Page 52 of Under Control

“The fuck do you care anyway? You got scared of me when Ackerman shit talked me.” Crap, Alex really needed to lie down. “And I wasn’t screaming.”

“You definitely were. And I’m sorry I avoided you. I was worried the captain would decide to sack me if I interacted with you the wrong way. That’s no excuse though.” She looked around the gym nervously. “Hey, I don’t remember what your diet restrictions are, but you should really have a drink right now.”

“Fuck you!” Alex shouted. “You’re just as bad as the rest of them. Trying to get me in trouble with Tracht. Well, screw you. I don’t need your fucking pity.”

It would have been satisfying to storm out, but he was too tired for that. So he grabbed his towel and slowly walked out, ignoring Bauer’s one attempt to stop him.

He wanted to head back to Tracht, but his hands hurt too badly and he couldn’t risk putting them out of commission when his ability to fight was more important now than ever. He headed to the medbay and hoped Singh wouldn’t be a bitch about patching him up.

===

The call from the Nilsens came a few days later, for which Tracht was very grateful. By this point he’d managed to calm his anger and his nerves enough to not blow up about every minor infraction, and he didn’t need quite as much makeup to hide all the bruising. His shoulders still ached, but not so badly that he couldn’t move his arms without pain.

The mild narcotics Singh prescribed to him did help enormously. Those same narcotics meant he hadn’t even been upset when he’d seen Alex’s bruised fists, although he did save a copy of the security footage from the gym for later.

On the other end of the screen, Anja Nilsen looked very unamused. Her expression reminded him a lot of Anna’s when she was upset with him. A shame that he couldn’t tell Anna about this; she wouldn’t much enjoy being likened to Anja Nilsen.

“Ms. Nilsen. To what do I owe the honor?” Tracht asked, careful to keep his voice mild.

She very pointedly rolled her eyes. “Cut the crap. I know that you reneged on our deal.”

“Did I?” Tracht settled himself more comfortably into his office chair. “I delivered your container into the hands of your people here.”

“And then had the container seized by customs. That was a significant investment on our end, and we have clients who are going to be very, very disappointed when we tell them that we can’t deliver.” She jabbed a finger in the direction of the screen. “Don’t think you’re beyond my reach simply because of your connections. You aren’t as powerful as you think you are.”

“I am fully aware of that, Ms. Nilsen.” The scar tissue beginning to form on his neck was proof enough of that. “But the terms of my agreement were simply that I deliver a container. I had no control over what happened to it once your people took custody of it. It is not my fault that your organization was unable to deal with the authorities.”

“This was not supposed to be an issue at all.” Anja Nilsen glared. “I do have a recording of our conversation a year ago, you know.”

Tracht couldn’t stop himself from wincing. He should have expected that, given that he’d gone to her place of business.

“Your family might like to see it. Especially the part about how little you care about your nephew.”

Ah, yes. He vaguely recalled saying something like that; he doubted he’d been kind about Johan, considering the circumstances. “So, what would you require of me to keep that information from coming out?”

“I might have more things needing shipment.”

“And you would trust me with more of your containers, after I allegedly already botched one?”

She shook her head. “No. I would want extra insurance.” And then she snorted. “Now, what is your counter offer? Since you’re so calm about this, I somehow think I’m not getting through to you.”

The data chip was heavy in his trouser pocket. But there was another option. Tracht considered giving her Espinosa’s name. Planning out a way for Anja Nilsen to get revenge that way, although he didn’t believe it would be enough to appease her. Still, getting Espinosa out of the picture entirely could be nothing but beneficial.

Espinosa had helped rescue him, but he wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place if not for her. And certainly he didn’t enjoy her going free, possibly able to turn him over to the authorities. There was no guarantee she hadn’t made a copy of the data chip either.

In the end, he had to concede that his anger towards Espinosa wasn’t enough to wish the Nilsens on her. He was glad she was out of the picture, would have happily broken her apart himself if not for the repercussions, but he wasn’t so angry that he wanted her in Anja Nilsen’s hands. Besides, her disappearance so soon after she left his services would be noticed.

Tracht pulled the data chip out of his pocket and held it up for Anja Nilsen to see. “Do you know what this is?”

“I suppose you’re about to enlighten me.”

“This data chip was pulled from Iglesias’s data stores. I’ve had a look at it. It contains quite the wealth of information on clients and shipping networks. For example, I had no idea that Judge Parolli was quite so invested in keeping her bondservants compliant.”

Pure fury crossed Anja Nilsen’s face, broken a second later by a loud bark of laughter. “You don’t know the half of it! She puts on a good face, doesn’t she? Pretends to be quite concerned with the plight of the downtrodden.” She wagged her finger at him. “But I’ll ask you to not share that you know that about her.”

“Of course. I’m very good at keeping secrets. Provided, of course, that you know how to keep one too.”

“What an interesting stalemate then.” The amusement slipped from Anja Nilsen’s face. “Be very careful how you tread from here on out. I will hunt you down if any of that information leaks. And if not you, perhaps your brute? Your family might expend time and energy to find you, but I doubt they’ll care so much about Scarface.”

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