Undercover Read Free

more of his confidence return. The lieutenant knocked, then after some signal Niko didn’t catch, opened the door.
    “You will go in alone,” the lieutenant said.
    Reminding himself that getting closer to Alvarez was why he’d agreed to this in the first place, Niko stepped into the room.
    “Ah, Nikolos, finally we meet face-to-face.”
    Niko had already become skilled at hiding his emotions, otherwise his shock over Alvarez’s appearance would have put him in a position of weakness. The crime lord looked like any other middle-aged businessman. His thick, black hair and mustache were neatly trimmed. Instead of the more elegant bones that his mother’s purely Spanish side had inherited, Alvarez’s face had a broader structure that indicated native blood. From the gossip among the villagers, Alvarez’s mother had come from a line of Peruvian royalty.
    Niko couldn’t judge the man’s height accurately since he was sitting down. Underneath the sheen of a custom silk suit, his upper body appeared stocky but not fat.
    The only sign that this man was one of the most ruthless criminals in the Americas was the coldness of his eyes. His lips offered Niko a welcoming smile, but his eyes seemed to strip him bare. A flare of anger and resentment answered that violating stare, but Niko tamped it down. He couldn’t afford to let Alvarez see any of his real feelings. Not yet.
    He’d have to get a feel for what the man wanted from him. Was it blind subservience? Or did he want Niko to fight him so that Alvarez felt he’d earned Niko’s respect, or at least obedience?
    Uncomfortably aware that if he screwed up now, he could ruin things, Niko wished he’d had time to change into a clean trainee uniform.
    “Sir,” he finally managed, keeping his head up without actually meeting those chilling eyes again.
    “I am very pleased with your progress, Nikolos. The lieutenant tells me you have settled in nicely and have gone out of your way not to fight with the other trainees outside of class. You’ve come a long way from the boy who shamed his father so by nearly getting kicked out of school for fighting.”
    “Thank you, sir.” Niko had actually calmed down a lot after his parents read him the riot act when he stole a portable CD player. He’d become a model son until the incident with the explosives. Once he’d decided to join Alvarez’s world, he’d started picking fights and getting into as much trouble as possible. All in the name of tarnishing his good name.
    It had worked. He was here, and Alvarez didn’t realize he’d been set up.
    So far, so good.
    “Having you work in the fields has started your transformation into a man. However, I have much bigger plans for you. I need you working for me, so that I may send reports back to your family about how their precious boy has fallen so low.”
    Niko flinched. He couldn’t help it. His parents had warned him that Alvarez liked to play mind games, but it had never occurred to Niko that Alvarez would taunt his family with Niko’s fall from grace. I’m sorry, Mamá .
    Niko consoled himself with the fact that Pop knew the truth. And one day he’d be able to tell the rest of the family. In the meantime, he had to bear whatever Alvarez dished out.
    Alvarez chuckled. “Ah. I see you still care about the opinion of your annoyingly upstanding family. It will be such a pleasure to break you of that concern.” He shook his head. “But that is for later. For now, I have a new assignment for you. One of my managers on a small smuggling route has lost his assistant and security guard. You will take over the position.”
    Niko let a little of his excitement shine in his eyes. “Thank you, jefe .” Let Alvarez think he was happy about getting off the plantation because of the status. What really mattered to Niko was taking the first step toward winning Alvarez’s trust.
    “When do I leave?”
    “Immediately. You will ride back to town with me and I will explain your duties.