by Ali Vali
“He’s stonewalled Rodolfo as long as he can, but Rodolfo’s demanded his money or his product back. Junior wants us to meet with him while we’re here and see if we can reason with him.”
The waiter brought out a basket of biscuits next, and Nunzio took his time slathering butter on one. “How does he expect us to reason with him?”
“Do you want to play twenty questions or have you forgotten how your father operates?”
“He wants me to lean on Rodolfo?” Nunzio laughed but his question sounded sarcastic to Kim. Half the biscuit disappeared into his mouth. “Does he want to just throw away our plans?”
“Maybe it’s time to assert yourself a little more and tell him that, because you’re right. If Rodolfo cuts you off, you won’t have a chance with the Delarosas.” Kim felt as if she were dealing with a skittish deer. Nunzio was usually aggressive, but acted like a perpetual five-year-old when it came to Junior.
“Let’s call Rodolfo but we’ll go easy on him.”
“Whatever you want,” Kim said, lifting her coffee cup in an effort to hide her smirk.
“You think I’m weak when it comes to Junior, don’t you?”
“I wouldn’t be with you if I thought that,” Kim said. She reached across the table and took his hand, but she didn’t plan to console him like this forever. “You want me to call Rodolfo?” After that she’d move on. Maybe something in Florida, as long as it was away from Nunzio and his family.
“Whatever you want,” Nunzio said, pushing his plate away, his appetite apparently gone.
*
Carlos Santiago stood silently watching the numbers on the elevator go down. Standing next to him, Rodolfo could almost feel the bad mood rolling off Carlos as they left the sanctuary of the Piquant suite to go someplace where Carlos felt he couldn’t protect him. Not that Rodolfo had gotten where he had by being a trusting man, but he didn’t think twice about accepting Cain’s invitation.
“When you were a boy, you pouted the same way when I didn’t bring back the caramels you loved so much,” Rodolfo said, trying to cajole Carlos out of his bad mood.
“This is different than when I was helping my mother in your kitchen. I’m only trying to do my job.”
As much as Rodolfo had invested in Juan, a special bond existed between him and Carlos. He’d watched him grow up, and the attention he’d lavished on him as a child had cemented Carlos’s loyalty to him, so much so that Rodolfo had built a house for Carlos and his mother to share in her retirement. She had been one of Rodolfo’s many mistresses, but he’d lost interest in her sexually as she grew older. It had been Carlos who had kept her in Rodolfo’s life.
“You do your job well enough that no matter what the day holds, we’ll be fine,” Rodolfo said and put his hand on Carlos’s back. “If this were a meeting with someone like Hector or Nunzio Luca, we’d be downstairs in the outdoor restaurant, no matter who was listening in or watching.”
“But because it’s Casey you go in alone?”
“I’ll have you there,” Rodolfo reminded him. “Cain isn’t interested in us or our business. If she wanted me dead, I’d be lying next to my parents in the small cemetery in the yard by now. She wants something else entirely.”
“If she’s not interested in doing business with you, why do you care?”
“Because of all the idiots we’ve dealt with up to now, Casey stands alone.”
Carlos held the door for him and pressed the down button on the next set of elevators that would take them to street level. “So you do think she’s an idiot?”
“Just the opposite. Cain is one of that rare breed of people for whom the world hides very little.”
A car was waiting at the Piquant, and Carlos opened the back door and got in behind Rodolfo. “I don’t understand.”
“She’s a good strategist, which I understand was something of a passion for her father, but you can teach only so much. With Juan I tried to do the same thing, but without the same results. Cain took what her father gave her and added that vicious twist, that makes her someone we have to study carefully.” Rodolfo watched the buildings they were passing, as he often did when he was in New Orleans.
He’d bet his future on the city because of what he saw the first time he visited. New Orleans was full of history and not like any other American city he’d ever visited, but mixed in with the spice of what made it unique was an edgy side that allowed people like him and Cain a chance to prosper.
