The Competition - [94]

“Fuck,” Jax said. “I don’t know. Kind of medium. Not tall like that other dude.”

“What about his hair?”

Jax stiffened. “Man, I don’ know. Dude wore, like, a baseball cap and shades.” He peered at Shane. “What’s with all the questions?”

Shane was doing a hell of a nice of job of this, but Jax was getting suspicious. And pissed. If Shane didn’t pull the plug soon, this could turn very ugly, very fast. There was a trunkload of weapons in that Escalade, and Jax was just steps away from it.

“Just making sure who it is, ’cause the dude owes me, and now it looks like he’s in the wind. I don’t put up with assholes like that. You got any plans to meet up with him again?”

“No.” Jax was getting edgier and edgier.

“You remember his ride? ’Cause I find this guy, I’m gonna fuck it up.”

Jax stubbed the ground with the toe of his boot. “Some old junker. Chevy, I think.” He turned back and moved toward the rear door of the Escalade. Shane needed to get out of this fast and let us take over. Before Jax put his hands on the guns. “Let’s get this done. I got to be someplace.”

Jax opened the rear door. This was it. I pushed Luis’s cell number and punched in 5-our code to move in fast. Within seconds, Jax was surrounded by three of the biggest, meanest-looking Hispanic guys I’d ever seen, plus Luis. And all of them were pointing nine millimeters. I thought I recognized one of the guys from my kidnapping, but it might’ve just been the size. And did I mention the meanness?

Jax raised his hands high into the air, and I noticed they were shaking. Then I saw a stain spread around the crotch of his pants. Bad day to wear khakis. He looked at Luis, and in a trembling voice, asked, “Who the fuck are you?”

Luis smiled. “Friend of a friend.”

Jax’s eyes were wide with fear. “Carlos?”

Bailey, Todd, and I stepped out from behind the rocks with our guns drawn, Bailey in the lead. “No,” she said. She whipped out her badge and it flashed in the moonlight. “Police. You’re under arrest.”

Jax dropped to his knees, hands still high in the air, and sobbed. “Oh, Dios mío, thank God.”

61

While Todd put in a call to the local police, I walked Luis and company to their car.

“You guys were perfect, Luis,” I said. “Thanks.”

He blew out a disgusted breath. “For what? We din’t do nuthin’.” He muttered to himself. “Shit-anything.”

I shoved a couple of twenties through the driver’s window. He looked at the bills with disdain. “What’s that for?”

“Gas money. It’s only fair.”

Luis started to push it away, but a voice from the back protested. “Luis, I’m kinda low…”

Luis rolled his eyes, took the cash, and passed it to the backseat. He tilted his head and squinted at me. “Try an’ stay out of trouble,” he said. “I can’t always be here to watch your back, you know.” He peeled out, leaving me in a cloud of dust.

I was still coughing when Bailey walked over to me. “All set.” Jax was bent over the hood of Todd’s car, hands cuffed behind his back. Shane was in the backseat, facing out with the door open. He was cuffed too. Todd was holding a cigarette to his lips, giving him one last smoke.

“We can go over everything with Jax again when we get to the station,” Bailey said. “But I have a feeling our buddy Shane got all he has to give.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Shane did a nice job. Sounds like Jax met with our second shooter, but good luck figuring out who that is. That description could fit about five million guys.”

Bailey sighed and nodded. “Virtually useless. And the car-not much better.”

I nodded, glum. “Interesting that he bought another forty-four, though.”

“Yeah, even considering the cut-rate deal he got from Guns R Us over there.” Bailey nodded toward Jax. “That’s a lot of money.”

Four squad cars showed up, lights blazing and sirens wailing. When the sergeant in charge saw that both suspects were cuffed and peaceful, he cracked a wry smile. “Always appreciate it when visitors pick up their own litter.”

I introduced myself and shook his hand. “It’s important to preserve the natural beauty of our parks and recreational grounds, don’t you think?”

He chuckled. “Want to tell me what we have here?”

While the unis loaded Shane and Jax into their cars, I brought him up to speed-sort of. I didn’t tell him how we’d pressured Shane into setting up the meeting with Jax, and I soft-pedaled the real reason for the meeting: to get a lead on the school shooters. Everything having to do with our case had to stay quiet until it was cleared with Graden.

“We’ll keep them here for tonight, but we’re short of bed space, so-”

Bailey held up a hand. “No problem. We appreciate the help. I’ll have them off your hands tomorrow morning.”

We followed them back to the station. The paperwork took a while, and by the time we headed back to L.A., it was almost four in the morning.

“Hey, you guys know of a place I can crash for the night?” Todd said between yawns.

“I can get you a room at the Biltmore,” I said. It wasn’t crowded this time of year, and when I explained why I needed the room, I had a feeling they’d let him have it for free.

“And if you don’t mind, I’ll have a uni ride up with you in the morning to pick up my car,” Bailey said. “Rache, okay if I crash with you?”