“What do you want?” Rayner asked quietly.

“Nothing.”

“Yes, you do. If this was a straight rendition, you wouldn’t be in here with us.”

“Darwin, huh?”

Rayner smiled magnanimously. “I’m on the wrong side of the bars here, pal. Whatever it takes.”

“Cancer,” Alik said.

“Aww, shit.”

“Why did you choose her?”

“I didn’t.”

“I’m listening.”

Rayner jabbed a finger at his rival. “This asshole doesn’t know when he’s lost.”

“Fuck you!” Javid-Lee screamed.

“I sent Koushick to deliver a message so loud that someone even this dumb could recognize.”

“You were going to whack the Lorenzos,” Alik said in understanding.

“Fucking A I was; the whole fucking family. That way it’s ended. Clean and over. No more loser paybacks.”

“Like fuck it would have been,” Javid-Lee snarled. “I can take you down anytime I want.”

Rayner gestured around mockingly. “Sure you could.”

“Get on with it,” a weary Alik told Rayner.

“Okay, so Koushick and his crew are getting ready to take out the Lorenzos. Next thing I know, Cancer comes to me. I don’t know how she knew; Koushick shouting his dumb mouth off around the clubs, most like.”

“Then what?”

“Hey, I wasn’t going to turn down that offer. Cancer! She would make fucking sure there wasn’t a Lorenzo left alive in this universe. Koushick, he’s good, okay. Loyal. But there were kids…That wouldn’t mean shit to her. And she lived her rep, you know. The way she maneuvered people; getting the yacht trip canceled, putting the Lorenzos exactly where we wanted them to be. Shit, like Koushick could ever pull off a stunt like that!”

“Did she say why she took this contract?”

“Said it was a good fit, and we’d both come out ahead. Told me there was some files Kravis had at his firm that she’d like to bust. I figured what the hell, you know? She’s Cancer, and she’s working a job with me. Doesn’t hurt to be tight with someone like that.”

“Why did she want those files?”

“Seriously, man? You think I’d ask her a question like that? I just told Otto and Koushick she was going with them, and do what she said.” He glowered at Javid-Lee, stabbing a finger through the bars. “And then that ratfuck ambushed them.”

“We didn’t know they were there,” Javid-Lee yelled. “Your butt-ugly bitch cousin Delphine ran there after you warned her. Perigine was on his way to hit her kid. What? You think I was going to ignore you whacking Riek and firebombing my fucking club? You took it up to this level, you fuck, because you have no respect for me. So your ratfuck nephew—the little shit that started all this—his ass is mine, and you know that; you know that’s the price you gotta pay. Only you’re too chickenshit to stand up like a man. Your whole family hides and runs like pussies. That’s what you are, gaping fucking pussies.”

Rayner yelled wordlessly and spat at Javid-Lee through the mesh.