Out a Order by Evie Rhodes

watching and following people. But Shannon, coming from the gangster mentality, knew that thugs and criminals weren’t the only people who could be followed and watched. He knew some cops were arrogant to a point that they put their own safety at risk, not realizing that their badges didn’t make them superhumans.
    However, this wasn’t back in the day and he wasn’t who he used to be. He wasn’t where he wanted to be but he was a long way from where he used to be so these thoughts were futile. He would have to find another way to handle this situation.
    He wasn’t trying to pile up no body counts on his conscience unless it was self-defense. If that were the case, then he’d kill a man in a heartbeat.
    So instead of what he thought he said, “I didn’t kill Michael Claybay.”
    â€œOh, really? You recognize this?” Lombardo replied. He showed Shannon his monogrammed lighter in a plastic bag. Shannon visibly flinched.
    â€œYour fingerprints are all over it. In fact, so are your initials.” This was like taking candy from a baby. A feeling of this being too easy overcame Lombardo, but he chose to ignore it.
    Lombardo turned the bag around, making a display of looking at the lighter. “These are nice little gifts as long as you don’t leave them on dead bodies. I surmise that Michael Claybay was already dead when he was dropped through the glass dome roof of the club. Very clever of you. Were you grandstanding? Care to explain?”
    â€œNot to you.”
    â€œYou have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the courts.”
    Lombardo took pure glee in reading Shannon his Miranda rights. “Do you understand?”
    â€œYeah. I want to make a phone call.”
    â€œYou can do it downtown,” Campbell said.
    Lombardo shook his head in disgust. “I knew it was only a matter of time before you slipped. Let’s go.”
    They led him to the police car.
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    In his cell Shannon sat with his head between his legs trying to figure out where this was all going.
    He knew Rico had killed Michael Claybay as a means of sending him a message. In the street life, snitches were the lowest of the lowest. They were dirt on the ground. Although everyone used them, from thugs to criminal enterprises to police, no one respected them.
    Shannon felt bad that he had used Michael Claybay for information and therefore gotten him killed. A twinge of guilt pinched his conscience. Something that never would have happened back in the day. But it was a new day and Shannon was wrestling with who he used to be in the past, and the man he had become in the present.
    He’d needed to find out why his daughter had been killed.
    It should have been Rico lying in the cold ground dead instead of Jazz. Shannon’s blood boiled every time he thought about it. Now this punk was threatening him. He was ready whichever way it went down. It was the way it had to be. The unspoken doctrine of the street code: Be ready. Always be ready.
    He had to roll like that if he wanted to live.

Chapter 20
    I n Rico’s basement the crew was shooting pool and playing the pinball machine. Rico and T-Bone stood off in a corner of the room talking.
    Rico put his arm around Michael Claybay’s brother, T-Bone, playing the game for all it was worth. “Michael’s death is gonna be vindicated. We ain’t going out like that,” he said with a mixture of sincere sympathy and vengeance. “Have I ever let you down before?”
    T-Bone shook his head. “Naw.”
    â€œAnd I ain’t going to let you down now. You’re my brother and you know that.”
    â€œYeah, man, you’re always there. I know you got a brother’s back. I know that. But I ain’t letting no bars separate me from Shannon Davenport,