The driver’s door was flung open and before Shade’s father could get out, Shade was there, asking him, “You okay?” like it had all been a fucking random accident.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Oliveira yelled, climbing out of the BMW.
“Sorry, didn’t see you there. You were in my blind spot.”
“Bullshit. I had the right-of-way and you were trying to pass me illegally. Is this one of those accident scams? I’m calling the cops.”
As soon as Oliveira lifted his phone, Easy knocked it out of his hand. When it fell to the ground and Shade’s father lunged for it, Easy smashed it under his boot heel.
Oliveira’s mouth gaped open as he stared at his broken phone and then glanced up at Easy. “What the hell? What is this?”
“You Edmund Oliveira?” Shade asked him.
The man spun to face Shade. “How do you know my name?”
“Just answer the question.”
“I’m not telling you anything. This has to be some sort of insurance scam, isn’t it?”
“You remember Cecelia Bennett?”
The man’s brow wrinkled. “Who?”
“I gotta repeat it or are you trying to avoid the question?” Shade asked.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about. Whoever you think I am, I can assure you, you have the wrong person. Now, I need to call a tow truck and get home to my wife.”
As Shade’s father lunged toward the vehicle, Easy realized he was trying to get to the emergency call button in the BMW. Before Easy could yell a warning to Shade, Shade had Oliveira in a choke hold by hooking an arm around his throat. He yanked the man backwards away from the cage. “No, you don’t.”
“Let me go!”
“You got no idea how many times I begged for the same thing. Not one of those motherfuckers let me go. Not. Fuckin’. One.”
“What are you talking about?” Oliveira yelled, clawing at Shade’s arm.
“Gonna explain later,” Shade assured him, pulling a syringe from his jacket pocket and jamming the needle into the side of the man’s neck.
Easy winced and bile rose up his throat. He forced it back down.
“What is th—” Oliveira’s head dropped forward and his body went slack. Shade released his hold and the man crumbled to the ground.
“Grab his legs,” Shade instructed Easy.
Easy picked up the broken phone at his feet and whipped it as far as he could into the brush by the side of the road before grabbing the man’s ankles. Shade hooked Oliveira under the arms and they carried him over to the van.
As Easy slid open the van’s side door, Shade used flex-cuffs to restrain his father’s wrists behind his back, then used two more to restrain his ankles together. He pulled a bandana out of the glovebox and tied that around Oliveira’s mouth to gag him.
Once he was restrained, they heaved him up and into the van, neither of them bothering to be gentle. What would it matter if the bastard woke up sore and bruised? It wouldn’t. That would be a minor inconvenience compared to what Shade and his mother went through. They loosely threw a tarp over the man so he wouldn’t be noticed if anyone looked through the front windows.
Easy only hoped that the sedation drug they gave him—what they usually used before giving pets the final euthanasia injection—would last long enough that the fucker wouldn’t wake up until they got back to Manning Grove. Easy did not want to be the one to have to climb into the back and jab him with another dose.
Cassie, and on a rare occasion Shade, usually did that part of the job. Easy helped with transport, the cremations and the paperwork. He always worried he’d fuck up the last shot, the pentobarbital, and the pet would suffer before falling into a permanent sleep.
Oliveira wouldn’t be so lucky to get that last shot so he’d fall peacefully into a permanent state of rest. Euthanizing the man would be too quick and painless.
Easy was sure Shade had something better up his sleeve for Daddy Dearest. He’d find out soon enough. Because as long as Shade wanted him there, wanted him by his side, he’d be there. No matter fucking what.
That was what brothers did.
No matter how much the Fury brotherhood fucked with each other, even fought with each other, in the end, if any of them needed help, they’d have it. Whether it was one brother or all of them. For any reason.
They had each other’s back. Even if only to protect or take care of their ol’ ladies or kids.
Like when Red was taken. When Dyna was taken. When they stormed up Hillbilly Hill to deal with the Shirleys for the last time. Trip’s “it takes a village” mentality went way beyond simply raising the children as a group, it was a true brotherhood.
Easy caught the leather gloves and the baseball cap Shade tossed at him.