Free Hostage Zero by John Gilstrap

named Sammy Bell. I don’t know if you know that name.”
    Jonathan shot a knowing look at Boxers. Sammy Bell used to be an enforcer for the Slater crime family, whose interests often clashed with those of Jonathan’s father. When Old Man Slater kicked the bucket a dozen years or so ago, Sammy had stepped in to take over.
    “This was Sammy Bell’s operation?” Jonathan asked.
    “No, no, no, no. I didn’t say that. I said that’s how I first met Sjogren. I don’t know if Sammy Bell is involved.”
    “Where can I find this Sjogren guy?” he asked.
    The breathing tell kicked in again. “I don’t know,” Jimmy said. “I’ve never tried to find him. I don’t have to. He finds me when the time comes.”
    “Is Sjogren his real name?”
    “It’s all I’ve ever called him.”
    “And what about the others?” Jonathan asked, moving on. “What did you call them?”
    Frustration took root. “Jesus, you make it sound like we’re drinking buddies. I didn’t call them anything. Hell, I didn’t even want to talk to them.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Scary, scary dudes. Like they were pissed at the world. They growled and snapped at each other like they were married or something.”
    “How many of them were there?”
    Jimmy hesitated long enough to verify the number in his head before answering. “Four,” he said. “Five, including me. Only, they all seemed to know each other, and they weren’t happy about me tagging along.”
    The wording made Jonathan cock his head. He noticed Boxers doing the same. “What does that mean, ‘tagging along’?”
    “Like when you have to take you little sister with you on a date.”
    “I know what the phrase means,” Jonathan said. “It was an odd choice of words for you.”
    “But that’s what it was like. I think something happened to their original driver. That’s why I was brought in.”
    “Something happened like what?”
    Jimmy’s frustration peaked and he shouted, “I don’t fucking know!”
    The outburst brought another explosive but harmless blow from Boxers’ truncheon onto the heavy pillar.
    “Go ahead!” Jimmy yelled. “Go ahead and hit me again, you stupid shits. But before you can beat information out of me, you’ve got to beat it into me first. I just don’t know this stuff you’re asking me.”
    “Everybody settle down!” Jonathan commanded.
    “Who are you people?” Jimmy asked.
    Jonathan was shocked that it took him so long to ask. “Trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to know,” he said. “Are you telling me that you never heard any names from these guys you were with? They must have called each other something.”
    Jimmy steeled himself with an enormous breath. “A guy named Ponder seemed to be the guy in charge. He was the one who was pissed when shit started to fall apart.”
    “How did your time with these people end? When did you last see your friends?” Boxers asked.
    Jimmy drew another deep breath. “I dropped them off at a storage place in Kinsale,” Jimmy said. “It had some stupid name that used the letter U instead of the word ‘you.’ They off-loaded the kids and never looked back.”
    “Why the storage place?”
    “I guess they had stuff stored there,” Jimmy said. He quickly added, “I’m not being a smart-ass. They honest to Christ didn’t tell me about their plans.”
    “What did you see?”
    “As little as possible. I’m telling you, these are really scary dudes. You know how when you get mugged you don’t want to look the dude with the gun in the eye so he won’t have to kill you to keep you from testifying? It was like that with these guys.”
    Jonathan had never felt that way himself, but he’d inflicted the feeling on others a time or two. “What did you see, then, when you were trying not to see anything?”
    This time, Jimmy hesitated a long time—probably twenty seconds. That kind of internal debate usually portended something big.
    “First promise you won’t kill me,” Jimmy