Page 6

Later that morning and Teddy sped onto the docks and stopped at the main office. Renardo Strickland, his dock supervisor, was waiting for him.

“We got another one, Boss.”

Teddy got out of his car. “Same shit?”

“Same, yes sir. But it’s still a threat.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Teddy said. “All week we’ve been getting these threats and all week our ships have been sitting like sitting ducks. I want those buckets out today.”

“Which ones?”

“What do you mean which ones? All of them! No more delays. If that shit was gonna happen, that shit would have happened by now. We sail today. Every ship. This is Mick fucking Sinatra’s outfit. Who the fuck they think they’re dealing with? I’m tired of this shit. We move today!”

“Yes sir, Boss.”

“Get crews onboard already here and call crews in that aren’t here yet. Pop has already lost millions with these delays. He’s gonna have my ass when he gets back in the country. These ships have got to move.”

“Bugs didn’t have any intel?”

“He had some shit to tell. But nothing actionable.” Then Teddy exhaled at just the thought that Potter Rarsi might be involved and how complicated that would be. “At least not yet. We’re working on it.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we’ve got the person he claims might be involved under surveillance. It means we don’t strike the target we had until we make sure the target Bugs put out there is right. I doubt it, but we’ll see. But forget all of that. We sail today. Get it done,” Teddy said and began heading to the office.

“Yes sir,” Renardo said, and began hurrying for the docks.

Then Teddy stopped and looked over at Renardo. “Where’s my wife?”

Renardo stopped his progression and looked at the boss. “Nikki? I haven’t seen her all morning. Maybe she’s with your kid.”

Teddy knew that wasn’t true. The nanny was with Kimmie when he left home that morning. But that wasn’t Renardo’s business. “Yeah maybe,” he said, and went into the office.

“You heard the boss,” Renardo said to the capos hanging around. “Let’s sail!”

The men cheered as they hurried to the docks with Renardo.

Inside, Teddy removed his suit coat and placed it over his desk chair, untightened his tie, and sat behind the desk, cocked both feet on top, and leaned all the way back. He began rocking. He got three hours sleep tops after getting out of that shower. Just three hours. Now he felt dead on his feet.

And where the hell was Nikki? He closed his eyes thinking about her, and how wonderful it felt to be inside of her before she left the house. It was amazing to him how much he still desired her. It amazed him still how not one woman he saw, and he saw plenty in his line of work, could compare.

But seeing Caitlan again awoken something inside of him. That used to be . Those times when life was his for the taking and he could have any woman he desired. But now he was so saddled with responsibility that he could hardly think straight. And if he didn’t have this shit figured out when Pop got back in town, he thought, he was going to have hell to pay. But what could he do about it now? He was doing all he could think to do. Until he couldn’t think at all and his eyes began getting heavier. And his chin was slowly lobbing downward toward his chest. Before he knew it, in the span of mere minutes, he had fallen asleep in his chair.

Until several minutes later.

“Boss? Hey boss?”

“Yeah?” Teddy quickly responded even as he was opening his eyes and lifting his chin back up.

For his bodyguard that stood inside the office door, he knew the boss was tired and needed his sleep. But he couldn’t let it slide. “I just got a phone call from Nikki.”

Teddy started rocking in his chair again, waiting for more information.

“She told me to shoot her a photo.”

That didn’t seem like a big deal to Teddy. Maybe she was checking out something that seemed odd to her. “So what are you telling me for? She’s your boss. Shoot her the photo.”

“I did. But . . .”

“But what?”

“It’s my job to snap a photo of anybody who approaches you that I don’t know outright.”

“So?”

“So I snapped a photo of that lady,” the guard said.

Teddy frowned. “What lady?”

“The lady from the bar last night.”

Teddy stopped rocking. “She wanted a photo of her ?”

“Yes sir.”

Teddy’s voice elevated. “ And you sent it to her ?”

“Like you said, she’s my boss.”

“And I’m her boss! Why didn’t you run it by me first?”

His bodyguard was frustrated. “You’re the one keep telling us to treat Nikki with the full respect of our underboss. If the underboss gives me an order, I don’t be running it by anybody. I do what I’m told.”

Teddy knew that was true. He rubbed his forehead. “You’re right. So you sent her the photo?”

“Yes sir.”

“So where is she? Is she here?”

“No sir.”

Teddy knew there was more. “What? Tell me.”

“She also wanted her address.”

Another lilt to his voice. “ And you gave it to her ?”

“She’s my boss.”

“ Got dammit!” Teddy quickly removed his shoes from the desk and stood up, grabbing his suit coat from off the back of his chair. “Any security with her?”

“No sir. I checked after I sent the address. She told them to stand down.”

“Let me guess: They stood down?”

“Yes sir. She’s their boss too.”

Teddy could not believe it. “Fucking idiots!” he yelled as he took off. His capo/guard took off behind him.