The Last Network - Chapter 31
The Cross
The car pulled up to a red light. They had not spoken since the kitchen. Kendra broke the silence.
“We are going into the centaur business. Last night was your price of admission.”
Paolo turned and looked at her. His eyes bulging, nostrils flared.
“Come again?”
“You remember that call from Vegas? When I asked, you had it all figured out right then and there. Like it was meant to be. We are going to develop and manage the centaur crowd coordination process. Malcolm is going to funnel jobs our way and arrange for local support on operations.”
“What does that have to do with you drugging me?”
“Last night is all on tape. I have a copy. He has a copy. She has a copy. You’ll get a copy. With that tape, any one of us will have the ability to ruin the rest of us. It’s an insurance policy that secures our enterprise.”
“Kendra, I don’t want to do centaurs. It’s dirty work that crosses the line.”
“I know you don’t. Now you know why I drugged you.”
“What’s on that tape?”
“Enough to kill your green card.”
The light turned, and her black Audi resumed its course down Pico. Paolo stared out the window at the passing apartments, coffee shops, and 7-11s. Fresh blood stains leaked through his t-shirt.
“Jesus fucking Christ. I’ve known you a long, long time Kendra. What you did to me last night crossed a big line. What is going on with you? Why do you think that knocking me out and sexually assaulting me is worth my green card?”
She ignored his question.
“We have a window with Peared to make fuck you money. I thought that was going to be through Rabbit. Now he’s got the Valley after him. He is making maneuvers which while right, are expensive and uncertain. I want a return on investment, and centaurs are the answer.”
“I asked you a question.”
“It’s not a question you can afford. Sorry, not sorry.”
“Fuck off Kendra.”
“We are doing this without Rabbit. This is you, me, Malcolm, and his assistant. Rabbit is not reliable enough for this level of risk.”
“Cunt.”
She waited him out. The Audi continued down the block in silence. Kendra held all the cards. She knew that Paolo’s life was in the US, that Chile was a million years away. While it was a stretch to call Paolo a true adult, he was a child when he left his homeland. Going back now wasn’t an option.
She thought it would take longer than it did, at the next light Paolo spoke.
“You don’t have a problem driving mobs to beat the shit out of people?”
“No.”
“I do.”
“I know, which is why I needed leverage on you. This is a dirty business Paolo, but I’ve done worse. Hell, you’ve done worse. You just think that breaking minds and emotions is not as bad as breaking bones. Let me tell you, it is.”
“Which part of me did you break last night?”
Kendra didn’t answer that, but Paolo knew it wasn’t a part of him, it was him. Somewhere in the middle of their conversation, his mind had already started working on the centaur problem. It was spinning up that murky place in his brain which endlessly slaved away on the hard problems. One afternoon it would serve the answer up as a neatly solved epiphany, and then it would be time to get to work building the solution.
He wouldn’t know how he really felt about this turn of events until he watched the end product in action. He might not feel a thing. Maybe Kendra knew that already.