Page 60 of Corrupted Empire

“Those Cartel assholes made fools out of you today,” I tell them.

Neither one meets my eye. They know.

“I think we can help each other,” I say. “I want the Cartel gone even more than you do, and I have the resources to achieve that goal. What I don’t have, however, is the right kind of knowledge.”

“We won’t squeal,” the bald one mumbles pathetically.

I think that they will squeal. I really do.

“Of course not,” I say in a calming voice. “I only need one thing from you, one small little thing. Then you can go back to your beer.”

“What is it?” Beanpole asks, lips tugged into a taut grimace.

“I just need to know where Kevin Lynch is,” I say simply. “That’s all.”

Both of them shake their heads, and I hear Dom and Antonio cock their guns. I shoot them a warning glance.

“Listen, guys.” I lean closer, as though we are all buddies. “Kevin Lynch is a traitor to your organization. He has completely sold you out to Felicity Huffman and her goons. Do you really want to follow someone like him? Who doesn’t give a shit about you?” I lean back, chuckling. “Fuck, I remember only a few months ago half of you committed treason just because you didn’t like that Patrick Walsh was working with me. And now someone else is in complete control of everything you do, is beating the crap out of you whenever they feel like it, and you won’t lift a finger to stop it?”

A lightbulb clicks on behind the fat one’s eyes. He glances over at Beanpole. “Come on, Callum. What do we really have to lose?”

“If they find out it was us…” Callum growls.

“They won’t,” I assure. “All you need to do is give me a location, and then I’ll be out of here. I will never tell another soul where I got it from.”

A long moment passes, with the two of them deliberating silently over their pints. I can tell that Callum is the one who makes the decisions between the two of them, and his fat friend stares beseechingly across the table. I don’t usually interrogate this way, so it irks me a little that neither of them seems particularly nervous about what I will do if they don’t tell me. But we’ll get to that.

“We don’t know,” Callum says finally. “But we know someone who does know,” Callum adds quickly, clearly noting my growing irritation. “We can tell you where to find him.”

I suppose that will have to be good enough.

I take down the information, and we leave the two in peace, as promised. I’m annoyed that we can’t go straight after Kevin and Felicity, but at least this is a start.

On our way out of the bar, Dom and Antonio share their disgust with our informants’ disloyalties.

“We didn’t even threaten them,” Dom says. “They just gave it all away. Easy as pie.”

I get into the car and shrug. “You saw the treatment those Cartel members gave them earlier. Loyalty is earned, as far as I’m concerned, and Kevin Lynch has done nothing to earn it since taking over from his nephew. He isn’t protecting his men.”

Their situation hits close to home for me. Years ago, when my father was under Felicity Huffman’s sway, I did a very similar thing. And then I killed him.

I get a call from Matteo at the guardhouse on the way back to the mansion. “What is it?” I answer.

“There is a woman here to see you,” Matteo says.

I don’t like the way he says it.

“Who is she?” I ask.

“Ruby Flint.”

I swear under my breath, and Antonio looks over at me from the driver’s side.

“Ask her to meet me at the front of the house, but do not let her inside,” I instruct.

“Very well.”

I hang up the phone and let my head fall back against the seat.

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