“What about Ashton?”
“When do you plan to take him out?”
“In Atlanta,” I said. “He’ll be there next week.
“Ashton can wait,” Rinaldo said. “I need this sooner.”
Shit.
His mind was set, and there was no way I was going to change it.
“Whatever you say, sir.”
“Do some spying, do some watching – all that shit you’re extra good at. What do you call it? Recon?”
I nodded.
“I need your top three picks,” he said. “The top three guys you think might have said something to Greco. I want to know why they’re your top picks, and then we’re going to bring them all together for a little party.”
“What about family?” I asked quietly.
Rinaldo’s eyes darkened.
“Your top three picks,” he repeated. “I don’t care whose cunt they’ve been in or come out of, you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
He turned towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I can’t let this go, Evan,” he said. “I need some closure on this one. I can’t take out Greco. I’m not positioned to do that just yet, but I need this – I need this fixed.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied. “I understand.”
“You will do this for me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now?”
“Now?” I repeated. The look in his eyes didn’t indicate he was going with the equivalent of sometime soon. “As in, right this moment, sir?”
“Find the rat scurrying around in my business, Evan. Find him and bring him to me. I don’t care about his relationships or how long he’s been here; I need to know who he is.”
“Three top men?”
“You bring them to me,” he said. “I’ll make sure I get the right one.”
“Today?”
“Right now.”
I swallowed, and my still tense body tried to relax enough to think. If this wasn’t a test, I didn’t know what was. This was it though – this was the real way I got back into his graces. I could read between the lines, too. Don’t fuck up, Arden. Not again.
“I will be counting on you, then, Mister Arden.”
I nodded, turned, and left the office.
There was a lot of work to do if I was going to have any chance at coming up with the right three people as quickly as he wanted them. I also still wanted to make the hit on Ashton in Atlanta – I’d already done so much work to get ready for tha