“No. And I can’t tell you anything further about his association with me. I’m real sorry that it’s not better news. But she’s alive. He’s not one of the good guys, unfortunately. And sometimes we gotta work with the not-so-good guys to get shit done. I don’t know what else I can do other than to get Tessa back and then report Holly’s condition when I see her. All I’m doin’ with this is outside of scope beyond the project for Kruna. I’m doing this for you, using my network for you.”
“Is he a sick fuck like his old man was?” I asked, not acknowledging his words about him helping for me, suggesting our friendship was real rather than just whatever the fuck he was pretending in order to hook me into helping him with the Kruna takedown.
Zack didn’t answer me. He didn’t have to. His tight smile and carefully blank expression said it all.
I had to play it smart here. Somehow, some way, I needed to get Angel’s sister back. Without pissing off one of the most powerful human traffickers in North America, maybe the world. Or, if he wasn’t willing, we’d have to find some way of getting rid of him so we could get her back. As if we didn’t already have enough bullshit on our plates.
***
Instead of calling, I needed to see my brother in person. This conversation had to take place in person so I could try to do some damage control.
My brother was the smartest fucker I knew but to say he was hotheaded, was a massive understatement. When he found out his counselor was a fed and using whatever my brother’s confessions were to build a case against us so that we had to be their puppets, he was gonna snap.
I texted to ask if he was busy and told him I wanted to come by. He told me to head over so I drove to his house. Dex was there, handling security between Tommy’s and Pop’s houses. He was outside, conferring with two other guys, one of them my buddy, a local bookie, Killian’s little brother Will, who was twenty two and saving up to go back to school and Kill asked me to get him a job as a favor.
Will was a bodybuilder, knew how to fight, was licensed to carry, and he was reliable. I thought a lot of Killian, too, so while Will wouldn’t be a long-timer with us, he was trustworthy. And we needed that right now.
I waved at Will. “How is he?”
“Better. He’s outta the hospital.”
“Good, good. See ya later, bud.” I headed inside.
Kill had been jumped and we believed it was Denarda that’d arranged it, not knowing Kill was getting ready to leave town so was no longer bookmaking under us. Kill was opening his own chain of off-betting clubs with our blessing and help. He’d been beat up pretty bad but no long-term damage, thankfully.
It was evening and Dex told me that two guards had just driven Angel home, she had a headache, and the guards were hanging out at my condo until I got home. I texted to tell her I’d be home soon.
I found Tommy in the kitchen, sitting at a table working on somethin
g with his laptop, opened jars of olives and pickles as well as a huge hunk of salami and knife on a cutting board sitting beside him. He was eating from the jar of pickles.
“Sympathetic pregnancy cravings, man?” I joked as I took my suit jacket off and threw it on the back of the kitchen chair.
Tommy snickered and put the lid on. “Probably.”
“Just got back from Zack’s. They were pissed you didn’t show to fill out their paperwork.”
He rolled his eyes, “You hungry? Bunch of food in here. Tia’s been cookin’ all day by the looks of it.”
“Naw. I’ll eat at home. I talked to Alessandro Romero,” I told him.
That got his attention.
“He assured me Tessa is fine and she’s a peace offering to keep us from trying to get Holly away from him. He says, confidentially, that whoever got his family members out of the picture did him a favor.” I gave him a pointed look and continued, “Zack is tight-lipped about this guy but fuck, doesn’t sound good. I talked to Tess briefly. She sounded okay but he didn’t allow me to talk to her for long. He said she got violated somehow before she came into his possession but didn’t elaborate on what that meant. I’m trying to keep my cool ‘till we find out.”
Tommy took a big swig from a bottle of water, hardness in his eyes.
“We need more info on that. Leo Denarda pays for whatever happened to her, whoever did it, that’s for damn sure. Zack says Romero’s not one we wanna fuck with, but…” I said.
“I know,” Tommy said, “Heard stories. Ice cold motherfucker. No conscience. Chip off the old block.”
“Yeah man, but that’s what they say about you and it’s bullshit.”
Tommy shrugged, “Word is that his old block? Ten times worse than ours. Made Pop look like a choir boy. Sandro Romero didn’t even try to look legit. He was untouchable, like royalty down there. Fearless. Sadistic. Cruel.”
“Yeah,” I said, “but the fact that this guy intercepted Tess, reached out, did this proactively? Think Holly means something to him?”
“Possibly,” Tommy said carefully.