Ichabod Crowley series 3 The Thorn Tree

Chapter 1

Pascal, Mexico
the middle of the night

Rollo Hernandez sat alone at a table in the almost empty restaurant, repeatedly creating a blue spark by touching his fingers to his thumb, and marveling at his own misfortune. He should have suspected something when Lupito had insisted on him taking over the gang, no one had ever talked about his ascendency before, and, in fact, she had only used it as a springboard to break away on her own. He had only been her blunt hammer, eliminating her competition and then cast aside while she claimed credit for all of his work. It shouldn't have been such a shock, how many had believed her, Rollo had never wowed anyone with his brilliance or his work ethic. Still, it had surprised him how many had risen up to her calls against dynasties and family run gangs, leaving Rollo with only a handful of men under his command, and even then, they had only stayed for loyalty to his cousins, Miguel and Lette.

"<Power Vacuums>" he complained, taking another deep sip from a bottle of tequila, the motion drawing his attention upwards and activating the one real skill that he possessed, "<Hey, Garcia!>"

He waved one of his men over, seeing him shake his head in disgust.

"<Yeah Boss>"

"<There's someone coming in>" Rollo explained, "<Make them leave>"

"<You sure that's a good idea boss?>" Garcia wondered, "<I mean, we could use the money>"

"<The only people who eat here are members of the organization>"

"<But Boss>..."

"<This is sacred!>" Rollo snapped, "<This is Holy Ground, it is where my Cousins sat and ate their meals and conducted their business! I aint about to turn it into no tourist trap so some Gringo can run up in here and order a Taco Supreme just because you think we need a few extra pesos! Now you go out there and you run him off, and, if you're still worried, then you can go out and do collections>"

"<We already collected for this week Boss>"

"<Then do it Again!>"

"<They're not going to pay>"

"<Make Them!>"

"Excuse me?" behind the two the door opened and a tall Italian man walked in, "But I have to agree with your man."

"<What did he just say?>" Garcia wondered.

"<It doesn't matter, I told you to get rid of him>" Rollo pointed at the two men standing in the corner, "<Juan, Todo>"

Completely oblivious to the men advancing on his position, the new arrival sauntered over to the bar and started tapping his fingers against the plank, his long ponytail bobbing along as he swayed to the music playing over the speakers. Juan was the first to reach him, grabbing a fistful of his yellow flannel suit-jacket and trying to pull him up, only for a loud snap to ring out, and instead Juan crumpled from a shattered leg. Todo approached with much more caution, drawing a gun and walking slowly as he issued commands. The new arrival leapt up from his bar stool, avoiding the first shot and charging straight at the man. He merely touched Todo, placing two fingers against his brow, but they all watched as steam shot from his victim's head, dropping his gun and screaming, Todo fell down with a mark branded upon him.