by B. B. Hamel
“Here’s the problem with your plan,” Diego said. “It puts all the risk on our shoulders. We fight the Jalisco, we bring the drugs, we incur their wrath.”
“We’ll fight on your side,” I said. “We’ll provide men, guns, whatever you need.”
Diego made an uncertain gesture, shaking his hands side to side. “The Gulf is strong, and we’re stronger up north these days than anyone else. But you want us to start a war.”
“This is how these things go,” I said. “You fight for what you want. I know you’re considering it, or else you wouldn’t have come down here.”
“True enough,” Diego said.
“We’ll fight by your side,” I said. “We’ll die by your side if we have to.” I leaned toward him and felt a surge of anger. “They tried to kill me, Diego. All because they wanted to try and control our business here. You’ve never once tried to kill me, have you?”
“Not that I know of,” he said, a little sly smile on his lips.
“I want them gone,” I said. “They attacked me. They almost hurt Mona. And I’m not the kind of man that lets that sort of shit slide.”
Diego put up his hands and I leaned back. He dropped them again and took a breath.
“All right,” he said. “We’ll consider it. I’ll speak with my bosses down south. I’ll be honest, I believe this would be a good war, a worthwhile fight. It would weaken the Jalisco up here and down south, and it might give us some space to grow in both regions. But if you fuck me, Vincent, there will be repercussions.”
“You know me, Diego,” I said. “I’m a businessman. You keep up your end, I keep up mine. Have we ever had any problems? Even when you raise prices on me?”
He laughed at that, a rare little smile on his lips. “Fair enough,” he said then pushed off the bench and stood with a grunt. He was out of shape and I wondered how much the guy weighed at this point.
“Talk to your bosses and get back to me,” I said, standing with him.
He nodded, his eyes flicked to Mona, and then he looked back at me. “Why’d you bring the girl?” he asked.
“I wanted her to meet you,” I said. “This was her idea, after all.”
He grunted and thrust a hand out. I shook it briefly, eyes locked on his. He released my hand then turned and walked off, hands shoved into the pockets of his too-tight jeans.
I watched him go then sank back down onto the bench.
“What do you think?” I asked Mona.
“I think you did good,” she said. “He seems interested.”
“What kind of vibe do you get from him?”
She shook her head. “Hard to say. I think he’s smarter than he seems.”
“You’re right about that.”
Ambrose walked over, shaking his head. “How’d it go?” he asked. “I couldn’t hear shit over there.”
“I think he’s into it,” I said. “He has to discuss it with the leadership in Mexico. But I think he’ll do it.”
“Fuck, yeah, he will,” Ambrose said, grinning huge. “This is going to make us all a lot of money.”
I grunted and shook my head. “This is going to cause a lot of blood to flow.” I took Mona’s hand and stood up, drawing her up and against me. She stared into my eyes and I frowned at her, squeezing her hand. “But we’ll get through it anyway.”
Ambrose sighed and rolled his eyes like he’d heard that a million times.
“Don’t be dramatic, boss,” he said, and started back toward the car.
“I need you back in New York,” I said to him. “As soon as possible. Go back and make sure the crew’s all solid.”
“All right, boss,” Ambrose said. “But you know the boys. They’re keeping their shit on lock.”
“Better be.”
I put my arm around Mona and headed back to the car.
20
Mona
Vince spent the rest of the day on and off the phone, talking to guys in the family. I lounged around on the couch watching TV and trying to keep myself calm.
I tried to think back over the past few days, back to the attack, back before that.
I tried to remember the point at which I stopped being a journalist and started being a participant.
Maybe it was that day on the pool table, when Vince fucked me deep and hard. Or maybe it was after, when we were in and out of bed together, sweating and moaning, exploring each other’s bodies like we’d never have another chance.
I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment. But somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking about what was happening as something outside of me, something outside of my control, and started thinking about it as something that directly involved me.
It was a scary thought, but I couldn’t shake it.
“You look haunted,” Vince said, leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed.
I blinked and looked up at him, surprised to see him staring at me.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was just thinking. Half asleep, you know.”
“Sure,” he said. “Thinking about what?”
“All this.” I gestured around me. “How weird it is.”
“What’s so weird?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, we’re talking about starting a drug war, right? Starting a drug war between two Mexican cartels like it’s no big deal. Like it’s something you do all the time.”
“It is,” he said. “In a way.”
“Come on, this is big, even for you.”
He just shrugged. “If I’m honest with you, Mona, I don’t think it’ll come to that.”
I sat up straight. “What do you mean?”
“The Gulf cartel has a better foothold up north,” I said. “They have more guns, more guys, more money. The Jalisco are strong down south, but here, they’re just upstarts. I think the Jalisco are going to give in and beg us to take their contracts again before this goes any further.”
I shook my head in surprise and began to roll the ends of my hair in my fingers. “I don’t know how you can think that,” I said. “I mean, these aren’t those kinds of guys, right?”
