Absolute Power (Southern Justice #1 (36 page)

“Hey, Chase! Thanks for calling me back.” He stood from my couch, patting my legs as he walked toward the kitchen. “Hey man, can you hang on for just a second.” He waited, then pulled the phone from his ear.

“Claire, I need to talk to my little brother,” he pointed to his phone and walked toward my front door. “I’ll talk with you later, okay?”

I watched as he opened the door, speaking softly into the receiver.

It didn’t go unnoticed that he still had not kissed me or tried anything more than holding my hand. The only message I seemed to get from him was an extended friendship. Why was it so important for him to let me know about Portia, if he had me in the friend box? More importantly, why did it hurt so much?

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one’s watching.

– C.S. Lewis

C
hase had been unable to take my initial call since he was thirty thousand feet in the air on an airplane en route for Charleston. Once he landed and received my message, he jumped in a taxi heading my way.

He was impressed with the shop and how it was coming along, including the solid metal door which opened with the aid of a chain lever, adding additional storage or, in our case, another work bench.

“Well, Dylan. You are just full of surprises today.”

Chase and I sat on the edge of the open pit overlooking a very dirty, sweaty and, as a gift from Claire, bloody faced Cash

He sat against a cinderblock wall. Hands and feet zip tied together, the fight gone out of him as his mouth stayed silent.

“This is quite the mind fuck, Bro. First a fucking girlfriend and now an overnight guest.” He leaned his body forward, beer bottle clasped between his hands, and forearms resting on his thighs.

As Chase rode over, we’d made small talk and I told him about Claire and how she had changed me so much. We discussed Aubrey, he told me he trusted me in the decision to hire her.

“Hey, does he look remotely familiar?” I pointed my bottle in Cash’s direction, narrowing my eyes. It had taken me a little while to connect the dots, but once they had, it was clear as day.

Chase looked at him for several minutes, I could see he was coming up blank, so I decided to help him along. “Chase, ask him where the fuck your cookie went?”

Chase gulped his remain beer down, sat the glass on the bench behind him, and jumped into the pit. “You’re a punk assed bitch.” Chase kicked the bottom of Cash’s boot, sand and debris fell to the concrete below. “Got your balls kicked by a tiny girl, and from what I hear, you have to attack girls to get them to be near you.”

Chase looked at Cash for several minutes, waiting for him to say something…anything.

“What? You can run your mouth in jail, tell some scumbag bitch you’re gonna mess with my brother’s girl, but you got nothin’ to say to me?”

Cash locked eyes with Chase and pulled his feet toward his chest. “Easy to talk shit when you’re holdin all the cards, GI Joe.”

Chase pulled a knife out of his boot and slides the blade across the plastic cable, with a popping sound, Cash is free.

“When I was little, my granddaddy told me a story about a man and his mule. Seems the man went down the mountain to find himself a new bride. Once he found one, he placed her on the back of the mule and headed back up the side of the mountain. Not far into their journey, the mule stumbled for no apparent reason. The man turned to the mule and said, “that’s one.” Further up the mountain, the mule stumbled again, “That’s two,” the man replied. Then just as they were about to reach his homestead, the mule decided he wanted to stop and eat some grass growing along the trail. The man got off his horse and helped his new bride off the back of the mule. Then he looked the mule in the eye and said, “that’s three.” He raised his pistol, shooting the mule between the eyes. Well, the new wife became very upset and started to belittle the man. He turned to his wife and said, “that’s one.”

“Now, open your fucking mouth again, cause that’s one.” Chase spat at him, placing the knife on the side of the pit, close to where my foot rested.

“You Morgans think you’re betterin’ everyone else, with your college parties and your fancy cars.” He enunciated each word with a scowl, while rubbing the red marks on both of his wrists.

“But everything ain’t the way you want it.” His eyes glistened, more from the amount of drugs in his system than any emotions. “One day…you’re gonna gets what your deserve.” His eyes flashed to me, “The both of yous.”

“You’re right, Dylan. This fella talks a lot of shit and wastes a lot of good air.” Chase launched himself out of the pit and sat on the edge, his boots dangling against the sides. “We’re gonna need Austin, if we want to pull this off.”

After I left Claire’s condo, I’d sat in my car as I spoke with Chase. I laid it all out for him, how I couldn’t keep trying to save a sinking ship by using a bucket with a big assed hole in it.

“I’ve got to make the streets safer for Momma and Nana to walk down. I need to give Claire and Lainie piece of mind.”

