With Dauntless Abandon

Chapter 28

"Wow,listen to you. It seems we are not so different after all. If you'renot at the address I will send you by noon tomorrow, Tris willknow the pain I inflicted on you your whole life. If you show up withcops, I'm going to throw your stupid baby in the river. Do not tryme, Tobias."

~~~

Willis sitting across from a young, African American male about eighteenyears old. His dark eyes stare defiantly at him, but he ignores theexpression. The boy has been caught with an unholy amount of productin the trunk of a car-probably an older brother or cousin's.Whoever the older kid is to him, he's in the interrogation roomacross the hall.

"Youknow, you can stare at me like that until your eyes fall out. Itwon't change anything about where you're going after this."

Silence.

"Youcan start talking and we can talk about keeping you out of gen pop."

Thedefiance flees the younger man's face.

"Yeah.You're eighteen now, kid. Juvie is out of the question, and whoeveryou work for is going to be very upset with you for losing all thatdope. What do you say, Fer?"

"Eh.I think he'll last three days."

"Fiftybucks says he takes a beatdown on the first."

"Onthe first day? Well he could be pretty unlucky."

"Wecan make sure he's pretty unlucky."

Theteen stares, his jaw still tight with defiance but his eyes slowlywidening with fear. His fists clench.

"Rightnow I bet your heart is racing," Fernando says casually. He isleaning against the door, one leg crossed in front of the other andhis arms folded over his chest. "You keeping your mouth shut isforcing you to breathe through your nose. It's a little harder thatway, isn't it? What made it so hard to breathe? The thought of who'llend up on top of you at night when your crew turns on you?"

Willsmoothes his expression into an understanding one. "Or maybe whatcould happen if you decide to help us out? Look, the last scenario wehave control over. We can keep you safe if you talk. You've got yourwhole life ahead of you, kid. Trust me when I say, not everyone thatdigs holes as deep as the one you're in right now is able to get out.What happens when you meet a sweet thing and you wanna settle down?What happens when you need a real job to take care of that girl-whatif she's your wife or your baby mama and she's looking over hershoulder all the time because of the game you're playing now? Don'truin your whole life."

Hisphone vibrates and he stands up without offering any apology orexcuse. When he closes the door, he frowns.

iMessagefrom Tris
Subject: SOS

Heopens the message quickly. Gray van. No windows. Four men withmasks. Lic plate started with '5J0' and is not an Illinois plate. Donot respond.

"Holyshit. Harrison!" He darts into the bullpen and bursts into hisboss's office. "Somebody has Tris-she was able to send me amessage. I need to get the feds and-"

"Calmdown, Shannon. I'll get them down here. You try to track her cell. Iwant a location on her as soon as possible. Also try to track downthat car."

"I'mon it."

~~~

Zekewatches his friend pace, and his own tension building. "Well-whatelse did he say?!"

"Hehas Uriah. He said he'd throw him in the river if I call the cops."

"That's...cold, man. To drown an innocent baby is fucking cold. What did hewant?"

"Hejust said he's sending me an address and that I need to meet himthere at noon."