Chapter 3 #4
“You don’t ever want to just reap the benefits of the shit you’ve been sticking your neck out to ensure goes smoothly all this time?” Alec was only in for his family the same way I was but he didn’t seem as frustrated with his situation as me.
“Is that why you doing this? So that your ass can have a damn vacation?”
“Hell nah. The work I’m doing right now ain’t shit compared to what I’m about to be engaged in. Dealing with cases is a picnic. When I move on, I gotta handle the bullshit of two families and that ain’t something I’m looking forward to.”
“So why now?”
“Besides Pappy’s ass being old? I want the ability to move.
To be who I am without wondering how I appear to somebody else.
Having to worry about blowing my cover gets old.
I’m ready to just be me. It’s been a minute since I’ve been able to just be out.
Not titles or jobs to look good for. No hiding when shit needs to be done. I miss that.”
He shook his head and then stood up, heading to toss his bottle in the recycling and then grab another beer.
“You act like moving on is about to give you anonymity or something. You’re about to be the head of a multi-billion dollar shipping corporation.
You can’t really hide that. And also, have you seen you?
” His eyes bugged like I didn’t see myself in the mirror daily, making me laugh again.
This is why we were friends. No pretense and both of us with our secret lives that meant more to us than the public persona.
He was someone who simply understood as well as my brothers did.
“Can’t hide that but don’t have to really answer to anyone else.
Don’t have to get approval for anything or have someone questioning the methods I used to get shit done.
And my only stakeholders are my family and even though they get on my fucking nerves I don’t have regulatory agencies breathing down my fucking neck.
I can run things how I want. That’s a trade-off I’m willing to take for a slight loss of privacy. ”
He nodded his understanding as he dropped back down onto the sofa. “How long you got?”
“End of the year.”
“Damn. Cochran is going to be irritated as hell having to tell them. How soon do you think she will let them know?”
“When we close this case.”
He nodded his head in understanding about how the bureau would try to make shit harder for me. “So that they can’t say shit about it when you tell them you’re done.”
“Exactly. They’re not about to have shit to keep me tethered to them. But what about you? You ready to hang it up?”
His eyes went to his bottle before he shook his head. “Nah.”
I couldn’t say that I was shocked because Alec had the best of both worlds.
He wasn’t the head of his family, more like a trusted general and legal liaison.
With a law degree that he’d earned with being in the Air Force he was the family mouthpiece even if it was from behind a curtain like the wizard in Oz.
He ensured that things flowed smoothly and if anyone got caught up on this side of the border, he handled it.
“What you thinking?” His hesitation showed that there was something else on his mind. If he wasn’t retiring there had to be something else driving him.
“The family has been wanting me to head south.”
“Is that what you’re gonna do?”
He shrugged and I knew he hadn’t given it as much thought. DC was where he’d lived the longest as an adult and I understood his hesitation to leave.
“Maybe. My cousins already have Miami so that’s not gonna work. The three of us would bring far too much attention to me and we wouldn’t be able to avoid each other. There’s always Charleston—”
“You would lose your shit seeing how people glorify that antebellum bullshit—”
“Facts. But there’s Savannah, it’s more liberal.
Not too far from Atlanta, which is a heavy stopover for business.
Food scene sucks but every concert and cultural event makes a stop there so I wouldn’t be missing out.
The Delta would be as bad as Charleston so that’s out.
That leaves New Orleans. But even that state is red as fuck and I’d have to paint it crimson if someone got too comfortable trying to fuck with me.
” As affable as he was, Alec wasn’t one to play with.
Respect was non-negotiable and he was going to demand it in every situation.
“We got the head of the first family back so you’d be close to someone if you needed one of us to come to your rescue.”
He glared at me like he were ready to throw his bottle at my head. “You make me sound like a bitch.”
“I’m just saying. You know we’d have people there to watch your back since you would be the first person from the Ortega-Castillos to set up shop there. It’s always good to know where your enemies and your allies are.”
“You’re not wrong. Hopefully, you won’t get a big head and forget all the little people who helped make your leaving possible.”
“Is this your effusive way of saying you're gone miss me?”
“Yeah, Nakoa, that’s exactly what this is.
Unlike you, I ain’t afraid to talk about my feelings.
That Cuban machismo shit wasn’t put in us because the Afro part made sure we could express ourselves and keep our close bonds.
We can show love because the power we have doesn’t need to be demonstrated to the masses.
It’s felt in every move we make. You’re my people, mean motherfucker, and I ain’t ashamed to say it’s all love. ”
One thing that Alec and I bonded over is the fact that to the masses, mainly white folks, they only saw us for what they deemed the more exotic culture.
It was funny how a Black person could tell that I was biracial, same with Vega, but white people didn’t second-guess us being monoracial at all.
I guess when you’ve spent your entire existence overlooking others it became second nature.
“I’ll only be a phone call away, Vega. Besides, until I know where Pappy will end up, I’ll probably stay stationed in DC for a while before I check on the port cities.
This location is perfect to work from since it’s between New York and Baltimore, but eventually I know I’ll have to spend time at each office. I’m already dreading that shit.”
“You not gone set up at the main office?”
With the Consortium concentrated solely in the areas from Louisiana to DC, I couldn’t be as far away as Hawai’i. Even with a private jet that was too far away from my brothers in case they needed me. As it was the closest one to me was Xerx and that was still a ninety-minute flight.
“Nah. We’ve still got people’s stuff housed there from the fires and shit while they rebuild. The last thing we want to do is displace them since their homes still aren’t finished. Trying to navigate working around all that would drive me crazy.”
“Heart of gold. You and Pappy.”
I shook off his praise hating that I was receiving it for being a decent human. Of course, the two of us knew firsthand that being decent was something scarce. Still, it annoyed me that decency was so fleeting.
“Enough of this soft shit. We need to buckle down and figure out what our next moves are gonna be. But until we get shit solidified we need to close this case out.”
He met the bottom of his bottle with mine in celebration. “You're right about that. Close this case and figure out our moves because I’m damn sure ready to make them.”