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

51: The White Room

Tranquil days went on, minutes ticking away from us, eased by our silent agreement not to waste thoughts on Sigma, or on me going home.

Will started a new work contract Tuesday after Memorial Day, in one of the villages in the north of the county. It only made us ache harder; I had us pressed against the shower tiles and sighing into the steam before he left the house each morning, texted him all day, and raced to the front door to take him in my arms each night.

Despite promising not to waste thoughts on Sigma, I spent the rests between my piano lessons pacing with guilt for not trying to find Raheem, or for not telling the police where Luke was hiding out. There was little I could do anyways; Teresa wasn't answering her phone and Ruby was ignoring my texts. With the lack of progress in the Sigma case, I'd been holding out for at least a goodbye to Miles before I got on a plane.

It wasn't until my Thursday afternoon practice session that my phone rang: Ruby's number.

"Um...Zeph?" Miles's voice was weak, faint, like he'd lost all hope.

"Miles! Are you still in the safe-house in Maria?"

"Yeah. Did you find out anything about those guys who took Raheem?"

"Kinda. Sigma were trying to ransom me, even though I'd escaped." I was interrupted by squawks of alarm from Miles. "It's OK, I'm safe, I promise. The police stopped it with a sting operation. The ransom was being negotiated by a woman called Ana Maria Santiago, the daughter of Eddy Santiago, the guy who took Raheem. She got arrested last week."

Miles was silent for a minute, thinking things over. I felt a weird sense of comfort at having Miles sleuth shit out with me in the absence of Teresa. Where was she? Perhaps she'd taken that new job in Mercedes and didn't wanna deal with me anymore.

"So, Raheem is part of a big project. Big enough to need funding with ransom money." Miles's voice had lost its wounded tone, and he was suddenly animated with new hope.

"Ana Maria claimed not to know which gang she was working for, but I bet that it was Noah."

Miles's voice shook again as fresh horrors entered his mind. "So, where's Noah, and what project would he ever need Raheem for?"

"You tell me, man. What does Noah ever want?"

"Isn't it obvious, Zeph?" Miles asked, exasperated. Everyone was better at detective shit than me.

"No." I didn't know Noah's plans. I assumed that they changed daily, depending on what new footholds he found to climb up Sigma's poisonous vines.

"Noah wants Sigma. He wants to be the new Chavez."

It was obvious when I thought about it. Noah's name was on everything: the ransom, Raheem's disappearance, Rafa's blackmail.

"But he won't get support from Sigma. Maybe Jones trusts Noah, but the other managers? They know what he's like. He's crawled over all of them to stay close to Jones. With Noah in power, Sigma would be a monarchy, like when Chavez was boss. Noah would set managers against each other for his own gain. They prefer Jones. Jones doesn't play people against each other. What you see is what you get with Jones."

Fuck, it was the longest I'd ever heard Miles speak in my whole life. And he knew so much about the inner workings of Sigma, the battles for leadership, the labyrinthine thinking needed to navigate the daily grind of a Sigma manager. It wasn't surprising what Miles knew, given that he'd been a rental asset for a year longer than me, managed by Noah himself.

What was surprising was that Miles could have been a way better witness for Sofi Borbón than I ever could. Why wasn't he living it up by the beach under witness protection like me?