“I can accept that she doesn’t want to do business with me, but I won’t allow her to interfere again. Up to now I’ve been lenient, but one more move against me for whatever reason, and I’ll come after her with everything we have here.” Rodolfo spoke softly and placed his hand on Carlos’s knee. “People may consider Cain harsh, but we can teach her the meaning of pain, if she desires.”
They turned at the warehouse where Cain’s offices were located, and Rodolfo closed his mouth and focused his attention, in case knowing the layout would come in handy in the future. They didn’t stop at the front but drove straight into the building, and when Cain opened the car door from the outside, Rodolfo tried to keep his face blank.
“Thanks for coming,” Cain said, holding her hand out in greeting.
“Cain,” Rodolfo accepted her hand, “I’ve been looking forward to talking with you.”
“Come inside.” Cain slammed the car door closed and waved Lou off when he went to pat Carlos down. “This shouldn’t take long. Sit down.”
“It perhaps will take longer than you think. We will never be friends, but we will have to find a way to exist together.”
Cain didn’t move to sit behind her desk but rather sat on the front edge. Right behind her were the two things that made this conversation necessary. “What I want is for you to stop talking.” This time, when Carlos started to reach for his weapon, Cain did nothing as Lou brought Carlos to his knees by twisting his arm up harshly.
“Your word means nothing then?” Rodolfo moved to the edge of his chair.
“It’s your word that doesn’t mean shit to me,” Cain said as she stood straight. “Call off your dog or I’ll put him down. I guaranteed your safety here, but he doesn’t get the same deal.” She pointed to Carlos.
“Carlos, give him your gun,” Rodolfo said, but he kept his eyes on Cain. “Why am I here other than for you to insult me? I never took you for someone so crude.”
“You want to know what it takes to make me crude? What drives me to want to skin you slowly and with as much pain as I can inflict before I let you die?” Cain didn’t raise her voice as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Those aren’t hypothetical questions, Rodolfo.”
“Like you said, I don’t give a shit about you or your questions.”
“Being that uncurious is like being a two-legged dog in heavy traffic.” Cain reached behind her and picked up Jesus Vega’s wallet, holding it up like she thought it smelled bad. “What upsets me is an idiot in a nice suit who plays at being macho, but the only thing he really controls is his bladder.”
“What?” Rodolfo yelled. “Fuck you.”
Cain had been waiting for that. The control Rodolfo seemed to pride himself on had cracked like a pecan in her fist. “I see you’re no stranger to crude, Señor Luis.”
Her laugh appeared to make him angrier. “That can’t be helped if you brought me here to play games and waste my time.”
With a quick flick of her wrist she threw the wallet at him and it hit him in the middle of his chest before dropping to his lap. “I believe that belongs to you.”
“What the hell is this?” Rodolfo asked, not touching the wallet.
“An example of how you have no control over your people. What I want to know before I take you back safe and sound, realizing as soon as you make it to the hotel you’re at war with me, is what the hell you were thinking when you gave out the orders against my family.”
“I’ve done nothing to make you move against me.”
“Open the wallet
,” Cain said, her voice icy. “Jesus belonged to you, so I assume when he killed one of my men he was acting on your orders. I don’t know how you handle this situation in Mexico, but here to kill without provocation invites me to kick your ass.”
Rodolfo looked back at Carlos, who shook his head. “This man was not acting on my behalf.”
“I believe that’s your first admission that you’re just an old man who plays at being the head of his family.”
“I’m willing to put up with only so many insults before you will get the war you want.” Rodolfo sat straighter in his chair and pulled his jacket down. “No woman speaks to me like this.”
“That’s right. You’ve got a unique way of dealing with people who go against you. You tie them to trees and let ants do the dirty work for you. That sounds manly to me. What about you, Lou?”
“Sounds more like chicken shit, Boss.”
“How do you know anything about my business?”
Cain smiled and Rodolfo’s eyes dropped to his lap. “I’m a woman who controls what happens in my family and what’s done in my name. Unlike you, when I take care of a problem, it doesn’t come back to haunt me.”
