Page 20 of DOG Part 2
8
Kane
Ileanedagainst the desk in my office, pressing my fists into the polished wood. Outside, the night was quickly encroaching, extinguishing the day. The day that my best friend had died.
Every bit of me felt numb. I had been through loss before. I had felt the kind of pain that made the strongest man swear he would never find a way to go on.
When Amanda had been killed it had been a crushing weight pushing me down and a clawed hand tearing my heart out all at the same time. This time it was a horrible numbness that felt like ice.
Deuce was dead. It had happened so suddenly, on one of the days that it had seemed most impossible. We had gone to negotiate a peace treaty. There weren’t supposed to be any guns drawn, anyone dead.
Yet that was what it had come to.
From behind me, Banner groaned as he leaned back in the easy chair. He’d insisted on being there for the meeting, and so I’d carried him in carefully from down the hall, him cursing and swearing the entire way.
Skate, Tom, and Kyle milled about the small room, looking as crazy as I felt. I almost snapped at Kyle to quit it with the tapping against the wall, but I cooled it just in time. We were all going through Hell. Maybe my pain could help me be a little more understanding rather than short.
“What are you going to tell him?” Skate asked, his fist hooked under his chin as he stared at me intently.
“Everything that I need to. We can’t declare war on another gang without DiEmanuele’s knowledge.”
“They’ve already declared war on us,” Banner pointed out.
“The Arroyos Bandidos don’t answer to DiEmanuele,” I answered, still not moving. “We can’t engage in open attacks without letting him know. He trusts us to manage his business and that means that we can’t afford to be sneaky.”
“And then what next?” Skate asked.
“We make it easy. We take out Chavez. That may be all that’s needed. After that the Arroyos Bandidos, if they’re as low numbered as I think they are right now, will likely just surrender.”
There was a knock on the door and Tom opened it to reveal Connor, one of the youngest members of the gang.
“Mr. DiEmanuele is here,” he said simply, before moving aside and disappearing.
DiEmanuele entered the room with two of his men flanking him. He was a tall, muscled man in his sixties with sleek black hair and a usually calm demeanor. Today he looked nervous, his eyes shifting around the room to take everyone in before he even took a step through the doorway. Something twisted in my gut the second I saw him, but I worked to keep my cool and not respond at all.
“Banner,” he nodded at Banner before addressing me. “Hello Angelo.”
“Thank you for coming,” I answered, stepping around the desk. “Please have a seat.”
“I’m fine, thank you. I have to be leaving shortly. I have a meeting downtown.”
I hesitated, a bit put off by his reluctance to sit. Still hiding my suspicions, I only nodded sharply. “I’ll make this brief. The Arroyos Bandidos have been targeting us.”
DiEmanuele pursed his lips slowly. “So I’ve heard.”
“They shot Banner here and they just killed my second.” My throat constricted but I forced myself to go on. “When in fact, we had met them to work out an agreement..”
“What do you need from me?”
“All I need is your blessing to target them, to take out Chavez.”
“You don’t need to run that by me.”
“I thought it necessary. We’re honest with you about all of our dealings and a war with a rival gang could affect business,” I answered, wondering why on Earth everyone else seemed so resistant to take the simple path of truth.
DiEmanuele nodded and crossed his arms. “All right then. Makes sense. Do what you want with Chavez. Just make sure you’re quick and quiet about it.”
“We will be.”
