Canary by Tijan
Raize
“Iwant to meet your whole team,” Roman had said on the phone earlier.
We’d arrived in Boston, a city that I didn’t understand why we were here, but it was where Downer told me to go. Now, an hour after that phone call, I was walking into a large mansion.
I hadn’t cared for the whole estate or the gate that I’d needed to wait to be admitted through, but I was coming alone. I was taking this victory.
I had replied, “No.”
Roman sucked in his breath and he got quiet. He got real quiet. “That’s an order from me.”
“Then you can give the order for my execution. I’m not bringing them in.”
Another beat of silence. “You’re not bringing them in, or you’re not bringing her in?”
“She’s on my team. I’ve become protective of my entire team.”
Roman chuckled. “I am not going to lie that I don’t know how to take this insubordination, and especially from you.”
I was his best.
I knew Downer was good, but I was better and it was the unspoken acknowledgement we all knew.
I wasn’t the type of employee who started to think about what he was entitled to or had earned, but I didn’t care. I was willing to risk that he wouldn’t want to lose me when I drew my line. No Ash. That was how it was going to be for me.
“Fine.” Roman sighed, then griped, “I’m allowing this one time, but I do not like having ghosts work for me. I will meet all of them at some point.”
We’d see, but I said, “Where am I meeting you?”
He gave me the coordinates and here I was, my car getting valeted and I was walking into this mansion with thirty guns around me. It was making my back itch.
I preferred our other way of meeting, in the dark, with his men in their cars, where I could disappear.
Downer met me at the door, giving me a nod before indicating I should follow him.
In every room, there were men.
The kitchen. The dining room.
I was getting déjà vu from when we went to Carloni’s home, sans the working girls.
Downer led me to a back office, also reminiscent of Carloni’s home’s layout and I stepped inside, seeing Roman standing in the corner with a phone to his ear. He turned, seeing me, and held up a finger. He went back to his conversation, and I glanced around the room.
Noting the exits.
A large window faced a pool and backyard that was tiled, with another poolhouse on the side, and a fence going all around the yard.
If I had to make a run, that was my exit. Over that fence, behind the poolhouse. I was guessing there would be the blind spot in their whole security system because the camera was facing the front of the poolhouse and there was another perched on top of the poolhouse, sweeping the backyard.
Yes. That was the blind spot.
“Raize! Welcome. Hope the trip wasn’t too exhausting.” He signed off from his call, slipping his phone into his pocket. Then he regarded me, his head cocking to the side. His eyes narrowed. “You look irritated.”
Downer snorted.
I ignored both, asking, “Why did you call me here?”
The feeling in the room shifted, grew more tense, more alarmed.
Downer had been grinning, and he was still grinning, but it was fading. His eyes were alert, trained on me. He was studying me so intently that he didn’t realize I was studying him back.
A feeling shifted in my gut.
Something had happened. Something concerning me.
Was this how Ash felt? When she just knew the answer?
I hoped not, because this feeling sucked. I didn’t like it.
“There was a hit on Morales.”
My mother?“On only Morales?”
The answer flashed in Roman’s eyes first. “Your mother was killed, too. I’m sorry, Raize.”
My mother.
I almost rocked back.
I should’ve been expecting it. A part of me had been. I knew it was a matter of time. She was Morales’ girlfriend. Her time would come and I figured it would be a bloody end, but hearing it—that was another matter.
“My sister?”
“We don’t know. Our reports say that she was with Estrada so she’s probably alive. Or we can hope.”
“But if he did that? Took over the Morales Cartel?”
“Then he’d come for me…”
“How?” That word gutted out of me.
“Sorry?”
He knew. He winced as I asked the question, and then he pretended to misunderstand. He knew. He’d ask to know how his mother was killed if the roles were reversed.
I growled, my hands curling into fists. “Just tell me.”
His gaze went to Downer before his chin lifted and his shoulders fell back, preparing. “Morales was decapitated. His body was found hanging from a bridge. Your mother…”
Jesus.
He had to pause before he told me. That said enough.
“...they were more merciful. An execution shot to the forehead. Her body was left intact.”
Intact.
Jesus.
This world. This was my world, and I was bringing Ash more into it?
Intact.
That was a merciful killing.
I said, “It was Estrada.”
“No.” Roman started to shake his head, both his hands going into his pockets.
That was his tell, his only tell. When he got nervous or when a topic came up that he didn’t want to happen, his hands went into his pockets. I picked it up long ago, but I’d never needed it against me.
I felt every inch of me cool. I was shutting down, or ‘locking down’ as Ash would call it.
I said, slowly and softly, “Yes. No one else would move against Morales.”
“We don’t know—”
“Do not bullshit me.”
Roman froze.
I could feel Downer’s alert go up a whole other notch. He was the best who could read me, and he knew I was close to violence. Because of this, I wasn’t surprised when he said, as if soothing me, “Easy now, buddy.”
I gave Roman a frank look. “You called me back because Marco made his move.”
His eyes didn’t shift. Nothing. There was no reaction. He was only listening to me, which told me he was aware of everything I was about to say. He had played it out in his head. He’d probably played out every response I would make and some of those weren’t using words.
I asked, “You want me to execute him?”
I waited. I needed to hear what action he’d want me to take.
Roman lifted his head, inch by inch. “I’m not strong enough to take on Estrada, not yet. We have other adversaries here.”
