Chapter Thirty-Nine #2
He scoffed. “Do I know him? Even in death—even in fucking death—the old man still finds a way to fuck up my life—him and that godforsaken chihuahua.”
“So you do know him.”
“Yeah, man was my dad.”
Upper frowned. “Arturo Garza didn’t have children.”
“So says everyone who knows him.” Chika laughed humorlessly.
“I was his adopted mistake. Never knew why he took me in, just to bin me off.” The hate in his voice told me he knew why, and when he spoke again, we all knew why.
“Maybe he just wanted a Nigerian son cause his old ting back in the day was from there. Thought he could get that feeling back through me—in a platonic way, obviously—then he washed his hands off me when he saw it didn’t work,” he said in one breath, looking around at us before clearing his throat.
“But he’s no longer in my life, so whoever thought it was fun to kidnap me cause they think I have some info on him just wasted their fucking time. ”
“So, you don’t know anything about the painting?” Milk asked.
“Or the quest?” Devil added.
“Yeah, that dumbass quest. Man’s whole life was just plottin’, schemin’, actin’ like some mastermind of his own fucking hype. Long ting, bruv.”
“So you are wealthy; why work in some make-believe McDonald’s?” Dog asked.
“Because I told Arturo to keep his help and his money. Man tried throwin’ me a cut when he was turnin’ all his shit to gold, yeah? I told him to give that to his real kid and get the fuck out my face.”
“His real kid being the chihuahua,” I noted.
“Yes. And he did, and I was free until—now.”
Devil frowned. “The people who took you must have a valid reason for doing so or else you wouldn’t be here. You know something about the quest. It’s only a matter of time before the other people find out and you’re hunted. We can offer you protection if you tell us all you know.”
Chika’s eyes scanned us uncertainly, his stare saying that he did know something and was holding back.
His gaze locked with mine, and I nodded encouragingly at him.
Chika sighed. “Listen, I don’t wanna get caught up in Arturo’s business.
I have spent years, years tryna forget that I had someone like that as a parent, and I did.
I moved to London, started fresh, and got a banging job that pays a lot of money so people can say Saucy Chika every time they see me while my sadist of a boss wanks on it while he watches like a creep from the computers in his office. ”
“That is gross,” Milk said.
“Bruv, the money’s worth it. Only thing I know ’bout the painting is that every piece was kept in one place.
Here in Milan, yeah? Some heavily guarded ‘sock’ company.
They move ’em bit by bit to different regions and countries.
No clue how the timing works with all the shipping madness, fam.
I just know the spot where all the paintings are.
And I only clocked that by accident; I overheard him once chatting to himself and his dog, plotting like some mad scientist. I thought he was going crazy. ”
I smiled to myself. “The location would be perfect. Just tell us what you need in exchange for this info, and we’ll provide it.”
“You offered to give me protection.”
“You don’t want money?” Dog asked.
“I don’t want his money, your money, or no dirty gang money, fam. I don’t want none of it; man just wants to go back to my life, innit.”
My gaze met Devil’s, and he nodded with a shrug.
I brought my gaze back to Chika.“You’re in luck, Chika. I happen to know someone who can provide you the kind of protection you need until all this is over.”
He let out a breath of relief. “I can cut now, yeah?”
“No,” I said.
Upper looked up and shot me a frown. “No? We are letting him go.”
Chika’s eyes fell on me. “Listen, if I even wanna save my job, or keep my boss off my neck, I gotta cut now, fam.”
I shook my head. “I am sorry about your job, school, and life, but you’re in this now. You are part of the narrative, and you’ll go with us when we want to get the paintings.”
“You want him to put his life on hold for us?” Milk asked, looking at me with disbelief.
I got to my feet and paced the room. “I know it’s insensitive—”
“It’s beyond insensitive, Zahra,” Upper said. “He has been kidnapped for days.”
“We didn’t kidnap him. We don’t know who did. We need more time to study our situation before we let him out with our protection.” I looked at Chika. “It’s for your safety and our gain, Chika. A win-win situation.”
“I see a point in that,” Dog said.
Upper shook his head. “What about Marino’s people? If they catch wind of this—”
I shrugged. “They won’t; we’ll be careful.”
“A word, Zahra,” Devil said, heading for the kitchen.
With a sigh and a disapproving stare from Upper and Milk, I followed Devil to the kitchen.
“Let me guess; you don’t agree with me,” I said.
Dark eyes watched me. “It’s not that, Z. I just need to know why you’re brushing away the fact that some unknown person out there gave us this much means to get information about the painting. Something big is obviously at work here.”
“Devil—”
“They kidnapped someone, Z. All the way from London and dropped them in our laps, for free, just like that. It doesn’t happen. It’s above our damn pay grade, and as much as I hate to say this, I think we should tell Marino.”
“No.”
“Zahra—”
“We are not telling them until we confirm the source is legit. Until we find the paintings.”
He frowned, confused. “Why? Is there a loophole I don’t know about?”
I bit the inside of my lips. “There are no loopholes; I know as much as you do, D. Just trust me on this; if there’s one thing we can hold against Marino to guarantee our safety out of this, it’s our leverage with this information.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t counter it.
“Guys,” Upper’s voice called from the living room. Devil and I locked gazes before we exited the kitchen.
“What happened?” Devil asked as we watched Upper frown at the laptop screen.
“I didn’t get the person who gave the info, but I traced it down to a region.”
“In Italy?” I asked.
“Yeah … Sicily, that’s where it came from. Everything else is blocked by an adaptive firewall, and it would take me forever to bypass it because it just keeps regenerating.”
“I don’t know about this, guys. Who the hell knows us from Sicily?” Milk said.
“Or maybe it was a cover route?” Dog asked.
“No, their cover route was China, but I broke it. It’s Sicily. Real name unknown, direct location unknown, almost like it’s not even on the map,” Upper said.
My spine straightened. “It doesn’t matter where they’re from or who they are,” I said. “We need to find the original painting. And get the gold. Whoever they are, we are one piece of information richer, and that’s all that matters right now.”
When I got nods of approval, I released a breath.
“Come on, guys; we have lots of planning to do.”