“IT’S BEEN TOO long since we’ve done this, bro.” Pete slammed down his shot glass and called down to the bartender to pour us another round.
Glancing around the lounge, I spotted another bartender at the other end, speaking to someone in the shadows. When they finished their conversation, I had a clear view of whom the bartender was speaking with.
I looked at Pete for the answers. He gave me a nod. After dancing around and dodging me, Charlie Sanderson finally bothered to meet me in person. He hadn’t changed for shit. He still looked like an unassuming computer salesman who didn’t belong inside a bar full of fashion victims, roid-heads, and wanna-be local stars.
Pete gestured to me, telling me to be patient.
“Hey, we’re drinking over here.” Jeff, a new guy on Victor’s payroll, yelled down the bar.
I was playing a part in getting back with Vic, which meant babysitting a guy I’d probably punch before the night ended. I had to bide my time until I figured out my next move. Avoiding the man who went to extreme lengths to get to me was a bad idea.
“Dude, maybe you should lay off,” Pete warned Jeff. “You’re looking green.”
“Fuck off,” Jeff snapped.
“Boys getting a big head because Victor promoted him,” Pete whispered in my ear.
I sat back, silently pressing Pete to explain exactly what the promotion entailed. When his eyes angled toward Charlie, I figured out the answer on my own. His new assignment had something to do with Nikki, of course.
“So, Jeff,” I downed the last of my whiskey and set my eyes on the dumbfuck sitting next to me. “Vic made you an errand boy for Nikki’s every whim? What the fuck is up with that?”
Jeff shrugged. “It’s a shame you don’t know what’s going on with your wife. Vic is saying she’s trying to take you to the cleaners, man. With the way Vic sends me on every damn errand for her, they’ve got to be fucking.”
I clenched the glass with enough force to crack it. “Errands for what? Give me examples.”
“I don’t like your tone,” Jeff shot at me.
The glass popped, shattering in my hand. There was blood but no pain. Physical pain stopped doing anything to me a long time ago. “I don’t like you inferring that my wife is fucking around on me.”
“What the fuck do you care?” He slid off the stool to square off with me. “I’ve heard the stories about you. You’re going to kill the bitch or stick her in an asylum, right? That’s what Vic wants you to do. It’s what you always do. She needs to pay for what she did to Vic.”
Sneering, he continued, “Yeah, heard you’re the one who’s Vic’s bitch. You’ve been had this time around, man. Nikki wants to divorce you. With her having pictures of you cheating on her—with the whore Vic set you up with—you’re a goner unless you do what Vic wants you to do. You better get on it before Vic finds messier ways to deal with her. He isn’t going to let her win. It’s all a lesson. She made his best guy a pussy. That won’t go unpunished, man. The fucking wh—”
His neck was in my hands before he could finish the word. I bashed his head against the bar about—well, I lost count of the number. I was too determined to break as many bones in his face as I could. Pete tried to stop me from destroying the drunk and incompetent asshole’s face. For the first time, he couldn’t do it with brute strength. My switch was fixed on kill mode, stopping me was an impossible mission.
His blood and a few cracked teeth ornamented the bar. It wasn’t enough. I wanted his grey matter to serve as decoration on the bar.
When I felt the barrel of a gun pressed to my side, Pete warned me quietly, “You’re drawing attention we don’t need.” I let Jeff go, raising the white flag.
Rendered completely unconscious, Jeff dropped to the floor.
I took a napkin from the bar, wiping his sweat and my blood from my hands. I dropped the napkin on his head and spit on his face. “Piece of shit,” I muttered.
Checking the end of the bar for Charlie, I didn’t find him. The back access door directly behind where he was once sitting abruptly slammed closed.
Charlie, Pete, and I were alone in the narrow alleyway behind the bar. Besides the ball-freezing air, the tension was dense. I had every reason to be pissed with Charlie. With him showing up like this, he proved he had full knowledge of current events. The only reason why he would’ve left me in the dark is because he had a connection to Nikki.
There. I had the reason why Victor never touched her. She was protected by Charlie Sanderson, and I wanted to know why.
“You’re losing your grip,” Charlie stated carefully. The man never yelled, never smiled, and never showed any emotion. Ever. “Your life is spinning out of control. You were warned about Victor Meíja years ago. My advice was ignored.”
The first time I’d met Charlie, I thought he was weak. People around him would state various things about his character, and he would keep quiet, never breaking his cool, collected demeanor. When I asked Charlie about his silence, he gave me a bit of wisdom, and I'd never forgotten it. Keeping silent allowed you to spring unexpected consequences on the people who’d wronged you. He warned me that Victor would lead me to a hell of my own making, and that I should never trust him. On one hand, I wished I trusted his advice, on the other, trusting his advice would’ve erased the lessons. I wouldn’t take back living through hell for that reason alone.
