Snakes and Tails
Vex
Not much bothers me. But the snakes lining the wall of Maddox’s office give me the creeps. He’ll never know that. No one will.
Who surrounds themselves with venomous snakes?
“Vex.” Maddox stands up and walks over to me.
The only remnants of the gang Maddox was president of in his youth are these snakes and a painted section of brick wall.
They were my first semi-legit job. It doesn’t really count as fully legal when the job requires you to take care of people.
“Maddox.” I shake his outstretched hand.
“How bad is it?” He walks over to a set of chairs right next to one of the slithering walls.
The worst I’ve seen in years. Possibly ever. “Dyce is in over her head.”
“Is this about the cop thing?”
It’s all too easy to imagine them sliding up my neck instead of the wall. “Yeah. ”
“She’s not going to leave it alone. The cop not only threatened her client. He made it personal. I told her to let me take care of it.”
Neither of them is prepared for what’s hiding behind that door. “You both need to step away from it. If you need help hiding the girlfriend, I can arrange that. Dyce needs to pretend this didn’t happen, and you need to put a tail on her.”
Maddox leans back in the chair and stares up at cold-blooded death.
Maybe that’s why I dislike them… they’re competition.
“What exactly is it she needs protection from? A dirty cop I can handle.”
Dyce didn’t loop him in all the way. “She’s protecting you. If I tell you, it could expose you.”
We both know I mean Willow Street, because alone Maddox would wade in the fight with me.
“Tell me anyway.”
“The cop is a trafficking women.”
Maddox lets out a loud breath.
“But this isn’t a two-bit operation. You need to get her to back off. I can’t have her caught in the crosshairs and in my way.”
“You know how Dyce is.”
We both do all too well. “Tie her down if you need to. I don’t care.”
“Anything we can do to—”
“Just deal with her. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Maddox nods, ending our business.
I stand up to walk away.
“There’s a rumor going around The Street—”
When isn’t there?
“—that you are seeing someone.”
Why is this such a big deal? “I am.”
“How is that going to fit in with your work?”
It’s not. My world never touches Dahlia. “Not an issue.”
Maddox's brows wrinkle like he doesn’t believe me .
But I don’t work in a way that leaves any issues or witnesses. Excise the cancers and move on.
Dahlia won’t be an issue, but Max might be.
***
Don’t punch him in the face.
Don’t punch him in the face.
Don’t punch him in—
The door swings open to Max holding a cookie in his hand. “Vex. You want some cookies?”
Don’t kill him when you punch him in the face.
Just don’t kill him when you punch him in the face.
“They’re the best—”
“Max!” Talon steps up to the door and places a hand on Max’s shoulder.
“What, I was being friendly offering Nonna cookies to our guest.”
“You were seeing if you could get Vex to punch you at our front door.”
Max shrugs. “It’s just so easy. I can’t help myself.”
Talon shakes his head. “Ignore my son. He forgot that he has manners. Come on back to my office, and we’ll talk.”
Max falls in step with me. “Dahlia’s security system went offline this morning while she was at work. I’m going to assume that was you.”
“Why would you know that my woman’s security system went off?” Don’t kill him.
“Because I monitor every security system in the neighborhood. Did you install a new one?”
She’s not yours. Step back or I’ll make you step back. I don’t care who your family is. “Dahlia is taken care of. That’s all you need to know.” Control stinks at times like these.
“What is happening?” Talon doesn’t bother to wait past the door shutting .
“I’m here to offer a warning and ask for some tech.”
Max stops walking towards a leather chair. “What tech?”
“Yours.” I hand him the slip of paper full of meaningless letters.
“How do you know about this?” Max almost drops the paper.
“It seems we both know things that we shouldn’t.”
“Impossible.” Max shakes his head and walks over to the bar. “It’s impossible. No one knows about this. Even the people building it only know their small section. They don’t know what it is or what it’s even called. How do you?”
There’s no way I’m telling him. Max will try to steal Shock. “It doesn’t matter how I know.”
“You’re wrong there. It matters. I have a leak that needs to be fixed before the company loses billions.”
Interesting that Max didn’t say he’d lose billions. “You don’t have a leak.”
“In order for you to say that, you’d have to have a hacker… an impossibly good hacker.”
Max stares at me like he’s going to pry the truth out of me. “That’s what I need. I’ll return it when I’m done.”
“That’s it? You’ll return it when you’re done. Do you really think I’m just going to hand it over to you because you asked?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Talon asks. “Why do you need it?”
“There’s a highly sophisticated human trafficking ring operating in Urbium.”
Max and Talon look at each other, communicating something silently.
