“Who says so? Who told ya I was?” snapped Jack.
“I don’t know, I was just carrying out orders,” replied Lance defiantly.
“From who? Who were the two guys with ya? Fuckin’ talk, man, or I’ll blow ya away right now!”
“Fuck you. You’re gonna do me anyway. I’m not sayin’ nothin’, so you might as well get it over with!”
Jack raised the shotgun and pointed it directly at Lance’s face. Lance glared back. When he saw Jack’s finger slowly squeeze down on the trigger he closed his eyes. The seconds ticked by. When he opened his eyes he saw that Jack had lowered the shotgun.
“I got some news for you, Lance. I’m not going to kill you. But I might arrest you!”
“You what?” asked Lance, looking confused.
Jack and Danny produced their badges.
“You guys are cops!” A nervous laugh escaped his lips.
“Yes, I’m a police officer. My real name is Jack Taggart. For attempting to murder me, you could be looking at a long time in the crowbar hotel.”
“Oh, man,” said Lance, shaking his head, “I didn’t know you were a cop! I thought you were just a rat.”
“Well, this could be your lucky night, Lance, because if you become a rat, we’ll forget the whole thing!”
“What? You’d let me off tryin’ to kill ya? Just for me to rat out?”
Jack nodded. “Yeah, but you’d be working for us for the next ten years. I think that’s fair. You’d be ours, body and soul. You lie to us just once or try an’ hide something from us and we feed you to the wolves!”
Lance reflected on the proposition, then gestured to a picture on his desk of his wife and four children. “I can’t. Go ahead and bust me. I got them to think about.”
“You’ve got my word. I will never arrest anyone or do anything if I think it will jeopardize your position. Once we haul you out of here it’s too late to change your mind. You could be looking at life in prison. You won’t be any good to your family in there.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate what you’re sayin’, but no, I’m still not turnin’ in my brothers.” He gave a weak smile, then added, “As they say, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time!”
Jack picked up the picture of Lance’s wife and children. “I’m no psychic, but I have a feeling that if you don’t cooperate, you’ll be a widower soon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you don’t cooperate, I’ll arrest you now and charge you with stealing the car. Considering your record, you’ll probably get about six months in jail. I’ll put in a good word for you so you’ll be out as soon as you’re eligible.”
“You’re only going to charge me with stealing the clunker?” Lance gave Jack a puzzled look.
“Later tonight,” continued Jack, “we’ll pick up Wizard and Rolly and charge them with attempted murder. They’ll end up getting life. Especially with the parole reports I’ll do on them.”
Lance gawked up from where he sat on the floor. “What do ya mean? You already know who they are? I tried to kill ya just as much as…” He stopped talking when he saw the grim smile creep across Jack’s face.
“You can’t! They’ll think I cut a deal with ya! That I gave ’em up to save myself!”
Jack nodded. “Life’s a bitch, ain’t it! Your own brothers, as you call ’em, will do you just like Lenny. Except with you, they’ll probably take it a bit more personal. I doubt they’d kill you as quickly as Lenny.”
Lance sat in a stunned silence, slowly shaking his head. Jack knelt down so they could look at the picture together.
“Nice family. Tell me, I’m curious to see what will happen. You know your bros better than I do. If we see to it you serve your time in protective custody, where they can’t get at you … what do you think they’ll do?”
“You fucking bastard! You know what they’ll do!”
“Oh, well,” said Jack, standing up. “What did you say? Live by the gun, die by the gun? Well I have one you can tell your family: If you fly with the crows, expect to get shot at.”
Lance’s face turned pasty white, and for the first time his trembling body betrayed his fear. He looked up and his voice quavered. “Okay, you guys win, but I gotta tell ya, you got someone on your side who’s talkin’. Someone big.”
Jack and Danny looked silently at each other for a moment, then Jack turned back to Lance. “We know there’s someone. Who is it?”
“I don’t know, man. I really don’t know.”
“Don’t give us that shit!” said Danny. “If you cooperate, you go all the way!”
“I am fuckin’ cooperating! Do you think I’m gonna fuck with you two, with what you’ll do if I lie? I really don’t know! Look at me, I’m shakin’ I’m so fuckin’ scared. If I knew who it was, I’d tell ya, just to make sure I stay alive! I told you I’d cooperate, and I will. I’m just sayin’ you better fuckin’ watch who you tell, ’cause I’m puttin’ my life in your hands!”
“We’ll be very selective on who knows,” said Jack.
“If you’re not, I’m dead.” He nodded toward the desk and asked, “Can I get up now and sit down?”
“Got a piece in your desk?” asked Jack.
Lance smiled briefly. “No, it’s not in my desk. It’s fastened in a holster under the drawer. I wasn’t gonna do you guys. I bet someone knows you’re here?”
Jack ignored the question as he retrieved the pistol from underneath the desk drawer. “Not a bad piece of hardware: 9 mm,” he said casually, before returning the pistol to where he had found it.
“You’re not takin’ it from me?” asked Lance.
“No, it would only inconvenience you until you got another one. We don’t want to change how you operate. We just want to be informed. So have a seat. We have a few questions.”
Lance got up off the floor, and after a few nervous glances at Jack and Danny, he pulled out the chair from the desk. He was careful to place his hands flat on top of the desk as he sat down. Jack sat on the edge of the desk, looking down at him, while holding the shotgun in one hand with the barrel pointing toward the ceiling. Danny stood to the side and held his weapon with both hands.
“So why, Lance? Why’d they try to kill me?”
“It wasn’t you! We thought you were a rat!”
“Who told you?”
“Wizard an’ Rolly. They have someone on the inside