“I have no ghosts to worry about,” Rodolfo said, flicking his fingers at her as though to dismiss her. “And I still don’t know why I’m here. Is it to listen to you spin tales?”
“You’re here because Jesus Vega and Oscar Cardone, along with a few others, went to the airport recently and killed one of my men. Your men killed mine for no reason other than to hide your so-called ghost.”
“Enough riddles.” Rodolfo’s voice rose higher than Cain found acceptable. “You dare—”
“Do you remember Armando Ortega?”
“Armando Ortega is dead,” Carlos said. “Just like you will be for showing Señor Luis such disrespect.”
“What does Ortega have to do with this?” Rodolfo asked.
“His son is here. What do you think he wants?” Cain finally got the reaction she was hoping for when Rodolfo paled.
“Impossible. I sent him home, and he knows nothing of Ortega.” Rodolfo laughed and Carlos joined him. The wallet Cain had given him dropped to the floor when she handed him the passenger manifest. The circled name was hard to miss. “Hijo de puta,” Rodolfo whispered as he crumpled the page in his hand.
“Juan Armando Ortega doesn’t sound familiar to you?” Cain asked this time, watching Carlos’s reaction to the name. “You’re right, he’s not a ghost, but he’s yours nonetheless. I want to know where he is, because if he harms my family you’re going to pay.”
“I don’t know where he is.”
“Are you sure?” Cain asked, her eyes cut to Lou which made him wrap his hands around Cain’s bargaining chip.
Rodolfo stood up when Carlos grunted as Lou tightened his grip around his neck. “No,” Rodolfo said. “If I knew where he was I’d tell you, but Carlos isn’t at fault here.
He almost sounded anguished and Cain nodded to Lou, who let go but kept his hands on Carlos’s shoulders. “You owe me a debt,” Cain said.
“What do you want?”
“Oscar Cardone and anyone he was with that day. Jesus didn’t strike me as the kind of man who acted alone.”
Rodolfo sat down again, the ball of paper still in his hand. “Done, but I am sure this is not all.”
“I want Juan. It’s time to completely put your ghosts to rest.”
“I’ll deal with my nephew.”
“Unless you plan to bring me Juan’s head in a box, I’ll take care of him. You’ve proven to me that you can’t be trusted to take care of anything.”
“If I give you what you want, will you consider my debt paid?”
“In full.”
Their meeting had ended and Rodolfo stood as Carlos got to his feet. Rodolfo put his hand on Carlos’s arm when he reached for the gun Lou had returned to him, then they found their way back to the car alone.
“Think he can find the little shit?” Lou asked when they were by themselves.
“No, but Rodolfo’s going to use whatever means he can to look for him. He had no idea Juan’s here, and the fact he made it back without detection is scaring the shit out of him.” Cain picked up her jacket and walked with Lou to the car they’d left out back. This meeting had been early so she could make it back home before Emma got up. “Losing control of his men doesn’t scare him as much as losing control of Juan.”
“Both scenarios should scare him.” Lou started the car and followed the wharf as far as he could before turning onto the street.
“His men will fall in line with the right incentive, but Juan’s a whole other animal, and he’s permanently off his leash.”
“What makes you think so?”
It took the tail car a while to catch up, but it was about a half a block behind them. Cain was sure they thought Lou was purposely trying to lose them, but he was playing a game. False conditioning, he called it. Make the feds think they were trying to lose them so they learned the evasion tactics Lou taught them to look for. Then when they were really trying to get away, the feds never saw it coming.
“Because the name on his passport tells me that Gracelia Luis might’ve accepted Rodolfo’s help, but she’s held a grudge for a very long time, and she shared it with her son. Rodolfo might’ve given Juan his name and groomed him to be his heir, but Juan knows he’s also the man who painted his father’s dick in honey and gifted him to the ants.” Cain lost interest in trying to see who was driving the car behind them and put her hand on Lou’s forearm. “Think about what you’d feel like if someone had done that to Lou Sr. Would that desire for revenge ever cool?”
