Adversary by S. W. Frank

but she kicked her leg, mumbling in her sleep. The second he decided to just wake her ass up, music from his cell alert him to a call…Nico.
    Feet to the floor he groaned. The divan seemed so damn far. With forced energy he got there, turned his pant pocket inside out and sat atop his clothes, lying back with a leg extended to the windowsill. “What’s up?”
    “Not good news.”
    “Shoot,” he said confident the line was clear. He updated security features regularly; even in the house this was done. “Summary please, I’m dog ass tired.”
    “Pasqual was a front man for this dude named Gamba. Diamond smuggler. Surveillance photos show his cousin, a guy named Moyo was at the docks. Guess what?”
    Alfonzo didn’t like these guessing games. Besides, he wasn’t in the mood. “What?”
    “Boo…ghosts.”
    “Nico stop the crap and just say it.”
    “There’s a consortium of jewelers buying his goods, dancing around the Kimberley Process.”
    “Not of interest yet, what else?”
    “I’m sure this will pique your interest. Meyers was one of the consortium investors, his brother is also and the man that owns the warehouse is one of the families on a list you got, old ghosts, if you catch my drift.”
    Alfonzo’s head turned toward the door when Giuseppe walked right in without knocking. He’d slept the entire flight, Alfonzo hadn’t.
    “What exactly are you doing?” Alfonzo asked when Giuseppe went to his closet and rummaged through hangars before emerging with a robe sporting an YSL logo on the pocket.  The darn thing still had store tags.
    “I need this and the combination to the cellar. Russian Vodka will help me sleep.”
    Nico laughed in Alfonzo’s ear. “Good night, oh it’s fourteen hundred hours there, so it’s good morning to you and good luck with that asshole. Ciao.”
    “Yeah, keep me updated, peace.” Alfonzo put down the phone and recited the code to Giuseppe. But Giuseppe had to get in a tease and stopped at the bed to simulate humping and waving his hand in front of his dick pretending he was smacking ass.
    Alfonzo tossed the cell at the Giuseppe’s butt and he merely laughed. “She does have a nice ass fratellino; if I were you I would be a dog and burst through the back door portal as she sleeps!”
    “Get the fuck outta’ here, ahora!” Alfonzo scolded with the remainder of his energy. Leisurely his crazy brother exited. Fatigue pinned Alfonzo to the divan. Thoughts of sex wiped from his mind as sleep won the war.
     
     
     
    ***
     
     
    Nico hung up. He chuckled at his cousins and their antics. Boys they were to a man who had no time for childishness. The computer screen went black as a plate was set on the table along with his favorite brand of herbal tea. The perfume was gentle to his nose, pleasant and sweet, but it’s another’s he preferred. However, the present company was nice. He could talk freely with a comrade without concern, a freedom for a burdened heart.
    “Eat,” Bianca said as she occupied a seat beside him, eyeing the screen. “In the Shona language Gamba means warrior. He will be trouble, I feel it.”
    Nico nodded. “I’ve seen him before, on a boat disguised as a waiter.”
    Bianca took the liberty of touching his laptop to scroll to an image in the corner. She zoomed in on the figure with the briefcase. Moyo, I have heard of him.” Her pretty mouth puckered in thought, unaware Nico studied her profile, thinking her beautiful, comparing her to others. “Yes, sí, I remember. He was mentioned in an article by the Human Rights Watch which had uncovered rampant abuses by the military in the diamond mines including forced labor, child labor, killings, beatings, smuggling, and corruption. The Human Rights Watch confirmed that many stones coming from that field were mined in the context of serious human rights violations. He was the military leader then. He is also Gamba’s cousin and has many political connections.”
    Nico appreciated her knowledge.