The loser had probabaly thought that like other times before, Tanner would back down or run off, unable to defend himself. That had been how it was on other occasions when Tanner had confronted the dealer. Furthermore, the Rogue Riders were still new and had to enforce their rule on the criminal community. Soon everyone would know who was in charge and they’d cower when Tanner walked down Skid Row, as they should have all along.
Using his other hand, Tanner clenched his fingers around the drug dealer’s jaw and lifted him higher in the air, above his head. “Before it was going to be thirty percent. Now the Rogue Riders are taking fifty percent of your profits.”
“Bu-Bu-But…” the guy stuttered. “I can’t survive on that.”
“You’ll have to figure it out if you want to survive at all,” Tanner threatened.
“Th-Th-This isn’t fair.”
“What isn’t fair is punks like you not bowing to the authority of the Rogue Riders.” Tanner spat in the guy’s face as he spoke.
“Y’all have no right to take a cut from us,” the drug dealer complained.
“Sure we do.” Tanner laughed. “We’re the new authority in the mortal criminal world. You answer to us, which means you won’t sell to minors anymore.”
“Y-Y-You’re telling me how to run my business and taking a cut?” the guy stammered.
Tanner’s knee jerked up into the dude’s groin and made him howl with pain. “Is that going to be a problem? Because those who don’t comply with the rule and fork over what belongs to us disappear. The thing is, no one misses a drain on society that peddles illegal drugs. So, your call. Pay up and do as I say, or you’ll regret it.”
The low-life laughed at Tanner, which made his head hot. What was with this guy? Didn’t he know who he was messing with?
“You might have me pinned up against a wall right now, but later when you’re not looking, people like me will come after you because we don’t like being told what to do, hence being criminals as you call us.”
Tanner narrowed his eyes and slammed the dude harder into the wall. His head banged hard into the bricks. “You get that I’m stronger than you and can break your neck if I want to, right?”
“You get that I have enough ammo to blow off these muscles you got, right?” the man countered.
“Guns,” Tanner said with disgust. “That’s how you’re trying to intimidate me?”
“It’s not intimidation,” the guy boasted. “It’s a promise if you think I’m turning over half my money. That won’t even cover my expenses.”
“Nor your bad habits,” Tanner sneered. “And yes, you’re going to, or you’ll pay with your disgusting life that no one will miss.”
The dude shook his head and reached for something at his back, behind his waistband. “Sorry, pal, but that doesn’t work for me.”
Tanner threw his shoulder into the guy’s chest and blocked the hand reaching for what he suspected was a weapon. The dealer grunted from the assault and choked on his spit.
Tanner dropped the guy and reached for the gun. His reflexes made him the victor, and he slung the pistol to the side where it skidded across the ground and landed next to a nearby building.
The criminal crawled in a hurry across the pavement on his hands and knees, and this time, Tanner didn’t try and stop him. He knew the guy wasn’t going to get to the gun. Plus, he enjoyed the fact that the guy thought he would and had a fighting chance. He could feel the excitement wafting off the dude.
When he was only three feet away, Coal, Tanner’s dragon, shot a stream of fire down from the rooftop above. It blasted the gun and made the guy instantly retreat. He jumped back and landed on his rear end, his feet suddenly in front of him and hands holding him up.
The expression of horror on the guy’s face as he crab-walked backward filled Tanner with giddy excitement. The dude’s eyes widened even more and made the whites bulge when his chin jerked up, and he saw the black dragon soaring down from the rooftop.
Coal swiftly landed on top of the weapon and whipped his long spiked tail to the side, nearly hitting the criminal. The black dragon leaned low, his red eyes narrowed as a loud growl ripped from his mouth.
The dude jumped to this feet and backed away to the brick wall again while nodding erratically.
“Y-Y-Yeah, you can have fifty percent,” he stammered and nearly tripped on his feet as he tried to get as far from the dragon as possible.
Tanner laughed and smiled victoriously as he strode for his dragon. “I thought you’d change your mind. You had to see things from our perspective.”
He swiftly climbed onto Coal’s back and swung his leg around as he grabbed the reins streaming from the bridle around his horned head. “I’ll be checking on you when it’s time to pay up. Don’t think you can cheat the Rogue Riders. We know how much you make and how much you owe. If you break our laws, we’ll break you.”
The dude, who was as white as a ghost and glued to the brick wall, quickly nodded.
Tanner shook his head at the bully as he yanked on the reins and made Coal rush forward before he launched into the air and flew away.
Chapter Seventy-Five
“I think the cyborg is broken,” Evan muttered in a low voice as he regarded the egg white omelet that Trin, the Gullington’s housekeeper, had placed in front of him.
Wilder dug into his porridge and smirked. “My food is fine. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He glanced at Sophia. “How’s your bacon?”
“Bacony.” She chewed on a bite of the crispy meat as she held up a piece. In front of her was a plate with half a dozen strips of the cooked breakfast meat.
Instead of the usual method where Trin brought out large serving platters of food, on that particular day she was serving each person at the table individually, and it appeared she was customizing their orders based on their tastes.
The cyborg hurried through the door from the kitchen carrying Mama Jamba’s short stack of apple cinnamon pancakes as the old woman strode into the dining hall, holding a Travel + Leisure magazine.
“Why, thank you, dear.” Mama Jamba flashed a smile as she slid into her normal chair at the dining table while Trin set the pancakes in front of her. “How did you know I craved apple cinnamon today instead of my normal blueberry pancakes?”
Trin winked at her with her human eye. “It might have been the bushel of apples I found at the foot of my bed upon waking.”
Mama Jamba glanced at Quiet, who was buttering his raisin toast with great care and grinned. “I guess I have you to thank for that then.”
The gnome mumbled something inaudible before sticking the toast into his mouth and chewing.
Evan waited until Trin retreated to the kitchen before saying, “Why is it that Mahkah gets scrambled eggs and ham? Hiker gets his black pudding, baked beans, and toast. Sophia gets all the bacon. Wilder, the brand new vegan, has porridge, but I have to choke down a ridiculous egg white and veggie omelet?”
Wilder leaned forward with a conspiratorial expression on his face. “I think the message is sort of clear. Trin has finally gotten to know you, and like the rest of us, doesn’t like what she’s learned.”