Page 7 of Memento Mori
“Aaliyah Solarin.”
I took hold of his outstretched hand after he reached out to me. “Nice to meet you, Aaliyah Solarin.”
I found myself lost in his gaze for a moment. It was like he stared into my soul. Or maybe I hoped he was looking at me that way. Chantal had already dished the dirty details of her brother’s deeds in great detail. I’m sure he had a woman waiting for him when this meeting was over. But it didn’t hurt to look.
“All right, doll what do you have for us?”
Our intense gaze was interrupted by Demon’s question, causing Antonio to let go of my hand. I shyly looked away. I couldn’t believe my reaction to him. Regaining my composure, I focused back on what was important and slid the large thick manila envelope across the kitchen island to Demon. He laid out the contents of it.
“Are those the guys from the restaurant in Columbia?” Razor asked.
“Yeah, they guarded the door and pulled him out of the restaurant after all hell broke loose,” Demon responded. He returned his attention to me. “Okay, Aaliyah, who are we looking at?”
“This is Santiago Diaz.” I placed my finger on the first picture, then moved to the next photograph. “This is Emiliano Diaz. They are brothers. Santiago is the oldest of the two.”
“Who is the last guy?” Demon asked. “He looks like he might be a family member.”
I responded with a nod. “And you would be right. That is Aldus Blanco Jr., Blanco’s only son.”
“So, I assume he is the head of the Cúcuta Cartel now?” Demon asked.
“You would think he would be, but he is not,” I said. “And your fight would be much easier if he were in charge. Regrettably, Santiago Diaz is the one who Aldus left in control and Emiliano as his right hand.”
Without a doubt, the appointment was anything but typical. Throughout criminal organizations, sons usually took the places of their fathers. It would be the same with Antonio as the oldest son. Everyone knew exactly who the Rizzo Family was. Antonio Sr. had been a fixture in the criminal world for as long as I couldremember even though I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting him. When his father stepped away or was no longer able to head the organization, Antonio would take the mantle.
“Wait, you mean to tell me he passed over his only son to head his organization? Why in the hell would Aldus do that?” Razor asked.
“From what intel I could gather, Aldus Junior has a less than stellar reputation in his home country and was a terrible disappointment to the Blanco family, most of all to his father,” I said. “So much so, Aldus started looking for a replacement for him early on. Around this time was when Aldus ended up pulling Santiago and Emiliano Diaz off the streets. A rival gang had killed their parents. He started grooming Santiago to become the head of the Cúcuta Cartel and Emiliano to stand at his brother’s side.”
Antonio’s bewildered expression only added to his attractiveness. The pinching of his thick black brows intensified the gaze of his piercing eyes. “So, let me get this straight,” Antonio said. “He turned over the reins of a multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise to a street kid rather than his blood. I’ve never heard of anything like that being done before. The reins being turned over to someone who isn’t of blood relation is unheard of.”
I sat up a little straighter. It felt as though he may have been challenging my intel. I turned my attention to him.
“That is correct. Aldus Junior is addicted to drugs, mostly cocaine. Has been since his early years and caused more trouble for his father than he’s helped. He’s been in trouble with the Colombian authorities for drugs, burglary, and is even implicated in two murders of prostitutes in the States, and two sexual assaults in his hometown. It had gotten so bad Aldus wanted to kill him according to my contact, but his mother stopped it from happening. Although Blanco never married, it would seem Junior’s mother held a special place in his heart, which saved her only child’s life.”
“Damn, Blanco was cold-blooded if he would take out his own son,” Razor added.
And I agreed. But in the criminal underworld it wasn’t unheard of. Loyalty was held above anything, even blood. It was cold-blooded, but necessary.
Demon snatched the pile of papers and quickly skimmed the initial pages before placing them back down.
“So, what’s going on inside?” he asked.
“Austin, to be honest, everything you can think of. Santiago is weeding out those who are not loyal to him. He’s saying if you are not loyal to him, then you were never loyal to Aldus. He’s been sending one hell of a message, too.”
I took out the last envelope and passed it over to Demon. He opened it and he was surprised at the pictures I had been able to get my hands on.
“It is a warning for all who are not loyal to Santiago,” I said. “He’s been placing the body parts throughout the town according to my contact. The rival gangs are up in arms, and the police are keeping their distance. He is as ruthless as they come, you guys. A man of few words, I’m told. But he’s all action for sure.”
“What else you got, Aaliyah?” Demon asked, and I pointed to the stack of papers.
He handed them to me. I thumbed through them until I landed on the papers he needed to see. I pulled the papers from the pile and handed them to him. His eyes widened in surprise.
“How accurate is this information, Aaliyah?” he asked.
I raised my eyebrows and flared my nostrils. “Austin, you are not questioning my ability to gather accurate information, are you?”
“Don’t take it personally, Aaliyah,” he said. “You’re the best at what you do, but just humor me, please.”
