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“I take it you’ve heard of him?” he said, grinning.
“Of course. Especially during his NFL days. I know that early in his football career, Terrence Jeffries was nicknamed the “Holy Terror” by sportscasters. Remember, I told you I was mostly raised by an older brother. Derek loved football and even played it in high school. Now I recall reading something about your friendship with the Holy Terror.”
“Yes, and now Terrence is a very successful businessman and is living in the Florida Keys. He’s happily married to Sherri, and they have three kids. He and I have been best friends for years. All the way back to elementary school. We even played football together when we were young. Mom refused to let me play in high school, thinking I would get banged up too badly or something.”
He paused and then added. “When I went to jail, it was Terrence’s dad who hired me a good attorney when the FBI tried claiming I was part of that gang and not an innocent bystander. Mom didn’t have the money to pay for one, and the court-appointed attorney acted as if trying to prove my innocence was a waste of her time. I had a clean record, had been a good student all through school, went to church regularly, and respected my elders. Yet that one night when I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, they tried to convince the jury I was a criminal who needed to be taken off the streets.”
He paused before adding. “The only reason I got five years instead of ten like those other guys is because of that tough-as-nails lawyer Mr. Jeffries hired for me. Seeing how well he did in the courtroom made me want to be an attorney one day. One who would fight for innocent people behind bars. And especially those headed to prison when they don’t belong there.”
“Sounds like both the FBI and law enforcement failed you, Locke. Should I believe I’m not the only one with a chip on my shoulder when it comes to the FBI?”
“Yes, you can believe that because it’s true. I owe Terrence and all of the Jeffries family ─ his dad, Mr. Orin; his older brother Duan; and even his kid sister Olivia ─ who we call Libby ─ a lot. They believed in my innocence and never gave up on me. Duan owns Peachtree Private Investigative Firm in Atlanta. They usually assist with all our cases. That’s the PI firm I told you that was knee-deep in the cases that Shogun and Macayle are working on.”
“It’s good that the two of your friendship lasted through everything,” she said.
“Yes. Even when I was locked up, he would visit me often at Glenworth. The other inmates treated me pretty damn well since they all knew Terrence and I were best friends. The warden let us watch all his games when he made the NFL. Those were special times and made those years of incarceration a little easier. Then there was Shogun and Macayle. The three of us bonded immediately.”
“Striker Jennings seems like a nice guy.”
“He is now, but he wasn’t always. Life did him wrong, and as far as I’m concerned, he had every reason to be bitter and rebellious while locked up. Thankfully, Shep helped curtail some of his negative energy. Now he’s married to Margo. They have a little boy and are doing well. I’m happy for them.”
“He calls you Danger.”
Locke chuckled. “Yes. A few of my surrogate brothers started that, and now it’s spread. Even Terrence does at times when I refer to him as Holy Terror. Danger is short for Dangerfield.” He paused and then asked. “What about you, Hollis? Do you have any close girlfriends?”
“No. Derek’s friends became mine. Because I hung around older guys a lot, most of the other girls’ parents didn’t see that as a good thing. After I lost my job with the FBI, and I didn’t feel like D.C. was the place for me anymore, I returned here. The timing was good, since Malik returned to Tampa after years of being in the military.”
After making the turn for the highway, she said, “I knew Derek would want me to be near Malik. Like you and the Holy Terror, Malik and Derek were best friends since they were kids. I consider him another brother, and he thinks of me as his little sister and admits he often finds me annoying at times.”
When the car got quiet, she broke the silence. “Why did you ask Karl if he knew of anyone wanting him dead besides Barcos’ men?”
“Just covering my bases. In our interview statement with Karl, he stated that Barcos warned him that a hit had been placed on him if it was proven their meeting wasn’t legit. For that reason, everyone automatically thinks what happened tonight with Nyla was retaliation by Barcos’ men.”
She nodded. “I would think so as well, since there was no reason for anyone not to believe Karl and Nyla weren’t together. Do you think differently?”
“I just don’t want to assume anything at this point.”
She nodded. “So, what’s the game plan for tomorrow? I noticed you still aren’t taking the detectives’ calls.”
“Nope. I decided to give them time to wonder about what happened. Someone leaked where Nyla was hiding, and they need to figure out who. They also need to find out the identity of the person who took over now that Barcos is out of the picture, and if he’s the one who ordered the hit on Nyla Roker…if she was the lone target or both if it was meant to be a double hit. There are a lot of things about this entire Barcos situation that don’t make sense to me.”
“What part?”
“First, the setup at the warehouse. I would think those fake FBI agents would have gotten all the information they could about Karl. If they had, they would have discovered he wasn’t working on the wrong side of the law anymore and hadn’t done so for years. He would have been the last person Barcos would assume would want to return to a life of crime.”
“Yes, but would Barcos know that?” Hollis countered. “What if Barcos’ men, the ones he depended on to tell him about Karl, intentionally provided him with the wrong information and Barcos believed them? As far as Barcos knew, Karl was still a loan shark. He didn’t have to know he wasn’t using the usual roughshod tactics. In other words, he might not have known Karl wasn’t ruthless like most loan sharks. But then I believe there were situations where Karl pretended to be. He might have even continued to move within criminal circles on occasion to maintain that reputation while quietly reinventing himself.”
She paused and then asked. “Are you thinking this whole thing was set up by Barcos’ men? And that they were the ones impersonating FBI agents?”
“That is a possibility. But what if those men were real FBI agents? I bet very little will be said about them after what happened tonight. Everyone will shift their focus to Barcos’ men.”
“You think that was an intentional move?”
“Could be,” he said. “But then you have to ask yourself why Barcos men would make it obvious they are the ones retaliating for his death. Even if Barcos warned Karl that they would. With Barcos dead and new leadership taking over, I would think the last thing they’d want to do is have the FBI round them all up and make arrests. If they were smart, they would scatter and then do a hit later after the dust settles.”
“Yes, but we might not be dealing with smart men, Locke.”
“For that syndicate to last that long and outsmart both local and federal law enforcement the way they have, meant someone in the group was smart. If it was just Barcos then maybe we are now dealing with a bunch of dummies after all.”
