Bow Down(177)
“We have no other choice. It’ll work.”
“Fucking hell. I hate this technology shit.”
“Technology isn’t to blame. People are always people, tech or no tech.”
He laughed at that. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t blame technology for people being shitty.”
He smirked and returned to pacing. I kept typing away, digging deeper and deeper, trying to find any seeds of the Spiders.
And suddenly, just like last time, my computer screen went black. A green cursor was blinking in the top right corner, and a message scrolled across the top as someone somewhere typed to me.
“We know where you are. You turned us down.”
I looked over at Rafa. “It’s them.”
He walked over and crouched behind me. “Okay. Let’s talk.”
“I need your help,” I typed.
“We know.”
“Tell them we need information,” Rafa said.
I typed his message.
“We won’t talk with Rafa Allegri. We will only talk with you.”
I paused and then looked at him. “Spooky.”
“They’re bluffing. Tell them I’m not around.”
I typed that message. They responded a minute later.
“We don’t trust Rafa, and we believe you are lying. Lie to us again and this is finished.”
He laughed softly. “Okay then. Tell them you won’t talk without me.”
I frowned at him. “Rafa, I think you should go.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No. Let me talk to them. I understand what needs to be done.”
He looked at me silently for a second and then sighed, shaking his head. “Okay. This goes against my fucking nature, but I’ll let you handle this.” He stood up. “I’ll be back in soon.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded and then left the room.
I felt like I was alone for the first time in a long time, though it hadn’t even been a day yet.
I typed, “He’s gone.”
“We know you trust him, but he is the enemy.”
“He’s not my enemy. Please, the mafia thinks I have information on you people. If I can give them something, they might spare my life.”
“Why would we give you information?”
“To save me. It doesn’t have to be true.”
“Why would we save you?”
I stared at that for a second. “Because Dasha would have wanted you to.”
There was a long pause, and for a second I thought I had lost them. Fear began to build in my chest.
But then a message came.
“Yes, she would have. She was an idealist, and now she is gone.”
“Give me something. Help me.”
“We will help, but we will want your help in return.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing from you. We want Rafa Allegri’s help.”
“I thought you didn’t trust him.”
“We don’t. We trust you to make him follow through.”
“Okay. I will try. What do you want?”
“Nothing yet. We will tell you when we need it.”
“Fine. Please hurry.”
“Come to the drop point we mentioned before tomorrow. You will find what you need there.”
I wracked my brain for a second before remembering what they had said during the first conversation. They wanted me to go to the corner of South Wales and Arch streets.
“Okay. I remember.”
“Goodbye, Cassidy, and good luck.”
My screen returned to normal.
I stared at it for a second, my mind running circles around itself.
I was sure that the Spiders were monitoring their searches, or at least they were monitoring me. Which meant they were probably more powerful than we realized, if they could pick that sort of data out of the storm that was all the internet traffic. They had some serious internet skills.
I closed my laptop lid and got up. I opened the door and found Rafa leaning up against the wall right outside.
“Well?” he asked.
“They agreed to give us something,” I said.
He grinned. “Great. You’re one sexy piece of ass. You know that?”
“Don’t get too excited. They want something in exchange.”
“Of course they do. What is it?”
“They want you to do them a favor.”
He frowned. “What favor?”
“They didn’t specify.”
“I assume you told them to fuck off.”
“I told them you’d be more than happy.”
He sighed, grumbling. “Of course you did.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“It’s fine. What did they give you?”
“We have to go get it. They gave me an address.”
“Fucking hell,” he said. “This gets worse and worse.”