Spark of Hope (MacKenny Brothers #3) - Kathleen Kelly Page 0,17
meet her for coffee, but at the last minute, Lola backed out. So, we had to improvise.”
“We?” we all say at once.
Ben pales and begins to stutter. “I-I miss-misspoke.”
Kyle charges him, knocking Ben and the chair to the floor, then he reaches down and picks him up, slamming him into the wall. With gritted teeth and death in his eyes, he asks, “Where is she?”
Ben begins to cry. It’s pitiful. His mouth opens, and drool runs down his chin as he shakes his head from side to side. “I-I can’t.”
Kyle shoves him hard once more, then steps back. With his eyes on Ben, he says, “He’s useless to us. Kill him.”
Kyle turns and stalks out the back door of the house. Ben looks from Sean to me, and his cries turn into wails as he slides down the wall into a crouching position, all the while shaking his head. “P-Please don’t. I can help. I can.”
Sean kneels in front of him. “We only want Lola. Tell us what we need to know, and I’ll see what I can do.” His voice is soft, understanding, and if you didn’t know him, you’d believe him. I’ve been around Sean long enough to know that it’s all a ploy. Ben Cartland isn’t going to make it to the next sunrise. Ben Cartland will lose his life soon.
“They took her to Tommy’s house.”
Sean nods and pats Ben’s upper arm. “That’s good. Real good. Where does Tommy live, and what’s his last name?”
“Tommy Lager. I can’t tell you his address, but I could show you?”
“You’re not fucking with us, are you, Ben?”
“N-No. I wouldn’t.”
Sean stands and walks out the back door, leaving me with Ben. I pick up the chair that he was in and sit backward with my arms dangling over the backrest. Ben uses his filthy T-shirt to wipe his face. I pull out my switchblade, opening and closing it while I stare down at his pathetic form.
He’s nothing like Lola. That woman has a set of brass balls on her, she doesn’t back down, and she wouldn’t roll over for anyone. I’ve observed her at gatherings give every female who so much as looked at Kyle a death glare, and once a guy charged Kyle from behind, and she swung a baseball bat at him. No fear. But she’s smart too. Since she’s been around, Kyle is more stable and thinks things through.
Not that he wasn’t a good leader before, but she made him better.
And most importantly, she’s one of us.
Lola might not be officially Kyle’s old lady, but we all know not to mess with her. She’s the only female allowed on the back of his bike and the only one in a good long while who’s warmed his bed.
Ben clears his throat. “They’re going to kill me, aren’t they?” I nod. “What if I help get Lola back?”
“You had your chance, and you fucked it up,” I reply in a bored tone as I continue to play with my knife.
“You could use me as bait to lure Tommy out of his house. I can be useful.”
“Did you know what was going down?”
“It’s the Rochas’ fault,” he replies as he curls up his lip, exposing his rotten teeth. “They gave us too much weight. We sold a lot of it. But we have expenses, too. And we got a taste for it. I mean, how stupid were they to trust us?”
“So, it’s the Rochas’ fault that you’re a junkie who got in too deep and didn’t pay them what you owe?”
Ben nods repeatedly. “Exactly!”
“How much do you owe?”
“Sixty K, which is a rip-off. They were bragging that in Columbia, you can get a kilo for five K.”
I fold my knife and put it away. “Yeah, but they have to process it, get it here, find people to sell it to, and that’s all a cost. It’s a business, Ben, and these guys kill to protect it and keep it flourishing. Did you know the Rocha family actually made it cheaper and purer to entice a whole new breed of junkies?” I stand and put the chair back under the table. “Nothing good comes from it. The beast ends up owning you and everyone you touch. I like my fixes to come short, fast, and non-addictive. The more you use, the more you need, and at a higher dose. It’s a fool's drug.”
“What do you know?” he sneers.
“Oh, Ben, we’re getting to know each other. The beast has claimed more than one