The Baddest Ass (Billy Lafitte #3) (16 page)

Mrs. Hoeck nods. What can she say?

Dee El tells Ham to "slap some skin", gives him five, makes the boy smile for once. Dee El tells him, "You going to be alright, my man, but you've got to keep cool, let your dad and I figure this out."

Billy says, "Think we can sprint it?"

"Maybe."

"If I have to stay behind, you'll get them out?"

"Shit, man, don't be putting that on me."

Billy lets out a deep breath, looks all over the cell. "Just…just in case. They want to collect on me, fine. But not, you know…"

"You'll come with us, Billy. The police will understand." Mrs. Hoeck reached for him. "You've done the right thing today. It's been noticed, believe me."

He shrugs her off and steps away. "Listen, your pious bullshit gets on my nerves, and I wish I could've kept Ginny far away from you and that asshole husband of yours. You're the reason I had to leave Mississippi. But the thing is—"

"You are the most selfish…" Calm down, he's not worth it. Show him Christ. "How much have I forgiven you for? For breaking my daughter's heart, for...for getting my son, oh Lord, my son, dead because of
you
. Ginny, she can't, she's trying to kill herself, over and over!"

Ham sticks his fingers in his ears. "
No, no, no, no.
"

Billy lifts his palms. "Hey, now, just wait. I don't owe you shit, you don't owe me shit. You've been exactly the sort of woman I would want raising my kids. You keep them safe. I just hope that Jesus garbage washes out of them before they start wanting to go be missionaries or some fucking thing."

"In front of your own son? He's scared to death!"

He got in her face. "Yeah, in front of
my
son, and I'm going to be the one that gets him and you out of here, not Super Jesus and his pals."

"Hey!" Dee El leans his head between them. "Shut up, all right?"

Mrs. Hoeck folds her arms and squeezes and turns towards the far corner, walks away.

"And I ain't even told you about the woman."

"What, a guard?"

"I don't know what she is. I think she was here to see Ri'Chess, like a booty call or something. But she's out there with a gun and flak jacket and everything."

Mrs. Hoeck says, "A redhead?"

"You seen her?"

She turns. "There was a woman in the waiting room with me."

"No, it can't be." Billy shakes his head. Laughs nervously. "Can't be."

"You saying you know her? Like, this here's all about you? Really?"

"They got lucky, that's all. I'm icing on the cake. Come on, we've got to…" He glances around again, stops at the sheet hanging across the bars. "I'm going to cover Ham in that and carry him. You give your top shirt to the lady. Anyone looking will just see orange."

"It's cold, man, you want me to freeze?"

Billy tugs off the guard's shirt, then takes off the orange, sleeveless rag beneath it. He hands it to Dee El. "Switch."

He grumbles and goes,
Aw, man, shit ain't right
, but he trades shirts, holds his own like a perfect gentleman and offers to help Mrs. Hoeck with it. No, she'd rather not, but none of what she wants or would usually do matters now. Billy was right. She wants all of those men to just see another orange shirt. She slips her arm into one sleeve and turns into it, waits for Dee El to lift the other up her arm to her shoulders.

"Thank you."

"Yes, ma'am. My moms is all about Jesus, too. I feel you."

Billy grabs the sheet and gives it a hard yank. It comes down easily. And standing outside the bars waiting are two men—a white man with slick hair, a greasy face, and an older black man. Smiling, smiling, smiling.

Dee El says, "Oh shit."

The slick one says, "Hey, guys." Then he stares down at Ham.

The black man lifts his hand high in the air and shouts out, "We found em! Up here, they up here!"

Not even a second later, Lafitte rushes him, slams him into the railing outside, flips him over and he falls to the ground below.

He reaches back for Ham, yells, "
C'mon!
" Grabs his son as the slick man steps out of the way, grinning and clapping his hands like it's his birthday party.

Nate leads the way, pushing Mrs. Hoeck along. Once outside she sees a stream of orange shirts coming up the stairs. Billy's right behind her with Ham.

