“If all of this is a performance?” Ruslan waves one hand over me. “Then I don’t deserve my title.”
“What is that?”
“What is what?”
“You keep saying weird things. Your title. You called that woman the Queen. Those cops in the hospital walked away without a word but then they jumped us in the street. Whoareyou to them?”
Ruslan’s gaze falls away and he looks out the window at the dark sky. From this angle, a single shadow stretches across his square jaw, down his neck, and disappears into the swell of muscles straining against his T-shirt.
“To them, I’m no one. To most, I’m no one.” Ruslan looks back at me while digging around in his pocket. He removes something and then holds it out to me.
On his palm rests a black rectangle about the same size as my bank card, maybe half an inch longer. As Ruslan rolls his hand back and forth, the surface shimmers and a symbol becomes visible. A four-sided diamond with a capital A woven into its top section glimmers at me every time the light hits it correctly. Then Ruslan touches the surface and the black card turns into a screen that shows a falling deck of cards.
“What… what is that?”
“It’s my biometric ID. Only my touch can activate it. To anyone else, it’s just a useless piece of plastic but to me, it’s everything.”
As the cards fall, more and more information flashes on the screen. I glimpse Ruslan’s face along with the woman I briefly met in the sewer, then three other faces I don’t recognize. There’s text rushing past that I can’t read, but I stare, transfixed, until Ruslan removes his thumb and the screen goes dark.
“Is that some kind of fancy new ID?”
“No.” Ruslan chuckles, slipping the ID back into his pocket. “You won’t ever see something like this outside of here.”
My eyes narrow. “Are you a spy? CIA?”
To my warm surprise, that draws a real barking laugh out of Ruslan and he shakes his head, grinning. Suddenly, he’s like a different man. The harsh edges of his face melt away into laughter lines, his eyes sparkle, and his entire face lights up with warmth.
“CIA.” He snorts. “They wish they were us.”
“So… so, who are you?”
Ruslan’s smile fades somewhat and then he shrugs, patting his thigh once. “You’re already in so deep, I doubt it matters now. I’m not CIA, but this place and the organization I’m with are just as secretive. We call ourselves the Fifth Suit. There are five of us and we’re all named after a card in the deck. I’m the Ace. The woman you saw in the sewer with me is Valentina, the Queen. There’s the King, Bradley. Then there’s Cassian, the Jack, and Raven, the Joker. You could say we’re the only thing standing between peace and all-out carnage in New York, or any state, for that matter.”
My thoughts tumble over one another as so many questions flood my mind. “You… what do you do?”
“In short, anything we need to. The longer version is that the organized crime network that weaves through New York and the majority of the United States is like gunpowder next to a lit match. Back in the 1850s, every criminal was out for themselves and no one could get any work done. It was a constant bloodbath and those trying to run a successful business were often caught up in continuous death and warfare. It wasn’t working. So a few of the top families put their heads together and created the Fifth Suit to create order. A way for the organized crime world to actually function and stop everyone from just killing everyone to be on top.”
Why does everything he says make sense to me in a weird way? “So you’re like a Mafia government?”
Ruslan snorts. “Not exactly. We don’t tell families what to do and we don’t get involved in the lower end of things. Conflicts still happen, people still die, but when it comes to the bigger stuff, that’s when we step in. If anyone gets too greedy and threatens to upend the peace that keeps organized crime running smoothly and secretly, then we step in. We have connections to the police and the government to ensure that those in deep trouble are released. We have access to the best lawyers, can influence laws to keep everyone happy, and we often smooth out international conflicts with Europe and beyond. There’s another deck out there that we align with every so often.”
“But I see people arrested all the time on the news. You’re telling me you help criminals walk free?”
“Not exactly. It’s give and take. The underworld is secret for a reason. It works. Sometimes, we end up helping out the cops or the state government because it’s in our best interests to do so. We work out deals so both sides are happy. Sometimes, the copsget a win to keep them looking good and happy. Sometimes, we get a win.”
I shake my head, storing every bit of information he gives me. “So there’s just… you’re just a Mafia government working in secret to keep criminals safe?”
“You could look at it like that if it helps,” Ruslan says. “And we keep the Underworld in line. The alternative is unrestricted carnage that would destroy this country within six months. Everyone wants to be the next top dog, to earn the most respect, but this life is so turbulent that one wrong word of disrespect and it’s a bloodbath. We’re the only thing that keeps the world calm.”
“But why? Why do these families even listen to you?”
“Like I said, everyone wants a piece of the pie and the only way people can get a piece is if we, on some level, work together. There’s a lot of honor and blood loyalty in this life, and that includes loyalty to the Suit.”
“I can’t believe hardened criminals would let themselves be governed.” Reaching up, I tiredly rub at my eye. “That sounds insane.”
“You let yourself be governed. Every single person in this country does. The only difference is that I and my team stop mindless slaughter, we find solutions quickly, and we keep everyone in the one thing that makes them happy.”
“What is that?”
