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The thought screeched to a halt when he remembered where he’d seen the bastard. How the hell had he forgotten about the guys doing a drug deal near his SUV minutes before the shooting? This was one of the guys. After things went down, he had walked in the opposite direction while the other two guys had crossed the street.
Laz’s heart rate amped, and he felt Parker shuffle across from him as if sensing something was going on with Laz.
Stay calm. Don’t react. Don’t fuck this up, he told himself, but it was taking every shred of control to not lift his hand, aim his gun, and blow the man’s fucking brains out. Instead, Laz inhaled, exhaled, and willed himself to relax. When he felt some semblance of calm, he nudged the side of the guy’s leg. After a couple of attempts, Benny stirred. His eyes opened slowly, but it didn’t seem like he realized he had company.
Laz put his gun against the man’s head, and he heard Parker groan before he turned on the lamp on the table next to the chair. Benny stiffened for a second, then started to lunge for the gun he thought was still on the table.
“Don’t even think about moving. Your ass thought you could shoot at me and get away with it? Not in this lifetime. Now you’re going to answer some questions.”
“I ain’t telling you shit,” the guy spat, trying to sound like he wasn’t about to piss his pants.
His words might’ve sounded fearless, but Laz could feel him trembling. According to the brief dossier that Ashton had texted him an hour ago, the kid had just turned twenty-one. His father was unknown, and his mother was serving five years in prison for assault and battery. Benny had been living with his grandfather since then.
“Well, you either tell me what I want to know, or your grandfather is a dead man,” Laz said simply, not missing the way Parker had narrowed his eyes at him.
“Leave him out of this,” Baldy said in a rush.
“I guess that means you’re ready to talk.”
The kid didn’t respond, and Laz took that as him being ready to cooperate.
“Why did you target me?” he asked.
When the kid didn’t respond, Laz cocked his gun. He didn’t want to kill the stupid punk, but….
“Start talking; otherwise, your grandfather will be the least of your troubles,” Parker said. “Whoever sent you after my friend here should’ve warned you that he was crazy. I’ve stopped him from just outright shooting you, but now you’re on your own.”
The kid didn’t respond, but the pace of his breathing increased, and the throbbing vein on the side of his forehead was more pronounced.
“Who sent you after me?” Laz had a feeling that this wasn’t something Baldy or the other guy came up with by themselves. He’d had no dealings with either of them in the past.
“I don’t know,” Baldy said, anger lacing his words.
Laz huffed out a breath. “You know what, I’m done being nice. Your ass either start talking, or I’m going to—”
“I’m telling you. I don’t know!” Baldy snapped as if he’d forgotten there was a gun pointed at his head. “We got a call, and the deal was to take you out when we got the signal, a text message. I don’t know who the person is that called because they used something to make their voice sound mechanical.”
“Where’s the phone?” Laz asked, glancing around the space, but a phone wasn’t in sight.
“It was a burner, and we dumped it.”
“Where?” Parker asked. When the guy didn’t respond, Parker thumped him hard on the side of the head, and Benny jerked. “I said, where did you dump it?”
Laz listened impatiently to the tale of how this mysterious person communicated with them the day before the shooting. Whoever set the wheels in motion on the hit had thought it through—except for the part of Laz surviving.
“You don’t know if it was a man or a woman?” Parker asked.
“No, and I’m telling you the truth. They didn’t give us a name.”
“How much did they pay you?” Laz asked. This would give him an idea of the socio-economic status of the person behind the hit. “And were you supposed to kill me?”
“Five thousand dollars and yes,” the kid said with a sigh.
“What was supposed to happen if you failed? Did you get paid?”
“Yeah. After it was done…or was supposed to be done, we called the number that he gave us.”
“He?” Laz and Parker said at the same time.