It's the first time that day Mrs. Hoeck can't even find the words to pray.

The cons Ri'Chess left behind stare at Colleen like she's dinner. One with the cap even licks his lips. But there's nothing to it. Posturing. He's young and scared and just falling back on the motions. He's also the one that got her the towel. He threw it at her, said, "Bitch," but nothing else. The other con, bushy bearded, bald on top, shook his head and laughed. "Crazy nigga."

She pushes herself off the ground, sore but not broken. Hands on her back, she arches.

The beard says, "Sit your ass down."

"You heard him. You don't touch me. Means I can do what I want."

"I tell him you tried to escape, the man won't fault me for trying to keep you in your place."

She leans her ass against the control desk, pushes a useless keyboard out of the way. Useless computers, useless monitors, all thanks to a little snow. "How's this? You like this? Want to get your dick out and shake it at me, too?"

He stands up, fists balled. The young guy is laughing, and covering his mouth. "She's got you, man. No, man, chill."

"You already had a go at me, and does it look like I'm hurt? Does it?"

"I was going easy on you, the way my daddy taught me."

"Your dad taught you to hit women?" She grins. "Or better yet, you
had
a daddy? You weren't some five minute pump your mamma got between shifts on the pole?"

"Telling you, bitch!"

But he blinks, distracted. The young one's eyes go wide and he squeaks, cringes. A
boom
on the window behind Colleen.
Feels
it. She spins to look. There's blood, spattered and smeared, from an old prisoner's head. Ri'Chess holds him there, drops him. He slings blood off his hand while the big Frankenstein-looking monster comes over, picks the man up.

The young con goes, "Holy shit, man. Pops already old. Why he got to do that?"

The beard shakes his head. "No rules no more."

Colleen thinks about making a break for it. These two are distracted and she's motivated. She's got her keys and her life and it's out of her hands now—Lafitte, the old woman and the kid, all out of her hands.

But she can't turn away. The giant takes the old man's corpse to the fire, sets it gently across the flames. Ri'Chess turns to the crowd of confused, freezing men and shouts. Colleen hears the echo, wonders if he can pull this off. If he can, she's safe. Worth sticking around.

It's not even a full minute before all heads turn to something or someone on the upper floor. They swarm for the stairs, Ri'Chess waiting behind, crossing his arms, pleased as punch.

The young one: "Aw, shit, they got him now."

A hulking shadow in the doorway. Can't be the monster. He's inside with Ricardo. The shadow has a gun. Colleen ducks under the console right as the gun burps out a few semi-auto rounds, then another—the beard and the young wannabe go down easy. Colleen watches the shadow lean against the doorjamb and take heaving breaths. The AR-15 in his hand is the same one he'd taken from her earlier. The big Indian says, "I need a doctor."

"I told you."

"S'alright." He's really weak. "S'okay."

Colleen stays put. If he wants to shoot her, that's all there is to it. She can't stop him. She's got nowhere to hide.

So she says, "Can I have the gun back, please?"

He stumbles into the room. He looks like he's going to fall, but catches the console before he does. The gun clatters to the floor and Colleen flinches, waiting for it blast a few more rounds, but it doesn't. She grabs it quickly and scoots fast out from under the console. She stands, holds the rifle on the big Indian but knows he's not a threat, not like this.

"I'll take you out with me, okay? If no one's here yet, you can wait in my car with me."

"You sure? I'll get blood in it."

"It's fine, come on."

Colleen blinks and glances through the window to find Ri'Chess staring right at her, the grin making him look like a Buddha statue. The monster is pushing through the crowd of men on his way to where they've got Lafitte trapped.

It's him. She moves to a cleaner part of the window. There are prisoners on both sides hemming him in on a walkway that connects both sides of the upper floor. With him, the old woman in an orange inmate shirt and the boy. Lafitte's son, oh god, his
son
. It doesn't really hit home until she actually sees the kid up there surrounded by all this
trash
. There's another inmate with them, looks like he's helping. The others, all shouting, taunting, lunging but holding back. Waiting for the big man to get there.

