He hung up. "What?" Bobby said. Mike looked at him. "That was Sully." "I figured.
Velasquez has made a second call after our call. He called someone in Los Angeles." Mike set the phone down. "Sully intercepted the relay." The diner went very still. "Who in Los Angeles?" Bobby said and his voice had changed, not louder, not harder, but tighter, like a wire with increased tension, still the same wire now capable of conducting more.
"A man named Garfield Park," Mike said. "He runs collection coordination for three counties. He's He's not cartel, either. But he's a step closer than Velasquez." He paused.
"Velasquez told him about tonight, about Sully's call, about us." Declan put the trucking magazine down. Garrett put his phone in his pocket. The shift in the room was physical, not dramatic. Nobody stood up suddenly, no voices raised, but the quality of attention in booth nine changed, sharpened, became something with edges.
Leo had gone very still on his stool. He was watching Mike and he was doing the math, the same math Bobby had mentioned, the same math Velasquez had done, and he wasn't getting an answer he liked. "What does that mean?" he said. "Velasquez calling this Garfield Park, what does that mean for tonight?" Mike looked at him.
He made the decision about how much to say in the space of a breath. "It means Velasquez is hedging," he said. "He accepted Sully's terms because he had to, but he's also reporting upward, making sure his name is clear, making sure he isn't seen as having backed down without authorization." He picked up his coffee, found it cold, set it back down. "It's a defensive move.
He's protecting himself." "So we're okay?" Corey said. It's just him covering himself." "Probably." Mike said. "Probably." Corey repeated, and the words sat badly. "The probably is about Park." Bobby said.