Page 31 of Austin (The K9 Files #29)

“No, you sure as hell didn’t,” Stubby agreed, then laughed. “Look. Why don’t you just head back to wherever the hell you came from and leave us alone.”

“Really? What about the shooting that happened at the house today?”

The two men stared at each other, then turned to him. “You’re from Jake’s place?”

“Yeah, I am. What the hell did you think?”

Confused, they just looked at each other again.

“I told you at the pub that I was family. I’m Jake’s son-in-law. Even if I wasn’t from here, what difference does that make to you?”

“It just means you’re…” Then Stubby stopped again.

“One of the enemy?” Austin suggested.

“Kind of, yeah,” he agreed, as he scratched the back of his head. “It does change things though.”

“Why is that?” Austin asked.

“Because we didn’t know you were here, for one.”

“I don’t think you care either,” Austin noted. “You two seem to be all about your gun stashes.”

“I care. I’m not into killing,” Skinny called out. “I know that’s what my buddy here wants to happen, but I’m not really into that.”

“That’s nice,” Austin noted, “but your buddy definitely is into that. So I’m not sure I believe you anyway, since you’re here running guns.”

“I’m just handing over the guns,” Skinny clarified. “We’re getting stuff in trade, and then we’re selling that too.”

“In other words, you’re just moving goods.”

“Exactly,” Skinny confirmed, “and the guns aren’t hurting anybody. They go into private collections, so whatever.”

“Except that these aren’t guns that you can buy at your local gun shop, even in Texas,” Austin noted, with a laugh. “So why are you not bothered about weapons? Plus, drugs are in there too. Sounds like you are supplying drug cartels with the dope and the guns to protect their shipments.”

“That’s one of the other guy’s sidelines,” Skinny shared. “I don’t handle drugs. That’s bullshit. I don’t handle the guns either. I just trade them.”

“So, just what is it you’re handling? What goods are you taking in as trade for the weapons?” Austin asked.

Skinny hesitated, looked back over at his buddy, Stubby.

Stubby shook his head at Skinny, warning him, “You better shut up. It’ll get ugly if you don’t.”

Skinny dropped his gaze to the ground and muttered, “Yeah, I need to just stop talking.”

“You think that’ll make a difference?” Austin asked.

“It needs to because I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Austin shook his head. “I wonder, if push came to shove, and your buddy was charged with something, would he agree that you didn’t do anything?”

At that, Stubby snorted. “He’s every bit as involved as the rest of us. He just likes to think he’s squeaky clean, but he’s not. He just prefers a different line of products.”

“Shut up,” Skinny snapped, snarling at Stubby. “I’m not into drugs, and I’m not into selling guns, but they are a means to an end, and we’ve got other things we can sell.”

“Yeah, and it’s those other things you sell that I’m interested in,” Austin stated, “because it’s got to be something of value for you to go through all this.”

He snorted. “Value that keeps on giving.”

Now Stubby snorted at that. “You think you’re so damn funny, but you open your mouth so damn much, and he’ll figure it out.”

Austin shook his head. “I already figured it out because the only thing that keeps on giving is women, and that will just piss me off if I find out you’re into human trafficking.”

“Not human trafficking,” Skinny replied.

“That sounds gross. We’re just bringing aliens across the border, that’s it.

I get a few from the main shipment to parcel out here locally.

Why do you even call them aliens anyway?

That’s what I don’t understand. It’s just women who are looking for work,” he explained.

“And so what if they don’t get the work that they think they’re getting?

Most of the time they’re so happy not to be reported that they don’t even complain,” he said, with a shrug.

“So, you’re trading the weapons for women?” Austin asked, recording all the while.

“Yeah, for Mexican women, and sometimes other nationalities that whoever is running things on the border can grab.”

“And nobody says anything?”

“Usually they don’t have anybody. Besides, we treat them well. They get three meals a day, showers, beds to sleep in, and, hey, it’s not as if it isn’t the oldest profession in the world.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re willing.”

“Yeah, but they’re not unwilling ,” he said, with a shrug. “Honest to God, most of them are happy just to have food.”

Austin stared at them in disgust. “Really? Is that all it takes for you to be happy? Food? Clothes? Showers?”

“It makes them a lot happier,” Skinny declared, looking at him.

“Don’t tell me that you’ve never been to a prostitute.

