Free Never Play Another Man's Game by Mike Knowles Page A

this.”
    â€œThat’s why we need you. I can make him listen. He’ll do what you tell him.”
    â€œYou know he won’t. He’s a dumb fucking kid with more pride than brains.”
    â€œYou were a dumb kid once.”
    â€œThat was a long time ago, and I was never like him.”
    â€œThat was because you had your uncle to help you.”
    I saw where she was going with this. It felt just like when you notice that a bird is flying over your head and you realize that you don’t have time to move before the shit lands on your skull. “It was nothing like that. I asked him to teach me to be like him. I signed on for it and I did every goddamn thing he said without question. Rick is an ungrateful little shit who isn’t satisfied with going down with the ship alone. Even now he’s more concerned with divvying up the money than with walking away clean. Getting away is everything. The score is second.”
    â€œBring in someone else. Someone you can trust,” Ruby said.
    â€œYour boy said he didn’t want a five-way pay out.”
    â€œHe can have my share. That way there’s no problem. He gets his money, you get three pros. Plus the house and a cut of the money. We’ll give Rick and Franky small jobs, and I promise to keep Rick in line. Please, Wilson, your family needs you.”
    I didn’t feel any tugs on my heartstrings for Rick or Ruby. They weren’t my family and I owed them nothing. Something else was pulsating below the surface. Planning the job had woken something inside me. All of a sudden, it felt like I was waking from a coma and flexing muscles that had lain dormant for too long. I wanted to do the job. I saw every angle and knew I could pull it off. With Ruby, and someone else reliable, it would be a profitable ten minutes’ work.
    I gave it a few more seconds of unnecessary thought before I said, “Alright.” Ruby could think she won me over with her pleas about family if she wanted. I wasn’t going to correct her, just like I wasn’t going to give her back the deed to her place or make sure that she got a cut of the money.
    I spoke with Ruby for a few more minutes and then got in the car. I told her I would pick up some help for the job and then get in touch with her about our next move. Ruby didn’t look cold anymore. She had stopped shivering and she wore the happiest smile I had ever seen.

CHAPTER TEN
    I hadn’t been Ruby’s only choice for the job. I had heard that she was asking about a few other names besides mine when she was cruising the bars late at night. One of the people she asked about was Dave Book. D.B. was a member of the Forty Thieves — a biker gang that was big in Southern Ontario. D.B. had earned his patch at sixteen. He rode without a licence on a stolen bike and kicked the shit out of anyone who thought he should be different. He was a hulk of a man with short blond hair and a tightly trimmed goatee. Now forty-seven, he was out of jail and second in command of the Thieves. Second in command meant D.B. was the one who got his hands dirty. The boss didn’t kill anyone, or supervise drug shipments — that was all left to D.B.
    It being Sunday, I knew where D.B. would be. He would start the day at the gym before going to play a few games of bocce ball. Somewhere along the line, the giant biker had learned that he had a talent for the game. He was now obsessed and would play until the snow blanketed the ground. His court was a small field downtown where he played with a bunch of retirees, none of whom looked to have ever ridden a Harley in their lives.
    I found D.B. with three other men at the court. The old men were bundled in heavy coats, scarves, and hats. D.B. was in jeans and a T-shirt. His massive arms were covered in ink and laced with veins. I saw his leather jacket in a heap beside two of the old men who were sitting on a bench watching the game. I took a seat on the