Mercy (Queen's Birds of Prey 1)

It only took them an hour to get to Columbus, and they didn’t have to wait long for a seat. Joel was surprised to see that a great many people seemed to know Mercy. She introduced him and Miley as her family to every one of them. Soon they’d have to make it official, but for now, he was content with just having his women near him as much as he could.

Chapter 6

Saul couldn’t understand why he was in jail. He’d not actually done anything to the little girl yet. He was pretty sure that just threatening someone couldn’t result in jail time. He’d have to look into that when he got out of here. The officer came to get his empty tray just as he was trying to figure out who he could call to come bail him out.

“Hey, you got any friends that would like to make a fast buck? I mean, I’d pay nicely once I’m paid. You know, after the job is done.” Joey, he thought his name was, just bent and picked up the tray without answering him. “Are all you cops so stuck up that you’d not answer a man when he asked a polite question?”

“I’m sure that anyone in here wouldn’t do a thing for you. But go ahead, tell me what this plan of yours is so I can slap another few days on your sentence.” He didn’t know for sure if the guy was serious or not, so kept his mouth closed. This was the weirdest jail system he’d ever been in. “I see. So, you might have gotten a clue that to tell a cop your plans, or to say something that could get you into trouble in front of a cop, is a bad idea. I’m glad that we could teach you at least one thing while in here.”

“It’s considered rude to talk over someone’s head.” Joey walked away laughing hard at him. “He certainly isn’t laughing with me. Mother fucker.”

Sitting down on the chair that was nicer than he’d seen in those expensive furniture stores, he wondered yet again what that woman had seen in his brother enough to marry him. Saul supposed his brother was nice—too nice if you asked him. And he wasn’t nearly as good looking as Saul was. Joel was a sap too.

Saul thought of himself as a man’s man. He had his own definition of that, not being able to find anything under that sort of title in the dictionary. Saul thought of himself as a man who got things done, and damn the consequences. Usually that was what got him into trouble. But what sort of life could you live if you were always worried about getting caught?

Saul had his own way of getting out of things, mostly with the cops. Any of them, from the little local asses, like the ones here, all the way up to the Feds. The big guys were harder to impress with his knowledge of shit going down, but on occasion he’d be able to impress one or two of them. That would get him a get out of jail on a lesser sentence card that he usually had to use within days of getting it.

“This is just stupid.” Saul usually talked to himself. And when he did, he thought that he gave himself the best answers. When he had a crew, which wasn’t that often, he didn’t like sharing, so he would bounce ideas off them. It was difficult to get them to agree to his way of doing things, so he usually did it on his own by killing them off and going about his business. Messy, but effective.

Saul would admit to anyone that he was a crook. He took pride in the fact that he’d not worked a job that wasn’t a way to get to something he wanted in all his life. When he took a job, it was to get insider information, find someone to let him in after hours, or simply to steal whatever he could walk out with on his first day.

Saul loved stealing. To him, it was a national pastime. People said all the time that they didn’t take things. Lies, all of it. People would take a pen here or there. Print up something that was personal on company time, using company paper. He knew that some people would order gifts for the family online or even play games. It was all theft. Every single bit of it. What he never understood was why they thought that he was the criminal and they weren’t. Fuckers, every last one of them.

Saul hadn’t any idea how long they thought they could hold him here. He had shit to do and things that he had to put into motion. There was the slight worry that they’d be watching him a little closer now. Not that it really worried him that much. Saul had a way to slip in and out of shadows more than most.

When the cop came back, this time he wasn’t alone. With him was a fancy man. Had to be a lawyer.

“You my court appointed shithead?” The man shivered and said that he was not. “What do you want? As you can see, I’m kinda busy here.”

“I have a proposal for you.” Saul told him he wasn’t any kind of homo, but thanks all the same. “You’re a disgusting man, has anyone ever told you that? I’m here to offer you money to go—”

“I’ll take it.” The man said nothing as Saul stood up and put out his hand. “Hand it over, Fancy Man. I haven’t got all day. How much is it? Enough to get me out of here?”

“You need to shut up and listen. I’m not going to just hand over money to you without telling you what you have to do to get it.” Saul sat back down. There was a catch to everything nowadays. “I will pay you ten thousand dollars to leave the country.”

“Nope. I’ll take the money, but I’m not going anywhere. I know for a fact that my new family has a great deal more than that. This is just a drop in the toilet for them. Why do they want me to leave the country, anyway?” The man told him. “They just want me to leave them alone? That still doesn’t answer why I have to leave the country. And besides, ten grand isn’t going to get me far with me having to start over, you know.”

“Start over? What is it you think you need to replace that you’ve had before? You have nothing now, from what I’ve been told about you.” Fancy Man snorted at him. “You take the money, leave tonight on the first flight out, and you’ll get ten more when you land on the other end. However, you return, and all bets are off, I’m told to tell you.”

“You think that is supposed to scare me away? No, it’s not going to happen. And even if I wanted to leave the country, I can’t. I’m a felon, as you know. I wasn’t even supposed to leave the state. But I told them I was coming to see my brother be wedded. The fool. And that got me a free pass for a month.” Allen asked him how long ago that was. “Well, I’m not foolish enough to tell you that, now am I?”

“Are you going to do as asked?” Saul just pushed the chair back into the lounging position and closed his eyes. “All right, I’ll take that as a no. There is another deal on the table, Mr. Oliver. Are you willing to listen to it?”

“Sure, go ahead.” He didn’t move, thinking that he’d rattle the man and he’d have to come back. “You go on and tell me what you think I’ll do for them.”

“Mercy Oliver, your sister-in-law, has said that if you c

ome around her family again, for any reason, then you’ll be a dead man.”

Saul looked over at the cop, asking if that was a threat.

“No, not a threat when it comes from her about you. I’d say that it was a promise. She will kill you. And when she does, I doubt much that anyone will give a shit.” Joey laughed, then he smiled. “You should know that the bodies of your parents are being exhumed. There is a question of someone murdering them. They’re pretty sure that it was you, if you didn’t get that.”

“Who the hell ordered that? That fucking brother of mine? He’s a moron. And if there is something like that with their bodies, then he did it.” Joey just nodded, and the lawyer cleared his throat. “You tell that bitch that I’m not the least bit worried about her or my brother. I want them to acknowledge me in a financial way, or things might start to fall apart for them. And yes, that was a threat. Fuck this shit. I want my own lawyer. Get me one, doofus.”

Joey was laughing again as he walked away with Fancy Man. This shit was just stupid. The fact that everyone seemed to be getting a kick out of his predicament was pissing him off too. And he knew from past experience, being pissed off would get him into trouble. Stupid people lost their cool, not smart ones like him.

When his next tray came around, it was brought to him by none other than his new family member. Mercy sure was a pretty thing. And he’d bet anything Saul could have her begging for mercy in no time. When she pushed his tray under the little opening he just sat there, waiting for her to beg him for something.