Page 15 of Bitter Arrangement

“As long as you need, but we will get impatient after a month.”

I nod and turn toward the door. “I’ll check in one week from today.”

“Good luck, Permafrost. This is very important to my organization. Please don’t mess it up.”

I leave Iron Head and head back through the building, pausing only to collect my gun from the goon up front. Once I’m outside, my head starts spinning as the implications start to press down on me.

“You’re still alive,” Tigran says, sounding amused. “I honestly wasn’t expecting much.”

I sink down into the driver’s seat and stare straight ahead. I’m trying to wrap my head around the problem at hand and everything that might come after if I pull this off, but I’m having trouble finding the right words.

Tigran leans closer, looking worried. “You good, Alexan? What’s wrong?”

“I think Mantis wants to work with us.” I show him the USB key and briefly explain the job. “This could be our chance, Tigran.”

His expression is grim. I can only imagine the calculus he’s doing right now.

It’s the same math I’ve got rattling in my brain.

Allying with Mantis would mean growth and connections overseas. It would mean a way into the notoriously difficult but lucrative Asian marketplace. It would mean more contracts, better importers, and cheaper goods.

“What do you think happens if you can’t make this happen?” he asks me very carefully.

That’s the other side of the equation.

Growth and opportunity come with risk. Mantis doesn’t get involved with just anyone, and they expect perfection from their partners.

“I’ve heard rumors. There was that crew out in Sacramento. They were raking it in until one of their guys got pinched, and when he flipped, Mantis left him dead and gutted in the prison yard. Then they hunted and murdered the rest of his people, even though they were innocent. Total scorched earth.”

“You think they’ll do that to you if you fuck this up?”

“Probably,” I admit with a shrug. “But it won’t blow back on you. Mantis is vicious, but they can’t destroy the entire Brotherhood. Not with our allies at our backs.”

“After you marry that Irish girl, we’ll be even stronger.” Tigran looks out the window, thoughtful now. “Maybe we don’t even need Mantis.”

“The McGraths are strong here in Baltimore, but that’s still small time. Mantis can turn us from one of the most powerful players on the East Coast into the biggest organization in the entire United States.”

“Is that what you want?”

I shrug slightly, looking back down at the little USB key. “I don’t know,” I admit. “But either way, I have to find this watch, right? Then if this test is what I think it is?—”

“It’ll be for me and Arsen to decide.” He gives me a hard look now. “You know that, right? No matter what we say, that’s the law.”

“I understand.”

I put the car into gear and pull out.

Chapter6

Riley

Two weeks until the wedding.

I wakeup wrapped in his shirt. I don’t wear it out anymore, and it has basically lost its smell at this point, but I still like to sleep in it.

Sometimes it brings dreams. Filthy, fucked-up dreams where I’m doing things I never imagined in a million years.

Good dreams. Really good ones.

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