Page 126 of The Wicked

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Elia warned.

Zahra sat up, turning to Elia with wide eyes as she clapped her hands together once, shooting him a mock appreciative smile. “Wow, you’re one to talk abouthowto talk to him.”

Surprisingly, Elia leveled her with a glare. “I wasn’t fucking talking to you.”

A gasp left Zahra, and she gritted out, “Somebody fucking hold me because I’m about to punch a motherfucker in the face.”

“Before you do that,” I cut in, blowing out my smoke calmly, pressing the lit cigar to the ashtray beside me. “I was wondering if maybe we can all return to the matter at hand; that would be splendid.”

Silence fell on them, but I could still see withheld anger from Dog, Zahra, and Elia while Milk and Upper sat there in utter discomfort.

“It was getting good,” Casmiro said, straightening his suit,leaning on the table, and joining his hands together. “But yes, the matter at hand is important. I don’t know what you and your crew were thinking, Zahra, but if I remember correctly, you are under Marino’s command, so even if you wanted to hunt for the original on your own, it wouldn’t be possible. You answer to us.”

“We’re not going on a suicide mission unless we know why you want the painting so bad,” Zahra said.

I released a breath, weighing my options before coming to a decision. I motioned to Angelo to explain.

“There are very important flash drives kept with the gold,” Angelo informed. “These flash drives contain intel regarding some of the wealthiest men in and out of this business.”

Elia perked up. “By intel you mean…”

“Self-incriminating.”

Dog whistled. “Well, ain’t that something.”

“What’s in it for us?” Zahra asked this time.

“The gold,” Angelo responded.

Zahra shook her head. “Oh no, we’ll get the gold, I know that. But you’re hiring us for this… what do we get out of it?” She directed the question to me, and everyone waited for my response.

There was always a catch with this woman.

Smart.

“All right.” I bit my tongue hard before I let my next words through. “You get your freedom—all of you. If you find the painting, get the gold and the flash drives. You’re free.”

Dog spoke up. “Now, that’s a fucking deal.”

Zahra still looked skeptical, like she was thinking it through. After a while, she shook her head. “I say yes to the freedom, but… I want something more. Apparently, we’re not the only ones hunting for this painting. We might be good, but some people have been looking for this thing longer than we have. We might get one-upped; we might lose our lives,” she said.

“She has a point,” Upper said.

Zahra leveled me with a stern professional stare. “A hundredmillion dollars, and we’ll consider helping you find those flash drives.”

I frowned. “You already get the gold.”

“We’re risking our lives on a ‘maybe we’ll find the original painting and get the gold.’ It’s not certain. The payment guarantees that even if we don’t find the gold, we’re not risking our lives for nothing.” She turned to her group. “Is that all right with everyone?”

“That’s perfect,” Milk said.

“I’m game,” Dog agreed.

Upper shrugged. “It’s better than five thousand dollars.”

Elia looked like he couldn’t care less.

“So”—Zahra looked back at me—“do we have a deal, Marino?”