Dying For LA by Ian Jones (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📕

Keane shook his head again.

John studied him, Keane looked away.

‘Leonid Pinsky?’ John asked.

Immediately Keane’s eyes widened and he blinked fast.

And it’s a hit, thought John. One-nil.

‘You scared of him Ron? Is that what this is? You been up against him before? Payback maybe?’ Reed asked.

Keane sat down heavily on the bunk.

‘But he’s not the only one, right?’ John spoke gently.

Keane sighed, muttering something to himself, then sat very still, looking up at the ceiling.

John and Reed waited, saying nothing. This was the crucial point; Keane had been there all night and would have worked out by now that this was all there was. Nobody was going to help him. Nobody even knew where he was.

‘You’re wrong.’ Keane said eventually, but lifelessly, no conviction.

‘No Ron, we’re not. And we’re quite happy to say goodbye, come back tomorrow,’ Reed replied.

‘This is all bullshit, I swear, I’ve done nothing, I was right there with you, just trying to solve the damn thing,’ Keane said.

‘Ron, you should know. We got Pinsky’s mobile number. Judy put a trace on it and it’s live. She just called, so soon we will know where he is anyway. So what’s best? We can just leave you here and get it from him first. Because he’s got a lot more to lose, believe me. He will have no problem at all naming names, and that will change everything for you. Plus, we got your mobile from your car.’

John pulled it from his pocket and threw it on the floor in front of him. Keane stared at it. He was desperate to get his hands on it, that was obvious.

‘Lot of missed calls on that thing. And several from Mr Pinsky,’ John told him slowly.

Keane blinked rapidly, for a few seconds it looked as if he would burst into tears then he shook his head violently, and stared down at the floor again. He rubbed his face with both hands and whispered to himself, rocking gently from side to side. Then he stopped, sighed heavily and raised a hand.

‘Ok.’

He looked up.

‘Ok,’ he said again.

‘In your own time, talk to us,’ John told him.

‘If I do this, can I get out of here?’

‘That depends, you know that. Once we are done I don’t know what will happen, you probably got more idea. You might have to be some place where nobody can get to you, but yeah, you won’t be in here,’ Reed replied.

Keane drank some water from a mug on the floor.

‘This was never supposed to get this far. I don’t know who the main guys are.’

‘Bullshit,’ Reed snapped.

‘No, it’s true I don’t. I got approached maybe two or three months ago. There is a team, here in LA. They got a job to do, supposed to be simple but getting nowhere. I don’t know all the fucking details. But there’s some guys in the driving seat and some hired hands to do the dirty work. Yeah, they offered me money and I took it. Look, think what you like, but you don’t know. I been a cop more than thirty years and I can’t afford to retire, pension or no pension. I got debts like you wouldn’t believe, two ex-wives bleeding me dry and kids I don’t see no more. It’s all gone to shit. Back in the day there was always extra here and there but there ain’t no gravy anymore. Just my shitty paycheque.’

‘Start at the beginning, what did they want from you?’ John asked.

‘You don’t know who you are dealing with. I can’t believe you know about Pinsky; how did that happen? That’s a dangerous fact right there. You may as well wave a flag in the air. But these guys are for real. They do not stop. I’m serious, this is way, way bigger than you think. This is just one job out of hundreds they got going on. Thousands probably. You are into something that is not going to end well for you.’

‘We’ll take that chance. Just answer the question,’ Reed told him.

‘Remember Kyle spoke about the fight? Echo Park?’

‘Yeah, I remember that, we went to look at the address the guy gave. Something Perez was it?’ John replied.

‘That’s it. I got the call then. Of course, I wasn’t involved, it was all with the local guys. But they had already done their homework, somehow my name must have come up because they came to me. And I fixed it.’

‘You fixed it?’

‘Yeah. In the end it was just a fight, nobody got killed so all the brass want is as much shit off the books as they can get. So I made the call, told them that the guy worked for me, he was a CI, bullshit, bullshit and I needed it put away and that’s what happened. Everybody’s happy. Like I said, it was just a fight. And I got some cash, and they said I done good. Asked if I wanted more. And I said yes.’

‘Who? Who asked?’

‘I never met anyone. Not once. It was all on my cell. They change the number every call I reckon. I collect the money from a mailbox, I got sent the key.’

‘But you must have a name?’

‘No. Not really anyways. Sometimes I’d get a message “Call Fred on this number” or “You need to call Bill,” shit like that. But it wasn’t Leo Pinsky.’

‘Right. Let’s just say we believe you, what happened next?’

‘So, I get another call. A few days later. They need something. This major based right here in LA has something they need, they been working on him but he ain’t playing ball. It’s some kind of big deal. There was some other guy, another soldier but he’s out the picture so they need this fella.’

‘Major Hayter?’

‘Yeah.’ Keane looked morosely around.

‘Unbelievable. You had me fooled,’ Reed announced.

‘And me,’ John said. ‘What did they want you to do?’

‘First, get him taken in, suspect DUI, battery, anything I could but I got to keep him away from the