Page 49 of Tempted By the Devil

“Heads.”

He gives an impressed nod. “I saw ’em. Very clean cut. Maurizio’s other calling might have been a butcher.”

“Exactly why I’ve kept him on my crew.”

“I’ve got news for you too. Some intel from the streets. Do you want the good part or bad part first?”

I sip from my Campari soda and shoot Adagio a chastising look. He knows better than to play these games with me when he has pertinent information.

We’re in the thick of this war with Tuco and on the verge of winning the psychedelic drug we’ve been battling over.

Nectar is the newest party drug that all the club goers and drug fanatics will salivate over.

It’s the modern day version of ambrosia, liquid gold in a tiny glass vial. One taste, and you’ll feel one of the most intense, deeply euphoric highs humanly possible.

I’ve never done a drug in my life and don’t plan on starting anytime soon, but our taste-testers claim the world becomes a kaleidoscope of pleasure beyond comprehension.

It’s like entering some new realm that feels like the furthest thing from reality.

Production takes months and must be done in a strictly temperature-controlled room. The process starts with a rare fungus called Mycophylla Auranta that only grows in certain parts of the country. The fungi has a thick stalk and shallow bowl-shaped cap with fissures that secrete a sap-like golden substance that often glows in the dark.

It can be very delicate and inconsistent if not cultivated properly in the exact right environments, which is why we have to wait ’til after the product is ready for transport.

The mycologists on our payroll extract the thick syrupy substance from the fungi, then our cooks use it and other ingredients to concoct the psychedelic. The liquid is made to look even prettier, packaged up in an appealing manner in the vials, then shipped off to Newport.

Patience and attention to detail are key in the growing, extracting, and cooking phases. Discretion once we’ve reached the transitory stage.

When we first discovered the potential of Mycophylla Auranta, Vito demanded we build the labs right in Newport. He hated that we had to risk shipping the precious cargo across several states, and the fact that it took so long to produce in the first place.

That’s always been his problem—impatience and irrationality.

He caught wind of the fact that the Tucos were developing their own version of Nectar called Honey, and he wanted our product to be out first on the streets and in all the hot clubs.

I’m trying my damnedest to make that happen, but wrenches keep getting thrown in the way.

Adagio gets the hint from my lack of answer to his question and throws himself down in the wingback armchair nearest him.

“The good news is that we’ve got the next shipment coming in. We’ve already got guys for the pickup and transfer.”

“Guys who won’t fuck it up like the last time?”

“I still don’t know how Tuco found out about it,” Adagio says with a begrudging note in his voice. “Which brings me to the bad part—there’s gotta be an insider somewhere in our chain.”

I sip from the Campari soda. “Explain.”

“We’ve got reason to believe somebody’s been talking to the press.”

“How would you know this?”

“Our insider at the NPPD told us that part,” he says. “They’ve been asking too many questions. Some of the things they’ve mentioned are things they’d only know if they had their own insider in our org.”

I hum to his speculation, sitting behind my desk to think. It wouldn’t be the first time we had a traitor in our midst. But I’d thought I’d made myself clear after the last time—traitors meet the most gruesome fate of all.

A fate that would make the Plaza shooters beheadings look like a fun play date. If someone among my ranks has turned coat, to say they’ll suffer is putting it mildly.

“When you say they’re speaking to the press, you mean Metro News, yes?”

Adagio scratches at his mop of golden hair. It’s always made him stand out—his hair being lighter than the typical Sicilian. “That’s where things get complicated. Our insider at the NPPD said Metro News isn’t the only one poking around. The traitor could be speaking to multiple media outlets.”

---