Snow Blind - Lori G. Armstrong [134]
“Fuck.” He flipped the cover open. “Hello? Yessir. No. Everything is fine. We’re just getting a snack.”
A lie? Interesting.
“It’s a bad connection because we’re in the fuckin’
Sonic drive-thru. She wanted a banana shake. Yes, I’m paying. Hang on. She says she’ll call you back.”
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Click. He said, “Fuckin’ A.”
“What? Should I be worried?”
He grunted.
“You lied to your leader, Buzz.”
“Don’t fuckin’ remind me. I saw what Big Mike looked like, all right?”
“Martinez doesn’t know about us meeting Jimmer?”
“Nobody’s supposed to fuckin’ know. Especially not you. Turn left here.”
I bumped over the railroad tracks and slowed because the pavement ended. “Where to?”
“Straight up the hill and down the other side.”
Good thing I had four-wheel drive.
But the area at the bottom of the hill surprised me because it wasn’t out in the boondocks; it was its own mini-industrial region. An abandoned-looking section of town I’d never seen. With a junkyard. Metal buildings were scattered at odd intervals. We took another sharp right and stopped in the gravel parking lot between two buildings, where Jimmer stood in full winter camo. Whoa. No shotgun resting on his shoulder? No sign of Jimmer’s beloved Hummer either? Just a Bobcat and the backside of the salvage dump.
Buzz climbed out first. After the door slammed I shoved my gun in my jacket pocket and jumped out. Goddamn, it was cold out here. Spooky, too. Jimmer ambled up and said to Buzz, “We ain’t got a lot of time. Give me a breakdown.”
“Jackal hired an employee to take a shot at bossman 478
at his own place of business.”
“Ballsy, but stupid.”
“You heard what he did to her?”
“Why the fuck do you think I’m here? He oughta fuckin’ die for that alone,” Jimmer said.
Should I remind them I’d handled that situation on my own?
“You know what he done to his guard?”
“Yeah. The eyeball-slicing thing sounds nasty. So, if this is about retribution, I’m cool with helping out.” Jimmer’s face became placid, but his voice was pure steel. “But if it has to do with the missing product I’ve been hearing about, I ain’t gonna get involved. I’m a fence sitter, dig?”
Buzz nodded. “Bossman wants to be the triggerman, which is exactly why he shouldn’t be. Big Mike, Cal, Bucket, me, we’re all in agreement on this one.”
“You got a death wish?” Jimmer pushed closer to Buzz. “You’re going behind Martinez’s back? I never would’ve offered my help if I would’ve known he wasn’t in on it. What the fuck happens when he catches wind of it? He’s gonna go ballistic.”
They argued and circled each other, herding me against the truck behind them as they snapped and snarled like junkyard dogs.
“You’re safe. You don’t gotta follow the same rules as we do, Jimmer.”
“Neither do I,” I offered.
Buzz looked at me like I’d spoken Farsi.
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Jimmer snapped, “Jesus Christ, Jules, get in the fuckin’
truck. Tony’ll castrate me if he finds out you were here.”
“The last thing bossman needs is to look weak. I get that, okay? He’s gonna be on the warpath when he finds out what we done,” Buzz said. “But he don’t need to take chances just because he can. Nobody wants him in jail.”
They eyeballed each other.
The low rent industrial ghost town gave me the creeps. I half-expected the weird old cars to morph into some giant robotic monsters and chase us off. My breath puffed out as I fought off an unexpected surge of panic. This felt wrong. Really wrong. A little voice was telling me to get in my truck and gun it back to civilization. Before I could voice my paranoid thoughts,
Martinez’s Escalade barreled around the corner. I hadn’t heard him coming. Jimmer and Buzz said
“fuck” simultaneously and stepped in front of me. Martinez eased out the driver’s side, wearing his leg brace, Big Mike hot on his heels. Tony was mad as hell. Double fuck.
“Did I miss the invite to the Julie Collins fan club meeting?”
“It’s not—”
“Because that’s the only reason I can fathom you’d fucking lie to me about where you were going, Buzz.”
Buzz remained mute.
“Where’s the rest of my security team? Buying balloons and