Worth Any Risk

Ch. 30 To Hell If I Have To

*Cole

My instincts tell me that Brandon will be at home, sleeping, at this late hour in the morning. I make sure Jordan is standing behind me, just in case, and I ring the bell. Three times. Nice and long.

Wake-up, you sad sack of dung.

After a moment of silence, rustling and steps sound from inside the house. I ring again, tapping on bell. Cursing. A door banging, or Brandon kicking something.

A neighbor across the street glares at us as he picks up his newspaper. I nod and lift my chin in greeting.

Brandon throws open the door and squints into the light at me. "The hell you want? Why didn't you call me?"

I don't answer, but push through the door, forcing him back and into the living room. It stinks of old, oniony sweat, mildew and several day-old pizza.

Jordan follows, practically tripping on my heels. Brandon steps back in fear at the sight of her.

"Hey, we talked about what happened the other day, I said I was sorry."

"That's right. We talked." I stand still a moment, letting his fear takes its course on his system. He's shifty and tense, like a rabbit, suddenly face to face with a cat. He lunges for his phone on the coffee table, in between empty beer cans.

I grab him in a headlock, and swat the phone to the floor. "You never bothered to fucking apologize to the woman you punched. Did you think it was good enough to apologize to a man instead?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Jordan," he cries. "All right, I said it."

What does he think this is, a scuffle in the school yard? "And what you promised me."

"What did I promise you?"

Jordan scoffs. "See, Cole? He has no idea why we're here. He can't help us."

I adjust my arm around his neck, making sure it's nice and firm on his air passage. He's turning beet red, but he tries to play cool, as if this is a game.

"No, man, it's all good. What did you need? I've got everything, you know?" He waves at the back room as if we are here for some pot.

"Information on Trey."

He stops squirming. He knows I'm serious. "I said I could maybe find out some things, but you haven't given me any time. Hell, you didn't tell me what to find. Is there a reward or something?"

I tighten my hold and his hands claw at my arm.

"Cole, maybe you should let him go," Jordan says.

"Or else what? I might hurt him?" I pause to check his color. "I might accidentally kill him?"

"Cole, that's enough!" she says.

At the same time, Brandon gets frantic. He puts his weight into it, trying to pull me over or get in a good punch. I let him go, sending him back on his ass. I'm in his face again, instantly. "That's right, ass-wipe. I didn't promise any rewards, because there won't be one. I know that you know something."

"No." He wipes spittle from his mouth. "When he took off, he was on his own."

"I know that's not true. It's not easy to hide from the FBI when you are on a national wanted list for kidnapping, but it's a whole lot easier when someone makes you a very convincing fake I.D."

He stares up at me, breathing hard, hand frozen mid-wipe.

Jordan steps closer. "What do you mean fake I.D.? Where would he get that?"