Falcon’s eyes. He didn’t speak or change his expression at all; he just stared at the other man. Falcon held his gaze, unsure of what else to do. At that moment the story he had crafted was the truth. He could see the fiction in his own mind and it was as true as anything that had ever happened.
Seconds ticked by until they turned into minutes and still the boss said nothing and just stared at Falcon and Falcon stared back. He knew this was a power play and he knew the most patient would be the winner.
Suddenly the boss gave a nod to Big Chris and without a warning Big Chris grabbed Falcon by the back of his neck and slammed his face down on to the boss’s pristine desk.
“Are you lying to me, Falcon?” There was anger in his voice.
“No! I’m not lying, I swear it!” Falcon said, he struggled against Big Chris but it was useless, the larger man’s hand clamped around the back of his neck, was holding him down. There was no way for him to get loose.
“Have you turned snitch for the cops?”
“What! No, I would never turn rat. I would die first, Boss. I swear it.”
“I think you’re lying,” the boss sneered, standing up and walking over to where Falcon was trapped. “I think you’re lying. I think you’re weak, I think the cops brought you back the station and you cut a deal and now you’re back to rat on your fellow members. I think you’re a filthy traitor and do you know what we do with filthy traitors?”
“I didn’t, I swear it! Check me for a wire, there’s nothing!” Suddenly Falcon was lifted to his feet as Big Chris grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head and then he was slammed down onto the table again.
“You don’t need to wear a wire to be a snitch,” the boss hissed.
“No, but it certainly fucking helps,” Falcon yelled back. “I’m not a snitch. I don’t know how to prove it to you, but I’m not. I swear on my father’s grave.”
“Your father was a son-of-a-bitch bastard. I was there when you spit on his grave, swear on something real. Swear it on your daughter’s life.”
“Leave her out of this!” Falcon yelled.
“Swear it on her life. The life of your little innocent daughter and know this, Falcon, if you have betrayed me, her life is forfeit.”
“I swear on her life that I’m not a traitor. It happened like I said, I escaped the cops and then I drove around until I thought it was safe enough to come home. I swear it on my daughter’s life!”
Finally Big Chris let him up. And Falcon stumbled for a moment and steadied himself on the desk. Chris threw his shirt back to him and Falcon dressed quickly.
“Let’s get one thing straight: I am watching you, and if I find out that you’ve betrayed me I will make an example of you. I will visit horrors upon you and your daughter that you cannot imagine. I will torture you until you are broken and only when you are reduced to a blubbering mass begging for your own death will I finally let it end. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, I understand,” Falcon said looking the boss in the eye.
Chapter Seven
It had been three days since Falcon had sworn his innocence on the life of his daughter. He had no other choice. If he admitted he had turned snitch, Big Chris would have killed him right then and there. The whole point of working with the cops was so Falcon could be a part of his daughter’s life. He hadn’t wanted to involve Sophie, but the boss had done it anyway.
If anything, threatening Sophie had only furthered Falcon’s resolve. Who was Ernie that he would threaten an innocent little girl? Sophie had nothing to do with any of this, but, somehow, she would have been made to suffer for Falcon’s mistake. It confirmed everything Grace had said the other day. He knew then that he made the right decision and he was sticking with it. The Screaming Eagles didn’t care about Falcon or his family and they certainly