“Okay, spill Sassacus. What brings you by? I know you didn’t come to help me clean or unpack, and I can sense you have something else on your mind aside from us.”
His sigh spoke volumes, and she knew her instinct was right. There was something serious on his mind. When her eyebrows arched up, he started. “We got a lot of new Intel this morning. Justin is definitely involved. His cousin, a guy named Eddie Bauer, is in bed with some gang bangers from Hartford. They call themselves Iron Rush.”
“Oh my God,” she gasped. “The twins need to know about this.” Justin in a gang. He was probably trying to get them in, and that’s why he’d resurfaced recently. So far she had kept Joseph’s suspicions to herself. She hadn’t wanted her brothers to dislike Joseph for the presumptions he had made, but she didn’t want her brothers involved with someone who was in a gang.
He saw the anxiety flicker across her face. He hated to make it worse, but he had promised to at least ask for her help. “I agree, but there is more.”
She felt a trickle of fear course down her spine at his words. What more? She wanted to know it all. “Go on,” she encouraged. She didn’t want to be kept in the dark. Not about this. Her brothers’ futures were on the line.
He didn’t know how to start, so he just plunged ahead. She needed to hear it all. “We hired some guys from Tampa, and they don’t have proof of Justin’s and Eddie’s involvement, well, nothing we can use in court. They have them talking on audio, and a bit of video, but it was obtained illegally. Nothing would be admissible.”
“So, they can just keep doing what they are doing until they are caught? That is ridiculous. People could get hurt.”
“I know,” he was just as exasperated as she was by the intricacies of the law. But the law was there to protect the innocent, too. And that was why these protections were there. Sadly they protected the guilty, too, on occasion. “Justin and Eddie are what you call recruiters. They were probably trying to recruit your brothers. Invite them to parties, bring them around girls. Get them fake IDs. Some gambling to show them the money. They get them hooked. It’s how they work. So not only are they stealing and involved in illegal activities like drugs, they recruit younger kids to commit the crimes so they don’t get busted, but if the kids are busted when they are minors, their time is usually shorter and if it isn’t too serious it doesn’t appear on their permanent records.”
Jewel was flabbergasted. Justin had been trying to lure her brothers into this gang. He had to be stopped. “I really want my brothers to know about this, Joseph. Then they will believe me when I tell them Justin is bad news.” She was clasping the charm he had given her last night. He hated making her worry like this. But there was still more to tell.
“I agree. We can tell them together. But they have to stopped, caught red handed, so they don’t try to lure any more kids into a life of criminal activity.” He was watching her carefully. He hated having to ask for her help, but it seemed like the only way to make this sting operation a success. And time was of the essence. The Marinos wanted this to go down tonight.
She must have clued into something. Her next question told him that. “Why are you telling me all this?”
He shook his head but continued. He could barely meet her questioning eyes. “I want to be honest with you, but remember it’s your choice. The two men from Tampa have a plan that could bring them all down, so they won’t be recruiting anymore kids from the reserve. But it requires some help. A small favor.”
She placed her hand over her chest and looked at him angrily. “The boys aren’t getting involved.” Her words were firm, brokered no argument. But she had miscalculated that assumption. It wasn’t them they needed. It was her.
He quickly reached for her hands and pulled her to him. “No, of course not, Jewel. They didn’t ask for their help. But . . .” He paused looking for the right words. “They do want to do a sting. And the plan is to lure them to the casino. We have cleared the fourteenth floor, and have no one up there currently. We have our family suites up there, and six other guest rooms. Currently two are being prepped with local undercover PD. We just need a way to get the word to Justin that some fancy rich couple is there tonight, having a catered private dinner downstairs at nine, and then let the chips fall where they may.”
“Again, I’m not putting the boys in danger. No.” She tried to pull away.
She still wasn’t grasping his meaning. “They don’t want the boys to drop the word.”
Her heart stilled. She stilled. The way he was looking at her frightened her. She didn’t know where he was going with this.
“They want you to do it.”