Dax
The last fucking thing I need is to go home to a pissed-off wife. This might not take a few hours, but I still bought myself some time.
It doesn’t take long to get to the county jail, a few towns outside of Shadow Cove. It’s a gray, unfriendly building, shrouded in the night sky. It sits on top of a hill, and I drive a sedan to the back of the building.
Preacher is in his van, and I note he has two laptops monitoring inside the jail. Ripley stands by the back door. I walk past him and follow the guard down to the prison's basement.
As we paid for, the cameras are off, and Paul Wolzki sits at a table, looking a bit rough. His chin is bruised, and his left eye is swollen shut.
I sit across from him. He swallows and looks around the room.
“I don’t know you,” he says, practically on the verge of tears.
“But I know all about you, Paul.” I hold out my hand. Ripley puts a folder in it. I place the pictures of him getting arrested and the cocaine found in his car. “And so do the cops. You have enough coke here to land you in jail for the next two decades.” I lean back and whistle. “And it’s not your first offense, is it?”
Paul closes his good eye shut, and tears slip out.
“But I’m not one to kick a man when he’s down.”
“What do you want?” he croaks.
“You’re going to give the police a bigger fish. You’re going to give them the Brennans.”
“They’ll kill me.”
“Hell, I’ll kill you.”
“He’ll killyou, Mr. Wolzki, but I’ll take out your entire fucking family.” I sigh when Steel Titan and his brother Stone enter the room. Stone follows behind his brother, and Steel drags a chair and drops his hefty weight on it. “Tell him, Stone.”
Stone, dressed in expensive khakis and a white button-down shirt, drops a folder on the table. He opens it and removes more than a dozen pictures of Paul, his wife, children, and extended family.
“Amelia. You’ve been with her for twelve years now, but you’ve cheated on her about six times. You even fucked her sister.” Paul inhales in shock. “She’s your second wife. First is Judy.” He takes out a short, stout woman standing on her front lawn smoking a cigarette. “And your weird as fuck son, Paul Jr.” Stone whistles. “Maybe I’ll kill him anyway because he’s a real incel. It’s a shame. Maybe if you spent more time with him and not—”
“Stone, you’re getting off track,” Steel chastises.
“I don’t like this guy,” Stone tells his brother. “Who sleeps with their wife’s sister? A man with no family values doesn’t deserve mercy.”
“I agree, but that’s not why we’re here, brother,” Steel admonishes.
Stone takes a deep breath before he continues. “My point, you piece of shit, is that I’ll take out every single member of your family, including your grandparents. I’ll annihilate your entire line. There will be no more little Wolzkis, and I’ll leave you for last.” Stone bends down and gets close to Paul’s ear. “And I’ll make it hurt. Maybe I’ll cut off your dick and send it to your wife’s sister. Give her something to remember you by.”
Paul begins to weep. Stone slams his hand on the table. “Shut up, now. All’s not lost. Give us what we want, and you and your family won’t meet a very violent and painful death. This isn’t about you, Mr. Wolzki.”
Paul weeps and shakes at the same time. Snot slides out of his nostrils, and he begins to choke.
“Keep crying like a bitch, and it will be your head I slam on this table next.” Stone straightens and smooths down his shirt. “I already can’t stand you, and you’re starting to piss me off.” He looks around and points at me. “Hunt. Talk to this clown. I’m done.”
I take a breath before speaking to the blubbering idiot in front of me, and wonder why spineless men like him get into this game. “Can you stop being a fucking pussy for a minute?” I snap. He does his best to shut up, but his soft cries still fill the room.
“You see? That’s why I can’t stand this fucking clown,” Stone grumbles.
“Tomorrow, a lawyer will visit you. You’ll tell him everything you know about the Brennans and their operation. They will make a deal with you, and you’ll accept it. You do that, you live.” As much as I hate this man, I put a reassuring hand on his trembling shoulder.
“Your entire family will,” Stone interjects.
“Now what?” I ask a couple of hours later in the rundown convenience store.
“Now, they get arrested, and we’ll take care of the rest. There will be no more Brennans,” Steel says.
