31. Dax #2
“I knew I picked the right man to be my grandson. That quiet dominance is delightfully sinful. You don’t see something like that all too often,” Dante gushed. “You’re one lucky lady, sugar.”
“The boy,” Void cut in.
Dante let out a huff, seeing none of them were going to play his game. “I told you, he’s the mole. Since you hatched the idea to find Dax, he’s been working with Marco. I’m not sure how much more plainly I can say it.”
“You’ve been here two days. How could you possibly find that out already?” Picasso demanded as he stepped up and turned to his nephew. “Is what he’s accusing you of true?”
Demetri’s face went pale, and he looked like he might pass out as his uncle questioned him. “They took Elena from school and told Mom and me they would kill her if we didn’t help them.”
“Who took her?” Picasso barked, rage building in him.
“I don’t know. They sent us a video message as proof of life with her telling us our orders.
They told us if we contacted the police or told you and Eagle about what happened, they would kill her.
Once I refused to do something for them, and they sent us her pinky finger as punishment.
I couldn’t tell you, Picasso. You have to believe me,” Demetri begged, tears flooding his eyes.
“Mom could get the legal information they needed, and I was to keep them informed about your movements since I was working in the garage. When I told them you had Dax, they told me I needed to figure out who Two Tricks was. But then it came out Two Tricks was setting up a meet, so I was off the hook for that. They have someone in the Empire as well, but I’ve never met them, only seen some communications they sent to me.
What are we going to do now? What if they kill Elena because they failed to take you out? ”
The boy was quickly devolving, so I needed to get as much information from him as I could about his sister. “Demetri, where does your sister go to school?”
“New York City. She goes to Cornell. Elena wanted to become a journalist and report on all the political stuff going on in Washington D.C. one day. Now I don’t know if she’s even going to live long enough to graduate,” Demetri sobbed.
“I’m the older brother. I should have been the one they took, not her. ”
“Thank you for telling me that, Demetri. I promise we’ll do everything we can to get your sister back.
Until we do that, though, I need you to keep acting like you’re working for them so they don’t grow suspicions.
Let them know we discovered Pinky was selling information, and we believe he was the mole, taking the heat off us and looking for another.
Whatever they tell you to do, just tell us what it is, and we’ll try and find a way to use it to our advantage.
Can you manage that to keep your sister alive? ” I asked.
He nodded, wiping his face off with his shirt. “Yeah, I’ll do whatever we need to, to get her back safe and sound.”
“Dante, could you take him back to the guys’ house while we finish up here? I don’t want to risk word getting back he’s talking with us just yet,” I requested.
Cam’s father wrapped an arm around the boy and led him away from the battle scene. Once they were both out of earshot, I looked at my men, knowing exactly who’d taken her.
“Well, boys, looks like we have yet another reason to take down the De León Cartel,” I announced.
“This one is going to take some planning. We can’t shoot off the hip with these guys.
Diego, the boss of the Cartel, has been my number one issue since I started the Hidden Empire.
This isn’t going to be easy. With all of us and our connections, we can absolutely take them down but not without a solid plan. ”
“After all of this, we need to recoup, and Eagle needs a little time before we take on the next beast,” Wes added.
“Once we take on Diego, we won’t have much time until Marco strikes again in retaliation.
He can’t with the Mad Dogs since the FBI’s involved.
It would show their connection, and he can’t afford that.
My guess is that Diego and Marco have a much deeper working relationship than we realize. ”
I couldn’t agree more with that assessment. “Alright, so we’re in agreement. No rushing into this until we have a foolproof plan.”
“So… who’s gonna tell Eagle about Elena?” Cognac asked, looking at Picasso.
We all followed suit, knowing he was the only one Eagle wouldn’t kill when we told him we weren’t going after her right away. If Demetri could play the game, it would give us the time we needed and a way to fuck them at their own trick, and we all know I love a good trick.
“Fuck you guys,” Picasso grumbled. “Fine, I’ll tell him once he gets home when Dani can shoot his ass up with something to knock him out.”
Everyone laughed at that, knowing it was the wise choice. As we headed out to check the maze of destruction before us and for anyone wounded or stragglers we needed to finish off, Wes answered his phone.
“Yo, Dax, it’s for you. It’s Harper,” Wes yelled, tossing me the phone.
Worried, I lifted it to my ear. “Harper? You okay?”
“Russia! You gave them a job that sent us to motherfucking Russia?” Harper screamed at me.
“When we get back, you and I are going to have a discussion on your choices and how it landed me with three assassins in Russia, needing to smuggle out an angry teenager. Our introduction was less than welcoming. Now we have to find her again. Are you sure you didn’t have a little sister or a kid you didn’t know about? ”
“Ah…”
“Don’t even bother answering that. The second we’re back, she’s all yours, a match made in fucking heaven!”
With that threat left out there in the open, she hung up on me. Man, I was getting in trouble with everyone today.
To be continued in More Tricks…