Page 18 of The Wicked

“Yes,” they all chorused at the same time.

“That would have been cruel.”

“And accidentally killing it wasn’t?” Upper voiced.

“At least I tried to feed it; what did you do, Upper?”

Upper gasped. “He sniffed the bloody cocaine. How was I supposed to know dogs love sniffing things.”

“You can ask the one beside you.” Devil pointed to Dog, who allowed a small unfeeling smile onto his lips before raising his middle finger at Devil, who answered with an appreciative nod.

Milk scoffed. “Maybe the thingy in the can wasn’t what killed it; the cocaine probably did, so technically, Upper and I murdered Dion’s dog. Don’t blame me because I’m the only girl in the group.”

Zahra blinked in shock, shooting Milk a look of disbelief before Milk corrected herself by saying, “Yeah, and Zahra too.”

Devil bit back a laugh, which earned him a glare from Zahra.

“Okay, so what I’m getting from this is that you all have seen Dion and have some kind ofpersonalrelationship with him?” Casmiro asked.

“No, man.” Dog answered this time. “We haveseenDion, yes… but he’s neverseenus. No one ever sees us.”

I shook my head at thisgroup.“But, somehow, you managed to enter his home and harm his dog,” I stated, very confused.

“We were pursuing a lead for a mission. But we did also go there for free food and the amazing bathtub he announced on his socials; we stayed for just two hours… wasn’t anything personal,” Dog answered.

“They’re serious; they actually killed the dog. Dion held a funeral for it,” Angelo said, his eyes glued to whatever article he read on his phone.

I took in a breath and then let it out. “I’m afraid your first mission for me would require some of you letting Dion see you. Are you certain Dion will be at Eden?”

“We are,” Devil answered.

I nodded, thoughts filtering through my head before finally letting out the less obnoxious one. “Then that’s where he’s stationing for his stay. Dion is probably the only man with power who surrounds himself with incompetent soldiers because he is ignorant.”

“That I can agree on,” Dog said.

Angelo sat up. “Our people would need direct intel on himand the entire Pablo syndicate. We want to see and hear everything, from their business meetings to past and present associations and collaborations, legal and illegal; everything. We need a chain, and we need them not to notice until we are done with them. This means an invisible non-existing server they would never be able to trace back to Marino. Can your team arrange that?”

“It’s possible,” Upper said, looking at Dog. “Right?”

Dog’s gaze settled on Zahra, and I looked back in her direction to find her deep in thought before she looked up. “It is possible. But our method is tonotbe seen. I’m finding it hard to understand what you meant by Dion seeing some of us?”

My tongue poked the inside of my cheek as I thought about her question. “Dion’s only going to see what we want him to. I would assume your team is well-versed in creating narratives.”

“We are,” Milk said.

“So”—Devil leaned forward, eyes locking with mine—“you want to get into Pablo’s affairs. That can be arranged. We’ll relay the plan to Angelo once we have it. But the sooner we can get started, the better. Permission to leave?”

“Permission granted,” I said, and he began to stand before I added, “for everyone but you.”

He winced, closing his eyes and letting out a silent curse before sitting back down and turning to a confused Zahra and an even more confused crew. “It’s okay, guys. I’ll catch up.”

Zahra glanced at me, the frown still on her face.

“Z, I’ll explain later—leave; I promise I’ll come back alive.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I said, eyeing the two of them.

Zahra’s scowl deepened as she got up, signaling to the others to do the same.