Charlie always had a mantra; words can sting a man harder than a weapon.
I shrugged at him. “I understand it…now.”
“You were told you would be contacted after your favor was granted, yet for some reason or another you felt entitled to summon me.” He kept his arms down at his sides in a defensive stance, ready at any moment to engage if he had to. “It tells me you’ve lost your wits. I’ve had people I trust observe you.” He glanced back at Pete. “I’m very, very disappointed in the nature of the reports I received, Ethan.”
“I kinda figured that out,” I confessed. “But really, you’ve had eyes on Nikki, and because I was in her life, you were able to watch me, too.”
“You were given a gift.” For a split in time, I almost caught Charlie break his usual stony demeanor. “I didn’t feel you were deserving of it. Nicole believed in you. She believed what I didn’t. Lately, you’ve confounded Nicole’s beliefs. Can you explain to me why you’ve treated the gift you received so improperly?”
I tried to put more the pieces together from what he said. “No…shit,” I drawled, avoiding his question. “You and Nikki’s mother had something going on? I always knew she had deep connections. Never thought it was you. Are you Nikki’s real father? Is that why Nicole’s husband treated Nikki like shit? No—” I paused, shaking my head because the explanation was too simple. “It’s something deeper.” Recalling how Nikki easily fixed my uncle’s camera and her genius with computers, it made sense of the things I was told by Preston. “Nikki is computer smart. The Feds get off on recruiting black hat hackers and turning them into white hat crackers to do their dirty work, and you…” I shot an inquisitive glance his way. “I’ve never seen you really get your hands dirty—like a Fed.” I bit into my lip, shaking my head. “Is that what you always were, Charlie?”
“You’re thinking very small, Ethan. Don’t relegate me to something so minor. I walk a fine line. I’m neither one thing or the other. What I do is make sure the bigger fish are brought to justice so the smaller schools of fish wander without purpose. It’s a long, drawn-out process, which means I’m essentially a man who doesn’t really exist.”
I wasn’t in the mood to wrap my mind around what he just said and find an explanation. To me, a government official is a government official. I had more important things to address besides engaging in an argument about semantics. “You know too much, enough to incriminate me. Why haven’t you had me arrested? You can do that, correct?”
Uttering a tsk, he shook his head like I was an delinquent student. “Someday, you’re going to be the bigger fish. We…will have need for you.”
“We? Whatever the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I ran my hands through my hair, feeling slightly annoyed by his game with words. “Did you recruit Nikki? Is it the reason—is she the reason Vic can’t step foot into Colombia?”
He ran his hand along his tie, never giving me a glimpse or a hint of the answer to my question. “You’re continuously asking me questions as if I owe you answers. You owe me so much more.”
The fucker was always fast. He brought me to my knees before I felt the blow to my chest. I heaved for a bit, feeling nauseous before I spit out blood on the snow covered pavement. It wasn’t about the pain, because again, I couldn’t feel much of it. It was a very fucking discourteous act. “I really wish you and Vic would stop punching my sternum,” I muttered. “I don’t give a shit who the fuck you are. You won’t get a second chance to surprise me.”
“The action was for Nicole, and what she would’ve done if she knew of your ill-treatment toward whom she loved most in this world.” He squatted down, searching my face. “Why did you marry her? Is this history repeating itself?”
“No,” I responded, my voice sharp.
“I have problems believing you. You’ve been under Victor’s employ for a very long time. You were groomed by him.”
“You said you’ve been watching me. Then, you would know I stopped doing things for Vic when I met Nikki. Vic chased me down.”
“And you ran after his call?”
“Fuck, Charlie. What the hell do you want from me?”
“The truth. You know how I feel about liars.”
“Says the man who was fucking a married woman. Says the man who’s been helping Nikki keep her secrets.”
“Respect, Ethan.” He stood upright and glanced down the alley. “It’s something you have yet to learn. I need you to answer a question. If you give me an answer I’m satisfied with, you will walk out of this alley. If not, you will be carried out of this alley while unconscious and it will be quite a while before you see the sun again. I can do this because Vic is beginning to believe Nikki will remain ignorant. He’s close to showing himself to her while she remains protected. While it’s not the best scenario, I will do what needs to be done to ensure you realize your degree of expendability. Because you are, Ethan. You’re not exactly needed at the moment. If I find I need to stow you away until I find use for you, it will be done. Since many favors were granted, I expect you to run when I call. Do you understand?”
