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“Do I want to know what Trino has said about me this time?” she asked Gus after seeing his smile.
Gus laughed. “He sings your praises anytime he hears your name.” He looked at me. “Yours too, sir. Trino doesn’t like many people, but he likes both of you. It’s very obvious to anyone who’s known him for very long.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I’m also very thankful that he made it out okay yesterday. That’s one reason why we called you here. We need to move quickly. I’m worried that the Mexicans are going to start a war with Trino and I’d like to be able to offer my help if that happens. I need to take care of the other bosses here first though,” I said. I glanced to Ivan who put his arm around Sephie’s shoulders. I squeezed her hand once before walking toward Gus, DJ, and Oscar.
“I’m assuming you guys already have a plan for how to take out the warehouses?” Gus asked.
“Indeed. We’d like to hit them all at the same time, which makes it problematic for us. We need your help to make this simultaneous,” I said.
“What are we talking about here? How are we ensuring the warehouses won’t be a problem any longer? Fire? Raining bullets? Bombs? Flood of Biblical proportions? What’s the catastrophe of choice?” Oscar asked.
I heard Sephie chuckle quietly behind me. I could feel her relaxing more now that she’d seen him speak. Andrei spoke up to answer his question. “Bombs. The two smaller warehouses are easily accessed. You guys will take care of those. The warehouse at the docks is crawling with Sal’s people. It’s going to be harder to get close enough to that one to plant explosives, so we’ll take care of that one.”
Oscar looked at Andrei. “You can make them all go boom at once. We can still plant the explosives on the smaller warehouses, but then be available to help at the docks. I’ve seen firsthand how many of Sal’s guys are at the docks. That’s a big job. You’re going to need extra help there.”
“Remote charges aren’t as reliable as I’d like,” Andrei said.
“You can confirm with Trino because you shouldn’t take my word for it, but I figured out a reliable system in Colombia for remote charges. Worked like a charm every time. I’ll show you how. That’s why Trino sent me here,” Oscar said. “Then, we can set the smaller warehouses to go boom at exactly the same time as the one at the docks. Maximum chaos. That strategy is what helped Trino rise to power in Colombia.”
“Of course, Trino would send us his explosives expert,” Sephie said in Russian. “If it turns out I was wrong about him, I’m going to kill him myself for making me like him so much.”
We all laughed, which put the dealers at ease. “We’ll check with Trino. No offense, of course,” I said to Oscar.
“None taken, Jefe. He told me to tell Sephie that my flair for the dramatic was almost as good as his should you question whether I was telling the truth,” he said.
“Point in your favor, Oscar,” Sephie said in English.
I grabbed her hand, pulling her to the bedroom while I called Trino to confirm Oscar was telling us the truth. This time, he picked up on the first ring. “Jefe, que pasa?”
“Trino, did you send your explosives expert up here?” I asked.
“Si, Jefe. Oscar. He’s been one of my trusted guys for years. He was instrumental in my rise to power too.”
“Trino, if it turns out I was wrong about you and you’re not this awesome in real life, I’m going to kill you myself for making me like you so fucking much,” Sephie said. She sounded serious, but she had a wicked glint in her eye when she said it.
“Miha. I would never lie to you. I’m really this awesome. Maybe not as awesome as Jefe, but I need a goal to aspire to,” he said, laughing. “I’m guessing you’re moving forward on your plans to get rid of the brawn if you’ve met Oscar?”
“Yeah, I want to move quickly. I’m worried you’re facing a war and want to be available to help. We should be able to move quickly. Brawn first, bosses next.”
“Good. I could use Oscar when he’s done there.”
We ended the call soon after. Sephie looked more relaxed than she had when we first got to the apartment. “Your thoughts on Oscar so far?” I asked.
“I feel like he’s telling the truth, but not just because Trino confirmed it for us. I think he can be trusted,” she said. She was still feeling unsure, but I could also tell that she was trying to be confident. I pulled her to me, holding her tightly. “Misha and Andrei were right, love. You’ve been right more times than you’ve been wrong. I’ve come to rely on your unique set of skills and I still have complete confidence in them. When you can’t feel confident in yourself, you can borrow mine,” I said. I felt her inhale deeply and her body completely relaxed. She looked up at me, that spark that I love so much evident in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said sweetly. She stood on her toes, pressing her lips to mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face in my neck. She stayed there for a few moments before finally relaxing her hold on me. “We should get back,” she said reluctantly.
“One more minute,” I said, pulling her back to me as she giggled at me. She didn’t resist. She just rested her head against my chest as I held her close.
The guys had been working on revising the plan while Sephie and I were in the bedroom. They heard Trino’s confirmation on the phone through their earpieces, so they knew Oscar could be trusted. He was giving Andrei a tutorial on how he set up remote detonation to work reliably when we walked back out to the living room.
Oscar looked to us, expectantly. Sephie smiled at him. “We appreciate you being here, Oscar. Especially given what Trino’s facing at the moment. We promise to get you back to Colombia as quickly as possible. He’s going to need you again,” she said.
While Oscar had seemed relaxed the entire time he’d been in the apartment, he was visibly relieved that he got Sephie’s approval. “Trino told me how important your opinion of me was. I’m glad I’m in,” he said, smiling broadly at her.
“Knowing Trino, he also told you what will happen if you ever betray us. Whatever he told you, I can guarantee it was not an embellishment,” she said. She crossed her arms across her chest, looking at him seriously.
Oscar laughed. “He did tell me. I’m not that stupid. You have nothing to worry about,” he said as he went back to the conversation with Andrei about how to set up the detonators.
We eventually came to an agreement on a new plan for the three warehouses. The only variable we weren’t entirely sure on yet was Sephie. Ivan and I had discussed it briefly before, but neither of us liked the options we came up with. We had discussed leaving Ivan with her at the penthouse, but that left them vulnerable and we needed him at the warehouse. He briefly discussed bringing her with us, but I wasn’t happy about that plan either. I didn’t like the idea of putting her in danger just to keep her close to me. She hadn’t brought it up again, but I knew she was still worrying about it.
