She said something in Chinese into the receiver and waited. More Chinese back and forth before she finally looked at me. “Bao coming,” she said.
We waited for another minute, she spoke more Chinese, and finally she handed me the phone.
“Bao?” I asked.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Vincent. You know, your fucking business partner.”
“Ah, Vincent.” He sounded a little nervous. “How are you?”
“I’m pissed off. I’m very angry that I had to threaten one of your employees just to get you on the phone, Bao.”
“Ah, well, I’m sorry about that, too.”
“Tell me about the shipment.”
“We’re having trouble. It’s costing us more than we expected to bribe the dock workers.”
“How much more?”
“One hundred thousand dollars.”
“Fuck,” I said. “What the fuck, Bao? You said we were all paid up.”
“We were, Vince. We were. But the workers want more now. They’re squeezing all our shipments.”
“Fuck.” I looked up at the dingy ceiling and did some quick math. “I can front that. But listen to me, Bao. If you dodge my calls one more time, I will hunt you down and I will kill you. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, of course, Vincent. I will be at your beck and call.”
“One more thing, Bao. This has to happen fast.”
“If you can get that money, we can move very quickly.”
“Fine. I’ll call you soon and arrange a drop. In the meantime, be fucking accessible.”
“Of course. Of course. I apologize again.”
“Fine.” I handed the phone back to the woman. She gazed at me with a bored expression as she hung it up.
“Sorry to bother you,” I said.
“It comes with the job,” she said. “Bao is an asshole.”
I laughed. “Yeah, he is.”
I followed Rafa back out into the street. We leaned up against the car, looking around.
“So?” he asked.
“We need another hundred grand.”
“Fuck.”
“We can take it from the steak shop.”
“Steak is all tapped out, boss,” he said.
“Pets?”
“Done too.”
“How fucking thin are we right now?”
“We’re locked up in this deal, boss.”
“Fuck,” I said. “Arturo wants to use these guns in the war, too. I’d planned on fucking flipping them.”
“Maybe we can ask him to front this?”
“I’ll float that to Lucas. You find us some money somewhere else just in case.”
“Got it, boss.”
We climbed back into the car and headed back toward the compound.
“Never did trust that Bao guy,” Rafa said.
“Shut up, Rafa.”
“Yes, boss.”
Annoyed, I looked out the window and watched the city flash by. This girl had complicated everything, way more than I could have guessed.
Back in the compound, I strolled through the hallways toward my rooms. As I drew closer to Kaley’s door, I heard the baby crying loudly from inside.
Without thinking much about it, I knocked on the door.
“Hold on,” she called out. “Coming.”
She pulled it open, looking flushed. Her face instantly dropped when she saw me.
“Expecting someone else?” I asked.
“I hoped you were Sonya. What do you want?”
“Heard the kid crying. Thought I’d check on you.”
“He’s fussy today,” she said. Alex was in her arms, crying away. She was bouncing him, trying to get him to relax.
“Need a hand?”
She eyed me, suspicious. “Why?”
“I’m trying to be fucking nice.”
“Fine. Come on.”
I stepped inside and she shut the door.
“Here,” she said. She handed me Alexei, him crying and all. “I need to use the bathroom. Just hold him for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait, no,” I said. “I was thinking a back massage, maybe get you off again. Not a crying baby.”
“Just a minute.” She was already walking away toward the bathroom.
“No. Hold on.”
But she was already gone.
I looked around the room, uncomfortable as fuck.
“There, there,” I said to Alexei, rocking him slightly. “There, there. It’s okay.”
He was screaming so loudly. I couldn’t believe that anybody could live with a baby that screamed like this. What was I supposed to do with him?
“It’s okay, little guy,” I said and began to walk. “It’s okay. Vince has you. I can throw you twenty feet in the air, I bet.”
As I moved and spoke, slowly the baby’s screams got quieter.