“Damn straight,” Angel said.“I shall shower and, Papa, we will begin my training as your guard!Those bastards aren't ready for me!”
“Neither am I,” Eduardo said, sighing softly.
Chapter 7-Power
There were times ina man's life when he longed for his younger days of being carefree and able to do as he pleased.A man, with a vast amount of power, often felt the freedom to come and go as he wished, answering to few, if anyone, but days like those vanished when in a leadership position.Eduardo Delgado missed those days of freedom.Currently, he was sitting in a large church, barely full, watching his idiot baby brother, Carlos, get married.
She was a sweet woman with dancing eyes, naturally full pouty lips, and an extra pinky finger on her left hand.It dangled when she spoke, and she talked a great deal with her hands.Twice, Eduardo had to hit Micah, who seemed fixated on the dangly piece of flesh as it jangled and wiggled like a wattle on a rooster.
There were also times he despised the cartel, pairing people up like props, but in this case, it was a good match for his brother.Role Bolsonaro, The Golden Lancehead of Brazil, was a deadly viper with a den of equally deadly offspring.He had fathered eight children with his wife: six sons and two daughters.One daughter had been violated by Eduardo’s brother-in-law, forcing Eleon Fernandez to take drastic steps against his son.The other daughter, married a cousin of the Czar of Uruguay.The six sons of The Golden Lancehead of Brazil, ran the Brazilian cartel along with Role’s five, very mean, tattoo-emblazoned brothers.
Carlos, like Micah, was a tattooed member of the cartel, but he didn't manage any territories, run any crews, or handle any products.Educated in the States at Stanford and obtaining a Juris Doctorate in International Law, Carlos served as council for the cartel whenever legal advice was needed.His marriage wasn't to one of Role's children, but to the Czar’s niece, Role’s fourth brother’s daughter; the brother, Heitor, oversaw Fortaleza in Ceara, Brazil.It was Heitor's daughter that Carlos was marrying.
The entire family did not come for her wedding.There was no train of bridesmaids, and Eduardo and Tonda served as Carlos's groomsmen.A small reception was held afterward at the familial home, and a house had been built for Carlos and Alessandra in Maracanaú, where they would live for the better part of the year when not in Colombia.
Carlos was happy with his bride.She listened to him with reverence as he spoke, touching him frequently and smiling often.The match seemed to be a good pairing, and once Carlos met Alessandra, he didn't balk at the union, but rather embraced it, as if the work he needed to do in the world suddenly made sense.
What didn't make sense to Eduardo was his third-born, a man with a scientific mind and passions he didn't quite understand.He watched Micah on the dance floor with his new Aunt by marriage, polite in the distance and dance, but he also watched him on the dance floor with Alita, polite in his distance, but the touch and way he held her rang of familiarity.
As Carlos and the bride departed for their honeymoon, Eduardo loaded his family on a plane, and then made his way home via his underground networks.Angel, as his newly appointed guard, traveled along with him, armed with darts loaded with dart frog venom and knives laced with the poison as well.
“Angel, how are things going?”Eduardo asked.
“Okay, I guess,” Angel said, looking at the people on the bus.“Why are we on this stinky bus, Papa?”
“We are of the people, we live by the people, and we are one with our culture,” Eduardo corrected.
“I'd rather be one with the private plane, eating shrimp,” Angel said.“The lady next to me smells like shrimp.Maybe fish.Papa, do you think that is hercucasmelling like that?”
“Angel, be quiet,” Eduardo said.
“I had a paramour that had a smellycuca,” he said.“I told Yuñior to send her back.Hercucahad gone bad.”
“Ay dios mio,” Eduardo mumbled.“Are you ready to return to school in September without Micah?”
“No,” he said, looking at his father.“Save your money.Most of the time in class they make us color with crayons.I am a man.I have animals to care for and chores on the farm.I don't need to go back there.”