“Completely.”
Pete came around to stand behind me. Before I could rise to my feet, I felt the prick of a needle at my neck. Pete stared down at me, keeping his thumb on the plunger, waiting for Charlie’s order.
“Ethan?” Charlie hailed my attention. “Why are you married to Nikki?”
Stiffly moving against the pressure of the needle, I looked up at him, dropping the arrogance to make sure he saw what I needed him to see. “I’m. In. Love. With. Her.”
He stared at me for a long time. Nodding to Pete, he gave him permission to withdraw the syringe. “Somehow in your dysfunctional way, I believe you truly are. It’s unexpected.”
“Believe me,” I replied, my tone falling a little quieter than normal, “it was unexpected on my part, too.”
“Perhaps Nicole didn’t lose her touch,” Charlie inferred. “She discounted my ability to protect Diouana, and I thought she needed someone who could be personally involved with her to protect her. Since I have so many things on my to-do list, it’s impossible for me to give Diouana personal attention. At times, I was glad you were there for her. I had to know if the relationship was genuine and not Victor relying on your less savory ways to keep Diouana quiet.
“Initially, Nicole and I shared a synchronistic vision for her daughter. She knew about Victor’s desire for revenge after what was done to him to keep him out of Turbo. He wanted you to destroy Nikki without setting off the alarms of protection she had around her.
“After getting to know you over time, Nicole’s plans changed. She thought you’d be perfect for Diouana. She believed you were unaware of Victor’s plans. She thought once you found out what Victor truly wanted, you would do what many have longed to do. What many have wanted to do and have never been successfully able to complete. I’m sure you’re aware of Victor’s involvements. His associations give him the power of a stay of execution. I'm walking nearly alone with this. But if certain events happen to occur, it would make a lot of people happy.” He pointed to me. “You would be the only one who could do what so many people have failed to do and still maintain the respect of Victor’s people in order to keep the business going. You will allow us to have our hands in what we’ve always wanted. The direct links to the syndicate. I think you know what he really wants from Nikki, don’t you?”
I was wrong about Charlie. He wasn’t FBI, he was something much fucking worse. “At first, I didn’t.” I only needed to know one thing. “I know what Vic has his hands in. I always thought he was in control and not the other way around. Is Vic really the bitch in the situation? Has Vic been talking to the Feds about the people he claimed were family?”
“More or less, he’s been using them.”
I bit my lip, hard. Roy. Preston. Victor was the lead on it all. Roy died needlessly. Victor had set Preston off on a scare mission to rat to the Feds, knowing he would never be able to take his place as an informant. “And they took him in with open arms. Is that how Vic found information on Nikki?”
“As I said, he used them as much they used him.”
My blood was on fucking boil. “You should’ve stopped him from finding out. And you’re punching me in the chest like I’m the one who fucked up? I know you scared Nikki into keeping quiet about what you made her do. Why wouldn’t you let her tell me the truth? If she told me from the start, I would’ve done everything I could to protect her. You have no idea what making her keep things from me has done—it made me think I couldn’t trust her.”
Staring me down, he shook his head. I knew I was pushing the line on his patience, but I didn’t care. He put Nikki in danger. If he had been anyone else, he’d be dead right now. “What would you give to make sure Diouana is safe?”
“My goddamn life.”
“I’m going to hold you to that, Ethan.” He closed his coat, keeping his eyes on me. “Don’t contact me again. Pete is my liaison. Use him. In full disclosure, I’m not comfortable with the idea of you being with Diouana. I won’t allow nor help you be with her. Do me a favor, and by favor, this is an order. Stay away from her.” He nodded to Pete and started to walk out of the alley. “Have a blessed day, Dr. Brenton.”
Pete helped me to stand. “Do you need some ice for your chest, man?”
I wasn’t offended by the fact that minutes earlier he was prepared to drug me. Shit happens. At least I knew he was loyal to Charlie. That accounted for quite a bit. “It was a love tap. I’ll be fine.” I glanced at him. “You are fucking with a dangerous line, Pete. You know what Vic will do to you if he finds out you’re a spy?”
Pete held up his arrogance and shrugged it off like he didn’t have a care in the world. “I’m not worried. But”—he glanced back at the alley as though he expected Charlie to still be there—“if you knew the things Vic’s done, you would’ve hugged Charlie for backing you to kill Victor.”
Gazing down the alley, I didn’t refute or question what Pete had said.
Nothing had been decided. I needed more information before I ended the life of the man who made me.