“They’re not afraid of a little violence, if that’s what you mean.”
“So why would you think the Jalisco would just… back off?”
“Because we’re going to formalize the alliance with the Russians tonight,” he said. “After that, we’ll have the whole might of the city behind us. The Jalisco, they can bitch and moan, but they’ll have nothing. And when the Gulf come rolling into town, they’ll realize their time is up.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” I said. “You’re betting lives that you’re right.”
“I know,” he said and walked over to me. He sat down on the couch, his knee against mine, and put his arm around me. “Fucked up, isn’t it? But I know I’m not wrong.”
I burrowed into his shoulder and let him hold me. I felt my heart beat faster, my body felt light and weightless. Nothing seemed real around me.
And yet there was Vince, his body strong and firm.
“Come on,” he said, hugging me tight then releasing me. “We’ve got one more meeting today.”
“Really?” I asked.
He nodded. “We need to talk with Steven and Dante about this shit,” he said. “If we’re going to start a war, we’ll need muscle.”
“You just said there won’t be a war.”
He smacked his fist into the palm of his other hand. “Better to be prepared,” he said. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”
I groaned and pushed myself up off the couch. “Beats sitting around all day, I guess.”
“Damn right. And if you’re good, I’ll take care of you when we get home.”
I rolled my eyes, but my heart picked up again. “I bet you will,” I said. “Let me get changed first, okay?”
“Make it quick.”
I hurried upstairs, put on fresh clothes, washed my face, and met him down by the door. We got into his borrowed black SUV and drove down to the bakery. There were m
ore cars than usual parked around it, and we had to take a spot a couple blocks away.
We walked in the heat and he put an arm around my shoulder. I should have shrugged him off, but instead I leaned in closer.
I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t know if I cared.
The bakery was packed. Each table had a few guys sitting at it, some of them in suits, some of them wearing casual clothes, and all of them looked angry. I spotted Steven sitting with Dante at a table near the front, both of them with dour looks on their faces. The place was a murmur of quiet conversations that stopped as soon as Vince stepped in through the door.
“Well, look at this,” he said. “You brought every single asshole in the city.”
Dante stood. “Seems as though we don’t have much choice,” he said, and his face remained blank and flat.
Vince crossed his arms and stared at his friend. The quiet was heavy, oppressive, like a weighted blanket on my chest. I inched closer to Vince and stared around at the faces.
Some of them were young, too young to be in the mafia. Some of them looked too old, too fat, too thin. A man with graying hair and a pissed-off expression stood behind the counter, a white apron wrapped around his middle.
I wondered where these people came from, how they found each other, how they found themselves in the mafia. These were the soldiers, the real muscle, the real killers in this city. I realized that I had just stepped into a den of monsters with only Vince to protect me.
“I didn’t know you were afraid of a little action,” Vince said.
Dante grunted. “Don’t misunderstand me, Vincent,” he said. “I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. But this wasn’t a fight we were interested in.”
“What about you, Steven?” Vince asked, nodding at the Capo.
Steven shifted in his chair and leaned one arm over the back. “I saw what they did,” he said. “I was out on that street with you.”
“Damn right you were,” Vince said.
“Dante has some concerns,” he said. “But he’s not wrong to voice them.”
“All right,” Vince said, nodding slowly like he was listening to a favorite song. “Let’s sit down and discuss then.”
Dante sighed like that was the most annoying thing he’d ever heard, but he took his seat again. Vince walked over to the table, and a thin, handsome guy with light hair and light eyes stood up to make room. Vince slid in and I sat next to him, intensely aware that I was the only woman in the whole place, and half the eyes were on me.
Steven tilted his head in my direction. “What’s the girl doing here?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about her,” Vince said.
“We’re worried about everything,” Dante said. “You’re dragging us into a war, and you’re bringing some girl to a war meeting.”
“She’s fine,” Vince said. “Worry about yourself for a change.”
Dante sniffed and leaned back, crossing his arms, his whole posture closed.
“Look, we get what you’re doing,” Steven said. “And honestly, I don’t disagree. If I were in your position, I’d want to hit back at the Jalisco for what they did. But if you start a war here in Philly, we’re the ones that are going to have to fight it.”
“First of all, I’m not the one starting this war,” Vince said, staring at his friends. “The Jalisco are the ones starting it.”
“They’re just trying to keep us from allying with the Russians,” Dante said. “And can you fucking blame them?”
Vince leaned forward, eyes wide. “Yes,” he said. “I fucking can blame them.”
“Easy,” Steven said.
“I don’t know when you lost your fucking balls, Dante, but the Jalisco tried to kill a Capo in your family,” Vince said. “You understand what that means, don’t you?”
“I do,” Dante said.
“Then act like it.”
“Enough,” Steven said. “This is bigger than just revenge, Vince. Stop acting like we need to go get our boys killed just because the Jalisco hurt your pride.”
