Johnny’s face drained of color. “Can’t. You don’t know the guys that have been hanging out there.”
“You’re wrong, Johnny. I know exactly who they are.”
“Obviously, you don’t. Those are some seriously bad dudes. Russian Mafia, man. They’d probably kill me if they knew I was here.”
There was no probably about it. Ty had been on the trail of those seriously bad dudes for the last year and a half. Except for a security detail he’d headed for a friend in the suburbs a couple of months ago, he’d spent nearly every moment of every day tracking one of the most feared mobs in San Francisco. He’d questioned witnesses, sifted through the Mafia’s garbage, followed every lead, looking for anything he could use to take them down.
Nothing had worked. Not until Johnny here had fallen into his lap.
Kincaid’s, where Johnny worked as a bartender, wasn’t just the city’s newest hotspot. It had also recently become a known hangout of Evgeni Barinov, the boss of San Francisco’s Russian Bratva. Ty had a feeling it wasn’t just the allure of the dance floor that had attracted Barinov’s crew.
Kincaid’s sudden success had correlated exactly with Barinov’s interest in the place. Ty was willing to bet that with a little digging he would uncover a money-laundering scheme big enough to bring the Bratva to its knees.
But to do that Ty needed some inside information, and a cover that would allow him access to the club’s daily operations. Johnny didn’t realize it, but he was the answer to Ty’s prayers. There was no way in hell he was about to let all that slip through his fingers.
“I can protect you,” Ty said. “Cooperate with me and I—”
“You’re kidding, right?” Johnny cut him off with a laugh. “Maybe you didn’t hear me, but these guys are fucking mobsters. The kind that don’t mind putting a couple of caps in the back of your head if you look at them funny.”
“But that didn’t keep you from taking their money, did it, Johnny?” Ty pulled a couple of pictures from the file. He slid them across the desk. “That’s you receiving an envelope of cash from Andrei Yashkin, Barinov’s captain.”
Johnny lifted his hands up as far as the chain would allow and waved his open palms out in front of him. “It’s not what you think. That money wasn’t for me. I was just doing Andrei a favor. He wanted me to drive that envelope across town for him.”
“Oh, I know. Twenty minutes later, you faithfully delivered it to a Deputy of the Triad.” Ty pushed another photo across the table. “I can only assume it was payoff for the Bratva taking a piece of the the Triad’s underground gambling pie.”
“I don’t know nothing about that.”
“I never thought you did,” Ty said with a shake of his head. “You’re far too stupid and reckless for Barinov to trust with that kind of information.”
“Hey—”
“But what you do make is the perfect patsy. Send the idiot off with a load of tainted cash to hand over to the rival mob. If he gets picked up by the cops, the Bratva has no real ties to you. If something goes wrong with the delivery and the bullets start flying, no big loss.” Ty shrugged his shoulders. “What I want to know is how much they paid you for this favor.”
Johnny looked down. Ty didn’t think his face could get any paler. It appeared this was the first time poor Johnny Boy had ever considered that he might not have been asked to run errands because he was a favorite.
“They didn’t pay me with money.”
Ty cocked his head to the side. “How did they pay you?”
“With women.” Shame crept into Johnny’s voice. “Don’t judge me, man. You should see the tail that those guys hang out with. Those chicks are crazy hot. And up for anything.”
“Sounds wild,” Ty said, his voice dripping with disgust.
“But smart, right. I can’t be in that much trouble since I didn’t take their cash.” The punk flashed Ty a smug grin. His shoulders relaxed.
“Actually it’s much worse. Now I can add human trafficking to your list of charges.”
“Charges?” The smile vanished from Johnny’s face. “But I—” he stuttered then closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. “I think I want that lawyer you were talking about earlier.”
Ty clapped his hands once as he stood. “Those are the first wise words I’ve heard from you, Johnny Boy. I’m going to get right on that.”
Any lawyer would take one look at the evidence and the long list of charges he had against their client and beg the kid to take a deal. After all, the Bratva could get to him just as easily in prison as anywhere else in the city.
Ty reached across the desk for his file and a pen fell out. He picked it up and held it between his thumb and forefinger.
He looked down at Johnny. The poor kid had been through a lot today. Maybe a little reassurance was in order.
“I know you’re afraid to talk because of what you think Barinov might do to you,” he said. “But you shouldn’t be scared of him. You should be scared of me.”