“You’re right, Rodolfo should be scared. If his sister is as good a talker as my mama, I see a big vat of honey in Rodolfo’s future.”
“I’ll be in with Emma for the rest of the day, Lou,” Cain said when he stopped by the front door.
She made it inside in time to visit with the kids during breakfast before they headed out to school. Usually Emma was with them, but only Carmen and Mook were sitting there.
“Miss Emma still sleeping,” Carmen said. “I left her after you say she don’t feel well.”
“Be good, guys.” Cain kissed the kids and headed upstairs. When she opened the door she saw the empty bed and heard the sound of retching coming from the bathroom. Before Emma could heave again, Cain was on her knees next to her holding her and keeping her hair out of the way.
“Sorry, honey,” Emma said, her head falling against Cain’s chest. “This isn’t a sexy way to spend the morning.”
“We’re actually going to spend a sexy day at the doctor’s office.” Cain brought her closer and grunted as she made it off the floor with Emma in her arms. “If this is a bug, it should’ve passed by now.”
“I already called.” Emma sat still as Cain stripped her pajamas off. “We have an appointment in an hour.”
As soon as Emma was naked, Cain made quick work of her clothes and carried Emma back to the bathroom and into the shower. Cain knew a warm shower was a good way to make Emma feel better.
“Want me to have Carmen bring you something up to eat?” Cain asked as she washed Emma’s hair. She had no choice but to laugh when Emma threw up on her chest at the suggestion. “I’ll take that as a no.”
Emma laughed along with her, and the sound made Rodolfo and his family disappear from her thoughts. Instead, she concentrated on what was causing Emma’s sudden stomach discomfort.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this, mobster?” Emma asked after she’d rinsed her mouth in the spray. “We’re not in our twenties anymore.”
“My Da always said that babies keep you young.”
“Babies?” Emma asked, then bit down on Cain’s nipple. “I’ve always known you’re an over-achiever, but one at a time, please.”
Cain lifted her off her feet and kissed her, trying to put every bit of how she felt about Emma into it. When they parted, Emma smiled and wiped Cain’s tears away. “It could be
a bug, so don’t be too disappointed if that’s all it is.”
“If it’s not, we just try again,” Cain said and kissed her again.
When they parted, it was Emma who was crying.
“However long it takes, lass. We’ll try together until we get everything we want.”
Chapter Fifty
“Papi,” Mano called Ramon from the foyer.
“Something wrong?” Ramon asked, holding on to the doorjamb that led outside to the large patio.
“Somebody tried to firebomb the club, and two of the day crew are at the hospital with burns.”
“Merda,” Ramon said, but he felt weak with relief it wasn’t about Remi. “Cain wanted to wait for Nunzio’s next move. I think he’s made it.”
“You want me to handle it?”
“Not before we talk to Cain and your sister, but this bastard gets no more free shots.”
Mano held the door of the study for him, then sat in his usual spot. “I talked with Cain already, and she asked for us to wait until this afternoon. She also asked for one thing.”
“What?”
“She wants Richard Bowen at the meeting.”
Ramon was about to reach for a cigar but stopped halfway to the humidor. “Richard, for what?”
“She said she didn’t feel comfortable discussing it on the phone because she was on a cell, but that’s what she wants.”
“Take the plane and get him here.” Ramon retrieved his cigar and cocked his chair back. “I’ll stay and see how the search for that bastard Jorge is going. Until we find him, I don’t feel comfortable having Remi or you exposed.”
“Don’t tell Remi until it’s time to meet. If she knows anything’s going on, she’ll leave Dallas’s because she’ll think she’s not doing her share.”
“Be careful, and put Richard in a safe spot until we’re ready for him.”
*
Dr. Ellie Eschete knocked before entering the exam room at the end of the hallway. In Emma’s chart were the results of the various blood and urine tests they’d run and Cain had insisted on waiting for.