Mobilizing multiple different departments to do your bidding without actually telling them they were doing your bidding was a slow process. But, time wasn’t an issue at the moment because Santiago was in hiding. That meant that the Baron’s people had free reign to move around the city, without fear of getting ambushed. Arthur met Obadiah’s men for the first time, and just like him, they gave off a false appearance of being unimpressive. Like Obi, they wore nondescript clothing and none of them came tried to act tough or seem menacing. The only thing that was obvious about them was that nothing about them was obvious. In the modern world full of cameras, videos, and pictures, going unnoticed was one of the most powerful things a person could wield.

  This strength of subtlety proved to be extremely useful by the fact that the amount of intelligence they were able to gather in such a short time was astounding. Within a week, they had confirmed the details of operations at six different CargoLink locations. They’d verified how those locations got their goods in and out, who they were distributing them to, and the volume of products going in and out. Although it was impossible to make any kind of accurate count, they gave an estimation of how much money they were making across each location. Thus, highlighting which locations should be targeted first. Arthur, at this point, wasn’t even sure if Obi and his crew were vampires, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. They were damn good.

  Unfortunately, this information came with the cost that one of Obi’s teams had been spotted by the Soldado guards at one of the location. There’d been no fight or anything like that, but Obi now had to assume that suspicion was rising among the Soldado’s. Fortunately, they had prepared for that too. Obi’s modus operandi evolved from what it had started out as immediately after. The next time Arthur saw Obi’s men it was like they were completely different people. They wore street clothing, flashy necklaces and watches, and all made sure to wear the same color shirts no matter where they were. Street gangs weren’t exactly common in Longley, but considering that cartel activity was considered to be at an all time high in the city, street gangs weren’t much of a stretch. To Arthur, the facade was convincing. Which was the only thing that mattered. If it was convincing to a cop, it probably meant it was convincing to everybody else too.

  So now, the Soldado’s had to worry about a bunch of regular human gang members muscling in on their businesses. Within two weeks, security was getting tighter at the locations. It was getting more obvious, too. Obi’s recon and false flagging provided an invaluable opportunity for everyone else to start acting. Shiang had already been prepared to move, intercepting a shipment at the largest storage contained site in Longley; a shipment of human trafficking. The best part was, it had CargoLink’s labels all over it. This set off an explosive investigation into all of the locations that operated under that name. It was only about a third of Bartolome’s total holdings, but it was a huge hit. And, Shiang got away with it without ever having involved himself directly. Per his own words, he knew who was willing to keep their mouth shut and for what amount of money.

  Shortly after the CargoLink busts, Persephone had one of Bartolome’s warehouses in Longley seized by the city government, on grounds of ten year old insurance paperwork mismatched with what the warehouse currently was presenting. They heard back that nothing inside came across as illegal, and so it was just chalked up to bad book keeping on the insurance companies part. Still, that was a month of non-operations out of that warehouse for the time being. The Soldados would have a hell of a time trying to figure out the bureaucratic insurance mess that would follow, effectively rendering the place unusable.

  Lastly, Arthur had submitted a tip to Dot about a marijuana operation just nearby the police department. By the next night it was all over the news that the Longley police department had issued a warrant and performed a search and seizure on the site that was estimated to be around two million dollars worth of weed. A huge win for the department, and a huge loss for Santiago. Fortunately, as Arthur had hoped, Dot hadn’t pried too much about how he’d come about this information. When she asked, Arthur simply told her that the people he worked for were interested in seeing this place go bust, but couldn’t do it from their own ends. That was good enough for her, and the next night she was on the news giving an interview for having lead one of the biggest stings in the city’s history.

  The only downside was that these numerous busts one after another had the opposite affect of what Arthur had hoped. Attention towards all these illegal operations was the only thing on anyone’s mind recently. Longley had a ‘problem’, now, according to mainstream media outlets. Which meant it was becoming harder not only for Santiago to keep his operations going, but also for the Baron’s people to move around unnoticed. The worst part of it all, was that it seemed like no matter how many operations they knocked over, it wasn’t even making a dent. Bartolome had apparently been setting down roots in Longley for a very long time, far prior to when he had even received his initial target here. It was like most, if not all of the criminal enterprises in the city were under his umbrella. It had gone by unnoticed for so long because the Baron made most of his money legally, according to Persephone. So trying to cutting off their revenue supply seemed an insurmountable task. No matter how many cuts they made, the beast was big enough to keep on rolling.

