Levi #3
“You misunderstand,” I said slowly. “I’m not here to negotiate or do a deal.
You have encroached on territory that isn’t yours and has been held by the Marelli family for decades.
Los Muertos are not welcome. Behave as though you are in someone else’s territory, or remove your presence from the city.
And the state, for that matter, though I’ll admit that would be difficult to enforce. ”
“You think you can bully us out?” Luis asked, sounding almost happy. “We’re here now, and we’re not going anywhere.”
“Look, I can see you’re overflowing with confidence,” I told him. “But I can assure you, it’s poorly placed.”
“Is it?” Reg asked. “This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with your Family.”
“True, you’ve certainly been giving Eliza trouble further south,” I admitted.
There was no point denying the truth when it was staring me in the face.
“Of course, you were also operating in an area where you have a much stronger presence and more forces at your disposal. That sort of entrenchment and resources might have been effective down there. Up here, though? Up here is where you lack both of those things, and considering you haven’t been able to push The Family out down South, I wouldn’t have much faith in your chances of bullying The Family out of Cresson Point, or anywhere in the Northwest for that matter.
If you want to operate in this theatre, then you will have to negotiate with us, otherwise—”
“The only thing worse than weak threats are vague ones,” Reg said, eyes narrowing.
I smiled. “I have a number of options available to me if I’m pushed to act.
What would it serve me to specify exactly what I intend to do with you and your people?
Considering we’re not allies, we’re not even at peace at the moment, I see no point in informing you of anything other than it being in your best interest to stop. ”
“Hiding behind his Family,” Luis sneered. “As if that’s somehow going to help him.”
I snorted softly. “Are you operating under the assumption that The Family is dictating to me?”
“You can practically see the earpiece,” Luis said, glancing at my head as if he expected there to be an actual device in my ear.
I turned my head to show each ear. “Nothing. Just like there isn’t a script or guidelines jotted down on a napkin.
I am here to speak for The Family’s interests, but I’m also the representative, the speaker, and the one who will decide what comes next.
Of course, I’m not alone in that decision, as the ones representing Los Muertos, you two are also a part of that decision-making process. ”
Reg’s eyes narrowed further. “Give us a moment?”
I cocked my head. “Sure, I can give you a few minutes.”
Pushing up from the table, I walked away, turning my back on them without a second thought.
It was dangerous. I’d heard tales of Los Muertos members turning what should have been a meeting into a bloodbath.
Apparently, some were willing to risk their own lives if it made the point they intended to make.
I could only hope Reg or Luis weren’t those sorts.
.. or at least that Reg wasn’t. I had the distinct feeling that if Luis had his way, I’d already be tied to the table and he’d be having fun with me.
Will was waiting for me in the aisle, his eyes wide as he watched me approach. Nervously licking his lips, he looked me over. “Uh, well, I didn’t hear shouting. That’s good, right?”
“Why would there be shouting?” I wondered.
“Well, the last time my...my dad had a meeting with them, there was a lot of yelling, and a fight,” he admitted with a wince. “Dad said it was a good thing he made sure there weren’t any guns allowed; otherwise, there probably would have been a shootout.”
“Hmm,” I said, thinking that Will Senior had certainly been.
..well, he’d been a laidback and sociable person, but he also had one hell of a temper.
The first thing he did when he was losing his temper was to raise his voice.
I could picture him losing control if he were dealing with stubborn, hostile members of Los Muertos. “Was it these two?”
“No,” Will answered quickly. “I don’t remember the names of the people he talked to the last time, but these two don’t look like them.”
“Interesting,” I said with a frown. “I wasn’t aware there was a meeting before. How long ago was the last one?”
“Uhh...” he began, his eyes darting back and forth before nodding. “Six months.”
“And these two weren’t included, you’re sure?”
“Yes,” he said after another thoughtful pause. “I’m pretty good with names, but I’m even better with faces. Those two weren’t here the last time. Is that a bad thing?”
