Day 149 - New Number Nine

 New Number Nine

 Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

Gideon had asked to meet with the other families. He had made his choice. Nine wasn’t buried a month and Ten had barely begun to issue his reports, but Gideon was ready to move on. Queenie understood. It was a time of uncertainty and the sooner Gideon resolved this issue, the sooner he could reassert himself and consolidate whatever power had been slipping away. It was not a good choice, thought Queenie. A top lieutenant, a blood relative, albeit a distant one, but still a blood relative. He would be far too loyal to Gideon. The other bosses wouldn’t like it. Queenie understood their concerns. Yes, they all gave up some family member, and it was always a distant one, but it was one that had been trained for this for years, sometimes decades in advance. It would be someone who was low level and had never been in charge of any operations. Never had the opportunity to grow fat with money, or corrupted by power. Picking someone so under-prepared, under-trained, and too accustomed to earning, just made Gideon’s actions all the more transparent. He had consolidated power within his organization and now pushing the boundary to see how far he could go. Queenie was on the other side of town, their operations didn’t overlap. She didn’t mind letting one family grow or one family shrink, as long as it wasn’t hers. She could do this favor for him now, but the real question was how much to ask in return. If she waited, Gideon would forget and protest that it was too much. But he was savvy and wouldn’t give her anything now that would seem like it had too much potential to earn or grow. She had to consider things carefully. The other families would bicker and bargain and that would allow her a day to so to think. She had arms. She had soldiers in training. Now she needed something to do with them.

Jacob left the meeting early. Clearly unhappy. She took note and decided she would need to have a meeting with him soon. Jacob obviously wanted something different that his father. That could be exploited.

Queenie wondered what Jade was doing. She hadn’t heard any reports in days. It was taking too long. A woman should be able to get answers from a man faster than that. Perhaps Jade wasn’t ready yet. Seven didn’t seem celibate. It would be a shame if she turned out to be a failure so quickly. Queenie needed a successor. If Jade couldn’t get information, perhaps one of her other nieces could.

Ace was talking now and the men seemed to like that. He was sure Frankie was a fighter and would starting testing and training him immediately. Ace was a man. She hadn’t been with a man in years, but she still remembered Ace. Perhaps she wasn’t so old herself. If Jade was a failure, then maybe she could get the information she needed another way. She made a mental note to remind herself to invite Ace to dinner soon.