Vince stared at him, a wild and shocked look on his face. He looked around the room, and I followed his gaze. Nothing but closed, tired expressions looked back at him, and I realized that he was on his back foot.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Vince said. “Steven, when that big asshole, what was his name? The fat kid with that stupid baseball bat he loved?”
“Bill Bowler,” Steven said.
“When that fat fuck beat the shit out of you, what did I do?”
“You slammed into him with your bike, took his bat, and broke both his knees,” Steven said.
“And you, Dante. When that Chinese crew was wrecking shit and we were at war, what did I do when they sent an enforcer after you?”
“Came to my house,” Dante said, staring at the table. “Came with a gun, stayed up all night.”
“And killed the fuckers when they tried to break down the back door,” Vince said. “You two know me better than anyone else in this room.”
“You’ve been gone a long time,” Steven said.
“I have,” Vince said. “I know it, I can’t deny it. But you two know the kind of man I am. I haven’t changed one bit. If the Jalisco came after either of you on my turf, I’d already be at war.”
Steven glanced at Dante, who looked back with a grunt and a nod. Steven shook his head and met Vince’s gaze again.
“My contact in the Jalisco got in touch this morning,” Steven said.
Vince leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. He stared at Steven, licked his lips, tilted his chin up.
“And what did your little friend have to say for himself?” Vince asked.
“They want to meet,” he said. “They think they can make things right.”
“They can make things right by bleeding,” Vince said.
“Give them a chance,” Dante said. “I don’t want to see any of my guys die if they don’t have to.”
Vince slammed his palms down on the table. More than a few of the assembled guys jumped a little, and at least one reached for something behind his back.
“They tried to kill me,” Vince said, his voice a harsh growl. “And you talk about making peace. What the fuck happened to you?”
“You’ve been gone a while, Vince,” Steven said. “Take the meeting.”
Vince shook his head and leaned back again. I could see the tension all over his body, in the way his right eye twitched, in the way his arms flexed. He wanted to get up and break something. This wasn’t how he thought this meeting would go.
I spoke up before I even thought about it. I knew it was stupid and dangerous to open my mouth, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Why do you think they want to meet?” I asked.
Every single person stared at me like I grew a head and that head was gibbering in some mad language.
“What?” Steven asked. “Vince, why is this girl here?”
Vince held up a hand. “Answer her,” he said.
Steven stared at me, made a face, shook his head. “They want to avoid a war,” he said. “Just as much as we do.”
“It’s a trap,” I said. “They tried to kill him once. They knew that was as good as starting a war. Why the hell wouldn’t they do it again?”
Steven opened his mouth, worked his jaw, shut it again. I looked at Vince and his face seemed to relax a little as his smile beamed a bit of love in my direction. I felt myself return that smile, return that love, and sit up a little straighter.
“They’re not that stupid,” Dante said.
“Yes, they are,” Vince said. “You two are the stupid ones with your damn heads up your asses. But you know what? I’ll take the fucking meeting.”
“Vince—” I said, but he held up a hand to stop me.
“It’s the right call,” Steven said.
“It’s not,” Vince said. “But it’ll show you both that you’re wrong.”
He slid sideways, nudging me away, and we both got up. I walked into the cen
ter aisle and lingered as Vince stood over the table, staring down at Steven and Dante.
“You two used to have my back.”
“We still do,” Steven said. “And we will again. But if we can avoid war, we have to try.”
Vince just shook his head, disappointment radiating off him. He stepped toward me then looked over his shoulder. He stared at the older man standing behind the counter and nodded his head, just a fraction of an inch.
“What about you, Sergio?” Vince asked. “You think we should roll over and let the Jalisco kick us in the ribs?”
The older man just shook his head.
“Not my place anymore,” he said.
“Figured,” Vince said, turning away. “This city got soft.” He walked to the door, pushed it open, and walked outside.
I followed him, walking as fast as I could, hurrying to get out of that den of vipers.
Vince strode back toward the car. He stopped beside it, pressed his hands against the door, then kicked the tire. He kicked it again and again and again, letting out a vicious growl each time.
“Fuck,” he said. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Vince,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
He shook it off. “Fuck them,” he said, standing up. “I leave for a few years and they forget who I am. Did you see the fear in their eyes?”
“They’re scared,” I said.
“They’re fucking pathetic,” he said. “They both went through wars recently and now suddenly they lose their spine.”
“Can you blame them?” I asked. “They just want to avoid bloodshed if they can.”
“Fuck them,” Vince said. “Don’t defend those motherfuckers.”
I held up my hands. “I just want you to try to see it from their perspective.”
“I can’t,” he said. “The Jalisco tried to kill me, and now my friends are backing down.”
“Steven came to your rescue,” I said. “Remember that? He was in the street with you.”
“True,” Vince said, taking a deep breath. “True, he came when he had to.”