“And I am just supposed to believe you?”
“You don’t have any other choice, Di.” I purposely used her nickname to appear less threatening. I needed her on my side. She was the bridge between information I could use against her father, and if her father could plant his own daughter here, then it meant she was disposable to him.
Her small nod was the only answer I needed.
“So who do we take down first?” Dash asked.
“We take them together.”
“How?”
“We get the detectives, Mario, and Arthur in the room together.”
“Shouldn’t we get the feds in on this?”
“It’s too risky. We wouldn’t know who to trust. Arthur and Mario both have agents, judges, and officers in their pockets.”
“How do we know we can trust those two?”
I asked myself the same question repeatedly, but always came to the same answer. “Because Lake trusts them.”
“And that’s good enough for you?” Diana sneered.
“It’s good enough for me,” Quentin barked, cutting his eye at Diana.
“Me, too,” Dash answered.
“Now that we are all on board here’s what we’re going to do.”
*
After everyone was in position, I put the plan in motion by calling Mario. He’d moved out of the hotel a couple of months ago and kept his hideout a secret even from me so I would need to draw him out.
I dialed his number and rehearsed in my head while the phone rang.
“What’s up, kid?”
“I need your help. It’s bad.”
The change in his tone was immediate. “What’s going on?”
“My father showed up. It ended badly. How soon can you get here?”
“I can send someone.”
“No. It needs to be you. I can’t have anyone else knowing about this.”
“How messy is it? I’ll at least need to bring a cleanup crew. You know I can’t move without my men.”
“Fine. Just get here quickly.”
“Where?”
I gave him the school’s address and told him to meet me in the gym. A public place would be their better choice. It would make him think I was blindsided by my father, and I could avoid the suspicion that a secluded setting would bring.
Once the call disconnected, I dialed Arthur. This part of the plan would need to be executed perfectly. He would catch on to the smallest slip-up.
“Arthur.”
“This is a surprise. May I ask the reason for your call?”
“Christmas is coming early this year. I have what you want. Meet me at the high school gymnasium. I’m sure you know where it is. We don’t have much time, so you need to come now.”
“Son, the last time I spoke to you about this, you were adamant about waiting until you graduated.”
“I’m still unavailable, but Mario in a body bag is up for grabs.”
“Why the sudden rush?”
“He slept with my woman. I’ll even throw her in the mix, so you coming or not?” I hung up the phone before he could respond or have the chance to question me further. Mario’s history with sleeping with married women provided the perfect cover. A man like Arthur was always suspicious, and it was suspicion that made me sure he would fall into my trap. If he thought he was being set up, he would want to deal with it. His status afforded him the confidence he couldn’t be defeated.
I checked all the doors of the gym, ensuring there was only one way in or out. The last thing I needed was the wrong person walking in at the wrong time.
A quick text from Quentin and Dash let me know they were each in position, and it was clear for me to make the last call.
I waited for the line to connect.
“The school gymnasium. Now.” Dressed in my basketball gear with my gun strapped to my thigh, I had about twenty minutes to work up a sweat, I grabbed the ball I had brought with me and played harder than I ever had before.
When the door behind me opened, I continued to play, seemingly unfazed by the intrusion. After all… I was only here to practice.