Page 81 of Lord of Vice
There were names of politicians, corporate moguls, oil financiers, members of various foreign governments, and even Saudi princes. “Let me guess. They were all eliminated.” I didn’t go through all of the four pages. There was no need. They’d made their point.
“Exactly,” Diego said. “Over time. I’m sure there are more. In addition, one of the alliance’s contacts happened on a new list.” He placed one last piece of paper in front of me.
I scanned it and sighed. “So they have a hit list including the three people in this room.”
“Yeah, and more. They’re removing any potential issues. That’s why we’d like you to become a member of the alliance. We thinkyour skills, your leadership qualities, and your attention to detail will make for an excellent addition.”
While I could tell Dante was serious, they had to be kidding me. “No offense, gentlemen, but I don’t think I’m interested. I have far too much on my plate.”
Diego took a deep breath before speaking again. “Your parents were killed in a car accident. Yes?”
I immediately bristled. “Yeah. What does this have to do with anything?”
“Take a look at the list again,” Dante suggested.
Before I bothered, I glared from one man to the other. But it wasn’t long before I found what I was looking for. A moment of fresh rage rushed into my system, a memory from right after it happened rushing into my mind.
My little brother had been in the car, something I hadn’t mentioned to anyone.
“They were following us. They had guns and they were going to kill us. You gotta believe me. Dad and Mom were so scared!”
He’d looked to me for assurance and safety and what had I done?
I’d blown it off since my kid brother had been afraid of monsters and bad people his entire life. I’d assured him alright. Only I hadn’t believed him, telling him the wreck had been a terrible accident and nothing more. There’d been no skid marks, no bullet holes, no sign of tampering. Nothing. Just a wet road and a quick turn on a mountain curve. Or so I’d wanted to believe.
I also had a series of flashes. Their faces. The dinner we’d shared the night before when I’d tried my best to beg off it. And I’d beensupposed to be on the outing with them but as I’d told them, something had come up. It had been a lie. I just hadn’t wanted to go to another fucking event hosted by my father. The guilt had remained with me, an anchor that I’d wanted to keep secured to my neck.
After shoving the papers aside, I jerked to my feet. It was difficult to continue breathing, the tightness in my chest increasing. I headed to the window, uncertain how I wanted to handle this. “The entire family was supposed to die that day.” It wasn’t a question but a statement.
“Undoubtedly but you weren’t in control at that point and my guess is the controlling members of the Death Squad were hopeful the regime would die with your father. That’s not something we can answer.”
Diego had sorrow in his voice. I raked my hands through my hair. “I had a suspicion.”
“I’m sorry you had to hear about it this way.”
“I needed to know. Your real father is from South America. Emmanuel Santiago? What is he saying?” I asked the question, which also surprised both men.
Dante chuckled. “We know too much about each other. Our birth father is at the point of finding another location to run his business. As you’ve probably heard, South America is a battle ground at this point. It’s dangerous to remain there, no matter how powerful he is. Both the diamond industry and the sale of illegal drugs are being hit hard in the country but the reason the cartels are up in arms, fighting amongst each other is because one believes the other to be the problem.”
“This secret organization is allowing the inmates of a perceived asylum to pick each other off one by one.”
“A very nice analogy.” Diego was laughing full out. “And yes. They can’t do that here given the alliance. There are natural reasons why, including labs in Mexico making thousands of drugs like fentanyl and Gray Death an hour, which is taking a significant portion of business from the South Americans.”
“That’s fascinating this Death Squad issuing the very men the Mexican cartels might hire to defend their labs and passage of their drugs to other countries.”
“Fitting if you ask me,” Dante mused. “And well planned out. Once again, one will turn against the other.”
“You have no names of the people involved with the Death Squad?” I pressed.
Diego shook his head. “We have suspicions and some leads, already compiling a list of possibilities, but they are very good at keeping themselves protected. We need to break the veil of silence and secrecy at some point, or every syndicate will be pitted against the other.”
“Which will lead to bloody wars.” I was the one who finished the statement.
“Unfortunately,” Dante said, sighing.
I thought about all the pieces that were running through my mind. “On this list you’ve created of possible members, does either Judge Carson Withers or Mayor Sheldon Peterson ring any bells?”
Another look was shared. They weren’t going to expose anything else unless I became a member. I couldn’t blame them, even if it did piss me off.