Enforcer (43 page)

When Larry said nothing, his face still pointed toward the floor, Dracul stepped out from the shadow at the rear of the room and slapped the junkie on the back of the head. Larry jerked, his eyes wild with fear until they settled on Connor.

“You!” the man screamed. “You motherfucker! You did this! You—”

Dracul stuffed a rag into Larry’s mouth, slapping him on the back of the head again when Larry wouldn’t stop trying to yell around the rag. Connor looked to Petre, then to Ojacarcu.

“What the fuck?” Connor asked.

“I asked the very same question when Paul and Niko brought him to me after he was unable to pay.”

“We warned him the last time we were there when we set the new payment terms with him. He understood perfectly. Petre was there. If this piece of shit is trying to say it’s my fault he couldn’t pay because I did what you told me, then I will break his goddamn face myself,” Connor said, the heat of anger in his voice directed at the junkie who still stared at him with hateful eyes from the chair.

“Oh, no,” Ojacarcu said. Connor was sure he could hear humor in his boss’ voice. “It is better than that.” He stepped within arm’s reach of the man. “Let us try this one more time. When Dracul removes the rag from your mouth, you will tell my young friend here what you told me. If you do not do exactly as I have told you, I will have Dracul remove another finger.”

Connor shivered at the “another” part, wondering what Larry’s hands might look like after a few hours of Dracul working him over. He was glad Larry’s hands were behind the chair so he didn’t have to find out. Dracul slapped the bound man on the back of the head again and removed the rag from his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Larry said to Ojacarcu before turning his gaze on Connor. “You broke into my house Sunday and robbed me at gunpoint. You gave all of my stash to that whore, Carmen, and you took all of the money I had to give to Mr. Ojacarcu.”

“You’re high,” Connor said, looking the man in the eyes.

“I wish,” Larry laughed. “I know it was you. Same fucking height. Tried to hide with black pants and coat and that cheap ski mask with your stupid fucking cop sunglasses. Pretending to be Batman with your whispering bullshit so I wouldn’t know who you were. But I heard you when you told her to take my shit and get out.”

“Is he high right now?” Connor asked Ojacarcu.

“I’m sure he wishes he could be,” Ojacarcu answered. “Dracul has been keeping him company for the last two days.”

“And this is the story he told you about why he couldn’t pay?”

“It is,” his boss nodded. “An amusing tale, minus the part about not having the money to pay his debt to me.”

“How much was he short?” Connor asked.

“Twenty-five thousand,” Ojacarcu replied.

Connor looked at Larry. “You didn’t pay anything? Surely you could have fudged the truth like you did with us enough times about getting ripped off yourself, or that you hadn’t collected from your people yet. Somehow you always came up with something, at least half.”

“Oh, go fuck yourself,” Larry said, a wolf’s grin on his bloody face. “You know you did it, asshole. You probably did it to get back at me for calling the boss after you kidnapped the cunt standing beside you. She’s probably the one who told you where all the shit was, how to get into the house.”

Connor looked at Ojacarcu and shrugged, not wanting to be baited into saying anything. He hadn’t looked at Jera since they’d separated in the parking garage, and it was driving him mad like an itch he couldn’t reach.

“This gets more interesting,” Ojacarcu said. “He claims he can prove it was you.”

Connor was sure that everyone in the room had been staring at him, watching him give himself away with uncontrollable shaking and facial expressions that delivered his guilt on a silver platter. He glared at the junkie secured to the chair.

“Let’s hear it,” he said, hoping with his life that he feigned disinterest combined with a little disgust.

“Oh you’re gonna hear it, asshole. Gonna hear a fucking bang when this cocksucking gorilla behind me puts out your lights,” Larry promised before Dracul slapped him in the head again, much harder than before. “Ow, you fucking ape,” he said, turning his head as far as he could to hurl the insult behind him to Dracul. He turned back to Connor. “Yeah. See, I got two things. Number one is that everyone in the neighborhood saw you. Described you perfectly.”

