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“No idea.”
“The Leung brothers are looking for him.” Artyom shot him a worried glance. “They’re tight-lipped about why, but they’ve put out a bounty.”
Leung brothers were newer players in town, but they had come in with lots of money and muscle. If they wanted Burt, it wasn’t good. “Gambling debt?”
Artyom shook his head. “There’s no way it’s over gambling. It’s something else. Something bigger.”
“Bigger?” Danny didn’t like the sound of that. “Drugs? Like the ones conveniently found in Janie’s car?”
“Maybe,” Artyom said uncertainly. “What did Burt do for a living?”
“Some kind of IT work. Security analyst, I think, for the state.”
Artyom perked up. “That might be something.”
“Why?”
“I’ll be right back.” Artyom got up from the table and disappeared into another room. When he returned, he tossed a handful of Texas driver’s licenses on the table. “Look at these.”
Danny picked one up and scrutinized it. “This isn’t a fake.”
“Nope.” Artyom tucked back into his dinner. “That’s the real deal. Straight from DPS.”
“How?” Danny looked through the stack of licenses. “Where did you get them?”
“One of Chess’s employees had some trouble with identity theft. She found out it was one of her sons, and when she tossed his room, the lady found all of those. He wouldn’t tell her where he got them or how, but I tracked them back to the Leung brothers.”
Danny put the pieces together. “You think Burt was involved in this? Maybe he was using his connections at work to help the Leungs?”
“It makes sense, right? They’re looking for him. They're willing to pay money to get him back. He must have something they want, or he knows something that can cause them a lot of trouble.”
“Yeah,” Danny agreed, “with ICE and Homeland Security and the FBI and the Texas Rangers and any other law enforcement agency that wants a piece.” He flicked his thumbnail against the edge of a license. “What if they planted the drugs in Janie’s car to flush out Burt? Maybe they thought he would come out of hiding if his wife was taken to jail?” Another thought struck, this one more twisted and darker. “Or maybe they’re threatening the kids? With Janie in jail and Macy living in her car, the kids are with their grandmother. They’re vulnerable.”
“Easy to snatch,” Artyom agreed. “Easy to ransom—or worse.”
“I should go to Splendora.” Danny set aside the license.
“And do what? Sit outside the house until someone calls the police and you get hassled? Splendora is out of our control. We don’t have anyone on the payroll there. If you get picked up, I’ll be the one who has to get out of bed to come get you.”
“I can’t let those kids get hurt.”
“They won’t be.” Artyom shifted in his seat and retrieved his phone from his front pocket. “Which one of the idiots lost the emergency phone you left for Macy?”
“Boychenko said he gave it to Kir who gave it to Stas who swears he gave it back to Kir.”
Artyom snorted. “It was Kir. He’s a fucking mess when it comes to keeping track of things.” He lifted his phone to his ear. “Let’s hope he’s better at keeping track of kids. Do you have the address?”
Danny shook his head and texted Macy. She answered back a few seconds later with the address and a line of question marks. He promised to explain later and gave the information to Artyom who relayed it to Kir.
“Tomorrow,” Artyom said after he ended his call, “I’ll make it clear to everyone who needs to know that the family is under our protection. The Leungs don’t want trouble with us. They’ll leave the family alone.”
“I hope the lawyer Macy and Janie are seeing tomorrow has a plan for getting the kids back to Janie.”
“That’s the least of her worries. What about her job? Her nursing license? If she loses those, she won’t be able to provide for those kids. Which probably means your girlfriend won’t go to college,” Artyom remarked. “She’ll stay behind to help her stepmom take care of her brother and sisters.”
“I know,” Danny said glumly. “I have to do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Then you need to find Burt and fast,” Artyom instructed.
