AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Viktor’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, looking at the caller ID, then he looked to me. “It’s Chen,” he said, as he handed me the phone.
I answered it, putting it on speaker so they could all hear. “Hey, Chen, what’s up?”
“Sephie, my girl. I hope I’m not calling too early?” he said.
“Not at all, Chen. Did you find more info?”
“I did. I think you’re going to want to hear this,” he said. I glanced up at the worried faces around me. “The dealers are organizing against Sal. Word got out that they were planning on replacing the supply with brawn and, well, they’re pissed.”
“Organizing how?” I asked.
“They’re planning on trying to stop Sal’s plan, by any means necessary. They’re scouring the city now, trying to find where they’re making the brawn.”
“How many dealers are we talking about here, Chen?”
“All of them, Sephie. Every single dealer that has found out about this is refusing to go along with the plan. They’re all still mad about the last time brawn was around. It killed a lot of people. There was a lot of tension between the dealers and the bosses during that. The bosses kept pushing it, especially Sal from what I’ve heard, but the dealers eventually refused to sell it anymore,” he said.
Ivan said quietly in Russian, “We can use this to our advantage.” Everyone nodded in agreement.
“How organized are the dealers? Are there clear leaders we can work with?” I asked.
“Yeah, they organized quick. There’s a few guys that are taking the lead. They belong to different bosses, so there’s no clear loyalty to any one boss,” he said.
Adrik’s phone rang in his pocket. He looked at it, mouthing “Trino” as he stepped away to take the call. I looked at Ivan and Viktor, knowing what they were already thinking.
“Chen, do you think we can set up a meeting with these guys? We can work together to stop this. We’ve got the information they’re looking for already, but we need more manpower.”
“I think that’s possible. One of Trino’s guys, the one that I had to drop your name to, is one of the guys in charge. After he called Trino and he vouched for me, that guy has welcomed me into the inner circle, if you will. He’s the one that the other dealers defer to, so I’ll ask him if he’s willing to work with you guys,” he said.
“Ask him, please. I can already tell you the answer will be yes, but ask him. We need to set up a meeting. This could be beneficial for both parties,” I said. I glanced at Misha, waiting for confirmation. He nodded his head, which made me smile.
“Okay, I’ll see him tonight and I’ll get back to you.”
“Chen, you’re the best,” I said.
“Public servant, my girl,” he said, laughing. “I’ll call you again tonight or in the morning.”
We ended the call and I handed Viktor his phone back. We waited for Adrik to come back from his call with Trino. I was assuming that Trino would’ve told Adrik the same information that we just got from Chen.
While we waited, I took the opportunity to check on Misha. He put his arm around my shoulders as I slid my arm around his waist. I looked up at him, as sternly as I could. “Better, my adorable Russian guardian?”
He smiled his million-dollar smile as he nodded his head. “I mean, I still feel bad about it, but less bad.” I reached over and pinched his ribs hard with my free hand. He jumped. “Okay, okay! No bad. I feel no bad, I swear.”
“Good,” I said, leaning my head against his shoulder. He laughed as he hugged me tightly while we waited on Adrik. We could hear him laughing with Trino, so we knew it couldn’t be all bad news.
He walked back to us soon after. “Did Trino tell you what Chen just told us?” Viktor asked, slightly amused.
“He did. He thought he was going to tell me something I didn’t know yet. You should’ve heard the cursing when he found out I already knew. Then I told him it was through Sephie that we found out and he went on like a five-minute rant about how he couldn’t find a woman like her in Colombia. He’s considering coming up here to see if he can find one. He said he’s getting desperate,” Adrik said, laughing.
“Just as long as he didn’t bring up his kidnapping plan again,” I said, walking to Adrik.
Ivan clearly bristled. “His what now?”
Adrik couldn’t help but laugh more. “Don’t worry, Ivan. He won’t really go through with it, but he did say he was going to actively try and steal Sephie. He’s tried to convince her to come down there in front of me too. I think he’s lonely.” Adrik put his hands on my hips and pulled me back against him, so I could still look at everyone while we talked.
Ivan cursed under his breath, which made me laugh. “Don’t worry, Super Squish. It worried me too. The list of people who’d like to kidnap me seems to be growing, rather than shrinking. I just wish I knew how to be less awesome,” I said dramatically. I ended up making myself laugh with that one, which made everyone laugh.
“So, Trino knows the dealers are organizing and want to stop this plan as much as we do?” Viktor asked.
