“Dom, still no word on Jonah. However, Matt said that the last signal trace from Jonah’s comms was at his family house shortly after he posted bail. Apparently, he had been speaking to a colleague for three minutes and five seconds. We don’t know what the call was about, but Matt is currently trying to retrieve that call from a secured database,” Alex said.
“That’s good. Look, since we haven’t heard from Jonah, send our guys in to take one of the children,” I said.
Around 12:30 we decided to take a break. I needed some fresh air, so I suggested that we should head to Sergio’s for lunch. Brandon called Sergio’s to let them know we were on our way.
When we arrived at Sergio’s, a table had been set for us. As we walked towards our table, people who were having lunch paused and either gave me a nod or stood up to say hello. I shook as many hands as I could before sitting down, and we spent our time there discussing sports and politics. As we were talking among ourselves, I couldn’t help but think that it would be advantageous to get a few more politicians in our corner. None of the stuff I was presently going through would have happened if I was connected to a few more politicians. One of our immediate agendas would be to reach out to politicians across the Nations and figure out a way to win them over.
“Dom, the thing we spoke about just before coming here…” Chris said.
“Yeah…” I replied
“It’s done,” Chris said.
“Good. Someone needs to have the conversation with the kid to see if they know where our friend is,” I whispered.
“I’ve already sent someone,” said Alex.
“Well done, Alex. Okay then, let’s head back to the office and wrap things up. Joe, I guess you can go now. Unless there is something else you need to share, of course,” I said.
“Nope, I’m going to head back to my office to do some more work on the case. See you later Dom. Alex, Chris…” Joe said.
“See you, Joe,” Alex said.
“Yeah, see you, bud,” said Chris.
The people in the restaurant posed a risk, and I wasn’t sure Sergio’s was a hundred percent bug free, so we went back to the office where we could speak freely. When we got back, I made my intention for Jonah’s kid very clear. I didn’t know Jonah’s wife or kids; I didn’t know if the person we took was male or female. What I did know was that if he or she didn’t know where their dad was, our foot soldiers would spread the word. If Jonah still refused to make himself available, we would kill the kid within twenty-four hours. If after killing the first kid Jonah still didn’t come out of hiding, we would kill the rest of his family. I didn’t want things to go down this route, and I normally wouldn’t involve women or children in Assembly business. It was a tough decision, but one I had to make, all the same. We couldn’t show weakness, we had to let people know what happened to those who crossed us.
“I just don’t understand people, you know. Jonah knew the score, why would he put his family through this?” I said.
“Some people are just selfish; they only care about themselves. People like this, they are cut from a different cloth from us. No Honour, no integrity,” Chris said.
“That’s right, Chris. Honour is just an empty word now, and it seems integrity has also become non-existent. Seriously though, we have to make sure the conspiracy charge goes away,” I said.
“Don’t worry, the foot soldiers have been dispatched,” Alex said.
“So, cocaine. How are we doing numbers-wise?” I asked.
“Not bad, the numbers are good. People are gradually going back to the old-school stuff now instead of synthetics,” Alex said.
“That’s good news, I guess. Things will probably change if we’re able to successfully complete Matt Harrington’s Project Neon. We should probably start thinking about how to kick off the project. We can probably use the proceeds from the coke,” I said.
“Sounds like a good idea, Dom,” Chris said.
“Are we sure we’ll be able to cover the cost?” Alex asked.
“Alex, what is up with you, what’s up with the negativity?” I said, raising my voice for the second time in one day.
“Hey, I’m just saying…” replied Alex.
“Yeah, okay. I’m done here, I’m going home, guys,” I said.
After I got home, I spent the entire evening thinking about the decision I made on Jonah’s kid. This really bothered me. I felt like I had become desensitized to a lot of the things that had happened over the years. Things couldn’t carry on like this. The following day, I would be giving the order to spare the kid’s life.
I had been thinking about moving my dad’s coffin to Milwaukee from Miami. I wanted to have him buried at the far end of our estate near the plot of land by the river. The
