by Zoey Parker
“What’d she want?” I sipped my beer, still not sure whether or not it was Bamber’s sister going after this guy.
“Turns out she’s some kind of shrink,” Carlos said. “She said she had read some recent studies that E could help folks with PTSD or some shit, so she wanted to buy some from me for a couple of her patients to take on the down low.”
“No shit?” I shook my head. It sounded fucking crazy to me.
“Apparently it helps them deal with like, flashbacks and shit,” Carlo said with a shrug. He took his other shot and sucked down cigarette smoke. “But I mean, it was funny as fuck. This bitch calling me like ‘Hello, yes, is this Carlo Giambetta?’” I laughed out loud at the fruity, girly voice he put on.
“So are you going to sell to her?”
“Damn straight I will,” Carlo said. “She said if it works on the one patient she’s talked to about it, she might try it on some others.”
“What kind of shrink is she?”
“The desperate kind, I don’t know,” Carlo replied. “Anyway, she thinks it’ll help, and obviously she can’t get shit like this from the corner drug store.” I laughed at the idea of some shrink trying to buy E from a CVS or Walgreens.
“I guess that makes sense,” I said. “And sounds like she’ll be a regular. Think she’ll start doing it herself?” Carlo shrugged.
“No fucking clue,” Carlo said. “Sounds straight-laced though, so probably not.” He finished off his cigarette and lit another and I finished off my beer and snagged a smoke out of his pack.
“You know anything about this running business?” Carlo shrugged again.
“All I know is Micah’s trying to increase security. There’s been too many robberies for it to be a coincidence,” Carlo told me.
“Yeah,” I agreed. I’d tried to keep my face as clean as possible; but obviously Micah was making sure that not everyone knew everything about everything. Except for maybe Bamber’s sister. “What do you think of that bitch he’s hired?”
“Sadie?” Carlo looked at me. “No fucking clue about her, except she seems to be getting the girls some choice gigs uptown.” Carlo knocked back some more of his beer. “How’s that affecting you and Rob?”
“Makes my work easier,” I said. “But I’m not getting the extras I used to. Man, that was fucking sweet.” I wanted to sound like I was on board, like I was a team player, but I also didn’t want to be too obvious. Micah would start looking for people to blame soon, and I couldn’t let myself come up too high on the list. Let him blame someone else; I wasn’t going to go down for that shit.
Carlo had another cigarette, finished off his beer, and went out to start working the streets, and I got started on my own work for the night: checking on the girls, making sure they were staying on task both in the bar and on the streets. I had to think, too—I had to come up with something to keep Micah from looking at me when it came time to blame someone for the thefts. Micah wasn’t fucking stupid; he would figure out it had to be an inside job at some point. My deal was going to be making sure he didn’t figure out that the inside part was me.
Maybe I should let one of my guys get caught—but then I’d risk him rolling over on me. Let him get caught and then kill him before he talks, I thought. That might work. Or get someone to put the blame on someone else, like Bamber. It’d serve that asshole right, putting his sister in the biz. I got the impression that Bamber’s sister had done it herself, but that didn’t matter. She had stuck her nose in something that wasn’t her business and she was getting on my last nerve. She could fucking go down with the ship, for all I cared.
Chapter Eighteen
Sadie
“Hey, Sadie.” No matter how many times I visited with the few of Micah’s girls I worked with, I never quite felt comfortable at the Flat Tire; and whenever one of Micah’s guys wanted to talk to me—Manny, Rob, or even Brody or one of the guys who worked at Vagabond, or the guys working the drugs end—I felt a little bit of cold dread work through my body. It had been a little over a month since I’d started getting Micah’s girls into the clients’ hotel rooms, and I didn’t think I’d ever get used to associating with the kind of people I used to think were the most dangerous and the grossest in the city.
“How’s it going, Rob?” Rob in particular made my heart beat faster, my palms go clammy—and not in a good way. I thought he was probably one of the more decent guys that Micah had working for him, but at the same time I couldn’t quite shake the first impression I’d gotten, that he was a mean guy; there was just something about him that felt standoffish, and kind of frightening. Not completely bad, or anything like that, but definitely someone that I didn’t want to get on the bad side of.
“I’ve had better days. Can I buy you a drink?” No one ever really mentioned the fact that Micah and I were not just business partners—though I couldn’t really say what the sexual part of what we did together really was. Everyone in the org had to know that there was something like that going on; Brody was on the door to Micah’s office and Micah was definitely into making me as loud as humanly possible. I didn’t think it was all that likely that Brody was so discreet that he never told anyone what happened a few times a week on the other side of his boss’ door, but whether it was respect or fear, no one ever said anything to me about fucking their boss.
“Gin and tonic?” Rob nodded and gestured me toward one of the bar seats. I sat down, feeling antsy and wondering just what Micah’s pimp wanted with me. Was he going to complain about me funneling the girls away from his end of the business? I’d heard that not everyone in the organization was into my project with Micah. Or was it something about Chris?
