and piss. I wondered about his mother and if he had a girlfriend or any kids. Then he laughed, and my misplaced sympathy dissipated. “Alright, you stupid fuckers, I’ll tell you.”

“Shut the fuck up, Branson,” Buzz groaned.

Branson ignored him and kept talking. “Her old man who’s sittin’ in prison is one of the biggest drug traffickers around. He’s workin’ with the Stacks and he supplies OutKast. The fucker makes more money in prison than he ever did outside, and he asked LeBaron for a favor.” Branson coughed and groaned in pain.

My insides froze over. “What favor?”

“To fuck with the Spades and make his cunt of a daughter suffer.”

I kept my face neutral as something cracked inside me. My mind flashed back to when Luna and I bonded in elementary school, commiserating about our fathers as we ate soggy sandwiches and squished Oreo cookies under the metal slide at recess. We knew they weren’t like other fathers back then, but neither of us knew just how evil they were.

“Why does he want Sylvie to suffer?” Drakos asked calmly.

“He wants her dead for putting him in prison. Eventually.” The man tried to grin but ended up grimacing. Blood leaked from his nose and covered his teeth. I didn’t think he had long.

Sirens blared outside, and I crouched next to him. “What does LeBaron want? He wouldn’t go up against the House of Spades for nothing. What’s he getting out of this?”

“You’re gonna get us killed, you dumb little fucker!” Buzz yelled.

Branson stopped talking, and Drakos pushed into his wound, making him cry out. “What does he want?” he asked, his voice deadly quiet.

Then Drakos started to pull his jacket off the wound, and the young man lost his cockiness. “LeBaron plans to take over OutKast, and he wants a bigger cut of the drug trade.” Then he started crying.

I shook my head. “Oh, quit blubbering. You can’t come after a grandmother and a kid and not expect to get hurt.” Emergency personnel spilled out into the hallway and one knelt down beside the injured man. Drakos stepped back when one of the EMTs took over.

An older cop with a wrinkled face spotted Fennick and Drakos and grimaced. “Why am I not surprised to see you here? What the fuck happened now?”

Fenn grinned obnoxiously and finger waved. “Hello, Detective Reiner.”

The police officer turned to Drakos. “I have two months and three weeks. Can’t you keep a damn lid on it?”

While Drakos and Kilian dealt with the emergency personnel, I walked back into the apartment and got Trina and Camilla out of the bathroom. We went into Trina’s bedroom and they sat at the end of her bed.

“One is dead, and the other two are injured,” I told them. “We’re sending a cleanup crew to fix your door and take care of the, uh, mess we left in your hallway. I’m sorry about that.”

Trina held up her hand, and I walked over and took it, sitting down next to her.

“Thank you for coming to help us,” she whispered.

Sick guilt roiled in my stomach. “I need to tell you something, but you can’t breathe a word of it. It might get me killed or put you both in danger, but you have a right to know.”

They glanced at each other, and Trina nodded. “Okay.”

I exhaled and gazed at Camilla. “The man who attacked you is dead. I also think there were others involved, and I’m going to find them and make them fuckingpay.” I winced. “Sorry.” Trina didn’t like the f-bomb.

Camilla turned her face away as Trina patted my hand. “I am glad he is dead.Esta bien, you don’t know any better after growing up with those cousins of yours.”

My lip curled up. “That’s right, all my bad habits came from my cousins. Especially Fennick.” I gazed at Camilla. “This doesn’t change anything. I’m still coming back and dragging you to school and out of this apartment if you don’t do it on your own first. Let me know what you decide.”

A small spark of life lit in her eyes. “You can always try.”

I grinned at her. “I’ll do more than try.” Her sass gave me a little hope.

A couple of hours later, after we’d given statements to the police, we sat in Drakos’s loft, eating lunch and discussing our problem. Kilian called a crew in to replace Trina’s door and fix the bullet holes. They’d also need to clean up the blood in the hallway after the police investigation.

We ordered sandwiches for lunch while we decompressed and strategized. I picked up a cold French fry from my takeout container and pointed it at Fennick. “It feels like we've been playing whack-a-mole with those bastards. Every time we think we've beaten them off, another one pops up. This defensive crap isn't cutting it. Who knows what they'll try next?”

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