Page 36 of Drowning in the Deep
“Shit!” he muttered, hopping up to close the door. “Goddamnit, Petrov, you can’t just come waltzing in here like this. Not every single one of these guys is on your payroll, you know? Fuck, you’re going to get me in trouble. You have to at least pretend I’m not in your pocket!” He rolled his eyes at me, something I didn’t appreciate in the least.
Irritated, I waited for him to sit down and then leaned over his desk. “Watch your mouth, asshole. I don’t have to pretend shit. Now, shut the fuck up because, as usual, you’re going to do exactly what I say. Got it?”
Standing, he leaned right back at me, getting into my face. “I’m so tired of your shit. Go fuck yourself, Petrov!”
I lashed out with my right fist, backhanding him hard enough to knock him into his chair, blood spraying his desk from a split lip.
“Shut your fucking mouth, whore.” I glared down at him as tears filled his eyes. He snatched a napkin from under his sandwich and pressed it to his bleeding mouth. If he needed another lesson in obedience, I was happy to oblige. At the end of the day, he cashed my checks, and that meant he didn’t get to talk to me that way. “That’s right. Clean yourself up. You make me sick, you bastard.”
With narrowed eyes, Wallace looked at him, wiping at his lip. Blood quickly soaked through the white paper napkin. He said nothing, but I could tell he was trying to come up with something.
I shook my head, a laugh spilling out of my mouth. “I know that look. The self-righteous anger. You think you’re better than me. Guess what, pig? You’re a criminal too.”
Shaking his head adamantly, Wallace said, “That’s not true. I didn’t do anything wrong. Not until you came into my life.”
“Yeah, I bet every perp you’ve ever thrown in prison had a sob story like that,” I told him. “How many times did your sympathy stop you from locking them up?” His silence was my answer. “That’s what I thought.”
Wallace stared at me, seething. “You forced me into this. If it wasn’t for you and your scumbag family, I’d still be on the right side of the law.”
“You had a choice,” I said, shrugging. “We both know you were a criminal before you ever met me. At least I’m honest about who I am. If anything, you’re worse than me.”
Once again, he rolled his eyes at me, as if he were searching fruitlessly for a brain. He said nothing, but he didn’t have to. That gesture was enough.
“Roll your fucking eyes at me again and I promise I’ll murder your wife in front of your fucking child,” I snarled.
That got his attention. Wallace’s eyebrows raised as he stared, trying to decide whether or not I was serious. I was, and if he didn’t know that by now, I would have to do something to change it.
“Fine, fine, Petrov. What the fuck do you want now? I’ve got actual work to do.” I could tell by the quiver in his voice that he was frightened and would do whatever I told him.
“It’s not hard,” I assured him. “Everyone in my organization knows that you work with us, right?” He nodded. “And one of the things you do best is tip us off when your colleagues are moving in on us, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” he agreed, no longer giving me any attitude at all.
“You let us know when there’s about to be a raid, a stakeout, or some other bullshit at one of our establishments. We appreciate that.Iappreciate that.”
He swallowed hard, not commenting until he knew what I wanted him to do.
“This task is not difficult,” I assured him. “It’s quite simple, really. Even a dickweed like yourself shouldn’t be able to fuck it up. All you need to do is call up my good friend Leo Zarnov and tell him that the cops are going to serve a warrant on him at the deli tomorrow.”
“But they aren’t,” Wallace said, a questioning look on his face. “Or are they? Did I miss something?”
Sighing, I took a deep breath, reminding myself that he wouldn’t be able to speak clearly if I knocked all his teeth out. “Doesn’t fucking matter,” I assured him. “You’re going to tell him that there’s gonna be a raid on the deli tomorrow. Tell him it’s vice squad, and they’re looking for drugs. Tell him it’s a bullshit excuse for them to get in there and poke around, and despite your best efforts to steer them away from there, it’s coming anyway. Warn him that if he has anything that needs to be moved, he needs to get it done now before they arrive.”
Wallace took a deep breath before nodding. “Sure, Daemon. I can do that.”
Seeing his cell phone lying next to his sandwich on the desk, I gestured at it with a nod, waiting.
“You mean right now?” Wallace asked, pulling the napkin away from his lip. It had stopped bleeding but was still split open.
“Yes, right now, asshole!” I told him. “Do you think I trust your idiotic ass to do it on your own and not fuck it up?”
He didn’t respond, only let out another long exhale before reaching over and picking up his phone. Leo answered pretty quickly.
“How’s it going, my friend?” Wallace asked. I could at least appreciate him taking that tone with Leo, like he was really trying to fool him. “Listen, I’ve got a situation you need to be made aware of.”
I stood there and listened to Wallace relay the information I’d just given him, making sure he didn’t slip up. As much as I hated the bastard because of his holier-than-though attitude, I had to admit he was good at following directions. That was why he was still alive and I continued to subsidize his pay instead of finding someone else.
Sure, we had a lot of cops in our pockets, but Wallace was still new to the city. I had scooped him up before anyone else could buy his loyalty. I fucking hated his sniveling attitude, but it was unlikely he would rat me out to someone else in the family.