Claire came up to us and Rob ordered me a Hendricks and tonic; Claire raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded. She knew I liked extra lime in my g&t. I watched her make it while Rob lit a cigarette from a pack of Pall Mall reds, and tried to calm my nerves, at least a little bit. It was probably nothing—just Rob wanting to talk about how to get a bigger cut, or how to get involved in my end of the action. The fact that you have an end of the action at all is hilarious and terrifying at the same time, I thought, marveling at it. I didn’t get a cut of anything the girls did; even though Micah had told me that I’d already managed to pay off my brother’s debt, I didn’t want to have my hands dirty by direct contact. My reputation was already on the line just for facilitating, and I was making plenty on the side from the guys in the office who wanted to expand their client bases.
I took a sip of my drink and looked at Rob from the corner of my eye. I knew Micah trusted him—him and Manny both, almost the most that he trusted anyone. He let them more or less run the prostitution ring on their own, occasionally checking in to make sure that everything was as it should be, but mostly just taking his lion’s share of the profits and letting Rob and Manny do what they did best. I also knew that Rob had thought that Micah hiring my brother was one of the stupider moves the boss had made. “What’s going on?” I drank down some more gin and tonic and set my glass on the bar top.
“I need to talk to you about something,” Rob told me. He took a long drag of his smoke and flicked ash absently into a tray. “I know you’re probably not really my fan—I haven’t been all that subtle about how much I think your brother was a dumb shit.”
“I’ve never said I disagree with you there,” I told him, smiling slightly. “Chris had no business getting involved with Micah’s interests, and even though it wasn’t his fault he got jumped it was his stupid choice to get into drugs in the first place.” Rob nodded.
“Good to hear it from you,” He said. There was a ghost of a smile on his face, and I could almost imagine a glimmer of respect in his cold eyes. “I don’t think it was all that fair how things shook out with him on that score either, but there’s nothing else to say about it, you know?” I nodded.
“I get it,” I said. “Money goes missing; someone has to take the fall.” I shrugged. “If it weren’t for the fact that he’s my brother I wouldn’t
care.”
“But you care about him. Family,” Rob said. I raised my glass, giving him a joking look.
“Yeah, family,” I agreed. “So is this about him?” Rob made a face.
“Yes and no,” Rob said. “There’s been issues with a certain line of the business—the one your brother was involved in—and you’re the only person I feel like I can go to on this.”
“Really? Not Brody—or Micah?” Rob shook his head.
“Brody isn’t supposed to know details like this,” Rob explained. “He’s strictly security. So he does what he needs to do, keeps Micah safe at the club, and that’s it. This is business.”
“And it has to do with Chris getting robbed.” I didn’t quite make it a question. Rob nodded.
“Chris, and a bunch of other guys,” Rob told me. “There have been a lot of them—most of them the couriers—getting jumped and having their drugs and money stolen off of them while they were on the job. At first it just looked like a coincidence.”
“I can see that,” I said.
“It wasn’t happening super often, so we could just sort of assume that it was the kind of lie that guys tell when they get caught out,” Rob explained. “The thing you say—you know? ‘The dog ate my homework.’ That kind of bullshit lie.”
“Chris wouldn’t lie like that, though,” I pointed out. “He might be a lot of things, but if he’d stolen from Micah for real, he’d just skip town for a while, try and wait for the heat to drop.”
“I agree,” Rob said. He looked at me again. “I also have to admit that when you came around, wanting to fix your brother’s problem, I thought you were fucking insane—and that you’d get your ass handed to you by some desperate asshole who didn’t want to pay up.”
“That thought had occurred to me,” I told him. “I just…” I shrugged.
“Family,” Rob said. I nodded.
“Family. I needed to do something to keep my stupid brother from becoming an example.” I shook my head.
“Anyway, I wasn’t all that impressed by you when you came up originally,” Rob said. “I don’t mind saying it now because obviously my feeling has changed.” I grinned.
“Thanks for that,” I told him. Rob laughed.
“But the fact is, you’ve shown what you’re made of and that’s not nothing.” I raised my glass to acknowledge that. “Micah trusts you and I trust his judgment.” I took a sip of my drink, wondering just what Rob was trying to get at. Obviously there was something going on, and he wanted—maybe needed—either my input on it, or for me to do something. But what?
“Now that we have all that out of the way,” I said, setting my glass down, “what’s up?”
“I’ve found something out,” Rob explained. “It’s big deal shit, too.” He started another cigarette.
“And you’re bringing this to me?” Rob nodded.
“I can trust you to actually go to Micah with this,” he said. “I don’t know anyone else in the org that I can fully trust with it—you’ll see why in a second.” He took a drag of smoke into his lungs, held it for a second, and then exhaled. “I figured out what’s been going on with the robberies.”