“For how long?” Talon asks.
“Years. Probably a decade or more.” The fact that I didn’t see a single sign is enough that they’re a force to be reckoned with.
“You aren’t thinking they stayed small to avoid detection.”
Talon turns his gaze to me, but he isn’t really seeing me. The Vincenti Family keeps a tight rein on the area around their neighborhood, but they also take note of what’s happening all around Urbium. If there’s one thing they hate in the world, it’s people that exploit women and children. They don’t tolerate it at all. Their body count is mainly made up of people who crossed those lines.
“No.”
“Max, give him the tech.”
“I can’t. There’s only one prototype. He could send his hacker over to me.”
Not happening. “No.”
“He wants to use it. He comes to my facility.”
If I was just worried about Max stealing my hacker, it would be one thing. “My guy doesn’t handle change well. It took him six months to settle into his current living arrangements.” And stop calling Payne every thirty minutes for some strange noise. I turn my gaze to Max. “You know how hackers are. They’re squirrely.”
“Do you two need to go a few more rounds before you settle down?” Talon has that long suffering voice like we’re irritating him.
“What needs to happen is your son needs to stop proposing to my woman.”
“Max?” Talon turns to his son.
“I was a joke… mostly. You tasted her brownies.”
Dahlia made him brownies, too. My hands clench into fists. She hasn’t made me any brownies. We’re having another discussion before bed tonight. There will be no more baking for other men. She’ll go to Sweet Dreams Bakery when she needs to bring something over.
“Max.”
Talon’s stern tone would scare me, and he’s not my father.
“I have no interest in Dahlia. I never did.” Max folds his arms across his chest and glares at me. “She’s a wonderful person that’s good with kids, and Hope likes her. But that’s all it is.”
“Now can we get back to the business at hand?” Talon’s eyes shift between the two of us.
I nod, but reserve the right to change my mind .
“Good. Then we’re going to work together on this. Max, you’ll meet with his squirrel and see what you can do to facilitate the information retrieval. Then you’ll assist Vex with squashing this ring.”
“This wasn’t an offer to team up. I came as a courtesy to provide you with the information needed to protect your family. That’s all.”
Talon leans back against the ornate desk. “And we appreciate that. But if this group is as large and organized as you say it is, you’re going to need help. We should bring Kamenev in too. He’s got contacts everywhere.”
So much for keeping this small and quiet. “If a single word of this operation gets out—“
“I know the danger. Aleksei understands how this works.”
Of course, The Bratva King understands. The Bratva traded in people for generations. It’s only recently that they’ve been moving away from it.
My phone alerts me that someone is at Dahlia’s door. “One second, I need to check this.” My body moves towards the door as I pull up the video.
Dyce!
Dahlia doesn’t know Dyce, does she?
Maddox talked to her.
Why can’t anything be simple?
That woman is testing my patience and my nerves. She’s going to say something.
Dahlia opens the door.
We need to have a discussion about that too.
It doesn’t take Dyce long to wheedle her way into Dahlia’s house. I’m going to lock that woman in a closet and throw away the key until all of this is over. Maybe I’ll ship her out to some hick town in the middle of the woods. Then the only thing she can irritate is the wildlife.
“Is everything okay?”
No. “It’s fine.” Maybe I should punch Max before I go over and chuck that woman out of Dahlia’s house .
Max raises an eyebrow at me, which I ignore, barely, and shove the phone back in my pocket. Let’s get this done. “I don’t trust Kamenev.”
“Most people don’t.” Talon nods. “But we’ll bring him in any way.”
“You trust him that much?”
“With the lives of my family.”
That’s high praise from a Vincenti. They trust no one with family and kill if you even look at their family in the wrong direction. I half expected retributions for wailing on Max, but Talon seems to think we’re funny. “Fine. But everyone reports to me. And no one makes a move without my say-so.”
Max snorts. “No one tells Kamenev what to do.”
“That’s the deal. I walk away now if you can’t work with it.” They both know I will. If I say I’m going to something, it’s as good as done.
“Agreed. I’ll arrange a meet with Kamenev as soon as he’s back in the country.”
I nod.
“Where should I meet your hacker?”
There’s a gleam in Max’s eyes. He’s going to try to steal Shock from me. “Wednesday at three my office.” Shock rarely gets up before noon.
Max nods.
“Tell me what you know,” Talon demands.
***
Fifteen minutes. Dyce has been in Dahlia’s house for fifteen minutes, doubtlessly filling her head with all sorts of truths that I wanted to avoid.
The short walk from the Vincenti’s house to Dahlia’s feels endless.
What has she told Dahlia?
