Chapter 12
Constituents and Interactions
Dean
“Can we hurry this up, I’d like to get home to see Z.” Teddy whines in the passenger seat.
I rolled my eyes for the tenth time in the last twenty minutes.
All he cares about is seeing Z. It’s obvious that Zoe has become his new obsession, and to say I’m worried would be an understatement.
When Teddy locks onto something, or in this case someone, he can become lethal when he doesn’t get what he wants.
It always ends with him breaking the item in question.
And we can’t afford for Zoe to be broken, not with her joining the team.
I trust Max’s judgment, so if he thinks she can handle it-- then she most likely can. All we truly know about her is that she’s The Sparrow, so she is a killing machine, and she is the offspring of the most ruthless and unpredictable man to walk this earth.
“I’m sure we can make quick work of it at the laundromat. Just do that thing.” I tell Teddy. I look over to what he’s focusing on, and he is watching the in-home security cameras on his phone, and he’s zoomed in on Zoe. I shake my head and focus back on the road.
I don’t care what happens to Zoe. All I care about is my brothers surviving.
We’ve been through so much. Being in foster care, then on the streets, then when we were taken in and inducted by Kahl; I can’t imagine a world without them.
I know having Zoe a part of our team could be helpful in the long run, and she can be our secret weapon to destroying the Cambions, but Zoe is merely a chess piece in this game.
If she is the reason that something happens to my brothers, I will have to kill her.
Kahl was merciless, in every sense of the word. He tested us, trained us, and broke us apart then put us back together. In some ways he was like our father, but in other ways, he was our destruction.
“Which thing?” Teddy cuts through my thoughts as he flicks a butterfly knife through his fingers. “I have a lot of things. It could be the bat thing, the dog thing, or even the skinning them alive thing. I need you to be specific, or I might just make Max angry.” He sing-songs.
I shiver at his suggestions, “Fuck. No, Teddy. I’m talking about that thing you do when you stand way too close to people. I can do the countdown, and you can take a step closer until Carl caves.” I explain, seriously praying internally that he doesn’t try to do the dog thing.
Teddy’s only response is a single nod, but I don’t miss the disappointment written on his face.
I know once we are there, he’ll focus on the job we have to do, but he is distracted by the thought of Zoe today.
I think we all are. I’m thinking about how I’ll be testing her.
I know Max is testing her on physical combat and shooting today, but he’ll also be testing her at the event for the art museum this evening.
All I plan to do is to bring her to our gym and train her on muscle. I couldn’t tell where she was in strength training by just looking at her so I’ll need to see how she can handle herself on the weights.
Once we park in front of the laundromat, I push all thoughts of Zoe away and focus on the task at hand. “Let’s go.”
We step through the front door and Carl is already standing at the front desk. “Good morning, how can I-.” His sentence is cut short when he looks up and sees us instead of a customer.
“Look, I don't have the money yet. It’s been a slow few months and I just can’t swing your price right now.” He holds his hands up and takes a step back.
“We know you have it, Carl. Let’s take the easy route today.
Teddy’s patience is very thin.” I explain.
I look over at Teddy who was standing beside me but has somehow managed to get on the opposite side of the front desk and is now standing a few feet behind Carl.
Carl tracks the movement of my eyes and jumps when he notices Teddy standing calmly behind him, flicking his butterfly knife.
“Let me make it clear for you,” I start as I step closer to the desk.
“You always seem to forget that we see everything. We know the Cambion’s were here, and we know they offered you another deal.
If you can afford their protection fee, you can absolutely afford ours.
Did you also forget that The Karma’s were the ones to buy this property for you, so you didn’t get shut down? ” I ask.
Carl freezes and doesn’t respond. “Great. So, I will give you until the count of five, and if you don’t hand over what you owe us for this month and last, then Teddy here will have to make an example of you.” I shrug. “One.”
Teddy takes a single step towards Carl, “Okay, okay. I have the money I owe from last month. Please I just need a few more weeks to pay for this month.” he sputters.
I make a tsk sound with my tongue, “That’s a lie. We know you have it.” I adjust my shirt to flash him the gun I have tucked into the waist of my jeans. “Two.”
