I sat with Larry as we finished one beer after the other. We joked about the past and some stupid jobs we had done. Larry reminded me that the Contractor was supposed to have called me to make me the Number One. It also made me doubt the Contractor’s motives because he could have made me number one when he called to inform me about the complaints of the Matinez Gang.

I love Larry in a very special and different way. I love how he thinks and gives you so much information playing out from every possible scenario. I wondered why I did not inform him earlier about Marvin and how I felt about Marvin. I guessed I thought he would be jealous.

Larry concluded that if the contractor had not called me then he would have been taking sides with the gang. I told him that it is not how things work for assassins and that there is a code of conduct that allows the Contractor to have all the time he needs to look at the circumstances surrounding the promotion of any Assassin.

“Wow! For a lady assassin you have done well, Cassie, I am so proud,” Larry said as he took another bear.

“I want to make this meeting with Sancho count. What do you think, Larry,” I asked. I had already removed my top before it occurred to me that Marvin had the keys to the apartment.

“Are you okay?” Larry asked me.

“Why do you ask?” I said,

“Because you were removing your clothes and all of a sudden you paused like you had seen a ghost,” Larry said,

“Yeah, I wanted to remove my clothes and jump and you, but it occurred to me that the beer might be at work, you know,” I said.

“You really love him, right,” Larry said. I did not know whether he wanted an

answer or not.

I looked at Larry. I was not sure what the right answer was, but I knew that everything that had been happening was because of Marvin.

“If you mean Marvin, I do not have that answer for now. I just want to protect him until everything is revealed in due time,” I said.

“It’s all right. What would you be telling Sancho? Because asking him for a favour he cannot give would not work,” Larry said.

“I want him to change the contract on the sheet. I will ask him to make Lisandro the target and put me as the hire. If I could kill Lisandro for him, he would become the head,” I said.

“It is a very good plan but you need to make him see that as long as he is alive he will be a threat to the Lisandro faction and will be eliminated easily.,” Larry said.

“Yeah, I thought of this too. I will not forget to make him see this. My worry is how to kill Lisandro,” I said.

Larry laughed, he was still laughing as he spoke. “You see, I told you, this is not you. The Cassie I know does not think about how to kill a target, as if she is wondering where the position of the trigger is. You are becoming soft Cassie, your emotions are getting to you,” Larry said. It was not what he said that angered me but the laughter.

“If you continue to laugh I might have to shoot you,” I said.

“Okay, Okay, Okay. You know what? I want to tell you something that I want you to deliberate very seriously on,” said Larry, who all of a sudden became serious.

“What is it? I am all ears,” I said, looking directly at him.

“Can you tell Sancho that if you make him the head of the Martinez Gang, he would sing into their by-law to make you the next leader once his time is done? After all, you have a Mexican lineage. There would not be a problem,” Larry said.

“That’s impossible! I am a lady and I am not a gangster, I am just an assassin,” I said.

Larry looked at me with an expression of ' You don't say', “You mean a lady that had eliminated every assassin above her rank to get to Number One cannot lead the Martinez Gang. I see no better fit,” Larry said.

With the way Larry was pushing this agenda, I knew he must have thought about it for a long time. Larry sees my promotion as his promotion. So I get it if he sounded ambitious, but first I had to get Sancho to agree first.

“I see your point but that would be Sancho’s call. That is if he does not try to kill me first when we meet,” I said.

“If you want to protect Marvin, you need that gang,” Larry said.

“I have been protecting him without the gang. You know I don't need any protection from anyone,” I said, looking rather offended at what he had just said.

“Cassie, look at the bigger picture. The Contractor is coming after you even though you have refused to see and acknowledge it. Every mission and every assignment places you where others might have to make a decision or kill you someday. He is no fool.” Larry said.

My concern is actually Marvin and everything else does not really matter. Larry was always right. I needed the gang more than Sancho needed me. With top assassins in the gang, I could make a move on the Contractor. It was a nice idea but it looked too difficult to sell. I would need Sancho's help to make a leader after he is gone. I thought that Sancho would be a fool to sign that knowing that I could just kill him and dethrone him.

“How do you want me to convince Sancho?” I asked Larry, who was now staggering to the fridge to get another beer.

“Just simply tell you your plans. Imagine having so many assassins working at your disposal. They are also good bodyguards. You would be controlling the underworld on every continent. With the kind of idea you have, countries would come to you for hire as you would be controlling top assassins, and, Cassie, you would be controlling presidents of countries. The Contractor will have no choice than to bow to you,” Larry gave his lengthy speech.

“Are you drunk?” was the only thing that came out of my mouth. My thoughts were opened to new possibilities and an angle that I had never viewed what was happening from. This is why I love Larry so much, he is someone who is full of ideas, though right now he seems drunk. But in his drunken state, he had given me an idea that I would not have thought about. I was going to set this plan in motion.

“Cassie, get Sancho, he is the key to our new dynasty,” he said as he slept off on the couch.

I went to the fridge to get another beer, only to find out that Larry had finished it. I would restock my fridge with beers, but definitely, all the things Larry said, he said them all in a drunken state of mind.

Anyway, I do not care. I was going to build my dynasty and I was going to use Marvin, the Contractor, Sancho, The Martinez Gang, and everyone and anything that would help me to achieve this. The die had been cast and the ball was in motion.