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“Not a thing,” he answered, leaning against the opposite wall.
Was anything ever going to be easy with these guys? “You realize that we’re all on your side, right? All we want is to help. Rafe put Jack in an untenable situation. It’s in all of our best interests to see that Jack makes it out of this alive.”
Johnny shrugged, not giving away much else. “Can’t help you.”
“Then what the fuck are you doing here?” I snapped, feeling the anger swell inside me. “You show up every day, you do the work, but you still don’t fucking trust us. And if you don’t trust us, what the fuck is all this for?”
His eye twitched slightly before he sat up, spreading his knees as he leaned on them heavily. With a glance over at Jason, I saw the uncertainty pass between them. I knew they wanted to be here. They showed up every fucking day, eager to find out whatever information they could on their teammate, though they didn’t share willingly. Rafe had essentially turned on them, forcing them into a situation where it was them versus him. That may not have been his intention, but that’s how it turned out in the end.
“Jack is…he’s not in a good place. I went out there to see him.”
“In Texas,” I finished, for those that didn’t know.
“Yeah. To fit the role he had to play, he started using before he went to prison. I’m pretty sure he was clean on the inside, but once he wasout…” He rubbed his hands together, clearly disturbed by whatever he saw when he went to Texas. “Someone broke into his house and he was too fucked up to know what was going on. They nearly got him.”
“Do we need to send a team out there?”
His eyes perked up at the offer. “Seriously?”
“Did you really think I was going to leave him out there on his own? Would I do that to anyone?”
He was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Jason and I would like to go out there.”
“And me,” Rae spoke up.
“No,” Johnny said, cutting her off immediately. “That’s a bad idea. I don’t want you wrapped up in this.”
“Too bad,” Rae retorted. “I can handle myself. And you need me there to gather information to take this asshole down.”
“By asshole, I sure as fuck hope you mean Gelbero.”
She smirked at him in her usual fashion. “Did you really think I meant Jack? I’ll get packed up and we can leave in an hour. It would be best if you could get us someplace to stay near Jack. I can set up cameras to monitor the neighborhood without drawing suspicion from everyone else.”
“Everyone in the neighborhood works for Gelbero,” Jason answered. “It’s not going to be easy to get something close by. He owns all that property.”
“Then we need a reason to buy a house from him,” Rae surmised.
“Through his contact,” Lock offered. “Another buyer looking to engrain himself in the community.”
“Nah,” Johnny shook his head. “From what I can tell, he doesn’t trust anyone. The men who broke into Jack’s house were sent by Gelbero. It was a test. He’s not going to allow a buyer that close to his guys.”
“Alright, we’ll work on finding you someplace close by. Get geared up to leave. Take whatever you need in supplies. We’ll contact local LEOs and make sure they know you’re coming.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Jason snapped. “You’re gonna get us killed. We need to go in covertly.”
“And I need to make sure that they don’t bust in on you with a no-knock warrant if you get tangled up in something. I’ll make sure it stays at the top. The last thing we need is a bunch of rookies on the police force blowing your cover. But they do need to know we’re there. If you’re going to fit into the community, you’re going to need a vehicle that blends in. Our minivans will stand out like a light in the middle of a fucking blackout.”
“I’ll talk to Duke,” Rae said, pushing out of her chair. “I think he has something in the garage that will work.”
“Good, and you’d better clear it with Duke before you leave. The last thing I need is him coming over here every day to find out what you’re doing.”
She barked out a laugh. “That’s funny, boss.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
She thrust her hand on her hip, glaring at me in a way that I knew meant she was going to kick my ass if I kept arguing with her. “I don’t ask anyone for permission to do my job. If Duke has a problem with it, he can call me, but this doesn’t concern you.”
The warning signs were all in front of me. I knew opening my mouth again would be dangerous, but I had to establish some level of authority here. I was her boss, even if she did rule everyone around her.
