Page 9 of Our Tricks

“How do you know so much?” Void asked, his tone betraying he didn’t like what he was hearing.

“I’m sure you’re well aware of how much you can learn if you’re willing to pay for the information,” Tommaso commented. “Not to mention, I sent a few people in to try and get hired or do business with them so I could learn how they did things. A few low-level employees also became my informants, but there wasn’t much but standard things they could tell me.”

“I can see why you were so desperate to make sure you could pull this off after all the work you invested into it. Do you think if you went up to the old man and told him who you were, he’d take you in?” I asked offhandedly.

“No,” he answered bitterly. “Believe it or not, I did reach out to him, and he thought it was a joke.”

“Damn, that’s rough,” I said as we got into yet another elevator.

The trip was quick, going up only one floor, then we stepped into a sea of cubicles. They were in little sections of sorts, color-coded, but it was desks as far as I could see. This was the kind of life I dreaded even before I ever considered being Two Tricks. I was a hippy artist who wanted to live life free and out in the wide-open world. Having to be forced into a job like this would slowly kill me.

“How many people are being interviewed?” I asked, now concerned seeing how many desks there were.

“Only those who knew there was more to this company than met the eye. While all worked for the cartel side of things, they didn’t know the numbers or goods they were dealing with were from drugs, women, guns, and whatever else Diego could get his hands on. Most started working at the legitimate companies the public can use then got a promotion to be part of the international market,” Tommaso informed us.

Damn, I had to hand it to Diego, the man knew how to run a tight ship. While the Hidden Empire had its legitimate income, it wasn’t marketed to the rich and famous like Diego had done. He made his clients into his shield. Those people would keep the law off him and explain why he had such huge orders and sales. I suppose the real question is, would Tommy be able to pull things off the same way? He kept talking like he wanted to rebuild all of this into something else, and I wasn’t sure what that would look like. Thankfully, that wasn’t my problem, and I didn’t have to worry about anything as long as he didn’t fuck with my business.

“This is the cafeteria, but we won’t be going in there,” Tommaso said as I peered in through the window.

The room was about what I’d say the cafeteria in my public high school was only way fucking nicer. They had normal tables and chairs that weren’t crammed together to fit as many kids in as you could manage. A rough guess of the room had me thinking there were about two hundred people in there.

“Um, remind me again who it is you selected for this?” I asked with a raised brow at Tommy.

“These are all the managers, shift supervisors, and admin assistants to the higher-ups. We kept the top dogs in another room, and those are the interviews I’d like you to sit in on. These are more to gauge how people feel about the change,” he said, waving me to follow. “There are only ten men I really need to worry about. They could have already shredded or destroyed what I needed, but I don’t think they had enough time or heads-up to do that.”

Now I was catching on to what he really wanted me to help him with. “You know, it might be better not to know all about your bio dad’s dirty secrets. It’s bad enough he was in Marco’s pocket, but are you sure you want to know just what kind of man he was?”

“To know the devil that ruled will help me know who and what I have to contend with. I don’t want to be blindsided when a man comes to me hoping to make a new contract on selling children or something. Like you, I have those lines I won’t cross,” Tommaso countered. “Personally, I’d rather know the disgusting man he was than to get slapped with it in a situation I’m not prepared for.”

“Fair enough. If that’s the path you want to take, then so be it. Who are we starting with?” I asked as he opened the door to a room with a large window looking into a simple office space.

There was a table with two chairs on one side and a single chair on the other. It might look like an office, but there was no mistaking what it really was—an interrogation room. On our side of the room was a leather couch that I flopped on as Void and Cam joined me, one on either side.

“We should have brought popcorn,” Cam commented as he relaxed. “This could get interesting.”

Chapter 4

Weston

Using one of the random employee computers, I pulled up the records and schematics of the building. The server room was on the nineteenth floor, but there also seemed to be a smaller one on the top floor. It would be wise of them to keep separate records of the legitimate business and the illegal if they needed to wipe it before anyone could get into it. While this computer was on their network, it was a looped circuit that didn’t go out of a certain predetermined limit. Whoever set this up was good, but let’s see if they’re as good as I am.

Shoving back from the desk, I headed for the elevator and took it to the top floor, bypassing the larger one. The things I was specifically wanting wouldn’t be out in the open. They would want it buried under so much stuff you’d overlook it at first glance. At least, that’s how I’d do it.

What I wouldn’t kill for my laptop right now. I seriously needed to invest in something I set up to take with me on jobs like this. Although, in theory, shit like this would be over once we take down Marco, and the world knows we’ll happily burn them down, too, if they fuck with us. Part of me felt like it would be kind of boring to go back to what we considered normal life. Dax would laugh her ass off if she knew I thought that after all my nagging for her to slow down.

Glancing on my phone at the map I took a picture of, I stopped where there should be a door. Frowning, I looked at the hall, not seeing a door anywhere. As in not a single door at all in this whole hall, like it was some escape-room bullshit trying to find the hidden entrance. According to the building records, this floor should have a few offices, a conference room, and this small server room, yet I was seeing none of it.

The hall was way wider than it needed to be, almost like you could drive a truck down it with room to spare. Slowly, I walked to one end, then the other, and back again, looking for any seams or breaks in whatever material the walls were made of. Then I spotted something with the way a shadow fell across it, showing a crack. Lifting a hand, I ran my finger along the stop feeling what I couldn’t see.

“What’s this, some James Bond movie?” I muttered aloud as I pressed on the section hearing the snick of something releasing.

Removing my hand, the panel was now more visible as it wasn’t locked in place. Flipping up the cover, I found a keypad requesting a nine-digit code. Fuck, what are the chances that Tommaso would know what this was? If it were me, I’d give two, maybe three chances to get it right before locking down and wiping the drives. Better to lose what could be used against you than end up in jail for life or on death row.

Gritting my teeth, I knew I would need to make a call I didn’t want to. Scrolling through my contacts, I hit the number I needed and waited. I was never going to live this down.

“Please tell me you have something interesting for us to do. I get we need to lay low but damn, this isn’t the life I was meant to live,” Ghost said dramatically as he answered the phone. “Harper is my everything, and we need to end this fast so we can get back to some sense of normal and find a real place to live. We’ve stayed in some interesting places, but this isn’t it, my friend.”

“Are you done yet?” I cut in.