by Selina Woods
I let my scowl deepen. “How well do dead people pay, huh? Kill them, and we get precious little. Take me to this guy.”
Telling the guards to stay with the car, I followed the enforcers down the street, word running ahead like a hurricane that the new boss of Miami had arrived in person to collect his taxes. As a result, the sidewalk emptied. Fast. Folks who knew me from the market stared in shock as I passed them. Familiar, friendly, faces turned from me, their expressions, tight, angry.
As though I had betrayed them.
I strode on grimly, ignoring them as only the boss might, my enforcers flanking me. They pointed out a shop I had done business with—a cobbler who fixed and made shoes as well as boots. I knew many enforcers took advantage of the poor guy and refused to pay for the footgear he spent time and money making.
Rumors of that nature got around the neighborhood quickly.
He cowered from me as I darkened his doorway, his mate and children, all gaunt and pale from the lack of food, hovering behind the curtain that led to his workshop. I glanced around, seeing the nice boots and shoes lined up, waiting for his customers to pay him and pick them up.
“Hiya, Jasper,” I said, walking in. “How’ve you been?”
“L-Logan? Y-you’re the new boss?” Jasper, a human whose mate shopped at my market when they had the cash to spend on such luxuries as food, went paler still as I moved around his shop.
I leaned casually against his counter. “Yep. I am. Killed old Duke, may he rot in hell.”
The enforcers looked shocked, at least until I scowled at them. They dropped their eyes appropriately as Jasper glanced from me to them and back.
“I tried telling them, Logan,” Jasper pleaded. “I can’t pay right now. I can’t feed my family. I swear I’ll catch up on my taxes—”
My lifted hand halted what I knew would be a long explanation and promise when I already knew what the problem was. Jasper nearly bit his tongue in his effort to stop talking fast enough.
“How many of Duke’s former enforcers paid for their boots and shoes you made for them?” I asked.
The enforcers suddenly paled while Jasper licked his lips.
“Uh, one or two might have paid me,” Jasper replied, clearly confused. “The rest, well, no, it’s their prerogative to take my goods and services without paying.”
“I see.”
I eyed the enforcers sidelong. “Tell me the truth,” I said softly, dangerously. “Are you not supposed to pay for what you take? Food, drink, clothes—boots. Is that not what Duke decreed? Even his enforcers, as they are paid well, must also pay the citizens for the things they need in life? Is that not so?”
The pair literally trembled and would not raise their eyes to look at me.
“I get it,” I went on, my voice still dangerously soft, “you’re the boss’s enforcers. You’re predators. You take what you want; you don’t pay. You collect the taxes, are rewarded for it, and don’t pay a single thing back to the people. That ends now.”
To Jasper, I said, “You don’t owe anything. And from now on, my people will pay for what they need.”
I stalked from the shop, growling low in my throat. I knew I had just signed my own death warrant.
Chapter Seven
“I said no, and I mean no,” I snarled.
I spent the rest of the afternoon arguing with Ramsey over what the enforcers could and couldn’t do regarding their preying upon the citizens and driving them into such poverty that their children died of starvation right in front of an abundance of food.
“I hear what you’re saying, Logan,” Ramsey told me patiently. “Yes, you’re right. If the enforcers take too much, then the citizenry can’t pay their taxes, and then you can’t pay them.”
“So, the preying halts this instant.”
“How are you going to stop them?”
I spun around, my lip curled. “I’ll hang anyone who refuses to obey me.”
He held up both his hands, palms out in a placating gesture. “Yes, besides the threat of execution. Logan, you can’t be everywhere at once. This is not something you yourself can enforce.”
Just as Duke couldn’t stop enforcers like Kell from committing their brands of extortion. I sat in a chair and rubbed my eyes, feeling a headache coming on. “This is my town, Ramsey,” I said. “My people. I have to protect them from the very lawlessness that put them into the precarious position they’re in.”
