C21 Box Set

Chapter 3-7

“First, you have to be who you’re portraying, and believe it,” Mars said.

“Well, I’m being me, so that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“No, Dylan, you’re being a man seeking asylum, and wanting to join a particularly vicious gang of criminals. That is not you.”

Dylan felt stupid after Mars pointed it out. “Okay, so I need to get in the right mindset. Then what.”

“You have to think, look, and act like a man who is afraid the cops will find him at any second. The only hope you think you have is to use what Samson told you about the organization. You not only want Webb’s help, you’re in need of cash. As far as you’re concerned, killing Samson was a total adrenaline rush. You’ve decided, since you can’t go back to leading a normal life, you want to be part of what Samson put together.”

“That might work. The one thing the cops don’t know is why I killed Tommy, so Webb’s people probably don’t either.” Dylan thought about what other reasons there could be besides his being a lover scorned—something the reporters had suggested in their attempts to garner headlines. “What if…I told Tommy I wanted in and he said I didn’t have the guts? That I was a stupid weakling who was only useful to him as someone to f**k. And before you say that couldn’t have happened—” he looked away, not wanting to meet Mars’ gaze, “—he called me that, once, when I tried to stand up to him. Of course five minutes later he said he loved me and he hadn’t meant it. I’d pissed him off and it was his way of telling me who was boss.”

“You put up with that?”

Dylan shrugged. “At the time, I thought I was in love with him. I think it was soon after when I realized he had meant it. It was a wake-up call that there was something very wrong between us.”

“It’s hard to see, when you’re on the inside of an abusive relationship,” Mars said, gripping Dylan’s shoulder. “At least you finally figured it out—and got out.”

For a moment their gazes locked. Dylan felt his heart triphammer but refused to look away. Mars nodded once, his expression thoughtful, before releasing his grip.

“I…umm…yeah, I did. So I can use that to explain why I killed him. I’ll say…we’d just made love; I figured it was a good time to tell Tommy I wanted to join him in his real business. I was tired of holding a boring job at the hotel. When he replied the way he did I blew up. I wanted to show him I wasn’t a weakling—and took it too far.”

“A good way to approach it. What will you do if he doesn’t buy it?”

“That that’s why I killed Tommy?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll stick to my guns. After all, there’s no way he can prove otherwise.”

“True. On the other hand, he may wonder if you work for one of their rivals and killed Samson so you could do exactly what you will be—going to him for protection—thus getting you on the inside.”

“You don’t think I can pull this off,” Dylan said in disgust.

“I don’t know. The story we’ve come up with is good. But—” Mars held up a finger, “—Webb has been around for a long time, and as I told you, others have tried to infiltrate in order to bring down the organization. He wouldn’t put it past his competitors to come up with something like this so they could take over.”

“I’m good at reading people. If it looks like he’s not buying it, I’ll leave and we’ll call it a wash.”

“Dylan, that may not be an option. If he even thinks it’s a setup, he’ll have no hesitation about taking you prisoner so he can find out who sent you.”

“You’ll have me wired, won’t you? You can come to the rescue.”

“I can, and will, follow you, if he takes you off site. Chances are it won’t happen. IE Global is housed in several buildings, taking up a full city block. The smallest one is where they run the legitimate part of the business. The others are extremely well secured warehouses for the goods they import and export. And when I say well secured, I mean top of the line. Even I haven’t been able to get inside. The report one of the Feds sent back before he was killed said one of the warehouses is off limits to all but a few men. All of them are on Samson’s private payroll, meaning on Webb’s, now. Obviously, it’s where they keep the illegal arms until they can move them out of state, or the country. So far, however, no one has been able to prove it to the point that a search warrant can be issued for the premises.”

“Oh.” With those few words, it suddenly hit home to Dylan this wasn’t a game. It wasn’t a movie where the hero always comes out the winner. This was real and he had no idea what he was doing other than walking into Webb’s office with the intention of convincing the man to take him into the organization. If it didn’t work…

“We’re going to run through your first meeting. I’ll be Webb, you be yourself.” Mars sat at the table as if it was a desk. He looked up at Dylan, saying, “I understand you wanted to talk to me about something, Mr. Russell. Keep it short.”

“How will he know who I am?”

“First, you probably can’t get past the company receptionist without giving your name. And it has to be your real name, since he’ll have seen your picture on the news. He’ll also have done his research on you. After all, you killed the top man in the organization.”

“So I walk in and he shoots me without a second thought.”

“No. The company per se is legit—despite what he, Samson, and the other two partners do behind the scenes. He wouldn’t risk killing you there. Best bet, he’ll seem to agree to let you put in with them as, perhaps, one of the warehouse men working for the organization. Ostensibly, he’ll take you to the warehouse to show you what’s what.”

“At which point, I’ll be his prisoner, or dead.” Dylan shuddered. “Okay, let’s practice my first talk with him until I have everything down pat and you’re convinced I can pull it off so he thinks I’m the real thing.”