Chapter 6 - J

“Are you out of your f*****g mind?” I asked incredulously.

Danny laughed, “Not that Brayden. Brayden Sichewski. He’s, well, was kind of a friend of mine. He’s high enough that he’s trusted with sensitive info and he’s headed a few ops himself.”

“You do that s**t again I might ring your neck,” I warned sharply. Not that I was mad he’d done it, I just didn’t take well to surprises. I shook my head to clear the shock and took a deep breath, “How do we get him?”

“Well that could be really complicated or really easy,” Danny shrugs. “He always liked Val. If he thought she was interested he’d probably leave himself open.”

I took a mental step back. My initial judgement of Danny had been when he first regained consciousness at Jim’s place. I’d heard him call for Val while she was talking to Jim’s girlfriend, Sabrina, down in the kitchen. I’d slipped upstairs, wanting to get a sense of him alone. Val had come up a minute later, and all in all I had gotten what I thought I needed. I had chalked him up as an acceptable human being half from the concern he’d had for his girlfriend and half from the conversation between the two of them.

If he was turning around to throw her to the wolves now, I might be having entirely different thoughts on him. “You’re willing to throw your girlfriend to a Dragon just for some information?” I asked skeptically.

“No,” he responded fiercely, “But I am willing to let Raid walk himself into a trap.”

“Raid? That’s what he goes by?” I raised an eyebrow. I’d heard a fair share of cheesy nicknames, but that just might take the cake, “How do you expect to get him to walk in after her if you don’t put her on the line?”

“Well it’s not like he was allowed to go by Brayden; Cox would have skinned him. And I’ll need a bit of help for that to work.”

“What kind of help?” I countered, still skeptical.

“Someone with female vocal chords.”

“Why don’t you just ask Val?”

Danny glared at me hard. “Because she has been through more than enough for me and I’m not putting her through any more of this s**t. I want her left out. Out of everything to do with the Saints or Dragons or any other f****n’ gang in this town. She doesn’t deserve it.”

And the chalk stays. Amigo para otro día…

“Alright, it’s a deal. We’ll leave her out. But we’ve only got one shot to sell it to this guy, and if we blow it we’re done.”

“I know. I’ve got that covered, I just need a girl that can pass as Val over the phone. Should be enough to get him to break a rule or two so we can take him without raising alarms.”

I considered for a moment; I didn’t see another choice, but if we fucked up, odds were not good that Ty would continue to breathe when Brayden Cox found out. “This guy, Raid, will he talk to you?”

“I don’t know,” Danny spoke solemnly.

“And if he doesn’t?” I pushed, trying to maintain neutrality.

“Then it’s not my concern what you do to persuade him,” he responded in an equally neutral tone.

“I thought you said you were friends.”

“We were,” his eyebrows furrowed as though he were arguing with himself internally before he continued, “He also had a fair hand in beating the s**t out of me a couple months ago. Our friendship is a little strained to say the least. He also, like the rest of the gang, probably assumes I died.”

“Okay. Fair enough. As far as help from a girl; Ty’s girlfriend, Rebecca is probably your best bet.”

“Alright, can you get her over here?”

“Yeah… We haven’t exactly told her what’s going on yet, though.”

“Seriously?”

I shrugged. There wasn’t really anything I could give as an excuse. We hadn’t told her because no one wanted to be the one to do it. No one wanted to watch a 15 year old girls’ heart go to the verge of breaking and hang there indefinitely.

“Are you going to clue her in?” Danny prodded after a minute of my silence.

I sighed, “Yeah, I guess we have to.”

 

***

 

Rebecca and Danny had been going back and forth at Deans’ kitchen table for a couple hours already getting her prepped. Kyle had picked her up from her mom’s place, telling her only that there was a situation she was needed for. At Dean’s, he and I had filled her in on what happened and gave her some time to adjust to the information. She’d been good about it so far, but I knew that sooner or later she was going to crumble.

“Okay, you’ve got her voice pretty close. You got it all memorized?” Danny asked after she finished doing vocal exercises.

“Yeah, I think so,” Rebecca answered confidently.

“Okay, background check. Ready?”

She nodded.

“When did you meet me and Raid?”

“I met you walking home from school in grade 6. You were already a member but I didn’t find out until 2 years later. I met Raid not that long after I met you, less than a year or so later. You went to school together and I met him a few times after school before the three of us started to hang out together. I also met your brother a couple times, the first time was when I was 14 and the last time was a couple months ago.”