Ramsey sat down on the short sofa opposite me. “I hear you,” he said softly. “We’re at the top of the food chain, yet also supposed to be civilized creatures. Not wantonly killing and slaying whoever displeases us. We’re not like our wild counterparts hunting on the African plains.”
“And they only kill what they need,” I said quietly. “They don’t slaughter everything in sight, for then they would starve. When they’ve killed everything, there’d be nothing left. Those enforcers are behaving as though there’s an endless supply of wildebeest for the taking, and there isn’t.”
He nodded with a small smile. “You understand.”
“Of course, I do,” I snapped. “Until two days ago, I was one of them.”
“I was one of them as well,” Ramsey admitted, still smiling. “Until I learned that in order to survive, I had to run with the pack.”
“So you don’t like it any more than I do.”
He shook his head. “Not really. In his own way, Duke tried to stop it. But in time, he knew that if he tried too hard, he’d be assassinated.”
He met my eyes squarely. “Just as you will be if you maintain this course.”
“I know I made enemies today,” I said softly. “Word will spread that I will demand the enforcers curb their greed. I’m a target now. The only question I have is, whose side are you on?”
“My own. I bow to whoever happens to be the strongest for the moment.” He glanced aside and smiled thinly. “Cowardly, perhaps. But it’s kept me alive thus far.”
“I don’t hold that against you.” I took a deep breath and continued. “Can I count on your loyalty for at least a short while?”
“My loyalty is bought and paid for by keeping me alive. You do whatever it takes to remain in power and those bastards in check, and I’ll watch your back.”
“That’s all I can ask.”
Though I hadn’t expected him to do it, Ramsey held out his hand for me to take. His eyes on mine, he asked, “Do we have a deal?”
I grinned and clasped his hand. “We do.”
“Then if I hear grumbling midst the ranks, I’ll inform you. If I know of a coup simmering beneath the surface, I’ll tell you. I’ll do everything except die with you.”
“Do the rest,” I said, sending him a quick wink, “and neither of us will die.”
He shook his head with a wry grin. “I can’t help but like you, Logan. I didn’t want to, as, you know, you’d probably get me killed. But I still like you.”
“Were you surprised that I killed Duke?” I asked.
He sat back on his sofa and stared at me. “Yes and no. You’re obviously strong, tough, but Duke was arrogant. Arrogance and fighting are never a good mix. When you used his rage against him, I knew you’d win.”
I gazed down at my hands. “I used his rage and his arrogance against him,” I replied softly. “He thought he couldn’t be beaten. When you think that, you make crucial mistakes.”
“And you won’t make the same one. Will you?”
“Nope.”
With Ramsey’s allegiance, as tentative as that might be, I at least knew he wouldn’t be the one to wield the knife that stabbed me in the back. He assured me that my bodyguards were loyal, as they didn’t have a stake in preying upon the populace. They were paid to guard my body, and a dead prince was a prince who didn’t pay very well.
“Don’t worry about those guys,” Ramsey told me. “They’ll only join the enforcers if you refuse them their pay.” He then shrugged with a wry grin. “Or they might join in on a palace coup if they are
certain to get a pay raise.”
I stared glumly out the window. “How many enforcers are there to how many guards?”
“You only have about fifty guards,” he said. “And four hundred and seventy-five enforcers. Not great odds.”
“Not yet,” I replied, leaning back in my chair and resting my boots on top of the antique European desk. “The enforcers are only getting a little suspicious of my current plans. Once they do, I’ll have an army at my back. Where are the rifles and ammunition kept?”
Ramsey straightened in his chair. “What army?”
He stared hard at me, at my neutral expression. “Oh, no, Logan,” he moaned, covering his face with his hands. “Don’t even think about arming the civilians.”
“Why not? I daresay they’ll prove more loyal than the enforcers.”
