Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Three guards burst into the room right after Mullerby falls. They shout for Danny to drop the weapon. He does, and the guards tackle him to the ground. Danny struggles, and the guards pull out pepper spray and batons. I look away, but the sound follows. Danny’s grunts of pain, and the animalistic sounds of him being beaten.
The video cuts off suddenly. I release my held breath in a sudden gasp. My fingers are digging into Reaper so hard it's got to hurt. My knuckles are pure white and my nails ache from bending.
“Fuck,” Reaper growls. “I knew we shouldn't have shown her.”
I shake my head, fighting back tears and knowing it's going to be useless. “No. I needed to see that. God. What happened? I thought Mullerby was on a leave of absence? Why would he have been visiting the prison? That's not the Danny I know. He caused trouble and got arrested, but he was never mean or violent. That’s why I could never believe that he was responsible for armed robbery, let alone gunning someone down in cold blood.”
Reaper squeezes me. “Prison changes you. Trust me, I know.”
“We’re still tracking down where the email really came from. The only thing other than the video was a warning that if you keep your mouth shut, it won’t get out.” Mack pulls his phone away.
Scrapper grunts skeptically. “Think he was set up? This was obviously filmed as a threat. If that footage goes out, Danny's gonna be put away for life, if they don't give him the death penalty.”
“I can't let that happen.”
“Damn right we won't,” agrees Reaper. “We're gonna find every one of those fuckers and—”
But I stop him. “No.”
Mack's brows narrow in confusion. “No?”
“It's just going to hurt more people. What can we do that will make sure they don't hurt Danny more? What if they kill him? What if they kill us?”
Scrapper straightens angrily. “You think we're gonna let anyone harm a fucking hair on your head?”
“You can't protect me all the time. What was I thinking? I’m nobody and I thought I could take on something like this? Like I was going to be the one to blow the whole lid off it. Danny was right. I bet I'm not even the first to try, it's just that no one's heard of the others, because they're either dead or silenced.” It all feels so hopeless. “I can't keep going.”
Reaper sighs, but he doesn't say anything while I burrow my face into his chest and just let him hold me.
“No,” says Mack, his voice deep and deadly. Measured. He's thinking, not reacting. “No, we're not going to let this lie, but we're not gonna do anything unless we're damn sure we've got the upper hand. We have to move real careful.”
“Don't you get it?” I explode, pushing myself angrily up to sit so I can glare at him. “If we do anything; They. Are. Going. To. Kill. Him. That can't be so hard to understand.”
His jaw twitches, but he keeps his voice calm. “You think they're done with you? This threat, it's because they can't get to you. You wanna know why Mullerby was there? You were the one that said there are no coincidences, so think it through. Even if they didn’t find out that he squealed, they know he panicked and tipped you off that something was happening when he could’ve just kept his mouth shut and let you go home thinking you hit a dead end. They decided he was a liability, removed him from the equation and then sacrificed him like a pawn when it bought them something useful. And you’re a liability. We are too. What do you think that means?”
His hard words have my chest tightening. “You don't think they're going to leave it? They've got Danny as leverage for me, and me as leverage for him.”
“They don't wanna maintain that,” Scrapper says, as serious as I've ever heard him. “It's unstable and relies on trusting both of you to behave. They're gonna come for you, and as soon as you're gone, Danny's gonna have an accident in prison.”
I shake my head. I don't want to believe it. “I didn't mean to make all this happen,” is all I get out, through sobs.
“You were doing the right thing,” says Reaper. “This is real. This is something that needs to be exposed. If this is allowed to continue, more and more people will get shafted, just like Danny did. That coulda been me. And they're fucking scared of you. Scared of what you're digging up.”
I look up at him. He's blurry through my tears. “Scared of me?”
Mack reaches over to put a hand on my thigh. “If they weren't scared of you, scared of the things you're bringing to light, they wouldn't fucking bother with any of this. They'd just let you yell yourself hoarse about corruption in the justice system, and laugh at you while you did. That they're reacting like this means you've got them running scared. And like an animal backed up in a corner, they're lashing out.”