Packing Heat(61)

Cassidy had had nothing more to offer than that, though. She’d told me that they contacted her on her laptop again at a random time when she wasn’t even searching for them. She said they wanted to broker a peace, and they wanted her to do it.

I had no reason to mistrust Cassidy. She’d been honest with me from the start, and really, she was the one in the most danger. Maybe she was a little reckless and made bad choices, but that didn’t make her a liar. Still, I could tell there was more to this deal than she was letting on, but I didn’t press.

I had to trust her as much as she trusted me. If she needed me to know, then I’d know. Otherwise, I was going to go forward with this plan.

Truth was, brokering a deal with the Spiders was a good idea for us. It meant that they weren’t just a fanatical group of anti-mafia killers. It meant they could be reasoned with, and if they could be reasoned with, they could be dealt with. We’d see them for the first time, truly face to face, and learn about our enemy.

I knocked on Arturo’s office door and waited. “Come,” he called from inside.

I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. I sat down in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk and leaned back.

“So?” he asked. “You have something important.”

“Cassidy was contacted by the Spiders again.”

He raised an eyebrow. “We’ve been monitoring her computer. My tech guys didn’t mention anything.”

I shrugged. “Maybe the Spiders are better than your guys.”

“Maybe.” He pursed his lips. “I don’t like that. Sounds like I’ll need new tech guys.”

“You might. But that’s not the important part.”

“What did the Spiders say?”

“According to Cassidy, they want her to broker a peace between us and them.”

Arturo stared at me for a second and then burst out laughing. “Peace?”

“Peace,” I confirmed. “They want to meet and talk.”

“That’s insane. Why the hell would we agree to something like that?”

“Because it’s a good idea.”

He laughed again, shaking his head. “No, young Rafa. I didn’t get to my position by making peace deals with people like the Spiders.”

“True. But we have no other options, do we?”

“We aren’t so desperate yet.”

“I think we are. The Spiders are winning this war, bit by bit. We still know nothing about them.”

“True, but we have the superior numbers and size.”

“Do we?”

He stroked his chin. “It’s true that we know nothing about them.”

“Making peace will allow us to learn about them. More than that, it proves that they’re not just a bunch of crazy people.”

“Crazy people don’t make peace with their enemies,” he agreed.

“We can work with them, learn them. And then destroy them if we need to.”

He sighed. “Nobody is going to like this. Too many of our men have died for this to go over well.”

“Fuck what they think. The bosses will understand.”

“Some won’t.”

“They can be convinced.”

Arturo shook his head. “I don’t understand why you’re pushing this so hard, Rafa. This will mean that we can continue pursuing human trafficking, which I understand you’re against.”

“True, but I’m also against a losing war. The other thing, we can figure that out internally. We can’t do both at the same time.”

He nodded, and I could tell that he was seeing reason. I didn’t know what was going on beyond that inscrutable face of his, but he at least was hearing me. Maybe he was making plans to kill me, or maybe he was making plans to meet with the Spiders. Either way, I did what I had said I would do. I made my stand, and that was all I could do.

“Very well,” Arturo said. “I have a lot to think about.”

I stood up. “We’ve made peace with enemies before, and we’ll do it again.”

“That we will.”

I turned and left the room, shutting the door softly behind me.

Something still felt wrong about this. I agreed with my own thinking, that making peace made sense in this situation. But still, it seemed too convenient. I couldn’t understand what the Spiders had to gain from peace. That was bothering me the most. I couldn’t see their motivations, because they seemed so unpredictable and random.

There was no face to the Spiders. Right now, it was just an organization. Entering into peace talks, even if they failed, would humanize them.

They had everything to lose in this and nothing to gain. But something had to be happening to pressure them to the table.