  This had been a major topic of discussion around the Baron’s people, when one night Arthur had arrived at Glasshill and nobody else was present besides the usual door guards. As he entered the office space, he could hear someone conversing behind one of the office doors, which was unusually closed. He approached, knocking on the door. After a few moments, he heard Persephone’s voice beckon him in.

  As Arthur opened the door, to his surprise Persephone was sitting on the opposite side of her own desk while a man Arthur didn’t recognize was sitting behind the desk. He sat turned away from Arthur, facing out the large window that spared a view of the whole city. All Arthur could spot was the top of his head behind the big leather chair, a short cut of raven black hair.

  “Sit,” Persephone said, “And close the door.”

  Arthur obliged.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” the man said. Immediately Arthur recognized his voice as the one over the phone when he’d previously spoken to the Baron. It was unmistakably the same person, but being this close to him, not talking over an electrical line, Arthur realized the phone did not do him justice. The Baron spoke in a low, soft tone, that was smooth and silky like some sort of jazz singer. It was warm, and buttery, and made Arthur want to relax, sink down into the chair and do nothing but listen to whatever this man had to say. All that from a single sentence.

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  The chair turned, and Arthur saw the Baron for the first time. He had a sharp jaw and pronounced chin, high cheekbones with striking, light brown eyes. His hair was raven black, cut short in a business professional style. It contrasted his skin, which was pallid. Even before being a vampire Arthur imagine this person had been particularly pale. He wore a dark blue suit over a black sweater, and wore a watch that Arthur, without knowing anything about watches, guessed cost more than the average person’s car. In a way, the Baron reminded Arthur of Bartolome. But while Bartolome was stylish, casual, and sinister, the Baron was professional, impressive, and had stature. But, the one thing about both of them that seemed similar, was that they had a presence about them. A sort of dark aura that dragged your gaze into them and blotted out everything else. Like being drowned underneath an ocean. Many other vampires were physically impressive, or menacing. The Baron was something else entirely. Something primordial.

  As he spoke in his low, slow, tone it only made that aura stronger. “Arthur. I’m sorry the first time we’re meeting has to be under such circumstances.”

  “No, no need to be sorry,” Arthur practically blurted out, his first instinct to impress the man, or rather, avoid offending him by any means. “I mean, it’s totally fine. But we’re working on it. Fixing everything, that is.”

  The Baron nodded. “So I hear, although the effects of your efforts aren’t so obvious. Not any fault of your own. Persephone told me of your idea, and it is a good one. But it’s not enough.”

  “Well, like I said-” Persephone began to say, but a single look from the Baron caused her to stop mid sentence. He sighed in such a way that made Arthur feel uncomfortable, like he was being chided. And the sigh hadn’t even been directed at him, so he couldn’t imagine was Persephone felt like. Now Arthur knew where Persephone learned her trademark look of disappointment from.

  “I don’t doubt your prowess, Persephone. But, at this point I can say with full confidence Santiago is still doing exactly what Bartolome is asking him to do. And since I cannot strike at a man an ocean away, our best option is our current course of action. Strangle them, until they’re forced to leave.”

  There was a moments pause, which Arthur took as an opportunity to ask. “But that’s what we’re doing, you said it’s not enough?”

  The Baron nodded. He stood out of the chair and turned away from them again, gazing out the window once more, his hands clasped behind his back. “

  “You had the right idea, but the wrong target. Our priority right now should be locating the biggest sites of production for the most profitable means by which Santiago is bringing in revenue. If we strike that down, all others will falter. A business, no matter how large, will struggle, then crumble if it’s primary source of revenue falters.”

  “Obi is good but not that good,” Persephone protested. “We have guesses, but nothing conclusive. It would take months to determine that.”

  “No it won’t,” the Baron said matter of factly. He turned around to face them again, popping open a briefcase and reaching inside for a manila envelope. He tossed it in front of Persephone and Arthur on the desk, who began to look through it. “Because I’ve already determined what it is.”

