lives. You will exact vengeance for all the victims.”
“He started with Monica because of her husband, the doctor.”
“Yes. We could not have you kill the doctor. It would be too easy to link Victor to the crime. There is a saying: ‘If you would hurt your enemy, punish the one he loves.’ Since Monica was innocent, we gave her a choice: live in captivity or die in the van.”
“And she chose life.”
Victor and Hugo nodded together.
“But you knew the Fathis planned to kill her.”
Hugo and Victor nodded together. Hugo clarified, “We knew they would not use proper restraint. We knew they would not give her time to recover.”
“So why have you involved me in all of this?” I asked.
“We’ve got big plans for you, Mr. Creed.”
“Such as?”
“You’re going to help us take over the world.”
“Well, why not,” I said. Then, for whatever reason, I thought of Joe DeMeo. I said, “I’d love to help you take over the world and all, but I’m going to be busy robbing and killing a very powerful crime boss.”
Victor said, “Maybe … we can … help.”
I thought about that a minute and said, “You probably could. You hijacked a spy satellite. Do you have access to drones?”
“Killer drones?” Hugo asked. “Loaded? That is impossible.”
I laughed. Maybe they weren’t as crazy as I’d thought. “I was thinking maybe you could divert one of the weather drones off the coast of California or a surveillance one flying between Alaska and Russia.”
“To where?”
“Hills of LA,” I said. “Just for a few minutes.”
Hugo walked to the other end of the room with his cell phone. He was gone a couple of minutes. When he came back, he looked at Victor and nodded. Victor nodded back. “Yeah,” Hugo said, “we can do that.”
“Really?” I asked.
Hugo nodded.
“What will it cost me?”
“What’s … the … take?” Victor said.
“Tens of millions, I think. If we do it right.”
Victor thought a moment before replying. “We … don’t want … the … mon … ey,” he said. “We’d … ra … ther bank … the fa … vor.”
“Works for me,” I said. Then I dialed Joe DeMeo’s number.
“Well, you said you’d call,” DeMeo said. “So it must be Tuesday.”
“You killed a lot of people in that hotel trying to blow me up,” I said.
“Creed, listen to me. If you’re still worrying about that ten million for the burned kid, I got a better idea. I did some checking,” he said. “Turns out she’s got all kinds of life-threatening injuries, so I’m wondering maybe we should see if she survives before you and me ruin a good relationship.”
“She’s well-protected, Joe.”
“Yeah, I heard your giant was there. A face like that, he ought to fit in with the rest of the burn patients.”
We were quiet awhile. Then he said, “Are we done here or is there something else you want to say?”
I said, “I’m coming to get you, Joe.”
“Oh yeah?” he said. Then he laughed. “You and what army?”
I looked at Victor and Hugo, thought about the guys holding the gun and detonator under the table, thought about the mini scientists who could hijack spy satellites and create an antidote for the deadliest poison known to man. I thought about the dwarf who worked on the White House kitchen staff.
I nodded at Victor. He winked at me and nodded back.
“I got a hell of an army,” I told Joe DeMeo.
Hugo’s posture went ramrod straight, and his chest swelled with pride. He saluted me.
I hung up the phone. Hugo said, “Well? What did he say? Did he laugh when you said that part about the army? I bet he laughed. Tell me he laughed. Just say it, just tell me he laughed and I’ll kill the son of a bitch with my bare hands. I’ll rip his ears off his head. I’ll …”
“He laughed,” I said.
Hugo looked at Victor. “They always laugh,” he said. He seemed to instantly deflate.
“Don’t let it get you down,” I said. “They don’t know what they’re up against.”
“Ac … tually … they … don’t,” Victor said.
