Personal Demon (Otherworld 8)

"More the concentration of power. The old-boys club, to the nth degree." Jaz waved

at the building. "If you worked there, Faith, you wouldn't have a shot of getting to the upper floors unless you wanted to be a secretary. Not because you're a woman, but because you aren't one of them. None of us are. Maybe everyone on those upper floors isn't a Cortez, but you can bet your ass he's a sorcerer. No magicians or druids or half-demons. And if you were a werewolf or vampire? You couldn't get through the front door. Even Guy, who's a sorcerer, wouldn't rise very high, as smart as he is. He doesn't have the connections."

"Does he talk about this a lot?"

Jaz laughed. "You mean: are you going to have to sit through political sermons? Nah. He might talk about it now and then, but he's usually quiet."

"Except with Jaz," Sonny said.

Jaz shrugged. "He's got a lot of good ideas. I think it's just been bugging him lately, so he wants someone to talk to--someone he can sound off to about the stuff that's been happening."

"Stuff?"

"With the Cortez Cabal."

"There's been trouble?"

"This and that. Dustups."

Apparently there were a few details Benicio hadn't included in my debriefing. Surprise, surprise.

"Guy's been playing it down, but he's getting pissed off. I think he--" He tossed a pebble over the edge. Watched it drop. "Anyway, he's not the only one who's worried about the Cortezes. The mood isn't good, and I don't just mean in the gangs. The old man isn't getting any younger."

"Benicio? He's not that old."

Jaz shrugged. To him, sixty years old meant wobbling on the brink of a six-foot drop. Jaz was only a few years younger than me, but it had been a long time since I'd felt my age. Working for the council, hanging around with Karl, I'd been trying to act more mature even as I told myself I didn't care what he thought of me.

"You mean the succession question," I said.

Sonny snorted. "Question? According to Benicio Cortez, there is no question."

Jaz rolled onto his side, facing me. "That's the big problem, one that Guy says proves Benicio Cortez doesn't give a shit about his employees. He has three sons, all in the business. Oldest is what, forty? Been with the company all his life. Has what it takes to lead, everyone says. But who does Benicio name as his heir?"

"Lucas," I said.

"The illegitimate youngest son who wants nothing to do with the family business. Who's spent his adult life trying to fuck up the Cabals in any way he can. This is the guy Benicio Cortez wants to take his job."

I sat up. "Most people I talk to don't really think Lucas is the heir. They figure Benicio's just being wily, keeping his older boys in line." Lucas himself believed that.

"Guy thinks the old man's serious. And if he dies? If Lucas Cortez takes over the Cabal?" He shook his head.

"But if Guy thinks it means the end of the Cabal, isn't that a good thing?"

"It's not the Cabal concept Guy's against. It's the way they're run--the imbalance of power. He'd love to upset that balance, give some back to the little guys like us. But destroy the Cabal altogether, like Lucas Cortez would do? What would that do to supernaturals in Miami? To people like our parents, with Cabal jobs? To the gangs? Guy wants reform, not annihilation."

So what, if anything, did Guy plan to do? I couldn't ask. Not yet. But I had my lead. Benicio was right--there was trouble brewing.

Dropping the subject was tough. The reporter in me could see the answers lying there, right under the surface. At least I could dig around the site, see what else popped up.

"You guys ever met Lucas Cortez?" I asked.

Sonny shook his head.

"I met a guy who went to college with him," Jaz said.

"Law school?"

"Nah, undergrad. This was back before Lucas got into his 'fight the power' shit. This guy knew who Lucas was because his dad worked for the Cortezes. Otherwise, he said, he never would have noticed him. A geek and a loner, the kind of kid you only talk to if you need someone to do your homework."