Page 122 of Goose

He lowered his hands. “What’s he going to do?”

“Same thing he’s done with my club,” Crip responded. “From time to time, he might want a mess cleaned up. Told me to bring you the word that he wants to meet.”

“I scanned those boxes, Boss,” Tito said. He looked at Crip. “How’d he track the money?’

“Motion-activated GPS,” Crip replied. “They don’t activate until they’re moving.”

Tito’s shoulders slumped. “Son-of-a-bitch.”

“So,” Crip said. “How close was he at the fifteen million mark?”

“Off by roughly eight,” Baker lied.

Crip smirked. “You fuckers don’t play around, do you?”

“Taking ten grand or ten million will get you the same prison sentence,” Baker said. “Just as well take as much as a man can get.”

“Amen to that,” Crip said.

“So, he’s not going to come nosing around?” Baker asked.

“Speaking from experience? He might. But he won’t make a habit of it. He said, at least for now, he’ll talk to me, I’ll talk to you, and you’ll have a meeting,” Crip said. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll report what I find to Brother Reno. He’ll be the pivot point. No offense.”

Crip looked at Ally. “You squeamish?”

“Not the last time I checked.”

He shifted his gaze back to Baker. “Have no idea where this is headed, but to give you an idea, this cop has had us take out a drug dealer or two. We keep the proceeds taken in the process. He’s cleaning up the streets one MS-13 member at a time. It’s possible that’s where this meeting’s headed.”

Baker lifted his head. “That’s not our specialty.”

Crip smirked. “Might know a fella or two that could guide you through it, but it’ll cost you.”

“I think we can afford to pay for a little expertise,” Baker responded.

“Your expertise brought me up the elevator,” Crip said, turning away. “All you need is a few more able bodies.” He raised his right hand in mock wave as he sauntered toward the door. “I’ll be in touch.”

With those words, he got on the elevator.

“Holy shit,” I said. “Did that just happen?”

Baker exhaled a mile-long breath. “It sure did.”

“I should have known they’d be motion-activated,” Tito said.

“I know enough to know that cop he’s talking about let’s them get away with murder,” Reno said. “Hell, that bank job was more than a month ago, He’s been looking into this and sitting on it for six weeks. That cop ain’t gonna do shit. He’s gonna use us for his dirty work, and that’ll be that.”

“My experience with that is this,” Baker said. “It never ends.”

I’d heard all I was willing to listen to. I felt slightly uneasy about us being under the thumb of a crooked cop. Reno had a good point, though. If he wanted to arrest us, he would have arrested us six weeks prior.

I tightened the laces of my boots, got Ally’s attention, and tilted my head toward the door. “I’m headed out fellas. Not going to sit here and bump my gums about the what-ifs. See you in two weeks. Sounds like we might be busy when I get back.”

Ally and I hugged our way out of there and got on the elevator together. When we reached the garage, we put on our helmets and I started the bike.

When Ally and I met, I laughed at her old-school approach to life. After being around her for several months, I realized most of the amenities that she’d relinquished weren’t, by any means, necessary.

I now felt like she was one step ahead of the population with her system of beliefs.

As the motorcycle’s engine was coming up to operating temperature, I walked to the trash can. After taking my phone out of my pocket, I paused.

I looked at Ally. “You ready to go on vacation?”

“I sure am.” Her eyes narrowed in wonder. “Are you?”

I tossed the phone in the trash. “I am now.”