Page 74 of Cruz

“Why hack us then?”

Wizard stands up and walks behind Tyrant, confirming my suspicion about that side of the room being the only part on camera. I don’t know if Wizard talked this through with Tyrant beforehand, but it’s a surprise to more than a few of us. A low murmur goes through the room, and guys shift restlessly in their seats.

“One of our club girls got into some trouble a couple of weeks ago. Some guy at a nightclub wouldn’t take no for an answer. She didn’t go to the cops because they wouldn’t do anything. So I wanted to see if I could get eyes on,” Wizard says.

My eyebrows raise at that. I hadn’t thought of Wizard as a bullshitter, but the way he says it seems convincing enough.

“You didn’t think to come to me?” Jackal asks.

Wizard gives a casual shrug. “Didn’t know what I’d find.”

“And what did you find?” Jackal’s eyes narrow. It looks like he’s buying the story, but I can’t be sure.

“Nothing. I checked the video footage, but I couldn’t see anything. Guess you scrubbed the tapes for that night.”

I didn’t think there was much that could get Jackal going, but he’s clearly stunned. “Do you have a death wish or are you simply that stupid?”

“That stupid,” Wizard says, and at least he has the decency to appear like he’s ashamed.

Tyrant clears his throat, drawing the attention back to him. “Like I said, we don’t want any trouble, and we certainly don’t want a war. You’re in Seattle. We’re not, and we’re not looking to make a move. My man acted without thinking, he should have come to me.”

Jackal’s eyes narrow. We’re likely all thinking that we know the way he’d deal with one of his men who disappointed him. “I don’t think that’s the entire truth. Who hired you?”

“No one hired us. We have no connections with any organizations in Seattle. Your business there is your own,” Tyrant states flatly.

“But you know everything now. You’ve seen all our files. What guarantees your silence?”

“My word.”

“Your word?” Jackal laughs, an unpleasant, creepy sound.

“Is that not all a man truly has?” Tyrant argues back. He remains emotionless, likely pissing Jackal off to no end.

“Your word,” Jackal scoffs. “You’ve got fucking balls.”

“We made a mistake. We should have come to you, but we didn’t want to involve anyone else in club business, and that’s what this was. Club business. We have no interest in your operations. We both go on with our lives. You know about us, we know about you. That alone is enough to guarantee each other’s silence and continued peace.”

“But you’ll no doubt be keeping a copy of everything you found. It wasn’t just our security feed you hacked into.”

“Secured, yes,” Wizard says without hesitation. “Didn’t you just say it was foolish to take a man at his word?”

Tyrant immediately backs Wizard. “This is insurance against any future violence. You’ve come here, you destroyed our property. We’ll pay to fix it ourselves, as a gesture of goodwill.”

“That’s it then? We just trust you?”

“As we will have to trust you.”

Jackal’s eyes dart to the side. I wonder who’s standing there? His second? Men like him normally don’t have anyone they answer to. Maybe it’s his own guy. The one who hacked into our shit. “We could use some allies and manpower in the future.”

“We’re not that kind of club. We don’t hire out,” Tyrant responds quickly.

“It’s too bad. Your man has some skills. He’s stupid, but he’s good.”

“Not good enough that you didn’t find out,” Wizard says, but gently, like he’s not correcting Jackal or throwing anything back in his face.

It’s obvious to all of us that Wizard knows where he went wrong with the security, the one tiny little spot left open and vulnerable, and that it will be fixed directly moving forward.

Jackal shakes his head. “Like I said, the goddamn balls on you all.”