Page 10 of Operation Wolf: Eli

“No, sir,” Ian croaked.

“Crystal clear,” I added.

“Good.” Nick slid the photo back to his side of the table and tucked it into his jacket pocket. “This is a final test for you, Eli,” he said. “I’ve been holding out on having you promoted to capo for a while, but if you do this job right, I’ll put your name in and get you running with a new crew.”

Fuck.

“Thank you, sir.” I inclined my head, trying to hide the fact that I was seething at Nick’s machinations. We both knew that, as a capo, it would be almost impossible for me to ever leave the Outfit. “I appreciate you looking out for me.”

“Yeah, well, I always look out for my own, don’t I?” Nick smiled broadly and then stood up, signifying the meeting was over.

Ian and I followed suit, exchanging the proper good-byes and backslaps with Nick.

“Just remember,” Nick said in my ear before I left, “I’ll reward you well if you do a good job. But if you fuck this shit up . . . you’ll wish you were dead.”