No, no, no.
That didn’t make sense.
Marco made a move. He killed his father. My mother.
I didn’t think he would’ve killed our sister. She was the only one he showed emotion toward. He was moving to take over the Morales Cartel, if it wasn’t already done. No one would go against him. The Colombians would wait, see who came into power. The same with Bolivia. Belize. All of them would wait, but Marco wouldn’t move their way. He would, if he wanted to take over their product, but knowing Marco, he would want to take over further distribution.
The US was the golden ticket. They paid the most for their product.
No.
I was right.
Marco was coming. He would come for me first.
He had decided to move against Roman, probably hearing how the family had been thinned. Or that was how he thought.
“Why are we in Boston?” I knew what I’d have to do, even if Roman didn’t give me the order. I was going, but I needed to know where my boss’ head was and Boston wasn’t the ‘where’ we had eliminated his brothers for. This wasn’t the targeted location.
“We’re in Boston because it’s open right now.”
I frowned.
“The family that was controlling Boston moved to Chicago. They’ve had their own changes in the past years. That’s why I reached out. There’s been skirmishes, but no one has stepped up here. I want to take over. I already have Philly, DC, and the rest of the East Coast except for New York.”
“You reached out?”
“I can’t fight Estrada, but you’re right. I think he did the hit, and I think he’s planning on moving north. His first order of business will be to send sicarios after you.”
“You’re sending me after him.”
It wasn’t a request. Roman’s nostrils flared and I knew he checked me.
His eyes went flat and his mouth thinned. “I send my best soldier after him, I could lose my best soldier. I need you alive.”
No.
“You have to send me after him.”
“No, Cla—Raize. No, Raize. There’s another player here. I want to send you north, to Canada. Kai Bennett. He controls almost all of Canada. He’s not big enough to take on Marco and neither am I, but together, we could.”
It wouldn’t work.
None of this was going to work.
They needed a lone wolf, or a lone group to go in and assassinate Marco. It was the only way to stop him.
“He has too many men.”
Kai Bennett would not team up with Roman. Roman was too new. He’d just assassinated his two brothers. That was a bold move and it would be perceived as risky. Kai Bennett did not take risk, but Roman was set.
“The Bennetts are a family organization.”
Roman’s head reared back, a small inch, but he was listening.
“You just took out your two brothers. That goes against the grain of who Bennett is. Sending me to him to make a connect for you is a waste of time. It won’t work and you’ll lose that time for a surprise assault against Marco. Send me, just me, and I’ll get it done. I know the area. I know Mexico. I can get in and get it done.”
“I could lose you.”
“It’s worth the risk.”
Roman’s eyes flashed and he leaned forward, his palms going on the desk. He leaned over, his head toward me. “Not to me!”
Downer moved to stand between us, at the side of the desk. He had a hand on his gun, but his eyes were trained on me.
I was the wild card here.
I stepped back. I needed to use reason. That’s what Roman would listen to, only reason. I needed more of it. My mind was trying to think.
“Send me to kidnap my sister.”
The room’s temperature dipped and I knew I had them. Both of them. They shared a look.
I explained, “She’s the only person Marco cares about. I can go down, get her, and bring her back. He’ll be tormented and he’ll want her back. He’ll lose time and energy trying to get her back. Sending me to Kai Bennett is not going to work, not yet. He doesn’t work with others and if you want to recruit him, you need a solid and stellar reputation. Send me to take Marco’s sister and that’ll get back to Bennett. It’s a move he might appreciate. It’s not expected. It’s a mental tactic.”
Roman was regarding me again, his eyes narrowed.
He was thinking about it.
Downer noticed it, too, and he threw his hands up. “Are you kidding me?! You’re actually considering this? This is insane.”
Roman ignored him, asking me, “If you can get in and take your sister, why wouldn’t you be able to kill Estrada then? You’re taking the same risk.”
I shook my head. “I’m not. I can get word to her. She’ll tell me where to go and the best time to take her. My sister begged for my life before. If she’s still alive, she’s not stupid. She’ll know Marco ordered the hit on our mother. I guarantee that my sister will want me to come for her. She’s his blind spot. We need to use that.”
My pitch was done.
Now I had to wait.
Roman needed to think it over. He needed to come to his decision, but I laid it out as best as I could.
“I’ve heard what your woman can do.”
That surprised me. It wasn’t what I expected from him.
I frowned, but didn’t comment back.
Roman pushed up from the desk, going back to the window and he reached for his phone. He turned his back to me. “Go. Get your sister and get back here, alive.”
I wasn’t waiting for him to change his mind.
I started to leave.
He stopped me at the door, saying, “But Raize.”
I turned back.
He was watching me, his phone in his hand. “Your woman. I get that, but you’re my man. Your woman is then therefore one of mine. If there comes a time when I’ll need to use what she can do, I will. You will bring her to me to do that.” His eyes were harsh. His tone was unrelenting. “There is no room for negotiations with this one, not if you continue to be in my employment. Do you understand me?”
I had to give him the answer he wanted.
I said, “Yes,” as I reached for the doorknob and I left.
I didn’t wait to be excused, but I knew as I left, I was on a leash and I would find how far that leash extended one day. As I went back out, my car was brought up for me, and I drove away because that day wasn’t today.
Now, what we had to do was the reason Ash had come into my life.
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
We were about to kidnap my sister.
