“Right,” he nods like a fucking bobble head. “Of course, the blonde one.” He tries to shift on the chair, but he’s not very successful.
Playboy punches the man in the stomach who then makes a very undignified sound. I look at my brother who glances at me and shrugs.
“What?” He tries to defend himself, “I figured we could just move this along a little bit. He was taking too long.”
I roll my eyes and I don’t even have to look at Sidewinder to know he’s doing the same damn thing.
The carnie coughs and then wheezes, “She saw us. I was meeting with a guy, Bobby. It was all set up before, for the dog. Been training it, making it mean. Better for the fights.”
My stomach drops as everything I was afraid of becomes crystal clear.
“It’s not the first dog I trained. I made big bucks last time and wanted to do it again. I have the time,” the carnie says the words like they’re no big deal.
Maybe to him they’re not.
This time when Playboy punches him, no one sends judgmental looks his way. I let him get a few hits, blood from his nose splattering against the floor when his head snaps to the side.
“Enough.” The word is low, not barked because I don’t need it to be.
Playboy steps back, but I can tell that he wants to keep the beating going.
“What else?” I direct the question toward the carnie and his eyes snap to mine.
He pauses for too long. Playboy steps forward and the guy flinches so hard he’d fall off the chair if he wasn’t strapped into it.
“I don’t know,” the man whines.
I keep quiet. The panic in his eyes is clear to see as he tries to figure out what I’m really asking about. As the silence stretches between us, it doesn’t take long for him to start talking.
“I don’t know where the dogs have ended up,” he starts, his voice insistent and also hesitant like he’s not sure if he’s answering the right question. “I’ve only ever met up with Bobby. Just him. I don’t know anyone else or anything else.”
The look I give him tells him that I’m expecting more. Because I am.
“What do you want from me?” He wheezes out the question before he spits blood onto the floor.
“When you couldn’t get close to the woman,” I pause, my voice dropping, “who you onlythinksaw you, what did you do?”
“I almost caught up to her but couldn’t. I saw her get on the Ferris Wheel with you. That’s when I called Bobby. When I described her, he knew who she was and told me he’d take care of it,” he’s talking fast, tripping over his words. “I left it at that. It’s not like I’m sticking around or anything.”
I share a look with Playboy. This means we’re going to have to find Bobby. Fast.
There’s no way I’m going to allow him to get anywhere near Ezra. It also means we know there’s a threat. We also know it all goes back to the dog fighting ring. But if this guy had any information, he’d be spewing it all over the place.
“Anything else?”
“I don’t think so?” The carnie phrases it like a question.
And I understand why.
He’s willing to say or do anything to get himself out of this situation. He hasn’t realized he’s not getting out of here. I’m not going to let him be a thread out there just waiting to be pulled.
Playboy pulls a gun and shoots the carnie. Head shot. Clean. Simple.
Dead.
“I’ll fill in Whiskey,” Sidewinder says with a sigh.
“And get Omen to clean this up,” I tell my brothers even though I don’t need to. “I don’t think Bolt is ready for this kind of assignment.”