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51
Jack
“So what’s the occasion?” I asked.
“The occasion?” Lou repeated. He was distracted by his cell phone as he read something on it. Then he smiled, put it in his pocket, and turned back to me. “The occasion is we need to discuss the events of the other night. Specifically those out on Highway 27.”
“Where you shot a Santa Muerte?”
“More specifically where you failed to shoot a Santa Muerte.”
I looked around the club. There were a lot of faces I could ordinarily count on as friendly, but even they were unhappy. If they looked me in the eyes at all, they glanced away just as quickly.
There were a lot more guys who were just downright pissed.
“We’re legit now,” I snarled. “We’re out of the murder and retaliation game.”
“Yeah… about that. It’s all well and good in theory, but when somebody guns down a brother, we don’t need to be hangin’ up on the cross. We need to be the ones pounding in the nails.” Lou stood up off the pool table. “In fact, we need to be gettin’ Old Testament on his ass. Eye for an eye, tooth for a fuckin’ tooth. He goddamn near killed one of ours, he should pay with his life.”
Murmurs of agreement around the room. I scanned for any signs of trouble, but there was nothing beyond the noises of agreement.
“He didn’t kill Benjy,” I pointed out.
Lou smirked. “That’s your fuckin’ argument?”
“You killed him. It wasn’t ‘eye for an eye’ – it was murder. And we’re not murderers anymore.”
“It’s not murder. It’s fuckin’ justice. Plain and simple.”
“We follow the law now. Plain and simple.”
“We don’t follow the law,” Lou scoffed. “We pick and choose. You know that.”
“We’re getting closer and closer to 100% legitimate. You know that.”
“Yeah… but I don’t want to be 100% legitimate. And I think I speak for a lot of brothers here who miss the good ol’ days.”
More murmurs of agreement.
“So what is this – a coup?” I asked angrily.
“More like a no-confidence vote.”
“About my refusal to murder a Santa Muerte.”
“No… there’s the whole issue of your protecting a mole, too.”
Suddenly the front door banged open, and I heard a scream.
Fiona.
The world spun crazily beneath my feet.
Then a gun jutted into the back of my head.
“Easy, easy,” a voice said soothingly. I couldn’t tell who it was, but he’d gotten me when I was distracted by Fiona.
I could tell it was a surprise to just about everybody else in the club, too. A lot of commotion, a lot of wildly looking around, a lot of swearing. A couple of guys seemed like they wanted to rush whoever was behind me, but I caught their eyes and shook my head ‘no.’