No one knows my whole story, but there’s enough out there for Dahlia to never see me the same again .
This is what helping people gets you… a heap of trouble. I shoot a message over to Maddox.
Me: I told you to keep an eye on her.
Maddox: Tail is in place. She’s in Vincenti Territory. She’s safe.
Me: I know. She is at my woman’s place.
Maddox: Told you she doesn’t listen.
Me: Now I’m going to have to take care of her.
Maddox: That’s my cousin.
Me: I gave you ample warning.
Maddox: Don’t cross the line.
There is no line when it comes to protecting Dahlia.
Me: Noted.
There will be repercussions. Hopefully, Dyce gets smart quickly.
Normally, I would play the game of knocking on the door and asking to come in, but who knows what Dyce has already said. I let myself in, which is far too easy since Dahlia didn’t put on the deadbolt. That’s another conversation we need to have.
Laughing voices echo over from the kitchen.
Dahlia wouldn’t be happy if Dyce dropped a bombshell on her. That’s a good sign at least.
Sugar and cinnamon hit me as I step farther in.
Can I convince her to buy some bread after I gobble all of that down?
My woman can cook.
Dahlia’s happy eyes light up as I walk in.
“Vex, you’re home.”
“I told you I’d be home in time for dinner.”
“I figured it would be a later dinner.”
So did I, but Dyce helped with the schedule.
“Your friend came over for a visit.” Dahlia grins as she turns towards Dyce. “We’ve been getting to know each other. ”
There’s no way, by any stretch of the imagination, that Dyce Locke considers herself my friend. “Dyce.” I nod to her.
Dyce’s eyes widen barely a fraction of an inch. Otherwise, there’s no sign that she’s anything but my bestie.
“Vex. I was just telling Dahlia that we knew each other since we were kids.” She lifts a cup of tea to her lips and gives me a sly smirk.
She’s toying with me.
Maddox doesn’t know just how bad I can be. “We do.”
“I wish I could stay longer, but I just couldn’t wait any longer to meet you, Dahlia.” Dyce stands up.
“We need to get together again soon.” Dahlia walks over to her.
“Absolutely. Work keeps me busy.” Dyce's gaze moves to mine. “I don’t know how soon we’ll get to meet again.”
Never. The correct answer to that is never. But she’s clearly playing a game with me. “Let me walk you to the door.” And kick you out of it.
She stops right outside of earshot. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Excuse me? “You were the one that called me asking for help.”
“And instead of returning the respect, you went to Maddox. He put a tail on me and told me to quit whatever I was doing and drop the case. ”
“So listen to him.”
“No, you listen to me. I am not a little woman that you have someone else deal with. This is my case, and Marlie is my friend. Regardless of what you or Maddox say, I’m not backing down. You know I’ve dealt with bad men before. Being threatened by a dirty cop doesn’t scare me. I’ll play it safe, but I’m not backing down.”
Stubborn, irritating woman! All it would take is one phone call to make her disappear for an indefinite amount of time. That would be one less hassle for me. “What you aren’t is stupid. Plant isn’t your garden variety human trafficker. The bigger picture is, he’s connected to something organized and well-funded. So what you’re going to do is back down because it’s the smart thing to do. You don’t play games with people that have bigger guns than you.”
“And you couldn’t have told me that in person?”
Yeah, I could have. “It seemed easier to kill two birds with one stone, ensure your safety and keep Willow Street safe.”
“All it would have taken is a simple message to show me the respect that I’ve earned.”
“Would you really have listened?”
She shrugs. “Yes. Because no matter how involved I am in this case, I wouldn’t do anything to endanger the people on Willow Street.”
No mention of herself though. Dyce takes risks. “Backdown. And get your client to back down and disappear.”
“That’s going to be harder. Plant put her through the wringer. She’s not going to just let it go because I ask her. Maybe if I explain—”
Explain. “Not a word of this can be spoken to anyone. Especially her.”
“I know that, but it might—”
“Not a word.”
Dyce shrugs. “I’ll try, but what if she doesn’t listen? Maddox can only do so much to keep her safe on Willow Street.”
“If she doesn’t listen, call me. I’ll take care of it.”
“You won’t—”
“I suggest you don’t finish that thought.”
“Fine. Dahlia is nice.”
Like I don’t already know that.
“Too nice for you.”
Agreed.
“You should keep her.”
I plan to.
“And remind her not to let strangers in. It would have been all too easy for someone to walk right in.”
Not as easy as you think. “Now I have some dinner to enjoy. And you have to go get to know your tail. ”
Dyce shakes her head. “And people wonder why I don’t like you.” Dyce saunters out like we just didn’t do battle.