“Good. But you were actually 15, it was fall.” Danny averted his eyes following the contact they made with Rebecca’s, raising suspicion in the back of my mind of what his brother had been like. He cleared his throat after a moment and changed course, “Anyway. When did you join RD?”

“About a year and a half ago.”

“Right,” he glanced down as a look of what I pegged to be guilt swept across his face. It faded into a neutral veil as he carried on, “What do you do for work?”

“I’m apprenticing as a tattoo artist. I mostly just work behind the counter and do some of the prep for the artists. Some of my drawings have even already been used with slight modifications depending on the customer.”

“Good. What’s Raid like?”

“He has fairly short reddish brown hair, hazel-brown eyes, and is a little taller than you. He’s kind of cocky but usually means well.”

“Yep. And what about you?”

“My hair is a light blonde, but when I was in RD it had bright red streaks. I’m pretty quiet, and I’d rather watch the rest of you duke something out rather than get involved myself. Though I’m really not a fan of violence. And for all intents and purposes I still live with my mom on the south side.”

“Alright. And me?”

“You died on Halloween. I panicked and even though I called 911 I couldn’t stop the bleeding and you were gone before they got there. You were cremated and there was only a small service.”

Danny nodded, doing a pretty good job of hiding his shudder. His features were tense, but relaxed slightly as the shiver passed, “And why are you calling him?”

“You gave me his phone number and told me to call him if things ever got really bad. After what happened on Halloween I was a wreck and wasn’t sure if I could trust him. But I did consider him a friend once, and my mother and I are both having a really tough time. I just need someone to talk to. I want him to come over to my mom’s house tonight.”

“Well damn, I think she’s got it,” I said, leaning forward in the chair I’d taken at the end of the table.

Danny nodded, “Just remember, you’ll be on speaker so don’t agree with anything unless I give you the go ahead. He’ll probably try to trip you up to make sure you’re actually Val, so be careful of how you answer him.” He looked between me and the other members in the room hesitantly.

I turned to Kyle, AJ, and Dean, “Clear out.”

After everyone filed out of the room, Danny pulled a cell phone from his jeans pocket and set it down in front of Rebecca. “It’s Val’s phone. The number is programed in under ‘RS’. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Okay,” she took a couple deep breaths before picking up phone. “Okay,” she repeated, mimicking Val’s voice as she scrolled. She tapped the screen and set the phone down again on speaker.

Raid picked up on the second ring, “Hello?”

Danny nodded, and Rebecca in turn answered, “Hi Brayden.”

Silence.

“Who is this?”

“Right, it’s been a while. I don’t think you ever had my number either. It’s Val.” Rebecca looked to Danny for reassurance and he gave a short nod as he focused on the cell phone.

“Val?” Raids voice was flat, and he went silent again for a moment. Then suddenly recognition bloomed, “Valerie!?” He paused, “I gotta say, I never expected to hear your voice again.”

“Well, I wasn’t sure I would ever speak to you again after what happened.”

More silence. “I’m sorry, for what happened. Did… Did he make it?”

“No. He didn’t. So don’t pretend to be sorry to me after you helped beat him to death.”

Rebecca continued looking to Danny for approval, and he had somewhat of a resemblance to a bobble head from continuously nodding as he listened to their conversation.

“Val, it wasn’t like that. I had no choice. It was my life or his. I really am sorry. No one knew for sure whether he lived or not. Cox told everyone he died, but he didn’t have any proof. I kept hoping I’d hear something; that he’d made it, but I guess that was in vain. I’m so sorry Val. I’ll never forgive myself.”

“I’m not sure if that helps, but I hope its honest guilt and not just what you think I want to hear.”

“It’s not reassurance, I promise you. I never meant to kill my best friend.”

Danny stiffened, but signalled for her to go ahead.

Becka closed her eyes, releasing a small sigh, “It didn’t seem like you were his best friend when you left that night. You could have stayed. I had no idea what to do! It’s my fault he’s gone.” She started to choke up, and though I knew it was an act I could hear the real tears coming through.

Come on muchacha, don’t lose it yet.

“Val, it’s not your fault. He was the one that came to Cox and wanted out. I wish I could have helped him but if I’d tried then I would have been as good as dead too.” Silence followed by a defeated sigh, “I know sayin’ sorry isn’t gonna bring him back, and I’m not even gonna try to ask for your forgiveness. But maybe one day we could get together and talk?”

Rebecca sniffed a few times, biting her lip. She quickly composed herself, and her tone was only very slightly off when she continued, “That’s actually why I called you. Danny always told me that if I ever really needed someone and he wasn’t around I could talk to you. Obviously it took me a while to finally decide I still could after Halloween, but we were all friends once. I thought maybe you’d remember me the same way.”

