Chapter 15 Stan #2
“You’re the one who can’t play nice with my sister.” I slammed the front door behind me. “You got me a hacker yet?”
“It’s been two days!”
Snagging my keys from my pocket, I slipped into my car. “And? That’s an eon in our line of work.”
While I drove off, Star groused, “Can I help that I don’t want to have to liaise with any random prick? If I weren’t so busy, I’d stay on as your IT department because, honestly, what they’re sending out into the world is plain irritating.”
“Yeah, yeah, the kids of today suck and all that. So, what’s this update?”
“Did you know Hunter got in touch with me last night?”
“We were conferring before I got the call Kitty had been picked up by her brothers,” I said by way of confirmation.
“I know the Irish appreciated him updating them.”
“Good. We want to work together. Manhattan’s plenty big enough for us, no fucker else.”
“Exactly. But Hunter and I deep-dove last night—”
“You’re talking?”
“He doesn’t forgive me for siccing Dead To Me on him—ungrateful shit when I was trying to save his life—but he’ll work with me in an emergency.
“A US-based group backs the brothel, Stan. We’re still looking for weaknesses in the shell company setup, but so far we’re just seeing dividends being paid out to US bank accounts.”
“Any joy on who owns those accounts?”
“More shell companies so far. Real labyrinth of shady corporate BS.”
Mind whirring as I fought my way through traffic, I exclaimed, “Fuck.”
“Yup. You sure Aurora didn’t know anything about this?”
“Aurora’s network—” The homeless we sheltered in our territory that acted as her spies.
“—had no idea about the fighting ring. Just the brothel. And nothing re. trafficking goddamn children.” The steering wheel creaked, I grabbed it so hard.
“If Rory… Let’s just say, we’d have acted sooner if we knew what their product was. ”
“Product. Makes me sick.”
“Me too.”
“I knew about the fighting ring,” she confided.
“Confess your sins—do I want to know how?”
“Nope. But I can tell you who told me.”
“Taube?”
“Yup. She’s tighter than a monk’s ass about her source, though.”
“Why?”
“God knows. While snitches need stitches, you gotta protect ‘em sometimes.”
“I’ll never understand that woman.”
“Hey, I’ve fucked her and I understand her less than you do. Must be a good reason for her to protect them. She hates traffickers as much as we do.”
“You spoken with Lyanov?” Lyanov was the last head of the NYC Bratva, and now led The Forgotten Boys.
I heard her nails tapping on a keyboard. “Aidan has.”
“Think the Bratva is involved?”
“I think nothing good will come of this.”
“We know the Bratva wants their turf back. Maybe Bratva operatives are behind this. Using the Albanians as a front, bringing the Italians in too, and with that hybrid union kidnapping Kitty, who just so happens to be mine, they manage to singlehandedly piss off the three major factions in the city—seems like something that’d work in their favor. ”
“There are a lot of ‘maybes’ in that theory.”
“It’s a working hypothesis.”
That earned me a grunt.
“When’s Aidan calling a Summit?”
“Soon.”
“What’s he waiting for?”
“The last thing he wants is a war. Not when it gets in the way of his true goals—
“We need a show of strength,” I snarled, hands tightening around the steering wheel.
“I know, I know,” she hissed. “Let me finish! We need to regain order on the streets before we declare anything.”
“What does that mean?”
“New shipments of weapons are coming in this week from the Lobos Rojos and the Hell’s Rebels. You can’t fight a war if you’re not armed.”
“We have a few shipments coming in ourselves.”
“Good. I know TFB are well-stocked. My question about all of this is why. If it is the Bratva, then okay. The city’s a major stronghold for The Forgotten Boys, along with Miami, Chicago, and Houston.
One-time Bratva allies are being picked off like crazy, switching allegiances to the usurpers, which is bound to piss off Moscow.
But why agitate the Irish and Sicilians?
The Irish run the Eastern Seaboard, and the Sicilians’ reach since your sister married Hunter is incalculable. ”
“They didn’t wade in to make war with Lyanov et al.” Unease filled me as I went with my gut. “This goes deeper.”
“Sounds like you just talked yourself out of believing the Bratva is behind the whorehouse,” she joked warily.
“Fuck. Maybe.” Still… “Rumor has it that the president is deep in the Bratva’s pocket…
Could be there’s something to it?” My jaw worked as different news items from the past couple weeks hovered at the forefront of my mind.
“When I was in Cancún, Martinez indicated that he’s trying to shape the upcoming Mexican elections. ”
“I know. That’s why Dead To—” She paused. Grunted. “Taube was there.”
“Did you hear about Graham Brackton’s death recently?” When she cleared her throat, I groaned. “Don’t tell me. That was also Taube’s work?”
“I won’t tell you. Don’t worry.”
“Fuck, is there anyone she hasn’t killed yet?”
“You’re still breathing.”
“Reassuring.”
With a tap of my fingers to the steering wheel, I thought about that crazy blog, one that Luc had backed up with facts. “Did you know Brackton had an addiction to high-class hookers?”
“I’m not surprised. As soon as men reach billionaire status, it’s like they get an aversion to paying taxes and to sleeping with their wives.”
“He was one of our clients…”
“No way! He slept with a woman from your stables?”
“Sure did. The same one every time he was in the city. A few weeks ago, we lost her.”
“The girl Brackton fucked?!”
“Yeah. She was there when Taube took him out.”
“Wow. That’s uncanny. What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that Brackton had no way of knowing how close Aurora is to our hookers.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning President Devere showed up at Brackton’s apartment the night he died.”
“Devere was there when the fucker got shot? How is that not in the papers?!”
“I don’t know.” I blinked when the car behind me honked as the stoplight turned green. “They clearly swept it under the rug. It was in that blog, though. I Told You So.”
“Where you going with this, Stan?”
I was quiet for a long time before I remarked, “I don’t do politics.”
“But you will with me? I’m honored.”
“I’m the fists, Star. My opinions matter little.”
She sniffed. “We can agree to disagree. There’s a reason I’ll only talk to you, Stan. I can’t stand your siblings, and I already see enough of your brother for my liking.”
My lips curved into a rueful grin. “Thanks, Star.”
“No probs. Okay, whacky professor, where’s your mind at?”
“It’s out there…”
“Ooooh, my fave theories are.”
“What do you know about Devere’s links to the Albanians?”
Her swift inhalation told me she knew a lot.
Go big or go home… “Everyone needs unofficial foot soldiers when you have as many dirty secrets as our president does. The Albanians sure became a problem real fast...”
“Holy fuck!”