Page 82 of Cartel Viper
“He didn’t for sure. I was his only contact who might know anything useful. He called me right after his guys told him she was with someone in your family and demanded to know where you might take her. It was before you even arrived. I only confirmed it when you pulled through the gate.”
“So, you called him? You could’ve kept quiet.”
“Sí, patron.” Yes, boss.
“Were you involved with the windows?”
His head drops all the way forward before it bobs. It lolls back against his arm as he answers.
“I faked a purchase order and lied about your mother ordering new windows. I had them replaced the day after I spoke to Drew for the first time.”
I stand back and assess him. I consider how much more torture he can withstand. Plenty. I consider how much more information he has left to give. Probably not much. What Tómas did was to punish him. What I’ve done so far was to coerce him. I haven’t even begun punishing him for putting Maddy and my brothers in danger or for violating the sanctity ofPapá’sgift toMamá.
I turn toward Jorge and Joaquin, who took turns with a set of pliers. He’s minus a few teeth, and he’s had his balls in a vise for a while. They shrug in unison. I put the crowbar down on a table near the door to the office we built. It has a couple of cots and three showers along with a desk and some chairs. We often spend days at a time here depending on who we’re working over. We’ve already been here for five hours. To José’s credit, it took longer than I wanted for him to crack.
My brothers and I leave him hanging as we enter the office. We’ll let his fear of the unknown keep him company for a while. I look atTíoEnrique, Pablo, and Alejandro. They’ve stayed tucked away in here.Tíowill speak to José before I kill him. A final goodbye.
“Are you ready for me to see him?”
“You don’t think there’s anything left, do you?”
“Probably not. He might come up with something more when he believes I’m the one who’s going to kill him. But I doubt it.”
“I want to know which one told Drew. It seems so unlikely for Maks or any of the others. There’s plenty of shit they’d gladly tell a rival if they knew, but not about Tómas and Miguel. And Maks admitted he knew who Maddy was dating, but he didn’t know Drew was hurting her. He wouldn’t have put up with it if he had, and he certainly wouldn’t help Drew, even if it was to strike us.”
“Could one of their men have overheard the Elite Group discussing our guys?” Jorge poses the question that’s already run through my mind.
The Elite Group is the bratva’s senior leadership. Technically, it’s the four Kutsenko brothers. But their cousins, Sergei and Anton, are in the positions just below them. Their other cousins, Pasha and Misha, are their most senior generals. When we use the term, we mean the entire eight tentacle octopus. Eight bodies and one communal brain.
Alejandro disagrees. “I can’t imagine why they’d bother talking about Miguel and Tómas. Even if they had, they’d never do it where any of their men could hear them. I can’t believe someone in their inner circle who would. Considering the lengths they’ve gone to protect their cousins, I just don’t think it was them selling that information.”
No one knows for sure, but the other three families that matter in NYC suspect there’s a reason Anton and Sergei are the final holdouts not to marry. The Kutsenkos and their Andreyev cousins know no one in the O’Rourkes, Mancinellis, or us would say shit about any relationship those men might have. It’s not our business, and frankly, none of the families care. If we wanted either of those men dead, we’d just shoot them. That’s why this makes no sense.
“Who in the bratva approached José? He said he doesn’t know who told the O’Sheehans, but who blackmailed him to start with?” Pablo’s looking out the two-way mirror, knowing we can see José, but he can’t see us.
I follow his gaze for a moment before turning back to the rest of my family. I’ll let someone else finish José. There are more important things now.
“Good question. We already explained enough to Maks. Now it’s time for him to answer my questions.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Javier
“Why?”
“Por qué qué? If you can’t speak in complete sentences in English, Javier, maybe Spanish will help.”
“Don’t play moderately dumber than you already are, Misha. You know what I’m asking.”
“No, I don’t. Get on with it, Javier. I have other things to do right now.”
“I don’t need to know what you and your wife are up to.”
“Fuck you.”
“No, I figured that’s what you were going to do to your wife.”
“Fuck off.”