“Of course, Val, whatever you need, name it.”

“I was hoping you might be able to come by tonight. I’m having a really tough time and my mom is freaking out, and I miss Danny… I just really need to talk to someone about all of it that will really understand.”

“Uh, I kind of had some other plans tonight...”

“Please Brayden? I really need a release.”

“Mmm…” He trailed off in his contemplation.

I held my breath, if he didn’t go for it we’d have to start over and it would take even longer to get any information. I looked between Rebecca and Daniel, betting that they had their breath held too.

“Okay,” Raids’ answer came a second later. “I have some stuff I need to do first, but I’ll swing by after. Is 11 too late?”

“No, that’s fine. I work late anyway. I’ll wait up for you.”

“Okay. What’s your address again?”

‘F**K’ came across Becka’s face as she frantically looked to Danny.  

He’d relayed what Val’s house looked like, but hadn’t remembered to relay the actual address. Quickly he raised his hands, flashing nine fingers; nine; six; then one.

“It’s 9961,” she said calmly as he lowered his hands momentarily. He brought them up again to flash eight fingers, followed by six, then mouthed ‘AVENUE’ to her.

“86 Ave. It’s the one with the weeping birch out front on the left side.”

“Alright, I’ll be there. See ya later Val.

“Bye Brayden.”

She reached over and made sure the line was dead before dropping her head in her hands, “Oh my god.”

“You think we’re in?” I asked, turning to Daniel.

“Yes. But we need to get over to her mom’s house, like, now to make it look lived in. Raid might send someone to stake it out if they haven’t been already the last couple months. Which means you can’t go over there flyin’ black.”

“Do think the plans he had involve Ty?” Becka quietly interrupted. She’d raised her head to look at Daniel with a resigned but hopeful expression.

Danny nodded, “Good chance. A party or something he would’ve blown off. And he was pretty vague, so it’s gotta be gang business.”

“God,” Becka let her head fall back into her hands and I set a hand on her shoulder. She looked up again briefly, “I wasn’t calling you Julius.”

“I know. And I know you’re upset, but we’re still gonna need your help with this.”

“You know I’ll do whatever it takes to get him back.”

“I know. Come on, we’re gonna need your moms car.” I turned my attention towards the living room, “Dean! We need to go see Jim. Hopefully Sabrina’s there cause we need her vehicle.”

“You guys do realize that I can’t legally drive, right? My mom’ll never give me the keys to her car.”

“S**t, that’s right. Uh...” My eyes searched the room for a solution until they came to rest on Kyle as he walked back into the kitchen, “She likes Kyle though. Convince her Kyle needs it. Tell her he wants to take you driving or something for practice and you’ll be in the clear.”

“Whoa. What do I need to take?”

“My mom’s car.” Becka said impatiently to Kyle as she rolled her eyes up at me.

“Why?” Kyle questioned, confusion splayed across his face.

“Because it’s not black and we’re goin’ South on the low.”

Kyle sighed in exasperation. “Come on Becks, let’s go convince your mom she wants to lend me her car.” He spun around and Becka followed him out.

“Hollier, you’re goin’ with Keith. I’ll meet you guys there.”

“Uh, okay,” Danny quickly grabbed his crutches as he stood, and shuffled out of the room to follow Dean. Dean shrugged as Danny approached, probably from the look of surprise across his face before turning to leave the house. I trailed behind them and waited for the door to close before looking to AJ, who already had his boots on in the entryway.

“We’re going to Jim’s?” He asked with the slightest impatience.

“I am. You’re not comin’.” I corrected as I came down the stairs.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not comin’. We’ve got enough people for a forced interrogation, and I don’t want you letting your anger get the better of you.”

“I think you’re confusing me for the explosively violent, easily ill-tempered brother. That’s Ty, not me.”

I opened the door and motioned for him to go ahead. He did and I followed, locking the door as I pulled it closed before I turned back to AJ.

“You both have that streak of untameable rage. I know you’re the more docile one, but I’ve seen you lose your s**t too. I’m not sayin’ you have to sit out, but you gotta find a different section to play in.” I paused, gauging whether he was going to deck me or not before continuing, “I’m gonna take you to HQ. Find C.K. He’s good on a computer and might be able to use his cop-card to track Ty’s cell without raising suspicion. As much as I want this to work, we still need a backup plan.” 

