Authors note: Sorry for the quick post, but the plot is moving quickly now. Also, not a lot of sex in this entry, but trigger warning for violence.

 

So the war started on New Year's Day, 2007. But I'll get to that in a second. As 2006 closed, I still had radio silence from Just A Scientist, but I was still working things. At home, Aiyana and I were doing great.

 

 

Regular date nights. She loved watching scary movies with me.

 

 

And I loved how during the scariest parts, she needed physical contact to feel safe.

 

 

Let me be clear, Aiyana was the real deal for me. This wasn't just sex. But, I liked that part, too.

 

 

Now, I might have hit dead air on the scientist story, but I was definitely following up on this sex pervert story. Bertie Humber was his name, as I'm all sure you already know by now, because of what happened later. Vice Chancellor at Britechester University. I was stalking him at this point. Every chance I got to head out east, I was looking for him.

 

 

And he had a respectable side. A fiancee.

 

 

But I snapped a lot of pics of him visiting other girls, too.

 

 

Most of them students.

 

 

And in a lot of cases, I don't mean college students. I mean college applicants.

 

 

No question he was using his position to get his rocks off with young women that struck his fancy. Just like Meg had told me.

 

But, my investigation had to take a pause when the bosses sent me on a bit of a whirlwind. First, they wanted me to profile this athlete in Myshuno. Fresh out of high school, about to enroll in Foxbury, he was tapped as the greatest soccer star in a generation. He'd be playing in Europe within a couple of years.

 

 

Devon Douglass was his name, and he oozed confidence. He already knew he was a future superstar. All of 19, I asked him what it was like to already be this famous.

 

 

"Off the record?" he asked?

 

 

"Of course," I said. "For the moment."

 

 

"Off the record, man, I'm drowning in pussy."

 

 

"I never thought even a couple of years ago the women would be this easy, but I'm banging classmates."

 

 

"Neighbors."

 

 

"Rich housewives I met at the gym."

 

 

"Even a porn star from around the way makes regular visits."

 

 

"On the record, I'm just focused on getting prepared for my arrival on campus, so I can help my team in any way possible."

 

I started to tell him that was a fine answer, and was about to shift into on-the-record questions, but my phone rang, and my editor reassigned me in the middle of the interview.

 

"What the fuck is this?" I asked him.

 

"Get on a plane. Newcrest. Crime shit going down."

 

Apparently, the Russian mob had made a move against Pedro's organization, and some poor guy who worked for Pedro had taken the wrong end of it.

 

 

He didn't actually have anything to do with Pedro's more black market activities. Dude was just a janitor at his strip club. But the Russians decided to send a statement, and they picked him, seemingly at random, as the recipient.

 

 

I made it to Newcrest in time to photograph the funeral.

 

 

The widow Naomi was despondent.

 

 

And Gomes had left behind a little girl, Cora.

 

 

I could see the others trying to console her.

 

 

But even though I didn't get all the words from my vantage point, I could tell that it was Pedro who promised what she wanted: revenge.

 

 

She was eager to see him keep this promise.

 

 

After the ceremony, I slipped off to the casino around the way with Pedro to talk.

 

 

"Look, let me start with how sorry I am for your loss," I told him, "and to continue that I'm not just here as a friend, but also as a journalist."

 

 

"So your editor sent you?"

 

 

"He did. He doesn't know I know you. I should turn the assignment down as a conflict of interest."

 

 

"Don't do that," he said. "I need a guy covering this I can trust."

 

 

"Hey, you can count on me. My editor is going to expect certain things, though. Like probably your name and what you're known for."

 

 

"I get it, but keep it professional and vague. Accused of. Rumors of. Unproven charges. Never convicted.  That sort of shit."

 

 

"And as always, please accept my hospitality at Picante before you head back home to write this shit up. You know the girls there love you."

 

 

"Thanks," I said. "I think I will swing by."

 

 

And that's how Pedro was. Always buying people off. Maybe with money. Maybe with a free blowjob from Catalina. But, who was I to complain? Catalina sucked a mean dick. And even if I wasn't the kind of guy who could be bought, I wasn't about to fuck with Pedro. Besides, I was smart enough to know this was just the first salvo in a much bigger conflcit.