I chuckled at the made up name. “I like the God forbid one.” I set the 2 liter bottles down and unscrewed the top of one. I then filled four cups. I now gathered that Henry did not want to talk about whatever the event was that Carlos had rescued him from.
Henry nodded his head sagely. “Lots of women want just cheese. That was why I ordered it.”
“Mierda,” Carlos admonished. “Insulting females much, Henry?”
I brought three cups over and passed them out to the guys. “No, he is right. I was the only one that ate that style of pizza in the Diego family.”
Henry nodded at me. “I am ever so glad you brought that up. I have some questions about them.”
I grabbed a slice from the cheese pizza box. “Is that so?” I took a bite, wondering if I shared some of my story… would he do the same?
Henry nodded as he handed me a few napkins. “If you will answer them.”
“Depends.” I took the napkins from his hand. “Like if answering them gets me dead…then no, I will refuse.”
He nodded at me and said one name, “Quanto.”
I took a bite then chewed as I laughed. I should have known.
“Yes, so you know what I wanted to ask then?”
Carlos looked over at him. “Henry—”
“No, that’s ok,” I told Carlos. Taking another bite, I chewed, then swallowed and said, “Six fingers on each hand.”
“Dose Dedos!” Henry exclaimed as he laughed.
“Twelve Fingers,” Rain translated. “They call him Dose Dedos but I always thought it was a made up rumor to scare people.”
“No. But it is true that he has killed men for staring at his hands.” I took another bite.
“I just cannot understand how you could work for him?” Carlos went over to grab a piece of pizza and a napkin. “And I am not talking about his hands.”
“I had a method for that madness. I planned every move to get there.” I took a drink from my cup, swallowed then continued, “I used my savings I had for college and paid The Wasp to train me. She taught me the trick you all just saw with my blade.” I paused to raise a brow at them. “And several others which are even more deadly, but I do not use them often. My money wasn’t really enough for a trainer like her but she said I was gutsy to even ask her. The fact I had the balls to find her then approach her, impressed her enough to train me.” I paused to take another bite of pizza.
“Wait, wait,” Henry interjected. “You trackedTHEWasp down? Then asked her to train you?”
I nodded and swiped my mouth with my napkin.
“I agree with her, you’ve got…” Henry paused. “...Guts.”
“So you chose the Diego Cartel on purpose?” Rain asked. “They are really deadly from what I know.”
“Si, they are,” I told him. “The main attraction for me was Quanto’s absolute hatred for Santiago. You might say it matched mine if that was possible.”
“So, how did you stomach doing the hits?” Henry asked. “If that doesn’t insult you.” Looking cautious, he raised his hand at me.
I chuckled and took another sip from my coke. “It is okay. One day in San Cristobal, an assassin got past his men to get at Quanto. So I used my blade toss…The one The Wasp calls La Corbata to stop the hitter.”
Rain shook his head and muttered, “The Necktie…”
“Quite the entrance…Very awesome!” Henry cheered as he swiped his mouth with his napkin.
I went on with the story, “I had been following his group unnoticed for weeks – another lesson from The Wasp – and that attempted hit was my opportunity to show him my skills. Quanto then refused to let me go. He had his top IT investigate me. The man was good at his job but he couldn’t find anything on me. I figured my safest bet was to be brutally honest with Quanto. I told him I had no record. I told him about the murder of my brother and who did it too. How I changed my plans in life because of that. I admitted to wanting into his organization due to two things: his successful reputation and number two: his hatred for Santiago Castillo. I then informed him that I had been following him around for weeks to see how I could join his cartel. He was angry that his top security men missed that. He had two of them executed.” I sighed. “Yes, I knew then exactly what I was getting into.”
The men had finished their dinner as I told my story. They remained very quiet for a change.
I then shared a little more with them, “I told him I would work loyally for him but I had two stipulations.”