“They saw a man in black pants and a coat and a ski mask and described me perfectly?” Connor asked, almost amused.

“They saw your face before you pulled the ski mask down, fuckwad. They described you perfectly, even down to the scar above your eye. It was a nice try though, timing it with just an hour before collection. You didn’t think I’d come to my senses and get out of the shitty attempt you made at tying me up, but I did. I got out of it half an hour before they showed up to get paid. By the time they arrived, I had talked to three different neighbors along Galveston.”

“Right,” Connor said. “So what’s number two?”

“I had just over a hundred twenty thousand in that cooler. You gave ten grand to the whore, so I know you got about a hundred and ten, probably about a hundred and thirteen thousand, wherever you stashed it after stealing it from me. I was going to pay Mr. Ojacarcu off in full, at least the original debt and the interest. I would have only owed twenty grand after paying him all one-twenty, and would have paid the rest off the next week.”

“So why is it you in the chair instead of me?” Connor asked, knowing if the Romanians produced another person, a witness, he was a dead man. Dracul would easily be able to torture anyone into talking without even trying hard.

“It seems that Mr. Fallon’s eyewitnesses were reluctant to talk to our associates.” Ojacarcu gave him a gesture that said
who can say?

“So… no witnesses who ‘described me perfectly,’” Connor said, “and proof that I did this to you by saying how much money you were going to pay Mr. Ojacarcu?” He turned to his boss. “Are you sure he’s not high?”

“They saw you!” Larry screamed, the faces in the room once again focused on the bleeding, naked man tied to a chair. “They saw you and they will say it! Let me talk to them. I’ll get the fucking truth out of them!”

Connor glanced at Ojacarcu. The older man shrugged again. “I had my boys check out his story. No one will claim they saw anything. It sounds like a neighborhood that either does not care for Mr. Fallon enough to protect him, or more likely, it is a neighborhood that believes it is not wise to talk to anyone who does not belong to the neighborhood.”

“I’m sure he was captain of the block party council,” Connor said, “with all of the shit piled up around the fire hazard he lives in, the constant in and out by shady dope addicts. I bet they even gave him a cake after they heard him beating on his whore.”

“Fuck you, cocksucker!” Larry screamed at him, nearly falling over in the chair.

Dracul stepped to Larry’s left and swung his fist at the junkie. Connor winced when Larry’s chair fell over and his head rebounded off of the wood floor. Dracul leaned down and put the rag back in Larry’s mouth before pulling the chair upright.

“This is why you brought me all the way out here? Why she had to miss her appointment? For this shit? No offense, Mr. Ojacarcu, but this is fucking stupid.”

“Do not worry about her appointment,” Ojacarcu said with a wave of his hand. “I assured the client that she was assisting me personally, and I would make it up to him when she has her next appointment with him. As for this
fucking stupid
mess, I do not take offense from you. I understand your anger at these accusations. That is why I have called you out here.

“When a man makes such an accusation, knowing that death will be involved at the end of it, he must be sure of the truth of his accusations. I do not believe him to be strong enough to withstand Dracul’s skills. Dracul assures me that no matter the technique, Mr. Fallon will not change his story. At first this disturbed me. You were the focus of his screams, Connor. He is very sure you broke into his home, beat him with a pistol, gave away his drugs to a prostitute, and took all of his money after tying him up.

“Personally, I believe him. I am quite sure he was robbed and beaten. It could not be a secret of what and who he was. He was a good earner, which means he had enough customers that he kept satisfied. You know how it is with these meth addicts.”

Connor understood the meaning of Ojacarcu’s use of the past tense to describe Larry. He’d tried to tell himself that Larry would get out of this alive, that he’d be beaten badly by whichever men were doing the collecting from him now. Connor hadn’t been prepared for the amount of money and drugs that had been in the cooler. He’d only planned to take the twenty-five thousand that the junkie had been ordered to pay each week. Connor had planned on Larry being a addict, as well as a loser, one who could barely meet his debt payment, and even then only on the threat of a more severe beating each time he failed to produce.

