The Deadly (Part 3 of the Syndicate Series)

Chapter 6- To Diplomacy

Aldrich:

Nova had just gone to bed, but not before I had to spin her a tale of a great underwater sea creature that was defeated by her favorite superhero. Of course, said hero had the power of stars and could blow things up... and thus, was also named Nova.

I never minded putting her to bed when Chris was away, especially since she was more likely to cooperate for me than anyone else, but sitting in the bean bag by her bed usually left me with a crick in my neck.

I was headed down the stairs right when Chris walked in the door. I frowned at him, "How am I younger than you, but I feel like an old man every time I put Nova to bed?"

He laughed, kicking the last bit of ice from his shoes. It was freezing over tonight, and there was just enough water on the grass to create a mess. "Because my daughter adds ten years. Did she actually go to sleep for you?"

"She asked where you were of course, but she seemed satisfied when I told her you had work, then distracted her with a jumbo marshmallow before bed."

"Thank you," He clapped my shoulder and started towards the stairs. "I promised her that I would check on her when I got home no matter what, so I'll meet you in your office?"

I nodded in agreement then went to grab an apple from a bowl sitting on the counter. Of course, I couldn't leave without some peanut butter to go with it, so I grabbed a spoonful of that before heading upstairs.

The apple core was in the trash and the spoon licked clean before Christ ambled into my office, dropping into his usual chair across from me at my desk. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt slightly before leaning back and closing his eyes with a sigh. "Well apparently we weren't the only ones that didn't much like Tanner Stone. His men don't particularly seem to be mourning him, I stopped by the club on my way back from my meeting and it's in full swing still. I stuck around for a few minutes to see if there's a clear new leader, but I didn't see one. It won't be long until one steps up to the plate."

I rubbed my temples, "I was hoping his death might expose some of the inner workings, but it might make it harder to track down who he reports to up the chain of command."

"Even if he was taken alive, could we have tortured it out of him? He seemed like such a small player in the grand scheme of things, he probably only knew who he reported to. If we're really going to try and damage their operation, we need his boss' boss' boss' boss."

"Stone was a drunken fool, but not all of them are. We need some information, anything, and we're not going to find anyone higher up on the food chain any time soon, especially one who paraded himself alone like Stone."

We fell into silence, both of us thinking what our best move would be now that our best lead was gone. Yes, I was honestly glad to see him dead. But I had a couple questions for him first, although I wasn't sure how much he really had to offer. I reached into my special hiding place and held up a bottle of whiskey, which made him break his signature scowl and finally grin. He used to smile so much more before his wife died, but I couldn't blame him.

"Maybe we should consider finding a part time caretaker for Nova," I suggested. "Someone that can help out when we're all busy that Nova could connect with.... someone outside of her father's coworkers, not associated with work."

He gave a rueful laugh, "And where are we going to find someone that won't run the moment they realize what's going on here? The risks for a caretaker's safety alone are incalculable."

"You're doing a good job," I assured Chris, handing him a glass. "Nova is great and assertive and smart, I'm not saying there's anything lacking. I just wonder if an outside influence might be good someday, since she doesn't have a totally normal social life."