He's quiet when he finally makes it. Lays a thick hand on the old woman's shoulder, pulls her towards him. She shouts out, "Jesus!" but is powerless to stop him. Then he reaches for the boy. Lafitte pulls him back, but not before the big man wraps his fingers around the boy's arm. The woman shrieks, the boy cries, "Mamaw, no! No! Let me go!" And Lafitte rushes forward, kicks the beast square in the balls.

Barely registers but gives Lafitte enough time to grab his boy back, and now he's stretched between the two. One of the cons runs at Lafitte from behind, jumps on his back and tries a chokehold. Lafitte hold tight while his friend grabs the attackers face, rakes his nails over his eyes, punches his skull with his other hand. The attacker falls, and Lafitte's friend wails away as others start the beatdown on him.

Lafitte pounds on the big man's arm over and over while still trying to hold on. The boy leans back, frantic, crying, bracing his feet on the railing and trying to pull free. Another couple of inmates come over and drag the woman off to the side, get another couple of hands on the kid.

Colleen's so close to the glass that her breath fogs it up and it breaks the spell. She forgets the big Indian and runs out of the control room and into the cellblock, runs over to Ri'Chess to get a better look.

By this time the boy has climbed the railing trying to slip the grip of the two cons, his jacket slipping off over his head. Lafitte tries to grab hold of his jeans. But it's too late. Colleen flinches.

The jacket comes off and the boy goes over the railing. His sneaker catches between the bars and he swings up under the walkway. The leg goes
crack
and echoes loud and sick, even above the old woman's wailing, which feels like the worst possible thing, something to make you piss yourself. Shock, pure shock. The boy hasn't even had time to feel it yet when his foot slips loose and he falls down, headfirst, to the floor below.

"Oh my god!" Colleen doesn't care where she is or who's around her. She runs. Flat-out runs. Beneath the boy's head is a splatter of blood shooting out a good five feet. He's not moving. Before she makes it to him, Lafitte lands on the floor beside his son, scoops him up. His eyes like she's never seen before. He huffs, moans like an ape, his face dangerously red.

He finally notices who it is. Or does he? He's on pure instinct. Backs away.

"Follow me out. We'll get him help."

No response. The grandmother's wail stings louder: "
Ham! Oh Jesus, no, please, Jesus! Ham!
"

Colleen checks around her. Slowly but surely, the prisoners are closing in. "Come on, Billy! We can hold them off. Help is on the way."

He goes down on one knee. Keeps clearing his throat. Hugs the boy to his chest. He frees one hand and holds it over the boy's open mouth. Colleen doesn't notice until now that the kid's eyes are open, unblinking. The smell of blood and piss hits her, turns into a taste on her tongue, metal and acid.

"Oh shit."

Lafitte cups the boy's chin with his fingers. "Breathe for me, kid, come on, breathe."

He lays his son flat on the floor, leans over for mouth to mouth.

Colleen turns. The advancing wall of cons stops. She braces the gun against her shoulder, runs it along the line, back and forth, shouts, "Get the boy's grandmother down here
now
or a bunch of these fuckers are dead."

Nothing for a moment. A moment too long. Colleen takes aim and pops off a guy, headshot, one bullet. Drops. The whole line takes a step back.

"I've got a shit ton more."

Behind the mass of men, Ri'Chess calls out, "Yeah, send her down. But you take Dee El's traitor ass off and make it hurt before he dies. Motherfucker."

The wail bounces its way down the stairs and through the crowd of inmates as if they are nothing until she falls beside Ham and Billy and says, "Wake him up, Billy, please. Jesus,
shaballa, I, hunda la kai, la hey um. Oh my Lord, my Jesus
…"

The tongues and prayers ease to a whimper as Colleen backs up, steps over them. Billy is working the boy's chest now. But his son is a rag doll that's been chewed up by the family dog.