Blacktop Wasteland(60)

Beauregard didn’t say a word.

“Answer him,” Burning Man said.

“No,” he said.

Lazy got up and walked around behind Beauregard. He bent down and put his mouth near his ear.

“I asked around about you, boy. They say you could outrun the devil on the highway to Hell,” Lazy said. He straightened up. “But no matter how much I like your style, boys, and God knows y’all get points for style, I can’t let something like that slide. I mean, you stole from me and now I must be compensated,” Lazy said in a sing-song cadence. He sounded like a Baptist preacher during a tent revival.

He pointed at Wilbert. The big man left the room. He returned a few minutes later with five cereal boxes. He dumped the contents of the boxes onto the desk. Bundles of cash spilled across the desk like the bounty from a fall harvest.

“You boys must have had a good fence. Take your cuts and add them to what ol’ Ronnie had left, you must’ve gotten something like $700,000 on three million. That’s a good return,” Lazy said.

Beauregard and Quan glared at Ronnie. Lazy burst out laughing.

“Lawd, he shorted y’all? That’s a damn shame,” he said. He walked around to face them. “Now we got Ronnie and Jenny’s cut. Quan didn’t have enough to really bother with, but we took it anyway. Beauregard, you lucked out. I ain’t gonna have my boys roust your house looking for your slice. I suspect you ain’t dumb enough to keep it on you. And at this point it don’t really matter. Even if we had it all, y’all still be behind. Now if this was any day, y’all asses would be dead as the bacon I had for breakfast,” Lazy said.

He sat back down in his chair. Beauregard felt this was all building to a “but.” If he was gonna kill them, he wouldn’t have gathered them all together for a staff meeting. Lazy wanted something. He wanted it bad.

“However, God has smiled on you today. Yessir, you fellas done crossed my path at a time I have need of some boys with a special set of skills,” Lazy said. Beauregard recognized the line from some stupid action movie a few years back. “I know it seems impossible cuz I’m such a charming fella, but I’m having some problems with a boy from North Carolina. We having a disagreement about who runs what round these parts. And I got to give it to him, that boy been giving me all I can handle down there. But I’m gonna win. Cuz all he got is soldiers. I got family,” Lazy said. He nodded to his men. They nodded back.

“One of his soldiers got himself a nasty meth habit. Now as fate would have it, the boy he owes is one of mine. In exchange for his debt, the soldier told me a lil secret. His boss got a shipment coming through the Carolinas. A truckload of platinum that ain’t even supposed to be on this side of the country,” Lazy said. He held his hands out in supplication.

“This where you fellas come in. You gonna get that shipment for me. Now it ain’t gonna be easy. This ol’ boy got lots of firepower and he don’t give two tight fucks about showing it off. And if that soldier is right, this here shipment is a big deal for him. Losing it would hurt him something fierce. So, you know he gonna fight for it like a dog on a bone. But if you get it, well then, I’ll call us even,” Lazy said.

That’s a lie, Beauregard thought.

“How’s that sound, fellas? I guess y’all a part of the family now,” Lazy said.

“You got the route and the time? Do you know how many cars he got riding with the truck? You say he got firepower, so I’m gonna assume he got cars riding shotgun,” Beauregard said. He braced for the blow and this time it did come. A short rabbit punch right between his shoulder blades. He gripped the sides of the chair. A bolt of lightning ran down his back to his left thigh, but he didn’t fall.

“Honestly, that’s a good question, Beauregard. Really it is. But our family works like a real family. I’m your Daddy now. And you don’t speak unless I tell you to,” Lazy said.

He pulled on the backrest of the chair and leaned back until two of the legs came off the floor. He balanced there for a second before putting all four legs back on the ground.

“The other thing we don’t do in this family is run our mouths. We ride together, and we die together. And we never ever snitch on members of the family. Ever,” Lazy said. He ran a hand through his wild rat’s nest.

“Beauregard, you wanna guess which one of your partners gave you up? Jenny told us all about Ronnie and Quan, but she didn’t know shit about you. We wouldn’t have never found you if one of them hadn’t ran they mouth. I’ll give you a hint. It’s the same boy who been running his mouth at the strip club about how he had to drop some fool during a robbery,” Lazy said.

Beauregard didn’t respond. He didn’t need the hint. Ronnie might have been a cheat, but he wasn’t a snitch.

“Oh Jesus,” Quan moaned.

“I doubt you gonna see him,” Lazy said.

Billy pulled out his gun. A small black .38. He shot Quan in the face three times. Each report sounded like a cannon inside the small room. Beauregard felt warm droplets rain against the right side of his face. Quan slid out of the chair and collapsed onto his side. His head landed at Beauregard’s feet. Quan’s whole body shuddered. He let out one wet gasp, then was still.

“Goddamn, man!” Ronnie screamed. A ham-sized fist slammed into the side of his head. He went flying and landed against the desk. No one moved to pick him up this time.