“Bent for Hell found out their couriers were undercover DEA agents. They killed one and left the other for dead . . . at my doorstep.” Dreygon chuckled. “Griffin thought it would be a great practical joke leaving a dead federal agent outside my compound. But what he didn’t realize was that my granddaughter thinks she’s a goddamned saint who has to save every stray she finds.”
Tears streamed down Angel’s face.
My teeth clenched. “You fucking scumbag. Leave her out of this.”
The stale smell of weed circled around him as he came toe to toe with me. My fists rounded, which only made my two captors tighten their grips more. I waited for his knuckles to blow into my face but instead he grabbed my throat. “Anything that happens to her is your fault.” His fingers pushed into my neck and I struggled to breathe. “Just remember that as your brain is being splattered by a bullet.” He let go, and I sucked in air.
“Two of Griffin’s men are being held by the cops.” Dreygon looked around at the others. “One of them is Belkin, who saw this asshole the other night at Mickey’s. Griffin is blackmailing me. They haven’t talked yet. If they had, this place would already be swarming with feds and we’d all be in jail.” He pointed an angry finger at Angel. “Including you.”
Angel’s face was pale. She could barely stand on her own, but she lifted her chin defiantly. “I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
“No, because you’ve got yourself convinced that you are on the side of good and the rest of us are on the side of evil. But you’re part of this club whether you like it or not. And if we all go down then you go down too.” Dreygon sneered at her and continued. “As long as I pay Griffin every penny of profit from my arms deal, his guys will keep quiet.” He turned to me. “Just like you boys with badges, we clubs have a code of honor too. We watch each other’s backs when it comes to the cops.”
“Yeah, our code of honor doesn’t usually include blackmail and illegal arms deals.”
His chuckle grew angrier each time. “Still cocky even when you know your head’s about get a bullet. It’s too bad. If you hadn’t been a fucking narc, you would have been a great addition to the club.”
Angel wrenched free from Jericho’s grasp. “You can’t kill him. It will only make things worse,” she pleaded.
Dreygon’s laugh chilled the warm air.
“You boys tie him up. And tie him up good. You’ve both seen how tough he is.” He stepped toward me again and pretended to throw his fist at me. It was pissing him off that his approach hadn’t made me flinch yet. There was sand and grit in the deep crevices of his leathery skin as he pushed his face up to mine. “I guess this explains why you’re so damn good with a gun and your fists, huh?”
“We feds like to hit whatever we aim at. We’re not make-believe gunslingers like you idiots, just flashing your hardware around with no real talent for using it.”
He pulled his face away and then his fist flew into my jaw. A bone inside my face cracked and sent shockwaves of pain through me. With Gunner and Cash holding onto my arms, my face took the full impact of the hit. The buildings and the people blurred, but Angel’s scream was crystal clear. Cash and Gunner shook me so that I stood up straight.
I stretched my jaw but it only made the pain worse. “Assholes,” I muttered.
Dreygon pointed his gun at me again. “Shut the hell up, Narc, or I’ll shoot your head off right here.”
“Do it then,” I said. “Let’s get it the fuck over with already. Just get Angel out of here first.”
I knew that Angel was still absorbing the significance of my betrayal. She hated me now. She had to. But my love for her was still so strong the only thing that truly bothered me about dying was not being able to hold her in my arms again.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Boy? Have your blood splattered all over my compound. Then they’d finally have me, wouldn’t they?” With his weathered skin, earrings and sinister grin, he resembled a pirate about to send me off the plank. “Gunner, get him tied up and shove him into the truck. Then drive up the river as far as the truck will go. Shoot him in the head and dump him in the water. Hopefully his carcass will get stuck in some rocks and be lost forever.”
“No,” Angel cried. “You’re a monster. I wish you were dead.” Her words seemed to have no effect on him. He was a cold bastard.
“Not going to go to the electric chair for you, Dreygon,” Gunner said.
Dreygon turned to face him. “What the fuck did you just say?”