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“Which gangs do you belong to in here, Karl?” asked Decker.
Stevens grinned. “Hell, I’m Switzerland, man. Neutral. Most guys in here are Hispanic, or they got his skin color.” He pointed at Mars. “Theybelong to the gangs, not the white guys. We’re in the minority.”
“You’re not the only white guy in here,” pointed out Lancaster. “Not by a long shot.”
“Well, most days it seems like I’m in the minority. We got to do something about that.” He grinned. “Take back our country.”
“How?Lock up more white guys?” said Mars.
Stevens’s lips curled back. “No. Just keep your kind out.”
“I was born here.”
“Ways around that,” said Stevens, with another smirk. “We done here?”
Lancaster said, “If you’re straight with us, Karl, we might be able to help you out.”
He glanced up at her, all attention now. “Help me out, how?”
“Your sentence? It has some flexibility.”
“I’ve done five on a ten to twenty. What can you do about that?”
“That depends on what you can do for us.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s always the same old shit with you people. I got to tell what I know, if anything, and then you tell me the deal, take it or leave it. What other businesses negotiate that way?”
Decker said, “This isn’t a business. This is you marking fewer years in here than you otherwise would.”
Stevens said, “I can lie and tell you anything you want. Then you cut me a sweetheart deal. How about that?”
“Lies don’t cut it. We need the truth, corroborated.”
“It happened a long time ago. How do you expect me to remember anything?” As soon as Stevens said this, his features tightened.
Decker said, “Whathappened a long time ago?” When Stevens didn’t answer, he added, “I thought you didn’t remember anything about Frankie Richards or Meryl Hawkins.”
“Just making conversation,” said Stevens uncomfortably, his swagger now gone.
Lancaster interjected, “You want to deal or not? We can leave right now, but we’ll be sure to note in the record how uncooperative you were. That way you go to the max twenty.”
Stevens lunged forward and might have leapt across the table but for his restraints. The look on his face was that of a snarling wild animal. “You screw me like that, bitch, and you’re gonna regret it. I didn’t ask for you to come here.”
“Is that right, Karl?” said Lancaster. “You got friends on the outside?”
“I got friends all over.”
“So where were your friends when your ass ended up in here?” She paused. “Some friends. Why do you think you owe them?”
“Who said anything about owing anybody?” he barked.
The guards made a move to step forward, but Decker waved them off. He said, “Because guys like you are a dime a dozen, and Mary and I have seen it all a hundred times. You got stupid and you got caught and your ‘friends’ ran away from you as fast as they could. The result: You’re in here and they’re not.”
“You got no idea who you’re dealing with.”
“Then tell us,” replied Decker. “I always like to know who’s on the opposing team.”
Stevens waved this off with a rattle of his shackles. “I’m just spouting, man. Just bullshit.”