Christ, this place is hot for it. We move the women all over, and it’s pretty easy once we get them into the country, but we still have to have a source, and the source wants weapons, so that’s what we trade with. ”

“ Right .” Austin would love to just beat the shit out of these two, but it wasn’t to be.

“Besides,” Skinny added, “not a whole lot you can do about it, and we’re changing the operation anyway.”

“Yeah? What change?”

“The women are also being moved,” he shared.

“It’s getting a little too hot around this place.

I don’t understand why all of a sudden there’s so much activity, but it’s getting to be a pain in the ass.

So we’ll just move along closer to the border a bit.

It’s not as if there’s too much of a problem doing that anyway.

Unless they put up that whole wall, in which case we’ll just find another way. ”

“That’s the trick, isn’t it?” Austin muttered, with a nod.

Skinny looked over at him. “Now just piss off so we can finish up what we’ve got to do here. Then we’ll be gone, and you won’t even see us again.”

“So you say,” Austin replied, staring at him, “but I’m not sure I can believe you.”

“Of course you can.”

When a rustling came off to the side, the two men pulled out handguns and fired. Nothing came forth, but Austin sure as hell hoped it wasn’t either Cowboy or Charlie. “You better not have shot my dog,” he yelled.

At that, the two men looked at him. “Your dog?”

“Yeah, you know the one you kidnapped and kept penned up?”

“Jesus, he’s a mean son of a bitch,” Skinny muttered. “You’ve got to be crazy to have that dog.”

“You were abusing it, locking it up when it didn’t want to be locked up. Animals tend to not like people who treat them badly.”

“Yeah, I know,” Skinny agreed, giving him a toothless smile. “That’s why I like the women who aren’t particular.”

“I thought you said you weren’t abusing them.”

“They’re just women, another commodity, so give me a break,” Skinny said, with a laugh. “I get it. You’re probably one of those bleeding hearts who thinks everybody needs a fair chance, but I tell you these women are willing.”

“Why is that?”

“Most of the time because they had some pressure on the other end to keep their family safe. That doesn’t mean that anybody is threatening the family, but just the hint of that is usually enough to keep them in line.” Skinny laughed. “Besides, it’s none of your fucking business anyway.”

It was like spinning on a dime, as his attitude changed completely, making it seem as if he was a good decade older than he had seemed earlier. In a better light Austin guessed Skinny could be late twenties to mid-thirties, but his friend Stubby over there had to be in his late forties already.

“I told you this guy is not somebody we want to leave hanging around,” Stubby repeated.

“I heard you the first time,” Skinny said. “The question is, what will we do with him?” He turned and looked back at his buddy. “You could have taken care of it already.”

“Sure, I could, but I don’t see you taking care of shit.”

“Right, so you want me to get in trouble so you don’t have to.”

“Sounds good to me,” Stubby replied, with a snort.

“You think any of us want more trouble?” Skinny asked his buddy.

“What kind of trouble have you had?” Austin asked Skinny.

“The big boss who does the major smuggling doesn’t live around here, but he does little smuggling deals with our boss, the one we report to.

So he acts as a middleman. Most of the time he’s okay, but sometimes he’s a piece of shit because he’s got his own agenda.

When people got their own agendas, that’s when things go off the rail.

He’s got some revenge thing going on, and I ain’t got much truck for that myself.

If you’ve got a problem, get somebody to deal with it fair and square and upfront,” Skinny suggested.

“The rest of the time? Just put up and shut up.” He laughed.

“But then again, I’m the one making the big money here. ”

“We both are,” Stubby declared, with a fat grin, but the grin fell off his face as he looked over at Austin. “Not that it matters to you.”

“No, I get it. You running children too?”

“Only for adoptions,” Skinny said, “and they’re still not that easy to clear. The damn paperwork is a pain in the ass.”

“Right, so more human trafficking,” Austin muttered.

“I don’t understand why that’s a problem for you. People need a housekeeper, so they get a housekeeper. People want somebody to warm their bed, so they get somebody to warm their bed. If they’ve got money, they can get whatever they want. You should know that.”

Unfortunately Austin found that to be a sad fact of life, and that was exactly what it was. Even as he was trying to figure out what to say next to keep these guys talking, he heard voices in the distance.

“Who the hell is that?” The men stared at each other and then immediately turned their handguns on him.

Austin shrugged. “You can both shoot me, but I’ll still drop one of you first,” he pointed out. “I’ll make damn sure that you don’t get back up again. So, which one will it be?”