Roth squinted at the page.“Third from the top,” he said.“Diaz shut one down last year.Feds started sniffing.He moved everything through a different front.Name begins with L.Laundromat in the strip mall on the east side.”
Spade’s pen scratched across paper.“Next.”
Words spilled from Roth’s mouth, slow at first, then faster.He pointed down the list, explaining which companies still funneled money, which ones existed only as empty shells on paper, which ones Diaz had quietly sold or shifted to other men.
The information flowed beyond what Spade asked for.Random details emerged -- a name here, a habit there.Diaz preferred one port over another because bribes cost less.
I watched Spade absorb everything, eyes darting between his notebook and computer screen while my mind wandered.My stomach tightened as I stood listening to the criminal empire that nearly destroyed Jade reduced to bullet points and arrows on a chart.
At one point, Spade slid a photo across the table.Victor.Cigarette between his fingers, smirk halfway to full.
“How high does he sit?”Spade asked.“If Diaz is the head of this snake, is Victor the neck or just a pretty scale?”
Roth looked at the picture.Something mean and satisfied curled his mouth.
“He thinks he’s more important than he is,” Roth said.“Diaz lets him.Makes him feel special.Truth?He’s muscle with a face Diaz likes putting in front of certain people.Fancy messenger.Good at making a scene.”
“He outrank you?”General asked.
“In Diaz’s eyes?”Roth shrugged.“Depends on the day.Diaz likes having more than one man vying for his attention.Keeps us sharp.Or paranoid, if you want to be honest.”
“Where does he sleep?”Spade asked.
“Depends who Diaz wants to impress,” Roth replied.“Sometimes the city condos.Sometimes the compound outside town.Sometimes he gets sent to the ports for a month to babysit shipments.”
Spade made a note.“Good,” he said.“We’ll make sure we send him a thank-you card when we’re done with you.”
Roth’s lip curled as he addressed me.“You’re real smug for a man I watched sweep floors at your pathetic bar.Will you tell Jade about getting your hands dirty?Show her all the blood when you come home from a day at the office?”
“Yeah,” I answered.“If she wants to see.”
Roth stared at me as though I’d sprouted horns and a tail.“You’ll lose her.You’ll show her the monster under your skin and she’ll run.”
I stepped closer, letting him see my face clearly.“She walked into this clubhouse, looked me in the eye, and asked for help knowing full well we weren’t saints.You really think she doesn’t know what it takes to fight men like you and Diaz?She’s not stupid.”
His eyes flickered.For the first time I saw doubt there.
Spade tapped the pen on the pad.“Enough philosophizing.We’re going to shift gears.You gave us structure.Now I want soft spots.Men Diaz trusts with his schedule.Places he thinks nobody knows he goes.Women he keeps around.Kids.Family.”
Roth stiffened.“You said this was about business.”
“It is,” Spade said.“But men like Diaz tie business to blood.I’m not asking because I want to hurt his kids.I’m asking because I want to know who he holds close enough to make him think twice before he burns a building with civilians inside.We need pressure points.You give me names, we don’t touch them unless we have to.But I’m not walking into this blind.Not with our people on the line.”
Roth’s eyes darted to each of us.“You swear you won’t touch them.His wife.His little girl.”
Wife.Little girl.Information we didn’t have five seconds ago.
Atilla’s gaze went sharp.“Why the sudden concern?”he asked.“You think Diaz would hesitate to put a bullet in Jade to make a point?Or one of the kids upstairs?”
Roth flinched.At least he seemed to have a sliver of a conscience.
General shifted.The floor creaked under his boots.“Diaz already put those people at risk.By tying their lives to his business.By dragging them into his orbit.We don’t shoot kids.We don’t shoot women who didn’t pick this.We hit him where he thinks he’s untouchable.That might mean letting certain family members know they’re safer if they’re on a plane out of the country when this goes down.”
Roth swallowed.“You’d warn them.”
I watched General nod.“We’re not Diaz, and we’re notyou.We don’t kill to make a point.We kill to stop men from making more bodies.”
Roth stared down at the table.His voice dropped to barely above a whisper when he finally spoke.“Elena.His wife.Married twelve years now.She acts clueless about where the money comes from.Maybe she believes her own act, maybe not.The daughter turned nine last month.Sofia.Diaz melts around her -- calls her his princess.The man tortures people without blinking but show him a photo of Sofia and he’ll freeze mid-sentence.”
