Page 10 of Ruthlessly Mine
“Doing my job, sir.”
He kept his grip firm, his eyes searching mine. Exhaling, he finally smiled. “I trust you implicitly, Erik, which is why I had the others leave. As you might imagine, the traitor has reared his ugly head. I have too much at stake to allow such behavior to continue.”
I knew better than to ask any questions.El Hefewould supply exactly what I needed to know. “Yes, sir.”
“To that end, I want to take care of something personally and I’m going to manage all the details privately. However, there is a piece of this I do need you to take care of. We can’t have any loose ends, not with certain other parties breathing down my neck.”
“What can I do for you?” My gut was churning, my instincts telling me this was a setup of some kind. Certain other parties. Whoever was challenging Diego must be extremely powerful, or at least well connected.
“I want to handle this eradication differently. I believe I have someone in this family who’s working with a particular colleague of mine. That doesn’t bode well for certain trades.” Diego chuckled. “I must flush out this wound before it festers. I’m certain you can understand.”
“Absolutely.” His trades were drugs. Heroin. Opioids. Some cocaine. He had the market from Virginia to the Keys, Cuba to South America, and even some of the Caribbean islands. At least for now.
“I have an envelope that I don’t want you to open until you leave not only my office but the entire property. Only then will you find out the details of a job I want you to perform.”
Diego was afraid there were eyes and ears. Interesting. In order for the traitor to breach the compound, he would have to be closely linked with Diego. My skin began to crawl. There was still a solid possibility that this was nothing more than a test of my loyalty. If he needed a fall guy, I was an obvious choice, no matter all I’d proved to him during the last seven and a half years. “When do you want this carried out?”
He smiled, releasing his hold and walking toward his desk. Taking his time, he pulled a cigar from his humidor, holding the clippers in his other hand. He allowed the cutting mechanism to slice the air twice before inserting the Cuban, slowly pressing down. The tip fell into the awaiting ashtray. He sucked on the end of the cigar before lighting, pulling in several puffs and holding the smoke. As he released, the billows creating perfect circle formations, he studied me. “Immediately, Erik. I can’t have my enemies learning that I’ve been compromised in any manner.”
“Yes, sir.” There was no pretense with the envelope, simply a handoff and a wave of his hand.
I noticed his eyes never left me as I walked toward the door. Another one of his soldiers stood just outside, his face pensive. I gave him a respectful nod and took several steps, waiting to see if I could hear what would be said.
“Mr. Sanchez. There’s a detective here to see you.”
The treachery continued: either someone from the casino was talking or this was simply another method of killing off loose ends. He certainly had enough cops on the payroll. The damn situation had turned into one huge mess. Fuck. Before I left the office, I took another hard look at Diego’s expression. The man was one cold mother fucker.
I was off the property as requested before opening the envelope. I read the notes first then yanked the single photograph from the interior. I didn’t recognize the girl’s face immediately. In fact, I had no idea what she could have possibly done to elicitEl Hefe’s wrath.
Then I knew.
She’d been the casino employee working the suite. I would never forget her terrified face, eyes that penetrated mine when I walked past. I studied the picture again, anger boiling from deep within. In the photograph, she was holding a small boy, no doubt her son.
The monster expected me to murder the mother of a child, a woman. I recoiled, tossing the entire contents across my car before slamming my hands against the steering wheel. I was a beast, a murderer, and a man without a conscience, but to kill a woman and destroy her family? This I couldn’t do.
How in the fuck was I going to avoid his order?
I drove to the far end of Miami Beach, to a little-known area far removed from the majority of tourists. I wasn’t ready to go home or even to drown myself in booze. I needed to think about this and either harden my shell or be prepared to die. Either way? I was fucked.
The wind was blowing, a storm brewing and I moved to the set of stairs leading down to the beach, leaning over the railing as my mind wandered. I’d been through dozens, hundreds of operations with Diego, locating and helping to eliminate informants and other scum who tried to infiltrateEl Hefe’s organization. This was by far the worst ice job I’d ever been asked to accomplish. I kept asking myself the same questions. Why would the mother of a little boy endanger not only her life but the life of her child? Money? Yeah, sure. That could be the only reason. I doubted there was some love triangle involved. I knew all of Diego’s women and the girl simply wasn’t pretty enough.
Jesus Christ. What would happen to her child?
Act like a professional. Think.Pictures were easily doctored. The child might simply belong to someone else, and she could be a black widow. Looks were always deceiving. But I had to know the truth before I agreed to murder what could be an innocent woman. Wait a minute. This was getting out of hand. Family. The word hung with me, strapped around my neck by heavy chains.
I’d gotten into this situation to save my family. Maybe some bullshit kismet was telling me it was time to get the fuck out. I still had some manner of soul left. Hell, maybe not.
I remained standing on the stairs until the first clap of thunder in the distance. Then I made it my mission to find out everything I could about Sandy Markus. If this was a sign, then everything I did from here on out would need to be calculated. Leaving meant forever. Disappearing. Staying meant killing her.
I knew my choice. A switch had flipped. Thank fucking God.
I made it home before the first raindrops hit, flipping on a single light as I moved inside my condo. I was on the sixteenth floor, three sides overlooking the ocean. Lightning flashed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, creating an eerie vibe. Darkness had settled in and from where I stood, I could see several other condominiums wrapping around the cove. The storm was electric, vibrant hues of neon blues and purples flashing across the sky. Tonight, I needed scotch and stood staring at the turbulent sky for a few minutes.
The liquor wasn’t soothing in any manner tonight, merely a slight burn washing down the back of my throat. I didn’t have long to make my final decision, so information was the key. I moved toward my laptop, opening the lid and pulling up the internet. Within minutes, I was able to find valuable information on Sandy. She was a single mother of a little boy, who’d just turned three. She’d been working at the Casablanca Casino for five months, her previous job teaching in an elementary school.
She had been married and from what I could tell, the boy’s father wasn’t in the picture. I maneuvered to certain banking sites that I’d been given access to, locating her account after only a few minutes. There’d been no large deposits of any kind, only her paycheck and from what I could tell, she made a decent income, although her living arrangements were modest at best. There were no scathing stories or pictures of her with anyone leading to a scandal. She was simply a woman trying to make ends meet.
By the time I finished my investigation, my conclusion was that she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, she’d been made to be a problem, a loose end. Diego was also no doubt making a clear statement. Fuck with me and everybody dies. I sat back in the seat, rubbing my eyes. Who the hell was threatening Diego’s manhood?