He rested his face in his folded arms on the desk. “Logan, baby,” he wailed, “they are children playing with matches. They’ll set Miami on fire and roast weenies. They have no concept of order from chaos. And will most certainly cause your downfall. And mine.”
I grinned. “So sure, are you?”
“Yes,” he replied wearily. “They are good people, no doubt, but they haven’t what it takes to kill. Most will freak upon seeing a flipping gun.”
“How much do you care to bet on that?” I asked. “Put your money down, bucko.”
He glared at me. “I’m not talking about money here. It’s lives, Logan.”
“So am I. I believe we have thousands ready to rise up and take their city back. With planned strategies, we can seize the enforcers and give them an option—surrender or die.”
Ramsey scraped his hands through his dark blond hair and blew out a gust of breath. “I see what you’re thinking,” he said, his voice calmer. “Like guerilla warfare.”
“Exactly,” I said, getting up from my chair and pacing around the sitting room. “Look, we secretly arm several hundred strong, able-bodied folks. You and I know the schedules of each neighborhood, who is to collect taxes from whom and when. We hide our guys in the shops; the enforcers go in but don’t come back out.”
“That might work for a few days, Logan,” Ramsey replied, “but the enforcers will get suspicious when their brothers start to vanish.”
“By then, their numbers have been whittled down,” I went on. “That’ll still give us an edge over them. That’s when they’ll come after me.”
He also stood up, watching me as I paced. “And then what?”
“I’ll be the bait.” I stopped pacing and met his eyes. “Bring them to a place where they can be surrounded.”
“That’s a helluva risk, Logan,” he told me with a quick head shake. “You’re talking about a full-scale battle where a lot of people will get killed, them and your citizens.”
“I never said it would be easy. But I’m willing to put my life out there to bring change. They’re going to turn on me no matter what, so I’ll go down fighting on the right side. Not like a rat in a hole.”
Ramsey stared at me for a long time, then sat down on the sofa again. “You are SOOO gonna get me killed,” he muttered. “The weapons are kept on a big fishing boat out there in the marina. Duke also feared his enforcers would turn on him, so he little by little collected rifles and shotguns. Only his personal guards carry rifles; the enforcers carry knives and handguns.”
“The guards will not like a governmental change either,” I continued, pacing again. “They like their lazy lifestyle of sitting on their asses looking important. We’ll have to take their guns from them, too.”
“True enough. But they’ll stay fat, dumb. and happy until close to the end. They don’t talk much with enforcers and may not know about the coup until it’s too late.”
“So,” I said, gesturing for him to accompany me to the balcony. “How do we get the guns off the boat without the guards being aware of it?”
He pointed toward a distant derelict fishing boat moored just off the marina. “The guards don’t know the weapons are stored there,” he said. “However, they’ll raise a fuss if it simply goes missing. It’s sound, even if it doesn’t look it, and if we can wait until we get a nasty storm, we can sail it around to a hidden cove.”
I grinned. “And it’ll appear as though the storm sank it.”
“Storm season is upon us,” he answered with his own smile. “We’ll have to locate not just a place to moor it, but someone who knows how to sail that hunk of junk in bad weather.”
“I’ll start working on those,” I told him. “You take a look at the scheduling of the enforcers, design a strategy where we can take the most out at the same time.”
“You got it.”
He left me to stare down at the fishing boat rocking gently on its hawsers, hoping for a bad storm.
I dared not keep going to the market to talk to Kiana and Derek but also needed to communicate with them. How do I give the guards the slip and make them think I’m still up here? I knew I could lock the elevator so no one could enter the penthouse, and there was a stairwell leading down I could take. It was also a long way to walk from where I was to the downtown area.
“Why didn’t I ever learn to drive a damn car?” I muttered.
Hitting the intercom, I got Ramsey. “Are you alone?” I asked.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“Can you leave a vehicle around the back with the keys in it?”
“Sure, that’s easy enough. Do you know how to drive?”
