Page 48 of Vice

20

Viper

When this all started, when I decided to embark on this path of vengeance with Dele almost five years ago, Eileen told me not to underestimate Dele. That I shouldn’t be worried about Dele stabbing me in the back, but instead to be concerned about Dele stabbing me from the front without me ever seeing it coming.

I should have heeded Eileen’s warning when she told me. But I definitely should have heeded it when Dele stabbed me with a fucking box cutter while I was looking right at her. Now… Now I have the feeling that just like back then, Dele’s hiding a weapon up her sleeve in plain view, and I don’t see what it is.

“Dele?” Eileen asks when she spots me standing out on my balcony looking at the sun rise of all fucking things.

It’s no use denying it.

I’ve never had a sibling, but Eileen is probably the closest thing to a sister that I have. And she can tell with a fine degree of nuance what’s bothering me at any given time, even if she doesn’t always say anything about it.

“She’s up to something.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Remember that gentlemen’s club I went to?”

“And how she was there?” Eileen asks.

“I can’t shake the feeling of being bothered that she didn’t tell me she was going to be there or let me in the know of what she was after. Maybe we could have avoided the clusterfuck we had to go through to save both our objectives.”

“Well, she wasn’t particularly trying to hide that she would be there.”

“Maybe not. But if not for having to salvage it after Travis fucked us over, I would have never known why.”

“You sure this isn’t your paranoia talking? She can’t call you up and tell you every little thing he’s doing at every second, and she’s smart enough not to let you track her every movement.”

“You know it’s not paranoia. You’re the one who warned me about her in the first place.”

“I did.”

“It’s unsettling how well she knows me. How easy it is for her to get into my head and find a way to get what she wants even when I’ve cornered her,” I admit. “I get the feeling that I might have potentially cultured a more dangerous enemy without realizing it.”

“But you’re not going to kill her.”

It’s not a question. Of course, I’m not. Doesn’t mean I still don’t have to do something about Dele.

I always knew she was resourceful. But there was something unsettling about the way she paused to consider me when I had her pinned down and refused to give her the information we stole from Harp. The way it was like she was a machine cataloging her every observation, running through some algorithm or script until she came up with the perfect answer to getting what she wanted from me. Or rather, something close enough to it.

I may have underestimated Dele before, but I’d be a truly stupid man to not consider that with such a unique and rare power, she doesn’t plan to do something more with it. I would. I have. I taught her how to do it.

“Then you’re going to have to neutralize her. Make her a non-factor.”

“I know that. But how is the question. She’s garnered too much power to not be a force to be reckoned with. She’s got a bunch of Pray’s enemies on her side and is a kingpin in her own right at this point, and she knows a lot more about how Pray’s business works than I know how hers works. It wouldn’t be hard for her to help me take out Pray and then totally topple his business altogether leaving me ruined if she chose to.”

“You did consider that was a risk when you first tasked her with this, didn’t you?” Eileen asks giving me that look that says she wants to assure herself that I’m not as stupid as an action or non-action would suggest.

“I did. But I also thought she was as ill-suited for this business as Phae was. This was the girl who said she’d go become a criminal prosecutor if she could ever afford to go to college.”

“Full of surprises.”

“Exactly.”

“Word of advice?” Eileen asks, but it’s only pretense. She’s going to say it anyway. “You’ve got to beat Dele at her own game.”

“What do you mean?”

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