Free Road to Darkness by Tim Miller Page A

that. I was able to reach him, tried to get him to come in, but he hung up.”
         “You seem to be having trouble controlling your drivers here lately, Slade,” the boss said.     “Yes sir, I know.”
         The boss smiled and looked at Hector.
         “You know Slade isn’t his real name?”
         “Ha! It’s not?” Hector said.
         “Nope. It’s Bartholomew.”
         “Boss, is it really…”
         “Oh calm down Bart. It’s all in good fun. But yes, he was Bart when I met him years ago. A glorified punk really. It was my idea to help him reinvent himself. Worked out mostly well I think.”
         “That’s awesome. Bart!” Hector said as he laughed.
         “Don’t call me that.” Slade said.
         “Oh lighten up,” The boss said. “Ok. Enough playing around Slade. My people tell me it was our Mexican contacts who stole our truck.”
         “Why would they steal it? We were bringing it to them.” Slade asked.
         “Yes, I know. They figured why buy it from us when they could just come up here and take it. Someone down there is getting greedy.”
         “Motherfuckers.”
         “I know. I don’t know what they are thinking. I can’t afford a war over this. But I’m not gonna let those wetbacks steal from me or cut me out either. No offense Hector.”
         “None taken sir.”
         “Sir,” Slade said. “How did you know about all this so quickly?”
         “I’m the Lieutenant Governor. I know everything. Shit, the governor can’t find his ass unless I hand it to him.”
         Slade sat back and looked at the shiny gold plated name plate on the desk. It read “John J. Adams.” The current location wasn’t his official office, but his private office in Austin. Adams spent a couple days a week there.
         “I guess you have a point sir.”
         “So, you and Hector will track down this driver. He’s a loose end and you know how I feel about loose ends.” Adams said.
         “Yes sir. Though he doesn’t know anything about you.”
         “And he won’t either. Get rid of him, I don’t care how. I’ll call Esteban down in Mexico and find out what crawled up his ass. I called this meeting because I wanted you to know that I’m aware of everything that happens. I get it. You wanted to clean this up before telling me about it. But I have to know this shit. Got it?” Adams shook his finger at Slade as he spoke.
         “Yes sir. It won’t happen again.”
         “I know. Let’s get to it.”
         Slade felt relieved as he walked out of the office. Hector was practically skipping alongside him.
         “That’s cool man. We’re going to be working together. I don’t think you ever saw me work before ,” Hector said.
         “No, I haven’t. I’ve heard stories.”
         “Yeah. I like to be creative. I once killed a guy with a blender. I ground his dick up in it.”
         “Jesus Christ. Just…stop. When we find him, just be quick about it.”
         “Oh, come on.”
         “Just get it over with. He’s a shmuck, but he killed two cops and one of Benito’s men. So don’t fuck with him. I don’t think he has any training, but he’s like a caged animal when he gets cornered.”
         “Fine man. You’re no fun,” Hector said.
         “You have no idea. I’m loads of fun.”
     

Chapter 20
     
         “Stay right here,” Tony said. “I’ll be right back.” He parked the car in the Wal-Mart parking lot and ran inside. He pushed his way past several customers and worked his way to sporting goods. There was a young man there stacking boxes.
         “Can I help you sir?” The kid said.
         “Yes, I’d like to purchase the Remington 870 please. And two boxes of shells.”
         “Sure. ID please?”
         Tony handed him his license while the clerk punched his information into the computer.