“Nope. So make it something nondescript and easy.”
He laughed and was gone. I locked the elevator and made my way silently down the stairwell, knowing how easily the echoes from my steps could be heard below. The place was dusty and informed me how little the stairs were used.
Ramsey met me in the alley with a battered pickup idling near a row of dumpsters. He opened the door and gave me a brief lesson on how to drive the thing. “Just put the lever to D for drive,” he said. “Take it slow. The right pedal is the gas and the left the brake. Don’t try to reverse for a while.”
“Do what you can to cover my absence,” I told him, getting in behind the wheel. “Tell whatever story makes sense.”
“Yep. Be careful.”
He went back inside while I set my foot on the brake, then put the truck into D. It stayed where it was until I hit the accelerator, and the thing took off like a wild horse. Near panic, I braked hard, and then worried the screech of tires would bring the guards around to investigate. Trying it again, more slowly this time, I accelerated more gently, and the truck rolled smoothly out of the alley.
I turned around the corner away from the front of the building, then, with growing confidence, drove through the back lanes and streets to downtown. “This isn’t so difficult,” I murmured, then hit the brake too hard when another vehicle passed in front of me. My head snapped on my neck, and I swore under my breath.
I finally made it to the market and parked in the alley in the back. I unlocked the rear door and went in, finding Tony and Albert unpacking crates of goods to put on the shelves in the store.
“Hi,” Albert said, busy loading his small arms with packages of bread.
“Kiana isn’t here,” Tony added.
“Is Derek out front?”
“Yeah.”
Rather than stride straight out into the open, I peered around the corner and saw Derek with his back to me, talking to a pair of shifters. From their size and the self-assured demeanors, it wasn’t a stretch for me to believe they were either lions or tigers. Nor did they have the sneering arrogance of enforcers. Too far away to hear what they said, I decided to wait until Derek was free.
Tony and Albert watched me curiously while moving in and out of the back, but to their credit said nothing to Derek. When I pondered paying them for their work, I realized I needed to find where Duke had hidden his wealth. Hopefully its somewhere in the suite.
At last, the shifters left the store, and I watched them through the front window walking down the street and
out of my sight. Tony pointed toward me, and when Derek turned, I stepped out from the back room. But Derek gestured for me to return, then followed me. After a quick glance over his shoulder, he joined me.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” he told me, “but stay out of sight. Those guys were looking for you.”
Chapter Eight
“Enforcers?” I asked Derek, alarmed.
“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen them before, and they don’t act like it.”
Confused, I asked, “Did they say why they are looking for me?”
“Nope. But I don’t think they’re friendly. So watch yourself.”
“Right. Where’s Kiana?”
“Out drumming up support for our rebellion.”
I nodded. “Did she say when she’d be back?”
Derek took a quick glance out front to make sure there were no customers needing assistance and then replied, “Before dark. I was adamant she get her butt back here before the night hunters came out.”
“Good. Now, I found out some things.”
I quickly told him about the boat and the guns, and how we needed an experienced sailor to run the boat to a hiding spot under the cover of a storm. “We need to find a place to moor it while we unload it.”
“I think I may know a guy who knows a guy,” Derek said with a grin. “I’ll see if I can locate someone experienced with boats. You go find us a spot we can hide the thing.”
“I’m not good at driving,” I told him. “I shouldn’t be out trying to find a place with that truck out there.”
Derek clapped me on the back. “You got four legs, don’t you? Run.”
Overhearing that part, Tony exclaimed, “Can I come with you, Logan?”
“Not this time, kid.”
Once more in the alley, I looked around for potential trouble before shifting into my lion. Leaving the market, I loped tirelessly down one alley after another, trying to stay out of sight as much as possible. By heading straight east, I’d reach the old wharves that had been so badly bombed during the wars, there was little left of them. While they were far too open to conceal a fishing boat, I might travel up the coast a short way to find a hiding spot.
