Luis knocked loudly on the door and entered. He, as nephew of El Jefe, could interrupt when others could not. El Jefe turned towards the interruption. His orders had been clear and his orders were never disobeyed. He was not to be disturbed. The anger in his face was not missed by Luis.
“I’m sorry, Uncle,” Luis began, averting his eyes as his uncle dismounted the young bride he had been 'breaking in’.
“It had better be good, nephew!” he spat. The use of the word nephew was not wasted on Luis either. If he had not been his nephew, he would already be dead.
Luis watched as the young bride struggled to cover her dignity with the wedding dress that had been lifted to allow his uncle’s entry. Tears streamed from her eyes, no doubt as much for the indignity as for the memory of her young husband, slain just moments after their marriage. Her perfect day had become the last day of her life as she knew it, her husband killed before her eyes, raped by his killer and destined to spend her life repaying her husband’s debts in El Jefe’s whorehouse. Her life, just hours earlier full of so much promise and dreams, was over.
“I’m sorry, Uncle, but we have news from Laredo I thought you should hear immediately!” Luis eyes fell on the young bride, a real beauty and such a waste.
El Jefe turned to the bride. “Out!” he barked, understanding his nephew would not discuss business in front of her.
El Jefe had no concerns over talking business in front of others. He knew that the fear he evoked silenced everybody. Luis, however, was more cautious and never discussed business within the earshot of others, or for that matter in a room he had not personally swept for listening devices. Cell phones had been consigned to emergency use only and never used to discuss trafficking plans. All supply and sales communications were done through encrypted emails, their codes changed daily. Luis was the brains behind his uncle’s brawn. Arrests and interception by authorities had reduced significantly under Luis’ stewardship and profits had increased dramatically.
The bride stood up and stumbled towards the door in her blood stained wedding dress.
“Her husband would have had a true virgin bride!” El Jefe laughed with his nephew.
Luis deplored the actions of his Neanderthal uncle but smiled. He was the power. Without him, Luis was nothing.
With the door closed behind her and with his uncle’s trousers fully fastened, Luis began. “Federales have taken up position outside of the Fox’s woman house!”
“I knew we couldn’t trust that bitch!” exclaimed El Jefe.
“We don’t think she knows they’re there,” explained Luis, taking some of the anger out of his uncle’s reaction.
El Jefe looked quizzically at his nephew, prompting a more detailed explanation.
“They’re taking precautions not to be seen by anybody including the Fox woman and nobody has made contact with her. We have her phones tapped and have her under constant surveillance. She’s clean. If anyone contacts her about Fat Jakes’s drugs, we’ll know!”
El Jefe kicked the base of his bed at the reference to Fat Jake. The bastard had lied through his teeth about every detail of his operation. It was the only time El Jefe had ever been duped by someone he had questioned. The sincerity of the fat man’s lies was astounding and had fooled everybody in the room. What El Jefe would have given to have not killed him that day. The pleasure and time he would take to kill him over again…only this time checking the detail before finally letting the fat bastard die.
Fat Jake had controlled the entire East coast distribution network. Taking his end would have tripled the cartel’s profits overnight. Luis had warned them to keep him alive but as soon as he had talked, El Jefe had killed him and soon afterwards, the bodyguard too. In fact, all links had been extinguished before the network was established. Not that Luis would ever remind his uncle of his warning. Their largest single customer was dead and their profits and turnover had slumped.
Nobody questioned El Jefe.
With every link gone, the only living link to Fat Jake was the wife of his bodyguard, Sean Fox. As unlikely as it was, Luis thought she could be useful. She had been approached and questioned. Her young son was held at knifepoint which pretty much ensured she told the truth. She knew nothing. However, a meeting had been held at their house in the past. Although she didn’t know the men, they knew her husband and her house. It was enough for El Jefe and Luis was tasked with finding the links and gaining control of Fat Jake’s network.
“So what the fuck do they want then?” asked El Jefe.
“I have no idea. I’ve tried all our contacts and none claim to know anything about any surveillance team.”
The cartel’s contacts were extensive and pretty much covered the city and State police and the local FBI and DEA offices. Whoever the Federales were, the local federal officers knew nothing about them.
El Jefe didn’t waste a beat. “I don’t like it, take her child from her! Make sure she doesn’t fuck this whole thing up more than you have already!”
Luis could have protested that El Jefe had been the one to fuck up but Luis felt no compunction to learn first hand why his uncle was infamously called El Carnicero.