Chapter 39 Cord
I SHOVE MY phone in my pocket and head back inside Sangue, wishing I was curled up in bed with Asher.
If you had told me a month ago I’d be feeling this way, I would’ve laughed in your face.
I guess I’ve finally accepted the fact that he and I belong together.
Problem is, my timing couldn’t be worse.
Dante’s cleaning crew arrived while I was outside and they’ve started putting the place back together while we wrap up our meeting in the office, agreeing to reconvene with everyone else back at the warehouse.
“I want people on Thalium’s residences at all times,” Dante tells us when he has everyone together. “I want to know where he goes, where he works, when he feeds, who he sees. I don’t care if he knows we’re following him. The bastard has fucked with me for the last time.”
“You want us to grab him?” Zeke asks.
“Right now I want proof that he’s the Python. Don’t screw this up, people. Gio will assign you to teams. I’ve doubled the guards on our other dens, so right now I want the rest of you out in the streets combing every place we’ve encountered his men. Capture them if you can, kill them if you can’t.”
Great. Capturing means more fruitless torture, though I’d like to get my hands on one of those ninja guys just to find out where they came from.
I keep going over everything Thalium said at the benefit.
He was very adamant that Asher was his competition.
Competition for what? The only specific business of his own he mentioned was the pharmaceutical company he recently bought.
As I recall, Elaine said it was from somewhere in Asia.
Since Asia is a big place, that doesn’t tell us much.
“Cord?”
It takes me a minute to realize Dante is calling my name. “Yeah?”
“Can I see you in my office?”
I follow him inside, where he shuts the door. It’s just the two of us, which is unusual in itself. I rarely see Dante without Gio present. “I want you to take point on this.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve got experience with Thalium.”
“What exactly do you want me to do? He knows my face. Hell, he knows who I am.”
“I’m aware of that, but like I said, I don’t care if he knows we’re watching him. In fact, from what I’ve seen of him, he probably expects it. I’ll bet the bastard put on a show for us.”
“Look, Dante, can I level with you?”
“Please do.”
I take a moment to collect my thoughts. “Okay, this guy has been one step ahead of us this whole time. He managed to pull together an army of followers right under our noses without us suspecting a thing. In fact, I doubt we would’ve known anything until the first hit on one of our dens if I hadn’t been tipped off on those Outliers snatching people. ”
“I’ll admit, that was luck.”
“You’re damn right it was. Whether he wanted us to be alerted or it was just a screw up on their part, he hasn’t backed off. In fact, he’s doubled down. It’s no coincidence that he hit our dens tonight of all nights, when he knew we’d be occupied.”
“And how do you think he knew that?” Dante fires back, his ire growing.
I might have overstepped here. The last thing I want to do is pull Asher into this conversation, but we’re there now.
“Probably the same way Asher knew he’d be there. The guest list was public knowledge.”
“Just because my name was on the list, doesn’t mean I was going. In fact, I was intending to skip it until Asher called me.”
Wait, what? “Asher called you? When?”
“The other night. He said it was my chance to get eyes on Thalium.” He regards me with narrowed eyes. “How do I know your boyfriend wasn’t somehow setting me up?”
I’m still trying to process the fact that Asher called Dante. He hates Dante. Why would he call him, and when did this happen? “What possible motive would Asher have to set you up? He has just as much to lose here as you do.”
“Does he?”
I can’t believe he’s asking me that. I bite back my own anger now, keeping my voice level when I reply. “Think long and hard about what you say next, Dante. I’ve been loyal to you all these years, but even I have my limits.”
“Are you saying you’d choose him ahead of me?”
Am I? Ten years ago I walked out on Asher because he accused me of letting Dante use me. That time I chose wrong. I won’t make the same mistake again.
“I think you know the answer to that.”
He regards me for several minutes. Finally he sighs and pinches his nose.
He’s still in his tux, the cuffs of which are now stained with blood.
He looks as tired as I feel, but I’ll be damned if I’ll spare him any consideration if he insists upon accusing Asher of trying to undermine his authority.
I know Asher doesn’t like him, but I also know he realizes Dante is a necessary part of our society.
“The last thing we need right now is infighting,” he says at last.
I’m about to answer him when the door to the office inches open and Roland pokes his head in.
