Page 54 of Stay Toxic

Split into six sections, every one of the Seven filled the screen except for Cayden.

In the top right box there was Romeo Rossi. Middle top was Santiago Navarro. Top left was me. Bottom left was MiloGrey. Bottom middle was Broderick Morrison. Bottom right was Campbell Reid.

“Gentlemen.” I nodded at the screen. “It’s good to see you.”

“Good to see you, too,” a few answered, while others like Broderick and Santiago were silent.

“What’s the reason for the meeting?” Campbell asked, his eyes tired.

Campbell Reid was a police officer. A dirty one, but still a police officer.

He was called out at all hours of the night in order to hit up crime scenes. It also didn’t help that he was in LA and they had a lot of fuckin’ call outs and crimes being committed.

“Cayden is missing,” I said. “I had three men go missing at the docks in Houston. I talked to Cayden last week about them, and he seemed fine with me being there and investigating. This week, he’s gone missing.”

“Gone missing, or gone into hiding?” Broderick asked in his light Scottish brogue.

“I can’t tell,” I admitted. “Alexi was down there for going on ten days and found nothing. He also admitted that the crime in Houston has gone rampant without someone to run the ship and keep them in line.”

“The kind of rampant crime that’s going to draw attention?” Romeo asked.

“The kind that will draw attention,” I confirmed. “I am going to go down there tomorrow morning and have a look around. See what I can find. In the meantime, I wanted to know if any of you have heard anything that has happened. Romeo, you went down to Houston a few weeks ago, correct?”

“Yes, for a wedding,” Romeo confirmed. “My sister married a cop down there.”

I grimaced.

That sounded fucking awful.

“Why’d you let her do that?” Milo questioned.

My sentiments exactly.

“Because my sister did it without my knowing six months ago in Vegas. She’s pregnant with his child now, and they wanted a family event.” He paused. “Plus, I felt a bit better about it all knowing that her new husband was on Cayden’s payroll.” His eyes narrowed. “I’ll call them, find out what’s going on from their end, see if he’s heard from him.”

“Appreciated,” I said. “Has anyone else been having issues?”

“None.” Milo paused. “Which, come to think about it, is quite weird. I always have issues.”

“Same,” Broderick confirmed. “It’s almost like whatever is happening is spreading all over. I haven’t had a single problem with anything in I would say at least a month.”

“About when all this started down here,” I said. “My men went down there for their usual inspection at the docks. The shipments were there, from what I was told by my men before they went missing. When they were supposed to check in next, they didn’t.”

“Three men going missing isn’t abnormal, though,” Campbell pointed out.

“No,” I agreed. “But when this is my ninth man in seven months that has had the same experience. All of which happened when I sent them to the docks…”

“Sounds like you need to go to the docks,” Romeo pointed out.

“Only if he wants to get killed himself,” Santiago pointed out.

“Not sure how else you’re supposed to be fixing this.” Santiago continued. “We’ve had men go missing, but not to the point where we don’t know where they’re going. The Armenians have been hounding us relentlessly over the last six months.”

“Same for me with the Haitians,” Milo grumbled.

“It’s been calm here,” Broderick admitted.

“Shouldn’t have said that,” Romeo pointed out. “You’re next.”

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