AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He trailed Sean to an office that looked as if it had been furnished from the business section at Costco. Everything about the offices here looked staged. What were they trying so hard to hide?
“Listen, Danny,” Sean said as he unbuttoned his jacket and sat behind his desk, “if this is about my little visit with Macy a while ago—.”
“It’s not,” he interjected, taking a seat. Needless to say, he would be asking Macy about that later. “This is about Burt and his wife and the kids.”
Sean leaned back in his chair. “You understand that I cannot and will not tell you some of the more sensitive issues at play here. It’s our business, and I’m not about to give those details to our enemy.”
“We’re your enemy?” Danny asked, eyebrows raised.
“You’re not my friends,” Sean smoothly replied. “Your boss is the boss of this city—for now.”
Danny bristled but let that remark go. This wasn’t the time or place to argue. “I’m not here to discuss that. I’m only here to get information on Burt so I can find him.”
Sean smiled. “Interested in our bounty?”
“Sure, why not?” Danny shrugged. If there was money on Burt’s head, he could collect and use it to help Janie get back on her feet.
“Burt had a connection we needed.”
“His job doing computer security for the state?” Danny guessed that was the only useful connection that drunk gambler had.
“Yes. He refused to work with us so we bought his debt from Besian at a premium. We owned Burt, and he did what we wanted.”
Danny suddenly remembered the strange ID that Artyom had shown him. “IDs?”
Sean’s expression faltered. “How did you—?”
“I’ve seen some of them floating around out there. Not fake, but not real either.” Danny began to piece it together. “You used him to get stolen IDs from the state to use for trafficking or money laundering.”
“Well, let’s not get into the details of why we wanted them.” Sean waved his hand. “Let’s just say we found our partnership mutually beneficial.”
“Until?”
“I’m sure you’re aware of his drinking problem.”
“I am.”
“He fucked up at work and got fired. His bosses started digging into his access history there. We knew it was only a matter of time before they uncovered the thousands of IDs he had obtained for us. We decided to cut ties, but when we informed him that he hadn’t fulfilled his contract and still owed us a substantial amount of money, he tried to sell something that didn’t belong to him.”
“Drugs?”
“Yes.” Sean grimaced. “This mess with the wife wasn’t our intention. They were planted in Burt’s Toyota to get him back into our hands. We wanted him pulled over for the busted tail light and then hauled in for the drugs. We were going to apply some pressure while he was inside and then post his bail to get him back under our control.”
“But Janie had the car instead.”
“Yes, and I’m truly very sorry about her current predicament. If there was anything I could do—.”
“There is,” Danny interrupted. “If you could get to Burt inside the jail, you can also get your hands on those drugs they seized.”
The corner of Sean’s mouth lifted with amusement. “Are you proposing we rob the jail?”
“I’m proposing we do whatever it takes to get Janie out of this mess so she can get her kids back.”
“Even if I could get those drugs back, it won’t change anything.”
“If we exchange them for powder, it will. Janie’s lawyer will order that it be tested. It will come back negative for any drugs. She’ll get her kids back because the state will have no case for their removal. And, as a bonus, you get your heroin back to sell.”
“You know it’s not that simple.” Sean drummed his fingers on his desk. “But, to be fair, I did think that seeing his wife arrested and his kids taken would make Burt come out of hiding. He’s cold as fuck.”
