Famous : Hearts and Spades

One : Two Months Ago

"Get Axis for me!" barked Axle, at his poor secretary, who was a jittery creature, with a bad case of nerves. How she ever managed to get his work done was something no one in his office could understand, him included.

As she hurried out the door, he picked up his personal phone and called Brian, his best friend and partner. He was the one he'd set up both his businesses with, after Brian had been released from juvenile.
Brian picked up his call on the second ring. Before Axle could speak anything, however, Brian spoke quickly into the phone. "I'll be there in ten." And he disconnected the phone, but not before Axle heard him moan.

"Gross." He commented to himself before pouring himself a drink as he waited.

"Sir." Jane peeked in through his door. "Ms. Axis couldn't be reached. I'm afraid she might be underground again."
"It's okay." Axle sighed. "Leave her a message to contact us as soon as possible."

Jane didn't move. "But Sir-"

"Jane, for Christ's sake!" Axle said impatiently, "The girl's my Chief of security. She can take care of herself."
Jane nodded, like always seeming comically obedient, before backing out again.

Axle pinched the bridge of his nose, having to wait for Brian to finish. Between his best friend and his sister, he wasn't sure how many people were left in his company who they hadn't slept with yet. Sometimes, their partners even overlapped, regardless of their genders. It was almost as if Axis had broadened her playing field when she discovered that she was bisexual.

"Hey bro!" Brian peeked in, entering his office when he nodded at him. "What couldn't await my presence? I was a bit busy, you see." 

Axle looked at him blankly.
"Busy hiding in bosoms, I presume."

Brian grinned back at him, smoothing his already gelled back hair.

"Okay." Axle sighed. "Take a seat."
Axle slid a file across the table to him when he settled down.
"We have to do something fast." He said. "Diamond is in the talks with Darius Cirillo about the port control in and out of San Pedro. If Darius gives her the go for his shipping companies, that will give her four out of the five independent companies still left."

Brian got into the business mode quickly. He opened the file.
"Okay, let's see. We have access to seven companies owing to our coalition with the Salvatore family. But Diamond already has nine."

"Three of which she managed to snag after her brother died." Axle said. "When Willy became the boss, he had six and we had seven. And the rest remaining eight were put aside as untouchable in the meeting in New York."
"How did you even get him to agree to that..." Brian muttered.

"He didn't." Jerry, Axle's right hand man stepped in. "He just pointed it out to the bosses, that even though Willy headed the LA family, it was us who brought in tremendous profits for them. We reached a common understanding that we kept up with the businesses, while paying the mob wherever our paths crossed with theirs."

"Yeah, I have been doing the last part myself. I just didn't think it was a big deal." Brian muttered. "I thought they were regular payoffs, I mean, everyone who's worth anything has to pay their dues to the mafia. And our speciality is basically smuggling counterfeit goods along with regular shipments of products. Something that's kinda their forte."

"I think you should pay attention to the details, Brian." Jerry snapped at him. "If anything were to happen to us-"
"Jerry's right, Brian." Axle stepped in. "You are an equal partner in this. You cannot just keep following our orders blindly. If something happens to us, you need to know what to do."

"Come on!" Brian exclaimed in his usual carefree manner. "Do you think that if I wanted to handle this complex thing we've set up, not completely a legal business, but neither clean, would I have always insisted on staying at the front lines?"