A young guy with a goatee answered and looked around. “Just you guys?” he asked.
“Just us, Mikey,” Steven said. “Open up.”
The young guy, Mikey, nodded. He was wearing a black chef’s outfit with the wide loose pants and button-down shirt. All he needed was the classic chef’s hat, but that was missing from the ensemble.
“Is he here yet?” I asked.
Mikey nodded. “Sitting at the bar. He came early.”
“Smart guy,” I said. “You mind bringing out something to eat?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Mikey looked nervous, shifting from foot to foot. “Hey, Dante, you sure this is okay? No trouble, right? I heard things are going down and I’m just a little nervous, you know? This is a good job, I don’t want to lose it.”
I patted him on the shoulder and took a right. There was a small flight of stairs that descended into the bar area. Sitting on a stool in the very center was a short guy with light brown skin, dark black hair, and brown eyes. He wore jeans and a button-down black shirt. He stood and inclined his head as I approached him with Aida just behind me.
“Gerardo,” I said.
“Hello, Dante.” He had a thin face and a wiry build, and I could see tattoos on his wrists and hands, though none were visible on his neck or face. “Nice place you got here.”
“Not mine,” I said. “But the chef is a friend, so he hooks me up. Come on, sit down. You want a drink?”
“Nah, I’m good. Maybe coffee if they got it.”
I gestured to Aida and she stepped forward. I noticed Gerardo’s eyes moved down her body and an appreciative smile came to his lips.
“This is Aida,” I said. “She’s mine. She’ll be listening in. And you know Steven.”
Gerardo pulled his gaze from Aida and nodded to Steven. “What’s up, man?”
“Hey, Gerardo. Thanks for coming.”
“Well, when the biggest, baddest Capo in the Leone Family comes calling, I gotta pick up.” Gerardo sat down and I went behind the bar. I found the coffee machine, took a second to figure out how it worked, and found some ground coffee in a drawer underneath the bar. I got it brewing a minute later.
“I hope you know we’ve been very appreciative of your assistance lately,” I said to Gerardo. Aida sat at the bar a few stools down from Gerardo, leaning forward and showing off even more of her breasts. I couldn’t help but smirk a bit as Gerardo kept sneaking glances in her direction. Steven sat at a table behind Gerardo, and I thought I saw him playing with something in his waistband, probably his Glock.
“Anything, anything, man,” Gerardo said. “We don’t like war, war’s expensive and what’s the point of killing if all it does is bring down heat, right? We want peace on the streets, especially now that we’re moving into this territory.”
“I’m not sure your bosses see it that way,” I said, still on the other side of the bar. Mikey came out a moment later with a platter of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and waffles. He placed it down and nodded at me then hurried into the back.
Gerardo laughed at the food and ate some bacon. “Good friend, man,” he said.
I poured him some coffee when it finished. “My Don spoke to me about your organization,” I said, steering the conversation to business.
Gerardo sipped the coffee. “Yeah? Did he?”
“The Don told me that your organization isn’t happy that I interrupted your deal with Vlas.”
Gerardo frowned. “Not what I heard.”
“Tell me what you heard.”
“You made a good offer, man,” Gerardo said. “Vlas was hard to work with, kept making demands, changing terms, pushing timelines back. My boss was getting fucking sick of him, man, and when you came along offering to buy him out, my boss was like, yeah, fuck it. Let’s fucking go for it, right? You Italians, man, you’re a bunch of violent bastards, but at least you pay on time and don’t fuck around on the details.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “That sounds about right.”
“So I don’t know what your Don is hearing or whatever, but I’m telling you, man, this is a good thing. My boss is happy, he just wants to set shit up with you and get paid, you know?”
“That works for me,” I said. “I need to get approval from my Don, but I’m ready to start taking shipments from your people, and the price still stands.”
“Good man, good. Well, shit, this was an easy meeting.” Gerardo grinned at me.
Aida leaned toward the two of us and spoke up. “But Dante’s forgetting something,” she said.
Gerardo turned to her. “What’s that, girl?”
“He’s forgetting why we’re here. We want Vlas, and we want him right now. If you want any of this to move forward, we need his location. We can’t be doing big deals with any cartel with an enemy still at our back.”
Gerardo looked shocked that she spoke like that then turned to stare at me. “This bitch for real?” he asked.
I put both my hands on the bar top and leaned toward him. “Yes, she’s for real,” I said. “And if you call her a bitch again, I’ll cut your throat out. Understood?”
Gerardo gaped at me then burst out laughing. “Fuck, man, you Italians. Like I said, violent bastards. But all right, all right. She’s your girl, I respect it.”
“We need Vlas’s location,” I said. “You want anything to happen with me and my family, I need to know where Vlas is.”
“I hear you.” He sipped his coffee, playing for time, a little smile on his lips again. “Here’s the thing, man. I know you’ve been making offers out on the street for Vlas, you hear me? I know he’s worth a lot to you. And now you want me to just give him up. Seems stupid, right?”
“I’ll offer you fifty grand,” I said. “That’s the friends and family price.”
He laughed. “I can’t take your
