Success, Opulence and Power Hebru Young (ebook reader online .txt) 📖

“You mean Antonio Guzman’s kid, he took over the family business in North Walnut Grove?” I asked.

“Yeah, about ten years ago,” Alex replied.

“Wow. I knew his dad. He was an Honourable man. That business has been around for years and years. He was a front for the cartel before I became the boss. He decided he no longer wanted to store our drugs, something about a guilty conscience. In the end, the cartel made him pay for protection. Oh well, Fidel has to go. Joe, what are we looking at here?” I asked.

“I had Fredric look into everyone on both lists, and I’ve scanned the summary. As far as Guzman is concerned, there is always a possibility he could be involved in your indictment. The good thing is he doesn’t have any local political affiliations or influence in the community. He doesn’t have any association with the local church. There won’t be any significant eyebrows raised if he goes missing, so making a move on him should be okay,” Joe said.

“Good. Alex, see to it that Guzman is taken care of,” I said.

“Consider it done. Next on the list is store owner Karpal Singh. This guy has complained about protection payments ever since he opened his business. He always says he doesn’t need the net-cloud services we provide, says all his clients do business with him offline. For this reason, he thinks he should only pay half of what we ask. We’ve monitored things, and the business is doing okay, he hasn’t really done anything that would indicate he is chirping. However, I don’t think we should risk it. We should probably take care of him too,” Alex said.

“Joe, what do you think?” I asked.

“This is a tricky one, Dom. We pulled a file on him, and Singh has an affiliation with the local Sikh temple. Members of his temple might kick up a fuss with the local authorities. These Sikhs look out for each other, and I don’t think they would rest until Singh’s death was accounted for,” Joe said.

“Thanks Joe, we will make a move on him anyway. We’ll make it look like he died of natural causes. It will be expensive, but it’ll be worth it. Alex, please get the Pharmacist on the case,” I said.

“Gotcha, Dom,” Alex replied.

The Pharmacist was no pharmacist. He was an assassin who specialized in taking out his victims with self-concocted pharmaceutical cocktails. He had a knack for producing injections that would kill his victims and make it look like they died of natural causes. His MO was to get his victims in an isolated situation and administer the injection. The Pharmacist regularly switched his formula to ensure that law enforcement never connected the dots when they looked at an autopsy. The fact he was ex-military guaranteed that he was efficient and covert. Our Pharmacist came at a cost, but he would be worth every credit.

“Now, who’s the last person on your list?” I asked.

“This client has only been with us two months, Dom. Right off the bat, she missed her first payment by a week, but get this—when she did pay, she also paid with interest. Her New York coffee shop does okay, but I think the shop runs a massive overhead, which affects the bottom line. Her name is Joanna Alvarado, and I don’t know what to suggest with her,” Alex said.

“Put one of the foot soldiers on her—they are to monitor her every move. If she is found anywhere near a police station or courthouse, or interacting with any form of law enforcement, take her out. Also, get Matthew Harrington to track all her comms,” I said.

“No problem, Dom,” replied Alex.

It’s tricky with female victims. Whenever the press runs a story on young female victims, the story tends to generate more attention than other stories. This results in more sympathy from the public, which in turn could lead to an outcry for justice to be served. We needed to tread carefully with this one if we planned on killing her. It would be a PR nightmare, bringing unnecessary heat our way. We wouldn’t get the Pharmacist in on this one. Two of our clients dying of natural causes would be suspicious.

“So, Chris, what do you have for Europe?” I asked.

“Only two on the list for Europe, Dom. I expected the numbers to be higher than they are. I guess our tactics are effective for the most part, seeing as most customers tend not to offend us,” Chris replied.

“Hmm, I guess so,” I said.

“The first on my list, Muhamad Mahmood. This guy runs a butcher shop in North London, we’ve had reports that he’s been complaining about his fees. Whenever our foot soldiers turn up to collect, it has been noted he can be a bit rude. He coughs up the credits but talks-left while doing it. On one occasion, we were informed that he damaged one of our payment scanners during a routine visit to his shop. He dropped the scanner, but claimed it was a mistake. We added the cost of the scanner to his fees, of course. Speaking of scanners, I recommend we upgrade them across the Americas and Europe. The guys are finding that the scanners can be quite slow, and sometimes payments don’t go through for ten to fifteen seconds. As you know, time is credits, so the more time we can save dealing with just one customer the better. As far as our friend Mahmood, my recommendation is we get rid of him,” said Chris.

“I think I agree, Chris. Joe?”

“No one would miss Mahmood. His business is not on the up-and-up anyway. The word according to reliable resources is that the business is a front. He is involved in some small-time scams, nothing of great significance to your organization though. There are reports that no one in the area gets