“I’d figured it was more than one,” I said. And after all, Rob had just confirmed it a few moments before. “So what did you find out?”
“I thought it was weird, the way it was happening, so I kind of kept an eye on things, more than usual,” Rob told me. “I talked to the girls more, tried to put pieces together. It couldn’t have been a coincidence—not that often, you know? For the fact that practically fucking no one outside of the org knew the tactics with what we were doing, it had to be either someone who was a longtime regular, on both areas, or someone in the org.” My eyes widened; Rob was right that it was a big deal. Someone in the org pulling robberies on the couriers for Micah’s drug business would not just be an “example.” They’d be a candidate for the most brutal, horrific death possible.
“Okay,” I said, taking a longer sip of my drink. I kind of wanted another one, but I didn’t want to get tipsy. Claire brought me a glass of water and I nodded my thanks to her.
“I figured it would have to be someone who knew about the new upgrade system, obviously,” Rob explained. “So that limited it to only a handful of people. At first I thought one of the girls might be behind it, or maybe they were put up to it by someone.” He shook his head.
“Most of them know damned well where their bread is buttered,” I said.
“Right,” Rob agreed. “So not them. I checked to be sure.” He took another drag of his cigarette. “I thought it might be one of the guys on the drug end, but that didn’t check out either.”
“Can you get to the point?” I finished off my gin and tonic and started sipping my water. I felt nervous and fidgety. I wanted to go to Micah with whatever it was Rob had for him, but I wanted to be fully sure of the facts first.
“Manny,” Rob said finally. “That’s the only person it could be behind this.” I stared at Rob. That was a bombshell and a half. Manny? Micah only trusted maybe two or three people in his organization more than he trusted Manny, and most of them were related to him somehow.
“His friends did the actual stealing,” Rob said quietly. “But I put it all together from what different people had to say about what had happened.” I drank down about half my water. I definitely wanted more gin.
“And you want me to go to Micah and tell him?” Rob nodded.
“I can’t go to him myself,” Rob told me. “He’ll throw it out right away coming from me. He’ll think I’m just trying to muscle Manny out of the business or something.” I pressed my lips together. Rob looked at me and smiled wryly. “Want another real drink?”
“Yeah, I think I do,” I admitted. “This is…” I shook my head. “This is some shit.” Rob waved Claire over and nodded to my empty glass. Claire made me another and I took a long sip, willing the cold, tart, bitter-sweet flavors to clear my head.
“I have proof,” Rob said. “Or at least, I will. I know which of his friends is involved. I know who they’re going after and how they’re doing it. But I can’t bring this up—you know how Micah gets.” I nodded slowly. It was definitely something that I’d have to approach very—very—carefully.
“Thanks,” I said. “I mean—not thanks, but—fuck, you know what I mean.” I sighed. I appreciated the trust that Rob had in me, but this situation left me feeling out of my depth all over again. I had never expected to spend much time in Micah Rintley’s organization when Chris had come to me. I’d expected—at most—to broker his debt issue, and get the hell out with my skin all in place. I had expected to maybe at most take a couple of injuries getting debts from people who owed Micah so he’d stop coming after my brother.
I sipped at my drink in silence for a few moments, thinking. I had actually—Rob was right—become something of a fixture in the organization, in just a month. I had no real illusions; Micah wasn’t about to put me in charge of anything, not really, but I had his ear. I could talk to him about things. I could tell him something. And if he would trust me, I could warn him about what Manny was doing.
“If I’m going to do this,” I said, “I’m going to need as much detail as humanly possible.” Rob gave me an approving look.
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll tell you everything I know, and you can figure out how to get the information into Micah’s mind.”
“Go for it,” I told him.
“So how I see it going is this: Manny has his friends hire one or two of the girls, and then buy some drugs on upgrade,” Rob said. “They figure out who’s running the drugs, who’s got the money, and they stake that guy out.” He shrugged. “From there—I’m not sure, but they go and they jump the guy. Take everything.” I nodded slowly. It was about like what Chris had told me had happened to him.
We talked about the details for as long as I had a drink in front of me; I didn’t let Rob get me another cocktail once I finished my second gin and tonic, but just kept si
pping my water. I knew that if what he was saying was true, it not only could take my brother fully out from under the cloud of Micah’s displeasure but it could really close up a problem that was obviously only going to get bigger in Micah’s empire. I had the responsibility to help Micah, right?
Where the hell did you get that from? The idea that I was in any way responsible to Micah was news to me—but I had just accepted it. I was part of the organization. I was having crazy amounts of sex with the man in charge. Rob had asked it of me as almost a favor, since he couldn’t go to Micah himself with the information.
I left the bar once I felt like I could drive without being a danger to everyone around me, and I promised Rob I would find a way to talk to Micah, but I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was going to have to do it some way that would convince Micah to believe me, and I was going to have to keep Rob out of the story as much as possible, or I was sure it would just look like I was some stupid, gullible fool.