AJ was silent with fury for a full minute, but it ebbed as my words started to sink in. There was still the burn of ice in his voice as he spoke though, “Fine. You’re lucky I know you’re trying to save my brother or I would lay you out for that.” He regarded me for a second, and I had no doubts that he would have tried. Finally his expression lightened marginally, “What plan are we on now anyway, E? F?”

I just laughed as I walked to my car, “Either way, I hope it works. I don’t wanna be doin’ this all the way to Z,” My voice sobered quickly from the laughter as I spoke.

“I agree. Let’s go. Do you have C.K.’s number?”

“Nope. I got Alex’s though,” I tossed AJ my phone over the roof to let him scroll through and find Cam’s girlfriend before sliding into the driver’s seat.

 

 

***

 

 

It had taken us a couple hours to get the place cleaned up and looking lived in again. Once done, we’d gone over our plan and promptly realized that it was fatally flawed. When Raid got there, he would be expecting Val or her mom to answer the door. Since Theresa had left, and Danny wanted Val left out of it, it wasn’t going to happen. So instead of sitting around and hoping to strong-arm Raid into the house, Danny had come up with an idea to make him walk right on in.

“We got company guys, everybody look alive,” I called into the radio.

I’d just seen the flicker of headlights across the slice of front window I had a visual on. I heard Rebecca turn the water on simultaneously with the car door slamming outside. There were no resounding echoes and I heard only one set of footsteps through the cracked open window.

“He’s alone. Guards up,” I warned, again over the radio.

Raid didn’t bother knocking, he just opened the door and proceeded to remove his shoes. And why wouldn’t he? After all, ‘Val’ had told him to just come on in. We’d gone with the story of one of the parlour girls spilling ink down Val’s shirt, hence needing a shower. Becka had sent the text around 10:30, and Raid had responded that he wouldn’t be more than 20 minutes. Bang, bang, bang; and here we were.

Raid came straight up the stairs and hesitated in the hall. If he turned around to come in the kitchen, there was a good chance that he would see my silhouette against the wall, either running or attacking. Either would have been an annoyance.

Like a good gangster though, he went after the girl he thought was naked in the shower.

No wonder Danny doesn’t want Val involved with this s**t. 

I moved forward, concealing myself from the hallway, and looked out down the staircase from my new position. Dean was just peeking his head up from downstairs to see if the coast was clear. I gave him a nod and he filed up the stairs, Kyle close behind him, pausing only to lock the door.

I heard the bedroom door push open, soon followed by the distinct crunch of knuckles, which was shortly accompanied by two successive thuds. The first, I guessed, as I started down the hall, would’ve been Raid hitting the wall - from the crack of disintegrating plaster - and the second, would’ve been Danny landing hard from unbalance.

“I’ve been waitin’ 48 days, 2 hours, and 37 f*****g minutes to be able to hit you, you son of a b***h!” Danny’s voice roared through the house.

“What the hell?” A voice that I recognized from the phone as Raid’s cried out. There was a pause with some softer cursing, before the tone completely flipped from confused anger to terrified disbelief, “D-Danny? Jesus Christ man is that you?”

“Yeah. Daniel Hollier, in the flesh,” Danny’s voice was flat but with an edge, “Thought you were gonna take my girlfriend after you tried to f****n’ kill me?”

“F**k man I thought you were dead! Where the hell have you been, under a rock?”

Danny looked up as I came into the doorway and gave a wry smirk, “No, more like under a cross.”

Brayden was awkwardly half crouched against the wall. His right hand was cradled around the side of his head as he looked at Danny with confusion. A few feet above him there was a dish of broken plaster about the size of a softball.

I was actually a little surprised to see Daniel still standing. Even more surprised to see that he wasn’t noticeably favouring his right leg. “Got enough hate in you to keep you standing I see,” I commented neutrally as I stepped into the room. Rebecca had turned the water off and emerged from the bathroom with a stiletto drawn.

Danny gave a half-hearted smirk, “All in the technique.”

I looked back down at Raid, whose pupils were dilated almost fully in the light. “Well, your ‘technique’ just concussed our source of information.”

“Son of a-” Danny cursed as he turned back to Raid. “You m**********r, you’re gonna drop just like that? F**k!”

I saw his crutches leaning beside the bed and walked over to grab them. As I came back to Brayden I handed Danny the crutches, “Go wait in the kitchen. Becks, go with him.”

He knew I was giving an order, and whether he liked it or not, he didn’t fight me on it. He shuffled out of the room, followed by Rebecca as she sheathed her dagger.

And I was worried about AJ losing his temper. Lo juro… I shook my head.