Teddy makes another step towards Carl, and I can see Carl beginning to shake. It’s like he’s vibrating, and if I’m not mistaken, I’m sure I can see tears welling in his eyes.
“Really, I don’t have it. I promise, I can have it by tomorrow. Please.” He begs, but he clearly isn’t understanding we won't be leaving empty handed.
“Did you know we can see your bank accounts? And all of your book keeping?” I ask. “We know you have it, you at least had it yesterday. So, where’d the money go, Carl?”
Carl gulps and looks around frantically, as if he’s trying to catch another lie to spew. “I, uh-.” he trails. He opens and closes his mouth, but nothing comes out.
“Three.” I say and Teddy closes in on him even more, this time he’s got his butterfly knife open and sitting still. No more games.
“Okay! Fine, fine. I have it.” Carl breaks.
Finally, I just want to get this over with.
We already hit the nail salon, and they didn’t give us any trouble, and if I’m being honest, I didn’t want to have to hurt Carl.
But if he held out for much longer, Teddy would have taken the debt in the form of skin.
It only takes a few minutes for Carl to take a little safe out of the desk in front of him and then present me with the cash. I count it as Teddy continues to watch Carl.
“We don’t like to be forceful, Carl. You know why we have to do this.” I say over the wad of cash, and Carl nods in understanding.
“We’ve seen that some of the Cambions have been hanging around nearby, are they giving you a hard time?” I ask, this catches his attention a little better.
“They threatened me last week.” he starts, “And they said that if I continue to pay you, they’ll come after my wife.” I can tell he is telling the truth. He looks exhausted and it really does sound like something the Cambions would try.
“Okay,” I nod. “We’ll get some guards out to watch over the business, and they’ll keep an eye on your home. We’ll see to it that your wife stays safe.” Carl gives me a curt nod and says his thank you’s as well as apologizes for holding out.
Teddy and I get back to the car and send out a message to three of our best guards to come watch over the laundromat. I was about to pull out of the parking lot when Max called me.
“Yeah?” I greeted him.
“First of all, brother, the proper greeting is ‘Hello’,” he chastises. “Second, Rico will not be able to stand guard for Carl.”
“Well, why the hell not?” I ask, signaling to Teddy to look for another guard so we can get eyes on Carl’s business and home as soon as possible.
“Zoe killed him.”
I freeze, “How the fuck did she kill him? He was our best guard, how the hell are we going to replace him?”
“Yeah, it turns out that he wasn’t that good after all. Zoe took him on the mat and had him down in less than two minutes and had him dead in less than one.” Max says it like he’s talking about the weather.
Teddy overhears this and perks up, listening closer to the conversation. “Fair enough then.” I sigh, “But, do you think it was a fluke?” I ask.
“No, it wasn’t a fluke.” Max chuckles, “She is a machine. You should see her with the AR-15. I can show you the footage when you return.”
“Let’s go now.” Teddy says, patting his hand on the dash. I hold up a finger to ask him to be patient for just a little bit longer.
“So, we will need to find a new head guard for the northern quadrant. If he was bested that easily we need to get them trained up better. Any idea on how we’ll go about doing that?” I ask.
“I’m honestly thinking this is something you and Zoe should take up.
She’s clearly a skilled fighter and a skilled gunman.
We’ll see if she can handle a little espionage tonight.
But once you work with her on strength training and seeing where she’s at, you should get with her about training the guards. ” he explains.
He’s not wrong. If she was able to take down Rico that easily, then there is a clear weakness within our guard ranks. I nod along until I realize that he can't see me through the phone.
“Sounds good, we’ll get on it. Any word from Brandon?” I ask.
“Yes, I just got off the phone with him when you called. We’ll talk about it when you return. Get home soon. We have a lot to talk about, and our Harpy, Zoe, has some information she’ll be sharing with all of us. It seems that she knows a lot more about our personnel than we thought.”
Teddy and I glance at each other and then the call drops. A sinister smile stretches over Teddy’s face, “Take me home to the little devil, I think we’ll be playing tonight.”