All of them.
The ones who remained are the ones who warmed a little—some more than others—and a couple of the higher-ups who trust Denis and were more neutral than rude to me.
Kion.
I need to find out more.
When I call him, my PI picks up immediately.
“New job?” he asks.
“I’m still looking for sightings of Melor, but?—”
“Nothing so far, unfortunately. If he surfaces, I’ll find him.”
“I know.” But I think if he’s deep underground, it may be out of the PI’s scope. “This is closer to home. Not as dangerous, I hope, but there’s a connection. I need you to follow one of my men, Kion. Sending the info through now.”
I send the files.
“Got them. You want me to do a deep background check? Because a quick glance shows this one as so clean it could have come off the back of a bleach bottle.” My PI sighs. “Always a dead give away. I’m betting a deep dig will turn up that dirt. Or something.”
I smile. “Reading my mind. He might be clean, might not, and sometimes people like to hide thigs they’re not proud of,” I say. Thing that might not be a loyalty issue. “But see if there’s anything I should know.”
“Got it.”
After the call, I sit back and read through Elisei’s file. Young, smart, got into trouble at school with gangs. Russian father, American mother. Father was with a different bratva, one that’s now been cut up and devoured by different people. One of those people being Demyan.
It gives me pause, but when I read further, it would have been around the change of power when Demyan’s father passed.
Elisei wasn’t eighteen and was still being a knucklehead.
He was recruited by Denis. Not personally but in a sweep of the gang he came down on for Aleks.
Elisei chose this path.
I’m impressed.
It took courage for him to come to me. Especially with a background in gangs where the wrong step or look can mean death.
The kid’s hungry, which I like, and he’s got loyalty built into him.
So, yeah, I’m impressed. But I’m also nervous about putting too much trust in anyone. Melor weakened the bedrock of my natural inclination to trust those who seem worthy of it. Now I’m second-guessing everything.
That’s not a bad thing.
With time, maybe Elisei will prove himself, like Denis will, like the others, and then I can lower my guard.
Until then…
I’ll play the waiting game.
It’s latewhen the phone on my desk buzzes. It’s my PI with an update.
“You’re right to be suspicious of this Kion. First, he’s lazy with encryption, which is a no-no. Hacking his texts and message service was easy.”
As usual, there’s no smugness or hint of anything other than an imparting of information.
“What did you find?” I ask.
