the uneasier he got. “You don’t have to worry,” he repeated as the older man stared at the untouched beer sitting in front of him. “I could tell from the questions that the task force is running in circles. They don’t have anything solid to tie me to the others. And, of course, they know nothing about you and Juan.” He thought that was worth mentioning. Johnny wasn’t the type to rat out the other members of the group. Hans should trust him on that.
But when the other man shifted his gaze from the bottle to him, trust wasn’t exactly the emotion Johnny read on his face. “You leavin’ anything out of the story, Johnny?”
“I told you every question they asked. Couple amateurs, which means we’re going to have to nail this cocksucker ourselves. McGuire couldn’t lead a bunch of Girl Scouts in a pissing contest, much less a task force.”
“He led the task force to you.” Deliberately the man picked up his beer. Drank.
Irate now, Johnny growled, “That was Giovanni’s fault. I just read the best way to deal with the situation and did damage control. I’m in front of this thing. I expected a little more support.”
“I’m sure you did.” There wasn’t a hint of friendliness in the other man’s gaze. “I’ll bet Jonas did, too.”
Shock kept him silent. Hans smiled. A chilling stretch of the lips. “I’ve been around long enough to have friends in lots of different districts. I hear things. Blew himself away with his own gun, but maybe you were there, too, huh? Convinced him to do it? What was the bullet in his chest for, insurance? You were afraid they might be able to pack his brains back together again?”
“That’s not the way it happened.” He couldn’t believe this. Hans never looked at him that way. Talked to him that way. He’d brought Johnny into the group. Groomed him for the position. “I just went over there to talk to him. Iron things out between us. He pulled out a gun and what was I supposed to do? I thought the motherfucker was going to kill me, so of course I drew on him. I didn’t figure he was going to blow his own brains out.” He pulled the folded-up sheets that he’d taken from Jonas’s home out of his pocket. Smoothed them out for Hans to read. “Look at this, he was going to fucking rat us all out. Take the easy way out for himself and leave us holding the bag. I didn’t go over there planning any of this, but I damned sure took care of it. The way I’ve always taken care of problems.”
“Yes.” For a moment Johnny thought finally Hans was seeing sense. Until he went on. “Exactly the way you’ve always taken care of problems. Use an elephant gun to kill a mosquito, that’s your fuckin’ motto.”
Johnny snatched up the papers, crumpled them in his fist. “Fuck you. Fuck you.” He was nearly trembling with rage. “Don’t you think the motherfucking Cop Killer would love this? To see us turning on each other? You gonna let that cocksucker win?”
Picking up the bottle, Hans took a long drink. Set it down and looked at it contemplatively. “No,” he finally said. “That’s not what I’m gonna do. But right now we have to be smart. There’s too much attention so we have to stop our outside business practices. As of now.”
Johnny’s jaw dropped. But he wasn’t given a chance to object. “How do you know you weren’t followed here? McGuire could have put a tail on you. That pulls me into things, you get that, right?” Hans shook his head. “It’s over. For all of us. We pull away from our associates. Cut all ties. With each other, too. The three of us.” He looked at Johnny and added, not unkindly, “They’re looking at you so you’re poison for me and Juan. Maybe it’s not fair, but that’s the hand we’re dealt. Don’t contact me again. Don’t contact either of us.”
He slid out of the bench seat of the booth. Turned and shuffled toward the back door. Johnny watched him in disbelief. Hans would come back. He never left a partial beer behind. He’d never leave Johnny behind.
But as the door closed after the man, and five minutes stretched into ten, Johnny was forced to admit Hans had done just that.