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“Nope. Just a night alone. I might have a slight drinking problem,” Dana answered, hoping the waitress caught on.
“Sad.” The guy sneered. “Make it a triple, beautiful. And put it on his tab.”
The server looked at Dana but he didn’t contradict, just nodded his head once. He didn’t want her at the table longer than she needed to be. “Sorry to interrupt your sad party for one, but I’m here to deliver a message.”
“Figured as much.” Dana looked unaffected. “May I ask who you are, or can I just call you errand boy?”
A flash of anger shone in the man’s eyes before he curved just the edges of his mouth. “I’d be careful if I were you. My name is Mack and my leniency only extends so far. Now, John said don’t hurt you… yet. Just to relay the message, so I’m going to try to do that, but don’t think I won’t drag your ass out of this cheap restaurant and pound you into the fucking concrete. We usually don’t like to make a public spectacle of ourselves, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’re safe just because there are others around.”
“We wouldn’t want that, now would we, Mack?” Dana said the man’s name like it tasted disgusting… it did. “So, what’s the message?”
“The Grossmans know Duke has been hired to bring them in. From my boss man to yours. Tell Duke to drop the case.” Mack held up his hand like Dana had opened his mouth to say something, but he hadn’t moved. “We don’t want to hurt you guys. My bosses know of Duke’s reputation. He always gets his man… some say he’s practically indestructible, but does he really want to test that myth? I doubt it. Our beef isn’t with you. All you guys gotta do is stay out of our way and big John is willing to generously compensate Duke.”
Dana could feel the heat of a powerful glare on him. He had to fight the urge to rub the back of his neck where the hair stood up. A feeling of bravery and brotherhood washed over him as he looked up into the eyes of Bradford King across the room, tucked behind the server’s station. The eye contact was brief but there. The alarms on their watches were silent but alerted the entire team to his location. They were used in emergencies, military ops team watches, which Ford was able to get through one of his many contacts. It didn’t typically take long for one of them to reach the other. But it felt amazing that Ford had gotten to him first, and in only six minutes.
“Stay out of the way of what?” Dana asked like he could care less.
“Our business,” Mack snarled.
The waitress brought his triple and Mack had it in his mouth and down his throat before she even left. Dana asked her for the check so Mack couldn’t order another and prolong this bullshit meeting.
“You got it?” Mack bit out.
“You didn’t say much, but the little that you did say… yeah, I got it.” Dana shrugged. Mack looked pissed but he smiled and stood, his silent goon next to him doing the same.
“Let us know.” Mack moved to Dana’s side of the table and slammed a card down in front of him. It was white card stock with ten digits on it. No name, no email, or other identifiers. “You got forty-eight hours.”
“That’s sure generous of you.”
Mack bent closer, inches from Dana’s face, and out of the corner of his eye Dana saw Ford push off the wall, ready to strike. Dana gave him a subtle signal letting him know he had this.
“You talk a good game, bounty hunter, but y’all are severely outnumbered and you know it. Your boss knows it. Do the right thing. No one wants this to get ugly. Take the money and walk.” Mack actually sounded like he wanted nothing but peace. Dana knew those kinds of men. Played you to make you trust them, then they stabbed you in the back… literally.
As they filed out the door and back into their vehicles, Ford finally came to the table. “You good?” were his only words.
“Yeah, man. I wasn’t sure what they were up to but they only had a message,” Dana responded, throwing a few bills on the table, including a considerable tip and standing to leave.
Ford followed him outside after they were sure the Grossmans’ men were gone. “I told the guys we had it under control, so no one else is coming. What was the message?”
“Hold on.” Dana had jogged to the end of the block and around the corner when Ford finally stopped him.
“Where are you going? Why are we running?” Ford frowned.
“I had someone with me when they showed up. I told him to run and hide.” Dana made his way back up the alley.
