“Mind you, I told them contracts, so the representative took that and ran with it, probably imagining more contracts than there were. But really, it’s only two of those contracts for key members of Los Muertos, which will sit there, unused but paid for, just so long as they do not harm those that are ‘mine’, well, those that aren’t members of The Family. It seems The Company wasn’t willing to protect members of an organization engaged in a state of war with another. But that was fine by me.”
“Yes,” Augustine said, his voice growing colder. “Considering you were doing it to save the same people you’ve thrown your future away on, I’m sure that was fine in your assessment.”
“Indeed,” Levi said, and while he was still calm, I would swear he was getting ready to burst with happiness. “With a little help from the Syndicate, at extra cost, of course, I made sure there was monitoring of those people covered. No need for detail, but basically if the Syndicate finds out one of them has died and after some analysis, determines that Los Muertos is responsible, even indirectly through gang-related violence, then the contracts are activated...or if I call them into play, that is.”
Augustine’s eyes flicked and jumped for a moment, and he grunted. “I see. Meaning that if the Los Muertos leadership doesn’t want to find out the hard way which of them is named in these contracts, it would be better for them not to operate within Cresson Point.”
“Yes.”
“Clever. Well done.”
“I thought so. Especially when it worked.”
“And are you going to tell me which ones are the targets?”
“Mmm, no. But you wouldn’t be pleased with my two choices.”
Augustine’s mouth was a thin line. “Two.”
“Mhmm.”
“You mentioned three contracts.”
“I did.”
For the first time, I thought Augustine was going to lose his temper .”You?—”
“Me,” Levi repeated and actually smirked.
I held up a hand. “Okay, so The Company?”
“Shadow group of highly skilled, highly effective, and strictly controlled assassins,” Will said, blinking as if he didn’t realize he was going to answer my question.
“And the Syndicate?”
“Another Shadow group, but they’re information brokers. If you know something, they knew about it a week before. They work with The Company a lot and have a friendly relationship with one another for the most part.”
“Right,” I said, running over the conversation. “So that’s two for some bigwigs in Los Muertos...and the third would be...oh.”
Augustine didn’t really do much, but he somehow seemed to get taller. “And would that be the same conditions for mine as well?”
“It would.”
“I see...and they agreed?”
“They did. Once I pointed out that your death wouldn’t be too hard a blow to The Family. The very structure you love so much about The Family means there are plenty of candidates who would bring stability back after an adjustment period. Don’t worry, I had to make sure to add the condition that they could kill me if I tried for the position, to prove this wasn’t a power move. I agreed quite easily, because it wasn’t.”
I thought about it for a moment, wondering what would stop Augustine from killing Levi right then and there...and then felt my face go cold. Well, Levi hadn’t been planning on being alive to deliver the news to Augustine. He had probably arranged for the information to be delivered to Augustine so he would know that my family and I would be completely off-limits, even if hewere feeling spiteful enough to try to come for us after Levi was gone. Levi still wasn’t caring about his own well-being; he was smug because he was still finding a way to keep me and my family safe.
“You fucker,” I hissed at him. “I swear to God, protecting us but not worrying about yourself?”
“I couldn’t include myself in the contract,” he said softly. “They wouldn’t allow it. They have their reasons, and you don’t argue with The Company.”
“So we’re protected, but you’re not? That’s bullshit, complete bullshit!”
Levi smiled. “But...you’re protecting me.”
“How the fuck am I doing that? As you pointed out, I can barely walk.”