“I’m not sure if it’s good or bad,” I admitted as we continued walking. “It certainly raises questions, though. If these aren’t the same men...then why?”
“I’m going to double-check, there should still be something around somewhere I can dig into, even if it’s asking some questions,” Will said quickly as we stepped out of the musty shadows of the warehouse and into the fresh air. “How...quickly do you need it?”
“As soon as possible but not so soon that the information isn’t accurate,” I told him with a thoughtful frown.
I know what you’re thinking, but be careful. You don’t want to end up down a rabbit hole and find out the rabbits have been gone forever.
She was right; it could be nothing, and I had to make sure I didn’t get obsessed with a piece of information that was no longer relevant.
The change in representatives could be a sign of trouble within Los Muertos’s ranks.
It could also just be a sign that the previous representatives were ineffective and needed to be replaced.
Or perhaps it would give me an insight into how to deal with these two if they proved particularly difficult, which I suspected they would.
You suspect? Come on, Levi, you’re smarter than that.
There’s a time and a place for everything, and thinking all the time, especially thinking things to death like you do, is going to get you into trouble.
You can tell they aren’t going to back off.
You didn’t intimidate them, and you sure as hell didn’t make them respect you.
I knew that much, and right now all I could do was come up with ways to anticipate their next move, or at least subvert it.
I would put good money on the idea that they were going to smile and walk away, telling the lie that they would consider what I had to say, or that they were going to retract their forces.
In truth, they would either bring further heat to my people and the city or bring more people in, adding more pressure to everything and everyone.
Despite my show of confidence, I couldn’t be sure that, with the resources I had, I’d be able to push them back out.
I knew how much trouble they had already given me, along with prior knowledge of their tactics when they moved into a new territory.
The two things I didn’t know were how much power they had at their disposal and what they could summon if pushed.
I also needed to know how these two would operate, along with their potential shortcomings and weaknesses.
I had expected problems during my time in charge, but a war was not something I had expected, and I couldn’t decide whether to consider it bad luck and poor timing or whether I should have anticipated it and planned for it.
And just what sort of plan would you have come up with? You’ve already been stretching yourself thin as it is. What exactly would you have been able to do?
That was true, trying to corral all Will Senior’s people while shifting the seat of power to Cresson Point had been.
..intensive. I couldn’t pretend I’d been succeeding at the rate I would have preferred, and now I was going to have one more problem to deal with if this meeting went the way I was expecting.
“Sir?”
I stirred, turning around to see Will staring at me apprehensively. “Yes?”
“I was asking if we should be worried...you know, about them?” he asked, nodding back toward the warehouse.
I glanced in that direction with a frown.
“It’s certainly not something to dismiss out of hand.
Los Muertos operates with an attitude of supreme confidence, but that’s no accident; they also operate from a position of power.
This is the last thing we need right now, but it’s not something that can be ignored. ”
“Uhh...so, maybe be worried?” Will asked with wide eyes.
I snorted. God, it was easy to forget he was the son of one of the biggest ‘bosses’ in The Family. “We’ll worry when we need to worry. For now, we need to gather more information and make sure we stay on top of things. Just focus on the part you were given and let others deal with the rest.”
I would need more people on this than just Will, even though he was good at running a lot of business on the side, so long as he wasn’t front and center.
He could work through the network in this part of the Family territory better than I could, but I wasn’t useless.
Considering I had been dealing with large chunks of the operations from Seattle, dealing with people and resources all along the West Coast, I had people of my own.
I would need to consult with some of them, but I would also need to talk to Eliza to see if she or her people had heard anything relevant to my current predicament.
Pulling out my phone, I sighed at the texts waiting for me.
Wow, you went right for bombs? That’s kinda messed up.
Alright, what are you doing? Anything fun?
Actually, don’t answer that, probably shouldn’t just in case.
God, please tell me it’s nothing bad.
Don’t actually tell me, I really shouldn’t know...kinda want to know though.
At least tell me you’re alive.