“By getting me out of prison?”
“Oh, no,” Anderson said. “You deserve to be here and die here. But you’re not going to. As long as you do as I say.”
“And how does that work?”
Anderson leaned back. “See, when you’ve been around as long as I have, it’s simple. You know people. People know people. Anything can happen. See, there’s currently an investigation into a guard who’s been really pushing hard at inmates. When this thing explodes, it’s going to show some pretty dirty shit. Look at your face, Kingston. Is that fair?”
“I’m not here to talk about fair and unfair.”
“I am,” Anderson said. “With one flick of my finger, I could have you out of here. There’s enough legal bullshit flying around to get you off death row and I can tell you right now, if your lawyer digs deep enough, there’s a way to get that murder charge pushed off you. The only reason you’re sitting here is because you took the fast route. You stood tall and proud, defending your slain brother. Hey, that’s credible. But it’s stupid. You don’t realize the bullets that fly. Where they come from. Why.”
I stiffened my spine. A chance to get out of prison? Taste the free world again?
“What’s the catch,” I said. “That’s how deals work, right?”
Anderson held up a finger and then pulled out a stack of folders. “Don’t worry, there’s no dead bodies here. Yet.”
Each folder was all the legal dirt on my boys. Everyone actively participating with the Reaper’s Bastards MC.
“Christ,” I said. “You’re federal, aren’t you?”
“I am… I am everything, Kingston. I am going to break up this motorcycle club. I am going to make sure those who need to pay will pay. I am going to ensure your freedom.”
I shook my head. “The Reap is long gone. There’s nothing worth chasing now.”
“Perfect,” Anderson said. He closed all the folders on a time and packed them away. Then he stood up and stuck his hand out. “Then we’re done here.”
“What?”
He put his hand to the table. “If there’s nothing worth chasing, then you won’t be against giving me what I want from them.”
I laughed. “You want me to be a rat to my own brothers?”
“No, no, Kingston. You had one brother.” Anderson held up one finger. “One brother. That was it. And he took a bullet. You think you know where that bullet came from, but you don’t. I’m offering you a chance to get out of here and find the truth. And when you do, you let me know exactly what that is. Doesn’t it bother you that nobody visits? That nobody fights harder for you? Where’s the protection inside for their fallen member?”
“There’s nothing left of the Reap,” I said. “It’s all memories and show.”
“Then bring me the memories. I want the gavel, Kingston. I want… Jakey.”
“Uncle Jakey?” I asked. “He’s not even technically a real member from what I hear.”
“But he’s your unspoken leader,” Anderson said. “He hits the gavel and people listen.”
I tightened my jaw. I could see in Anderson’s eyes he was dead serious. And if I needed any sort of proof from there, he showed me a piece of paper that promised me my freedom. I would be absolved of my death row sentence and left as a mostly free man until my lawyer could present the necessary evidence to get my murder conviction overturned.
“What do you say?” Anderson asked me. “Want to spring from here? Go get a sense of the regular life for a while?”
“I’m not going to rat on my club,” I said. “There’s no fucking way.”
“I thought you’d say that,” Anderson said. “So loyal in life. I wonder how loyal you’ll be in death.”
“Are you threatening me? If so, just do it then. Put that fucking bullet right in my head. Fuck your paperwork. Fuck Mick. Fuck everyone.”
Anderson leaned forward across the table. “I think you’re full of shit, Kingston. I think there’s a good reason you’ll want to be on the outside. I can smell it coming off you.”
“So call my bluff,” I said.
“That I’ve already done,” Anderson said. He stood up and folded his arms. “It’s a simple decision. In or out. Out, you live. In, you die.”
“I know that part,” I said.
“But this part you don’t… you decide to stay inside, you’ve got hours instead of days. No more fucking around.”
The lines were drawn. The position clear.
In or out.
Alive or dead.
All I had to do was sell out my club.
But if I got out… I could get to her.
“It’s a heavy decision,” Anderson said. “You can just take the needle, Kingston. Escape all this bullshit. This world… everything. Maybe that’s what I would do.”
Anderson walked around the table and kicked opened the door. He shouted for a guard and Mick came rushing to the shed. Mick put a hand to my shoulder and I slowly stood up.