CRYPTO: Infidelity (Book 1)

CHAPTER 34: INCENTIVE

I went back to the courthouse at noon to catch the boss on his lunch break.

"Bold of you to show up here without an appointment," Spiney told me. He was eating a salad. It made sense that he would be a vegetarian since he was a stegosaurus.

"Sorry, boss."

"Call me judge at my work."

"Sorry, judge. I-"

"It doesn't look good on either of us when you barge in looking for me, you being a cop and all."

"I told the guy it was a personal matter. I wouldn't want to ruin either of our reputations."

"It doesn't matter. To everyone else, you're just a cop. Cops don't have personal matters, and they certainly don't use their badges to deal with said personal matters."

"I'm sorry, but I have no other way to contact you. You never gave me a phone number or email."

"You have Rockie, Rockie has Diesel, Diesel has Gavin, and Gavin talks to me. That's your line of communication."

"That seems unnecessary. Why can't I just talk to Gavin?"

"Because you haven't earned that right," he said, "and you certainly haven't earned the right to talk to me directly."

"Well, since I'm already here, I want to know why you tried to trick me into using my power last night."

"I wanted to see where you were at."

"You didn't trust that I've been practicing."

"I didn't trust that you would be honest about how well you know your power." He picked up his phone. "Now I have all the proof I need." He showed me the video of me blowing up the train. "I don't know how much you know about the explosion in Laughlin, but I'm sure you've heard of it. Some say a terrorist was responsible, but the explosions were unique. They looked exactly like your power."

"I didn't do it," I told him.

"I know you didn't, but this video would be enough evidence for the public. This could give you the death sentence."

"I'm not the only Beauceron in this city."

"You're the only Beauceron who knows his power this well and is willing to destroy something like a train. Who's to say you haven't done this to a building as well?"

"I've been loyal to you and the Family. I'm valuable to you."

"Exactly why I'm keeping this video. I just want to make sure you have a little incentive to do what I want."

"You don't think I already had enough incentive? You already had proof that I shot that coonhound."

"Apparently that wasn't enough. You still killed one of the Family members and then ran away. Even after you were given a reason to come back, you tried to kill me. I wouldn't exactly call that loyal, would you?"

"First of all, I didn't know that cat was in the Family. Secondly, I went on a short vacation after being attacked in my own home, but then you threatened to harm my friends. I'm not sure what you expected me to do."

"I didn't expect you to do something so stupid. That's for sure," he said, "but now I know better. Hopefully, this video will be enough."

"That's a lot of work to go through just for me to get a death sentence when you could just have Rockie put a bullet in my head."

"But this way, if you run away again and we can't get you back, there will be nowhere for you to go. The whole world will know you are a danger to society. But blackmail isn't the only reason I did this. I wanted to see your power as I mentioned before. No doubt you will be very useful to me."

"Or dangerous," I thought but didn't say out loud.

"You can count on me, judge," I told him. "Now that I know what you're all about, I'm happy to do anything for you. I'm just grateful to be part of the Family."