The Sigma Asset 🏳️‍🌈 (bxb)║AMBYS WINNER 2022

26: Loss

The very second my final piano student of the afternoon had headed out the door, I launched into a masochistic practice session of Scriabin five[1]. I'd just about warmed up enough that I was only making one mistake every four bars, when my phone rang.

Teresa's office number. I thanked María Estrella del Mar that it wasn't Ruby's cellphone; Teresa wasn't jeopardizing her job to do favors for me.

Will was in earshot, but I didn't care. "Whatcha wearing?" I drawled in the slimiest voice I could muster.

The pitch of Teresa's cackle had me thrusting the phone away from my head to prevent my eardrums from exploding. Will took the opportunity to flee to the kitchen to make dinner.

"I've never had a guy ask me that before," she said in between roars of laughter.

"Does it count if it's just a gay guy with a love for neon?"

"Yeah, it still counts! But I couldn't wear much jewelry today, or badges. We had a visit from the Arenosa Police Commissioner so I had to tone it down. He's classy."

"You're way more classy, Teresa!" I said. "Oh, shit. The Arenosa Commissioner as in...?" I looked over my shoulder to check that Will wasn't listening, and was relieved to hear muffled Farsi-English patois coming from the kitchen; he was talking to Mozhgan.

"Guillermo Reyes, Sofi's ex, now married to the Arenosa D.A.."

"He's called Guillermo? As in...William, but in Spanish?" Will's family needed to be more creative with naming shit.

"Yeah, I guess."

"So, Charlotte Graz has a father and a brother, both called William. And she married a dude called William?"

Teresa howled down the phone again. "Please tell me their fucking kids aren't all called William."

"I teach one of their kids piano. She's a good kid. And she's not called William."

"Shit, Sofi's coming!" The scuffle of Teresa rearranging papers on her desk followed. "Hey, Sofi! Zeph's ready for ya."

"Hi, Zeph." Sofi giggled. "I'm sorry for calling you at this late hour. I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that we raided the Las Olas restaurant, and your friend Miles Plancy is now in a safe-house in Maria, and will be moved outside the city soon."

"What about Raheem and Luke?" I asked, sounding more than a little ungrateful. I was so fucking relieved that Miles was OK, but without Raheem, I didn't expect him to be OK for long. And, where was Luke?

"We're unaware of Raheem Ali's whereabouts, and...I'm afraid that Luka Konstantin left the safe-house in the early hours of this morning. We don't know where he went."

My blood ran cold. What the fuck had Luke done? "Wh...where is he? Can you get him back?" Panic rose in me so swiftly that my head began to pound.

"Luka was very quiet at his interview, and didn't seem to have much information, but we managed to learn a lot from Miles Plancy this morning. Miles thinks that Luka may have contacted that...client of his, the one that you told us about, a suspect for the arson at Seven."

Dumb clueless idiot baby bro. Did he have any idea how much fucking danger he was in?

"Miles Plancy overheard that there was currently a turf war between Sigma and El Nube. Do you know anything about that?"

"No, nothing. Unless it started after I left."

"Can you please tell us about this client of Luka Konstantin's?"

"I don't know the client's name. He's a music industry executive from Huertas, or he must have been once. Sigma does background checks on all new clients to make sure that they're real people, and aren't just guys from other gangs trying to get information from rental assets or take photos of Sigma property. This guy's background check must have been OK, so he must be the real deal. I'm guessing he's a Sigma business partner."