Page 49 of Cartel King

“You’re absolutely certain you’re fine,sobrino?”

“Sí, tío.You don’t have to worry about Mama knocking down your door to come after you because I got a hair out of place.”

“Good. Your mama isn’t too fond of me right now, and I don’t need her having an excuse to fillet me in my sleep.”

My sister got pissed like a shaken hive when she discovered where Alejandro went. She knows he’s a fluent Portuguese speaker, but she still doesn’t like it. He blends in, which is a blessing and a curse. It means he can pass for a local and doesn’t stand out in a crowd. However, because he can pass for a local, it’s easy for anyone to assume he’s in a cartel. They just don’t know which one. They wouldn’t know he’s in a Colombian one, not a Brazilian one.

When he travels to Colombia, everyone knows who he is between the reputation he’s earned for himself and how much he looks like me. He could pass for my son rather than my nephew. It only takes one look to know we’re related. That makes him untouchable in the countries we do business with down there. However, Brazil’s cartels don’t have the same hierarchy as those in Colombia. His rank within our cartel doesn’t have the same significance to them.

Incarcerated men lead most of the Brazilian cartels.Donospay insurance money to them for protection outside the jails. The men in prison have far longer reaches than those who are free. They’re the ones who can keep people safe.

There’s nojefeat the top of their food chain. There’s no equivalent to Alejandro, either. That makes my sister understandably worried and unhappy when he has to go there, which fortunately is infrequent.

“Tío, I caught a glimpse of the person as they pulled the van door shut. It was someone young. I couldn’t tell any specific features about the guy, but whoever he is has been trained well and has practiced a lot in the short time they could’ve been working. I’d guess they’re younger than me.”

That would put whoever this is in their mid to late twenties. It’s not impossible for a mercenary to have the skills Alejandro described at a young age, but very few can not only shoot that well, but break down their gear, be out the door and into a vehicle as fast as Alejandro described. That part takes the longest to master.

Luis is listening to the call as well since we’re in his office this evening. Margherita wasn’t feeling well today, so I came over instead of expecting him to leave his wife.

“What do you want me to do,mano? Do we look at this as a blessing in disguise?”

“Hardly. Tommaso’ll be blowing up my phone by morning, expecting me to thank him for fixing a problem he created. Alejandro, get to the airport and come straight home.”

“All right,tío.”

It pisses me off that he’s leaving empty-handed. He’s not coming back with any of the money, and he doesn’t have any of the product either. I’ve been working on the latter, and I didn’t fully expect the former, but it would have been nice.

Luis, Alejandro, and I say our goodbyes with our round of “te amos” before I hang up. I look at my brother and sigh.

“Do you know who this shooter could be?”

Luis frowns and shakes his head. “No, but I want to. They should be on our payroll. I’d rather they work for us than one of us taking a bullet from them.”

“Have Joaquin find out who it is and strike up a deal. I doubt this person is Brazilian. My guess is American, English, or Russian.”

“Do you think the bratva discovered Ignacio’s fuck-up and cleaned house?”

“No, I don’t think it was them. But it could be an unaffiliated Russian who’s just work for hire.”

“If that’s who it turns out to be, how do you want to handle it with Maksim?”

I consider that for a moment. “If we get this person to work exclusively for us, then there’s nothing to say to him. If this person refuses, then they’re a threat to us. We don’t tell Maks anything. He can go fuck himself. We take this person out, so there’s no next time around. I won’t risk them not sparing one of our boys.”

“All right.” Luis is already shooting off a text as he speaks.

It’s late, and I’m exhausted, so I head home. I’m about to pull into my neighborhood when I get a text from Carlos.

She’s home.

My lips twitch, and so does my cock. I want to turn around and head to mychiquita’shouse, but she’s probably exhausted too. I don’t know that she wants a reminder I have men guarding her, which means they’re watching her. If she thinks they report everything she does to me, it’ll freak her out.

But I have an overwhelming need to see her. I don’t want to wait until tomorrow morning. Part of me wonders though, how long it will take for her to ask Andrés or Carlos to let me know she’s back.

I pull into my garage as my phone pings again. I live in a gated community and on a gated property. I’m still waiting for the garage to shut all the way before I turn off the engine. I unlock my phone as I hit the ignition button. It’s a screenshot, much like the one Andrés sent me last week.

Can you please tell el jefe I’m home and I’m safe and sound?

I glance at my watch as I walk into my house. It’s nearly two in the morning. It’s an odd time for her to get home. I can’t think of too many flights that would arrive after midnight if they were coming into Newark or JFK, and LaGuardia stops inbound flights around eleven.

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