“The part I do not believe him about is that it was you who has done this to him. I asked him, ‘why would Connor risk his life on such a foolish action?’ and the reply I received was that you are retaliating against him, for having to take a beating from Dracul.” Ojacarcu sighed, glancing at Larry, who still looked dazed but was following the conversation. “At first, I believed that he was simply making the story up, another excuse to not have to pay his debt. But after he and Dracul spent time together, I realized his story is most likely true.”

“Just not the part about me,” Connor said.

“Exactly. I understand the history between you, and can imagine this man truly believes you kidnapped his woman. However, he has lied to me many times in the past, has failed to make timely payments more than once. It is unfortunate for the fact that he was a good earner, even if he is a liar and an addict. He will be easily replaced by someone who is not a user, and will give me no excuses or headaches.”

Larry’s eyes were wide, his voice making strangled noises behind the rag. Connor wanted to apologize to him, tell him he was truly sorry it was going to end this way, that he never wanted Larry to die. He was sure the dealer would never make it out of the cabin with a heartbeat. Connor steeled himself, hoping that he wouldn’t have to watch Dracul end the man’s life, knowing that he would have to be a witness to it. Another lesson from his boss, another way to hold power over him.

“I know that this man was wrong to accuse you of kidnapping, but I had no choice,” Ojacarcu said. “I had to settle the matter. But this is inexcusable. No man should have to live with being wrongly accused once, let alone twice in his life.”

Ojacarcu’s hand reached out and squeezed Connor’s shoulder, their eyes locked together. “I will let you have the honor of being the final human being that this lying piece of shit ever sees. Petre will assist you. You will resume your duties tomorrow with Miss Gellner. I have spoken to your coach to let him know that you will not be able to make it to practice until Wednesday.”

“I have a game on Wednesday,” Connor said, trying to keep the fear out of his voice, trying to prolong the conversation, knowing that no matter how long he kept Ojacarcu talking, eventually he would be forced to kill Larry. He didn’t think he could do it with everyone watching. He didn’t think he could do it even if left alone with the man.

“It is okay,” Ojacarcu said dismissively. “I have taken care of it. I know it will be hard on you to miss practices, but this is to be the first man you have killed with your own hands, yes?”

“Yes,” Connor said, barely able to get the words out.

“You will need a day or two to clear your head. The team needs you in the right state of mind to compete, yes?”

“Yes.” Connor couldn’t believe the man had just told him he’d only need a day or two to recover from extinguishing another human being’s life.

“Don’t think about it too much,” Ojacarcu said to him as he turned to walk out of the room. “It is very hard the first time.” He stopped and put a hand on Connor’s shoulder again, the same way Connor’s father used to do when imparting a piece of serious advice in his youth. “Finish it quickly and put it out of your mind.”

Connor stood frozen, unable to move or say anything. Ojacarcu motioned for Jera and the others to follow him.

“Wait!” Connor said, hearing the panic in his voice. The four stopped in the hallway, all of them turning back to hear what he had to say. “You’re leaving?”

“I have seen how this ends far too many times to need or want to see it again. I only need to know the end result, not how it came about.” Ojacarcu gave him a tight smile before walking away. He caught Jera’s eyes before she turned to follow. She looked terrified beyond sanity.

Connor stayed rooted to the floor, listening to the four leaving through the front door of the cabin, hearing the faint sound of a car starting before silence settled over the room again. He looked at Petre, who had said nothing for the last two hours. Petre gave him a nod before walking out of the room, leaving him alone with Larry. The junkie stared at Connor with wild eyes, no longer full of hate. He looked like he was going to pass out from the fear of knowing his fate, knowing he only had minutes of life left.

Connor contemplated removing the man’s gag while attempting to calm him down, but he couldn’t think of anything to say that would soothe someone who knew they were about to die a violent death. He felt the horror and the guilt of not being able to help Travis while Dracul strangled the life out of him. He felt he needed to say something, anything, to Larry.