Slade (The Protectors #6)(64)
“I’m sorry.” Jill took another drink, setting it down, then placed her hand on his arm. “You seem like a real great guy, wanting to do right.”
“Yeah, real great guy,” he snorted, draining another glass.
Jill couldn’t believe he was still able to talk after drinking so much. “What I don’t understand is where the VC Council is in all of this? Have you gone to them?” Okay, this was the big one; she just tossed out the big guns.
“I’m watched all the time because that bitch doesn’t trust me.” George frowned, fingering his glass. “This is the only place I can escape to, but I know someone is in the parking lot or nearby ready to follow me. If I even glance at anyone on the VC Council, I’m a dead man. She has a real hard-on for those guys. Plus from what I understand, she has a traitor high in the ranks there; that’s how all the paperwork and meetings went through to Washington without the Council ever knowing until it was too late.”
More cursing from every Warrior with a mic overwhelmed her hearing. George’s cussing brought her attention back to him.
“What in the hell am I telling you all this for.” George’s voice was shaky with fear. Small beads of sweat broke out across his forehead. Nervously, he grabbed a napkin, wiping the sweat from his brow.
“George,” Jill tried to break into his freak out.
“Jesus, I need to quit drinking.” George took another gulp of the drink the waitress kept filled. “I must be out of my damn mind telling you all that.”
“George!” Jill said with more force. When he stopped and looked at her, Jill gave him a comforting smile. “I’m a stripper and a half-breed. Even if I wanted to tell anyone anything, who would believe me,” she laughed, trying to calm him down.
He nodded, trying to gain control. “I’m afraid, with no way out.” He looked at her, his eyes turning serious. “You need to be careful, Lola. Alice hates your kind for some reason and will stop at nothing to get rid of all of you.”
Jill knew exactly why Alice hated her kind. Hell, Alice hated her the most and the feeling was more than mutual. “Have you been in their so called halfway house?”
A haunted look shadowed his eyes. “Yes, and do whatever you can to stay out of there. It’s a nightmare.”
“What do you mean?” Jill pushed. “Are they being mistreated?”
When he didn’t answer, Jill straightened up, trying her best to keep her anger at bay.
“Just stay away from there,” he warned. “I did my best to stop it, but I’m only one person and this is way bigger than me. She has hired a bunch of…well, I don’t know who they are, but they are a cruel looking bunch who does her dirty work.”
“I have friends in there,” Jill lied, but then again, she realized she may not be lying at all.
George looked at her with pity. “I’m sorry.” He sighed, “Really I am.”
Glancing at Damon and turning to take a peek a Duncan, Jill made a decision that probably wasn’t hers to make. Her eyes went back to Damon and he narrowed his eyes at her as if he knew exactly what she was about to do.
“Jill?” Slade’s voice filled her ear. “What are you doing?”
Ignoring his voice and Damon’s stare, Jill looked back at George. She better not be wrong on this, but so far, she had been dead on. “What happens if the Mayor and his fiancée go down? Do you take over as Mayor?”
His eye flashed to hers. “Yes, but−”
“Listen, I may know someone who can help you, but you have to help them.” Jill tried to read his reaction, but couldn’t. “Would you be willing, even knowing the risks? Do you really want to make a difference or is that just you talking through your Jack and Coke?”
“Son of a bitch!” Sloan shouted in her ear. “Jill, stand down. You do not have authority…”
Jill acted like she was fixing her hair, but pulled the small hearing device out of her ear. Glancing at Damon, who she could see better than Duncan, he leaned back in his chair rubbing his ear clearly indicating that Sloan was telling him to warn her to put it back in so he could bitch her out more. She opted not to do that. This time, Jill took a big swig of her drink; she was going to need it.
“There is no one who can help me,” George said, but held a glimmer of hope in his gaze.
“Actually, you’re wrong, but it’s your call.” Jill shrugged as if she couldn’t care less what he did. “I think it would be wonderful if someone actually stepped up against the Mayor and his fiancée, but unfortunately, proof is what they need and can’t get, but you can.”
He sat back in his chair, staring into the distance. Jill allowed him to soak it in. Hailey walked over at that moment. “Mr. Groper, is there something wrong?” She cast Jill a dark look. “I can get you another girl if you’d rather. Lola is new.”
George snapped out of his daze. “No, she’s absolutely fine. Thank you.”
“Oh, okay.” Hailey smiled first at George and then at Jill. “Just wanted to make sure my best customer was being treated fairly.”
Once she walked away, George turned to Jill. “You’re not really a stripper, are you?”
Knowing that even though she took out her earpiece and couldn’t hear anyone, they could all hear her. “No, I’m not.” She looked him in the eye. “But I do know someone who can help you.”