  Inside were what appeared to be aerial photos of extremely high resolution and quality, of two different locations. Both appeared to be large, industrial grade factories. Arthur recognized one of them, but hadn’t seen the other one before. He didn’t want to know how the Baron had gotten these pictures.

  “Cocaine processing plants. How they’ve managed to get away with it in such huge facilities is beyond me,” the Baron said, making the slightest glance at Arthur. It felt personal, considering Arthur wasn’t part of the police department anymore. He shrunk a little. “As it turns out, Santiago has kept ties to the Sinaloa. They use him to distribute large quantities of the drug not only in Longley, but around it as well.”

  “This address isn’t even inside town,” Persephone mused, looking over the second image.

  The precinct didn’t have jurisdiction outside city limits. That’s why it looks unfamiliar, Arthur thought. He wasn’t going to tell the Baron that. The Baron probably already knew, anyway.

  “But why are they trying to expand outside of Longley?” Persephone asked nobody in particular.

  The Baron said nothing, just kept a straight face and his dark gaze on Persephone. She looked up at him. He gave her a look like he was waiting for to speak. As though he already knew the answer but wanted her to figure it out. If the Baron was the one who had taught Persephone everything, he wondered who had taught the Baron.

  “This must’ve been here for a while. Which means that Bartolome must have moved in on Longley a long time ago. Not completely unusual, but there are bigger, more profitable places in the US if he’s trying to start foreign business. Which also leads me to suspect that this whole thing about revenge, as Santiago called it, isn’t exactly the full picture.”

  “And?” the Baron asked. “Remember what your analysis of Santiago Flores.”

  “He’s brutish. He’s really more of a thug than anything else, just gussied up to look like something more. An enforcer.” Arthur was waiting for Persephone to connect whatever dots she was seeing, when all of a sudden her face lit up in a knowing grin. “He doesn’t know.”

  The Baron nodded solemnly, “That’s the conclusion I came to as well.”

  It took Arthur a few moments to puzzle together all the pieces that were being thrown around, and all the things he knew about the situation. Arthur quietly repeated what Persephone had just said. The Baron looked towards him. It took Arthur a few longer moments to realize what she had meant. “He doesn’t know that this is all a ploy. Bartolome is playing him.”

  The Baron’s lip curled, as he nodded. “Seems you were right about him, Persephone. Maybe he does have what it takes.”

  Persephone smiled, “I told you.”

  The Baron sat back down in the large leather chair, and clasped his hands together.

  “This is a critical piece of information that we can exploit. Bartolome, wisely, is keeping Santiago close, but not too close. He is playing at something else, and keeping Santiago in the dark. How can we use this to our advantage?” This time it wasn’t a lesson in critical thinking, the Baron was really asking.

  “Well…” Arthur said, looking to Persephone. She didn’t have to give him approval to speak, but he wanted to make sure he wasn’t crossing boundaries. She nodded for him to continue.

  “If Santiago is just a dog on a leash, why don’t we cut the leash loose?” The Baron was looking at him, waiting for him to go on, so he did. “Santiago is loyal, but when we met with him in the club, that anger was real. He really does believe that this is all about slighting them, making them look bad. He wants revenge, even if that’s not exactly what Bartolome wants. So instead of trying to find out what Bartolome wants, let’s not even bother. He’s shifty, and intelligent. And he’s not even in the states. Whatever he’s up to, we’ll probably never know. But, we can ensure that whatever he’s up to gets clogged up in the weeds. By cutting Santiago loose.”

  “Are you talking about trying to flip him?” Persephone asked.

  “No, no way. He’s far too unpredictable.” Arthur said, “I’d never work with him again. I’m saying we should give him what he wants. Revenge.”

  Persephone furrowed her eyebrows at him. “Ok…let’s say we do that, lead him into an ambush. Then what? If we kill him, Bartolome is just going to replace him with someone else.”

  Arthur looked to the Baron, who was nodding.

  “But,” the Baron said, “It will give us a window to strike down the rest of the operations while they are disorganized and scrambling. If Bartolome is keeping them in the dark as we think, they will not be difficult to scare away after seeing their leader fall.”

  Persephone shrugged, “I guess it could work.” She looked at the Baron, who nodded again.

  “So, we give him revenge.”