Raid hadn’t seemed to notice anything, and looked up at me lazily as Keith and Kyle came into the room. “I know you! Cox hates you. He’s gonna kill you. Damn I’m gonna get a medal or somethin’ for findin’ you.” He continued to talk to himself as I looked over at Kyle and Dean.

Kyle met me with suspicious confusion, “What is this?”

“Thank Hollier. Anger trumped information.”

“Well isn’t that just f****n’ great,” Dean retorted.

I shrugged, “Yeah, but I don’t blame him.”

“…we’ll hardly even need Ty now! This’s perfect. JulIO! You are comin’ with me!”

Dean glanced at Raid, “Does this guy think he’s serious?”

“Probably,” I replied casually as I knelt down. How Raid knew my name, I didn’t know, but I suspected that it probably came from higher up the ladder. More specifically, the top of it if I were to guess. I felt tempted to deck the guy myself. “Alright a*****e, how delusional are you?”

He met my gaze with a spaced out expression before breaking into a full on, happy-go-lucky grin, “You’re all ‘onna die.”

“Awesome,” I whispered, whipping the heel of my hand into his solar plexus. I was counting on it to knock him out without further damage to his brain, and it did the trick. He slumped back against the wall before sliding down to rest on the floor. He kept breathing but remained silent and I was grateful. He’d been on a trip to f****n’ wonderland, and I didn’t need him revealing any more of my secrets while he was there.

“What’d you do that for? He could have given us something. He WAS still talking,” Dean’s annoyance was plain but there was concerned suspicion too.

“Yeah, and he was talking like he was on a bad acid trip,” I snapped back, standing again to face him. “Do I look like a f*****g Julio to you?”

Dean lowered his gaze and I glanced at Kyle with the same pinning glare. He met me with one of his own, a disappointed expression on his face. He knew. He’d known for a long time. So had James and Kallen. Rowen too for that matter. But considering they’d all known me since I was in single digits, I figured that was okay.

Anyone else? Nope. My name is Julius, f**k you very much.

I turned back to Dean as he lifted his head again, “It is Spanish. I mean you-”

I reached out and cuffed him hard on the side of the head before walking past him and out of the room. Before reaching the hallway I called back harshly, “Throw him on the bed. Watch him ‘til he wakes up.”

I stalked into the kitchen, turning my attention immediately to Daniel, “Any liquor in this place?”

“Uh, yeah, pantry beside the fridge. Top shelf. Probably not much there though.”

I spun towards the fridge and exercised great control to not rip the pantry door right off the hinges. I skimmed the top shelf. No tequila, but there was rum. It also just so happened to be the fullest bottle. I removed the cap and started to drink. It burned with overpowering spice but I didn’t let up until I felt the bottle significantly lighten against my lips. 

When I brought it down and turned back to the table I noticed there was only about a third of it left. I growled inwardly, closing the pantry door and walking over to take a seat at the table.

“We’ll have to wait until he comes to. Hopefully he’s coherent by then.”

“Sorry,” Danny murmured. Though I wasn’t sure it was for hitting Raid, or more so for rendering him useless to us.

“No, I’d a socked him too in your shoes.”

“Wait, aren’t people with a concussion supposed to be kept awake?” Becka

“If you care about them surviving without brain damage,” I replied casually.

Danny looked over at me a little uneasily for a minute before speaking carefully, “I don’t have an infinite supply of connections to go through. Maybe one or two more, but if you want to kill them all it’s not really going to get you anywhere.”

I sighed. “Alright,” I grabbed my radio, “Kyle, wake up our informant every two hours. Make sure he’s still breathing. If he tries to f****n’ die on us call Gregg.”  

Kyle didn’t bother using the radio as he called back, “Yeah, you got it, el jefe.”

I gritted me teeth at the jab, but didn’t retaliate. My day had gone to such s**t that I didn’t even want to fight; I just wanted to drink. I took another long swig from the bottle, noting there was less than a quarter of the liquid left when I set it down again.

“Keith!” I called as a sudden thought occurred to me.

He emerged from the hallway looking sullen, “Yeah, what?”

“Call AJ. See if he found C.K. and how they’re makin’ out trying to get a location on Ty’s cellphone,” I pushed myself up, draining what was left of the bottle. “In the meantime, I doubt we’re gettin’ anything else tonight.” I turned from the table and Dean stepped out of my way as I headed for the stairs.

“Where are you goin’?” He asked with an edge of uncertainty as I passed.

I was done with emotion for the day, and gave the last of it that I had left to him in answer, “For a f****n’ drink.”

 

Author's Note

Alright, there's definitely some "fluff" here, but I haven't decided how to cut it yet. Love to hear your opinions!