Andre came around the corner and strolled over to his car. He saw Lock standing next to it, arms folded. Turning, he started to run, only to find himself smashing straight into a wall of retired US Marine.
Ty folded his arms around Andre like he was giving a hug to a long-lost friend.
“Why you so jumpy, brother?” said Ty.
Andre tried to struggle free. Ty let him, keeping a precautionary hand on his shoulder in case he tried to make another run for it.
“Relax, we just want to talk with you for a few minutes. Or you can talk to the cops about trying to burn down that refuge. Your choice.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” said Andre as Lock joined them.
“Unfortunately for you,” said Lock. “We do.”
He held up his phone, angling it so that Andre could see it. On the screen was a still image of Andre’s car from the roadside security camera.
“That, my friend, is enough to convict you.”
Andre stared at it. “So why don’t you go to the cops?” he said.
Ty put a comforting arm around Andre’s shoulder, walking him over to the street. “We were hoping to avoid doing that.”
Lock could see the cogs turning in Andre’s head. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box, but he wasn’t entirely dumb either. In fact, he seemed suddenly focused.
“Get in the car,” said Lock.
Andre did as he was told, climbing into the front passenger seat of Lock’s car. Lock got in the driver’s seat. Ty climbed in back.
“How come you guys knew about the refuge?” said Lock.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lock let out a theatrical sigh. “What you did, that’s ten to fifteen if the DA really goes after you, which they will because this is what you might call a hot button issue. Not to mention the fact you’ve been recruiting girls for Hanger. Underage girls.”
Ty leaned forward between the seats. “You know what they do to guys like you in pen in California? Level one yard, you might be fine. Level two the same. But you land on a level three or four yard and they check your paperwork, you’re done. First chance someone gets, you’re getting marked up. And that’s if you’re lucky.”
“If you’re unlucky, then your Cellie gets given the job of making sure that he has the place to himself,” added Lock.
It may have sounded like an exaggeration, but Lock and Ty both knew this was the reality that awaited Andre if he was convicted. Convicts in California were old school when it came to any kind of crime that was sexual in nature, especially one that involved violence, coercion or a victim who was below the age of consent.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Andre.
Lock and Ty traded a look.
Lock reached over and opened Andre’s door. “Okay, have it your way.”
Andre didn’t move. He looked at Lock as if this was some kind of trap that was being laid, like there had to be a catch. It was strange how frightening an open door could seem under the right circumstances, thought Lock, which was precisely why he had opened it.
Andre left the door open. He didn’t get out either.
“No one died,” he said. “I saw that on the news.”
That comment provoked a laugh from Ty in the back seat. “Yeah, they probably won’t even bother investigating it in that case.”
“I don’t get why you even care?” said Andre. “If you’re not cops then what’s it to you?”
“That’s correct,” said Lock. “We’re not cops.”
“Who are you?” asked Andre.
“That doesn’t matter,” said Ty. “The only thing that matters right now is that we have the goods to send you to prison.”
“But if you give us what we want, then that doesn’t happen,” added Lock.
“And what is it you want?”
“We want Kristin Miller.”
“I don’t even know where she is.”
“Well then you’d better find out, or that footage is going to the LAPD, along with everything else we know about you trafficking a minor,” said Lock
“Don’t think about skipping town either. Not unless you’re going to take your mom with you,” said Ty.
“Hey, she doesn’t have anything to do with this,” said Andre.
Ty laughed. “Neither did Kristin Miller’s mom. In fact, neither would Kristin have if she hadn’t had the misfortune to run into a low life piece of shit like you.”
“What’s it to be?” said Lock, extracting Andre’s cell phone from his pocket, turning it over in his hand and passing it back to him.
Andre massaged the bridge of his nose with pinched fingers. “Okay, let me think how I do this.”
“Take your time,” said Lock.
“Once I tell you where to find them, then you destroy what you have?”
“That’s the deal,” said Lock.
“Okay, I got it,” said Andre. “But he doesn’t always answer when I call.”
Lock and Ty stared at him. The silence grew. Andre made the call. Seconds passed.
“Hey Hanger, yeah, all good. Listen, I got a new girl.”
Hanger said something that neither Lock nor Ty caught.
“Yeah, I know I haven’t mentioned her before. I didn’t know if it would work, but I think she’s ready to meet you.”
Another pause.
“Yeah, white, real pretty, like a surfer girl. Blonde hair, blue eyes.”
Lock knew that no matter what was happening right now or how nervy Hanger might be that Andre was dangling a unicorn in front of his mentor.
“Where you at?” Andre asked. “Uh-uh, okay. Yeah, I’ll send you over a picture and we can hook up when you’re back here.”
The call over, Andre placed his phone face down on his leg, his foot tapping out a beat of pure anxiety.
“They’re in Vegas. Hanger’s headed there now.”
“Vegas is a big place,” said Ty, unimpressed.
“Hanger has a crash pad in Paradise City. I can get you the address.”
“That’s more like it,” said Ty.
Lock and Ty watched Andre take off down the street in his car, no doubt to find somewhere he could stash the vehicle. Not that it would help him if they went back on their word and handed the footage over to the cops.
“You trust him?” said Ty.
“I trust him to want to save his own skin,” said Lock.
“He could still call Andre back and give him a heads up.”
“He could, and then we could give the cops what we have.”
“And what about when we have the girl back?” asked Ty.
“What about it?”
“Well, do we destroy what we have on him like we said we would? Or do we give it to the cops?”
Lock bit down on his lip, pensive.
“Let’s see if we can find her first,” said Lock.