“Michael, wait!” Darius yells. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
“Shut the fuck up, you fucking bastard. I am not here to listen to anything you have to say. You had one job. One fucking job and that was to protect my wife! And you fucking helped them take her!”
“But I didn’t!” he yells.
“The fuck you didn’t. You led her right to them. You turned.” I narrow my eyes at him. “You know what we do to assholes who turn?” I taunt.
“Michael, no!”
“Fuck you, Darius! I’m gonna give you a little reprieve. Hell, if you cooperate, I can even make it quick and painless. And who knows, if I am really feeling generous, I may let you live!” I pause to let the hope I just dished out to him sink in. “Now, Darius, I’m gonna ask you one thing and one thing only, and all you have to do is give me a truthful answer. Got it?” I don’t give him a chance to reply before I holler, “Where the fuck is she?”
“I don’t know!” he yells back.
“The fuck you don’t. I swear, Darius, if you don’t start talking now, you’re gonna meet the bull. I’m done playing games. Where the fuck is Zaira?”
“They’ll kill me, Michael.”
“And you think I won’t! You smug asshole. You played us all. You played her, pretended to be her friend, her confidant… and then you betrayed her. How do you fucking sleep at night knowing what you did? She didn’t deserve this, but you didn’t care. What did they pay you, Darius?”
“I didn’t have a choice!” he yells. Now we’re getting somewhere. That’s an admission if I ever heard one.
“What the fuck do you mean you didn’t have a choice?”
“They offered to help me with my sister. She’s got cancer, and I couldn’t afford the treatments. They were going to help.”
“And you couldn’t come to me? You’ve been a part of this family long enough to know we would have helped you. Why didn’t you come to Ricco or me? If you had, this could have been a completely different scenario.”
“I didn’t think. Man, you have no idea how much her treatments cost. They approached me and offered to pay for everything. They promised—”
“Damn straight you didn’t think. And look where you are now.” I shake my head and ask again, “Now tell me where the fuck she is.”
He’s silent for longer than I care for.
“I’m sure you realize now you are dead either way. Zaira is innocent in all this, and you are the only link I have to finding her. Make your fucking miserable life worth something and save Zaira now.”
“She’s in Brooklyn. Four twenty-two Bedford Avenue, near Prospect Park.”
“Augie, Benny, you boys stay here and keep your eye on him. He stays alive unless you hear differently from me. Ricco, let’s go.”
We leave the shed, and Ice, Hawk, Rebel, and Spike follow. I turn back toward them. “I’m going to get her, now. You boys ready for this?”
“Oh, hell yes. We’re down!” Ice states.
I pull out my phone and text Vince.
We’ve got a lead on Zaira.
I’ll let you know if it pans out.