Chase agreed, said he would love to be able to not worry so much about Harmony working after dark in the neighborhood she did. So I told him how something Claire had said was the inspiration for what I wanted to do.

Dialing Austin’s number, placing my phone on speaker, resting it in the space between us.

“Hey dickhead?” Austin’s tired voice answered. “Can’t figure out where to put it?” He mused.

“Dylan may have issues with that shit, but I’m all good.”

“Chase? What the fuck man?” Looking to my little brother, a smile I hadn’t seen since we were kids returns to his face. It’s nice having him here, knowing I can count on both of them when I need to.

“I heard y’all were having trouble gettin’ laid, so they let me come home to show how a real man does it.” I kicked his boot, cause, well that is what guys do.

“The day I need your help in landing a girl, is the day I’ll have someone shoot me in the head.” I couldn’t agree more, advice about changing a block engine was one thing, needing help with pussy…

“Austin, you busy?”

“Oh you know me, my fingers are always busy.” His cavalier attitude coming through the speaker.

“Yea, well put your tiny dick down, we need your help.” Chase took another pull from his beer, while Austin unloaded a dozen fuck yous and cocksuckers.

“Remember when we went cow tipping?” I shook my head as I listened to Austin accuse me of being the ringleader on that particular night. Maybe I was, but no one put a gun to anyone’s head. It was adolescent fun. “Well this cow is gonna be a little harder to tip over.”

Cash scowled, shouting, “Fuck you,” in his direction.

“Really? You get upset when a man calls a spade a spade. Hell, if you would have quit the cookies and concentrated on the pussy, your life would have turned out better. Lord knows your ass would have been smaller.”

I was counting on Chase and his obsession in pleasing the female species. His ideal of the perfect woman wrapped around his arm and ring finger. Once I told him of Claire and my new relationship with her, I knew the renaissance romantic would take over in his decision making.

Austin sat on the leather couch inside my newly organized office, is blue eyes searching between Chase and myself. Ms. Georgia had been right; if you didn’t know better, you would never guess we didn’t have the same biological parents. Where my eyes were light blue, Austin’s were more of an aquamarine. His hair was just as dark as daddy’s, and mine although his was considerably thicker.

He knew my feelings on the trial and my desire to keep the streets safe, he also knew I would never do something without care and consideration of all the factors involved.

“Eighty two percent.” Austin admitted, his eyes unfocused and face pensive after I shared my plans for Cash. “The amount of people who commit crimes and are returned to the system again and again. The courts and jails are cluttered with repeat offenders. Lawyers who spend every waking hour, finding new ways to beat the life out of the system. His face became hard, teeth grinding as he continued.

“What you’re describing is highly illegal and, some would argue, immoral.” He was silent for a beat, then his eyes flashed to mine. “But not me,” his voice changed from the kind hearted computer geek to something feral, edgy. “I hate the way the system has failed and placed so many innocent lives in jeopardy so the criminal can have his day. Ignoring the scars left behind by the quick tongue of people like Anderson.” He spat out his name as if he’d taken a bite out of something rotten.

“I’m fucking in.”

Growing up in Charleston, we knew how to get around the city using back fences and streets so narrow only pedestrians and a few skilled drivers could navigate.

Ravenel Bridge stretched for two miles North and South, three lanes each way with a pedestrian walkway on the West side. In the center of the Bridge, on the walkway, was an area to take a break. Metal fencing ran the span of the entire bridge on the pedestrian side, about five feet high.

Cameras monitored the traffic flow in each direction, except for at the halfway point on the walkway. The Coast Guard ran patrols under the bridge, completing the security measures.

Austin managed to tap into the city’s security system, blocking their view of my car as Chase and I drove in the northbound lanes. I pulled to the very center of the road, out of view by the patrol boats under the bridge and the cameras. Choosing the wee hours gave us assurance of not seeing another car on the road.

We hauled Cash out of the trunk, not giving a shit if he hit his head, or any other body parts, as we got him to his feet. Cash chose then not to use his right to remain silent, angering the shit out of the two of us. “I bet that fucking girl of yours, the cunt nurse, can suck a dick like a pro. I wanted to give her a go when I saw her.”

Chase beat me to the punch as he kicked the back of Cash’s leg, causing him to slam to the hard concrete, “That’s two, motherfucker.” He kicked him again in the gut, causing Cash to spit blood onto the street as I pulled him to his feet.

“What’s wrong, Detective, little brother has to defend your pussy?” His teeth red from his bleeding lips, hair wet with sweat and breath still so bad it made me want to gag.