Chapter 37: Rest and War.
Alex's head throbbed. The champagne had helped, but she was still in pain.
"I'm in so much pain," Alex sighed.
"I'd give you morphine, but with your history of heroin and access levels of a damn kingpin, I ain't going to be responsible for your OD," Tastee retorted.
"I'm not in physical pain," Alex sighed. "I'm just in fucking ear pain from you idiots squabling on about all this retaliation shit without me."
Caputo, Maritza, and the other three fell silent. Alex sat up in bed, her body badly bruised and beaten by the attack, but her eyes as powerful and ravenous as ever. Her gaze held back the protests of her people, her power evident even in this state.
"Here's the fucking deal people, we are a business. We provide junkies with a great product at a great price. Ethics and legality aside, we are simply a business. Now war is bad for business. Yet I've heard like everyone of you yapping about counter attacks, defense grids, and fucking nukes, not to mention nerve gas. While we may have the resources for some of that shit, we are not about to go to an all out war before we know anything."
That had them silenced, all eyes trained on her. They trusted her, but they looked scared. That was easy enough to tell. If she played it too hard the fear would bubble up and there was little hope of a united front. They'd all go their separate ways, some running and some trying to seize power. That wasn't going to fucking happen. Fuck, she needed them focused so she could rest a little longer without having to worry about waking up to no one or worse yet, a knife to the face.
Alex closed her eyes and sighed. "Look, I don't mean to be so harsh," she said in a softer tone. "I know you guys mean well, but I don't want anyone to panic here. We don't need to take drastic action. That said, whoever fucking did this is going to pay. In our business you can steal the other guy's stuff, beat up a delivery crew, but no one tries to fucking kill the king. So, we fight dirty. Whoever hit us hard had motive and resources. I want to know who they are and what their beef is with us. Caputo, any update on the missile launcher?"
"We've caught three people trying to get away from the launch site. They're being processed right now. We should know soon enough who they're working for."
"The sooner we do, the better."
"They look like the mexican cartel to me," Caputo added. "We should have their credentials soon enough, but my bet's on them."
Alex shook her head, a sudden headache coming on.
"As your doctor, I advise you rest that brain of yours. We haven't fully ruled out a concussion yet, and the last thing you need is to be overworking yourself," Tastee scoffed.
"As your boss, I'd say give me a fucking minute," Alex spat back. She sighed, clearing her head as best she could. Then her intense gaze was back on her top people. "I doubt it's the mexicans. They don't have a beef with us these days. We don't compete on the black tar heroin market they peddle, and we just sell the high end stuff right out from the middle east. While we short cut them on some cocaine movement, overall there's an understanding. They've jacked shipments before and we've hit them back, we've worked out an understanding. They'd know better than this. It's gotta be something recent, either that or personal… The China deal is possible."
"And who would know we made that deal, much less where to find us," Caputo scoffed.
"It's gotta be whoever didn't get the deal, whoever was trying to sell a literal ton of meth to the chinese. The Russians could be an issue, but they're usually smarter than trying to missile the enemy. They keep shit at home, only their people pulling hits, and it'd be more likely a sniper shot or a glass of poisoned wine. No… it's gotta be someone else… Fucking hell," Alex sighed.
"I know, you gotta rest," Tastee shot back. "I told you, you can't do fucking shit if your head ain't screwed on right. Rest up before it twists the wrong way and falls off."
"Not that," Alex huffed. "No, I have a good fucking idea who would have the resources for this, the lost business from the meth deal, and the kind of fucked up mind that's ready to break all the rules and kill someone. I hope it's not her, but Nicky is a fucking likely possibility."
"Nicky, no way she knows you're still alive," Caputo managed.
"Right, that bitch don't know shit," Maritza added.
Alex shook her head. "She's the queen of crystal for a reason. A russian lab started up not far from her turf. Not only did she kill them all, but she trapped them in their own building and burned them all alive. This has her written all over it. Whether she knows I'm the leader of this operation is another question entirely."
Alex laid back against the pillow, her head throbbing again.
"That's it, all of you get outta here already and let her rest up," Tastee commanded. "Don't you have some other shit to do already? Go on, get."
With that the room slowly cleared out. Alex felt her head throbbing, the pain all coming back to her. Nicky… it had to be. It had to be.