“Cut him loose,” Vinnie said as he returned to the storage room where they were keeping Earl Berryman.
Captain Spotty pulled his candy knife out of his bow tie and did as he was told. Then the two clowns left the vet alone with the capo.
“The boss agreed to cut a deal with you,” Vinnie said.
Earl looked up at him, rubbing his wrists where his bonds had cut off the circulation. “What kind of deal?”
“He still needs you to operate on his lion,” Vinnie said. “Save Happytooth and he agrees that we’ll save your family.”
“But you said my family’s already dead.”
“Not necessarily,” Vinnie said. “There’s a chance they’re still alive.”
“But not for long,” Earl said. “The Frenchman said he was going to kill them if I didn’t send a picture of your boss’s dead body. I’m not going to be able to perform an operation before the time runs out.”
“You have plenty of time. We already sent them this.” Vinnie held out Earl’s phone. It showed a picture of Don Bozo, lying on the ground with the syringe poking into his gag arm. It was staged, but looked real enough. “We also texted them a message saying that you got out of The Show alive.”
“So you think they’ll let my family go now?”
Vinnie shook his head. “Not a chance. But since they think you got out alive, you’ve become a loose end. They’ll be waiting for you back at your place. And if they’re smart, they’ll keep your family at hand just in case they need to lure you in.”
“So there’s a good chance they’ll make it? You’ll be able to rescue them?”
“First things first. You got a surgery to perform. If it goes smoothly, then we’ll talk about your family.”
Earl’s eyes lit up with hope. “I can’t believe it…I thought I’d never see them again…”
“Hold up.” Vinnie grabbed him by the shoulder. “I never said anything about you seeing them again. I said we’d save your family. You, on the other hand, are dead either way.”
The vet heard what Blue Nose was saying loud and clear. He didn’t want to die, but Earl knew he was a dead man. He had to suck it up and move forward. If he didn’t want his family to die with him, the surgery had to be a success.