“But it’s not. We need to finish what has been started. We can’t cool down until I have the Harte data. Once I have that, then maybe we can be finished, and your volatile cousin can savage some other childrenoutsidemy city.”
Victor frowned. It wasn’t about the children. The boss shouldknow that. Still, Victor remained quiet, warned by the look in Casimir’s pale gray eyes, eyes so like his own.
It had always pleased Victor to see how much he and his cousin looked alike. Their fathers were brothers whose children had always been close. More so once Casimir’s parents died, and he and Victor raised each other in the streets outside of Nidzica.
“I don’t think you realize what we’re doing and why,” Casimir said quietly.
“Idon’t realize?” After a pause, the boss added, “Excuse me?”
“The whole reason you wanted this was to shake the status quo. To right great wrongs and show these stupid people that tyranny cannot prevail.”
The boss laughed, long and loud. “You can’t be serious? We’re in this to make money and take power. Period. Your pedantic ideologies aren’t welcome here, Casimir. Do what I tell you to do, and we won’t have a problem. Keep that dog you call family on a leash before I’m forced to put him down.”
“But—”
“And bring me the Harte files by the end of the week. Don’t make me ask a second time. No drama, no messy deaths. Just bring me the drives.”
The line went dead.
Casimir slowly disconnected and turned to stare at Victor, his eyes like ice, cold and empty. “You see what you did?”
Victor grew defensive. “I got what he wanted. Why does he care? The rich slobs deserved what they got.”
“Even the children?”
Victor frowned. “How can you say that? I saved them.” After a pause, he added, “Like I saved you.”
As expected, Casimir’s eyes clouded with memories, and Victor knew he’d won this round.
“I know you have certain…appetites, Victor. But this time, just get me the cold wallets and anything else you find in the safe from the Hartes. I’ve got the schematics for their security. You can’t make a mess this time. We need to be very quiet about this one. No one can know what we took except the Hartes. We know they won’t tell anyone.”
Victor shrugged.
Casimir grew quieter. Like the eye of the storm when he meant business. “No more bodies. Not from that house. Go find playthings elsewhere.”
“But you understand, cousin. You know. Yes?”
Casimir pinched the bridge of his nose.
“The parents are pigs who deserve to be butchered. But the children, I save them. And the dogs. So sweet and deserving.” Victor smiled. “I save them also, giving them new life.”
“Yes, yes. You’re everyone’s savior.”
Victor didn’t believe his cousin meant what he said. He started to get angry.
“Don’t argue. Please. It’s been a rough day.” Casimir paused. “I’m afraid ourszefis not who he once promised to be. He’s lost his way, poisoned by the very capitalism he once decried as foul. This is no longer our home.”
Victor didn’t understand, exactly, but the pain on his cousin’s face alarmed him. Casimir often suffered from migraines, and the speed at which his brain could fix problems slowed. What was more troubling, though, was what Victor thought he heard.
“You want us to leave?” Their boss had a long arm and a reputation for promising both pain and punishment. Which used to please Victor, to work for someone with such clear purpose. Yet, Casimir didn’t seem to respect their boss anymore.
That was a problem.
Tentatively, which wasn’t like him, Victor asked, “You want I should kill him?” Excited at the thought, he added, “To skin him and show all the dirt beneath the clothing of lies?”
He hadn’t skinned anyone in quite a while.
“Not yet.”
