“Good to know your appetite for sex, drugs and rock and roll hasn’t changed.” That’s when I heard the click.
Shirley butted the head of her pistol against my back. “But you’ve changed Scar.”
Frozen, I put my hands up, laughing, “What is this? Some sex game of yours?
“I don’t play games.”
“I take it you don’t have my money.”
“Never planned on you killing the Armenian.” She snorted, “not when Kym got wind of the money involved.”
“But there’s no money and Kym tried to kill me?”
“No, I don’t have two pennies to rub together son! Yeah, I lied to you. It was for your own good anyhow. The Sons ain’t gonna hand Halley over, hundred grand or not. It’s a trap and you’ll turn a blood feud into all out war.”
“Why would you care about the Gods and our business?”
“You made it my business. It’s shameful. I thought I’d done you better than that. When did you start thinking you could have it all? Pigs get fat, but hogs get slaughtered boy. Thought I taught you some loyalty too. Coming to me is one thing. We’re family, not by blood but by the Gods. You went behind the General’s back. You’re a traitor.” She spat on the ground.
“You know you can’t kill me without the Wrath of the General. They’ll kill all your girls before you get a chance to rat me out. Hell, they’ll probably take some as prisoners. You don’t want that Shirley.”
“Nope, I don’t, but I could say Amun killed you.” Shirley took my gun from my holster as she’d said it. Fucking bitch. She poked me with her gun, making me walk forward and turn to face Luci and Little Ricky. They held down Emery between them, one covering her mouth and the other hugging her arms. She pointed my gun at Emery and had us both covered.
“Leave Anne out of this.”
“I don’t want to kill you Scar, but the Mutherfukers have come to collect.”
Luci apologized, “Hey man, sorry but Dirty Sanchez wants his money. Shirley seemed to think letting us haze her prospects, with our dicks, was enough payment but that wasn’t the deal.”
Shirley dug in my front pocket for my keys and threw them. Luci let go of Emery and caught them. “Go get the fifty grand outta that piece of shit Indian in the alley. Make sure to lock it up tight before you come back.”
“Alright, take the money and let the girl go,” I pleaded, buying some time, deciding if it was worth it. Without Shirley’s money, I’d have to acquire another fifty grand anyway. That wasn’t much worse than starting over. Emery’s money had just fallen into my lap. The clock was ticking. My deal would expire in a couple of months. My chance to set things straight was vanishing as Luci reached the door. Damn it, this was as close as I’d ever been. This time I actually begged, “Shirley, you know what that money means to me.”
“Scar, you’re good at breaking things, you don’t fix ‘em.” She jeered, “Besides, who says Halley won’t be happy being Serpiente’s young bride.”
“I’m going to rip that smile off your face soon as you let me go. Take the money, boys, I won’t come after you, just let me have a moment with The Banshee, alone.”
Luci opened the door. “No can do, our old friend here owes our president a lot of money. Fifty grand is just a drop in the bucket.”
Little Ricky added, “Yeah man, drugs don’t grow on trees.”
Shirley continued, “Like I was saying before you started groveling, I don’t want to kill you. You walk after they take Emery back to Manul.”
“Amun’s boss?” What the hell? Shirley knew Emery’s name all this time. What the fuck was going on?
“There’s a price on her head, one hundred thousand dollars.”
My head spun, and I stared a hole in Emery, Little Ricky’s hands still over her mouth.
“You didn’t know?” Shirley snickered. “All this time I thought you stole her from Amun, and she was your back up plan.”
“Emery?” as soon as I said her name, Little Ricky flopped to the floor. She’d put my blade in his kidneys. I turned, dunked just as Shirley fired. Kicking my feet out, I caught the back of her calf, knocking her feet out from under her. She fell to the ground, face first. Both guns slid across the floor away from me. Her head landed on the hard wood floor beside my knee but she wasn’t out. She bared her teeth, trying to get up. Emery snatched a pistol up and shot without warning. I covered my head and when I peeked out Shirley held her bloody shoulder in one hand as she crawled toward Emery. Her weapon trained on Shirley, Emery looked at me as she fired again. Before I could say don’t shoot, the bullet hit Shirley in the head, killing her instantly. Shocked, I bent down and closed her eyes.