“Sorry for the interruption, boss, but we’ve got company.”
“Who?”
The door swings wide as Roland is pushed back out of the way, revealing two stern-faced men in black cloaks. I’ve never actually seen any of them before, but I know without being told that I’m looking at our worst nightmare.
“Are you Dante Fantini?” one of them asks. His voice is deep and authoritative with an accent I can’t place.
I catch a flash of fear in Dante’s eyes before he composes himself and answers, “Yes. Who are you?”
“We’ll be taking it from here,” he replies, ignoring Dante’s question.
“Like hell you will,” Dante snaps. “I don’t know who you think you are, but this is my city.”
“That is yet to be determined. For now you will work with us, or you will lose your title.”
“And I ask again,” Dante snarls. “Who the hell are you?”
“We are the Black Guild.”
Fuck. Asher was right.
? ? ?
Dante has been holed up in his office with the two members of the Black Guild for the past hour, presumably going over every piece of information he has on the Python while the rest of us try to look busy elsewhere.
Turns out, the two men didn’t arrive alone.
There are three vans full of agents, soldiers, whatever you want to call them, standing outside the doors.
Right now they’re not allowing anyone in or out of the building.
“What the fuck do we do now?” Zeke murmurs to me.
“I don’t know,” I reply. “They said they were taking it from here.”
“They’re morbid looking fuckers.”
I can’t argue with him there. They’re all dressed in head-to-toe black, all wearing the same old-fashioned long cloaks and somber expressions. They remind me of a Victorian undertaker’s convention. None of them speak, just stand mute outside the door to the warehouse.
If this is what Thalium was hoping for, his wish just got granted, though I don’t think he’s going to find these humorless fucks any easier to deal with.
What I want to know right now is how did they get here so fast?
It’s only been a few hours since the attacks.
Surely that’s not enough time to assemble this crew and get them on a plane to here from wherever they were at.
I’d always heard the Black Guild were headquartered in Europe, but they must have branches here in North America to have shown up this quick.
Unless they were already watching things here. And how would they have known? We’ve tried to keep this under wraps to avoid alerting these guys for just this reason. Maybe they’re somehow tapped into our communications or maybe they have spies among us. Maybe someone actually called them.
Someone like Thalium?
Why would he do that when he’s the one causing all the chaos?
Unless he thinks he can’t be tied to it.
I know when Dante told us he wanted us to watch and gather information on Thalium, this is what he had in mind.
He needed proof that Thalium is the Python.
Right now all we have is the information Elaine was able to gather from tracing the ownership of O’Hara’s.
I’m glad I never told Dante about her, or these guys would be hauling her in to interrogate her.
As it is, I’m not so sure they won’t want to talk to Asher, since he’s the one who brought Thalium’s identity to Dante.
I’m kind of stressing about that right now. I’d call Asher to warn him, but I don’t know what good that would do. These guys don’t seem to care about boundaries. Plus they’re watching us like hawks right now. I’m sure any attempt to contact the outside world would result in more attention.
The door to the office opens and Dante walks out. The Black Guild member who spoke to us motions toward the warehouse door, and two more of his men enter and make their way to the office before shutting the door behind them.
“What happened?” I ask when Dante joins us. What I want to ask is if he told them where he got his information, but I don’t want to risk that being overheard.
“They’ve cut us out,” he replies. Then he leans over, his voice pitched only to me. “I want you to keep investigating Thalium. You’re the only one here who knows him.”
I glance toward the door to see if any of them are watching us. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Stay out of their way and report only to me.”
“Are they going to let us go?”
He shrugs. “I have no idea. They’re not telling me anything.”
I know this has to be killing him. This is his town, has been for a long time. What does this mean for his future, or for the future of the Crimson Guild here? A city this size needs the Guild. The Clan here won’t police themselves.
The door to the office opens again and the man who spoke to us before steps out and looks around.
“Members of the Crimson Guild,” he says in that accented voice. “You will return to your usual duties. You will not, under any circumstances, continue investigating the Python.”
“Who will, then?” Zeke speaks up. “Because this threat is not going away.” I always knew the man had brass balls.
“It will be handled. That is all you need to know. You’re free to go now.”
Dante catches my eye. “Tell no one,” he mouths.