"Hello, Ms. Lorenzo, Mr. Alonso," the large man with the peanut allergy said as he opened the door for them.
"Hey there, Cedric," Max quickly and energetically responded as she breezed by him, light as a feather. the tall, burly man smiled in a way that told Leer that this type of greeting was uncommon from Max.
"Thank you, Cedric," Leer said with a smile as he stopped in the opened doorway and turning toward Cedric asking,"and how are you doing today?"
With equal if not greater surprise in his eyes, Cedric responded, "I am fine sir, and you?"
"Just marvelous, for a dead man," Leer responded, knowing full well that Cedric had that very thought on his mind. When he could see that his casual manner had loosened the stone guard he asked," and how is Sal doing today?"
"Mr. Lorenzo is not pleased," the guard replied.
"Pity." Leer responded,"Let's see what can be done about that, any ideas?"
Leer could see by the look in the Cedric's face that it was not his place to have ideas so he reached a hand up to his shoulder and patted it saying,"Don't worry about it, Cedric, leave it to me." The look on Cedric's face was one of relief mixed with confusion. This sort of behavior from Victor was almost certainly unusual but Leer was in the mood to shake things up a bit and playing with Sal's goons seemed to be the perfect place to start. Leer continued through the doorway catching up with Max who was waiting outside an elevator door.
The clubhouse was architecturally average, leading Leer to surmise that Sal was either disinterested, ignorant or both. The other possibility was that Sal wanted to headquarter in an unassuming location so as to not draw attention to himself. He would later learn that Sal had no qualms about being the center of attention and that it was indeed that Sal was clueless when it came to matters of good taste in anything, which would more than explain his fascination with Cleveland. When the elevator arrived, Max entered first and pressed the LL2 button. Nothing happened. In fact, the light didn't even go on. Max stood looking at Leer as if waiting for him to do something. "Well?" she said.
"Very." he replied.
"Funny," she responded. "Oh, I get it," she continued,"you WANT to piss off daddy. You know damn well he's just sitting down there waiting for us. Cedric has already let him know we're on our way. Varst, I wouldn't be surprised if he's watching the damn monitors himself. Fine, I'll do it." Max lifted and waved her hand high in the corner of the elevator car. As she did, a small device projected from the side of the car. It was a retinal scan device which deployed at a level appropriate to her height. She positioned her eye in the right spot with a nervous hesitation. A second later she groaned and scrunched her face up, placing her hand over her eyes and forehead as if she suddenly got a headache. "You know I hate that feeling, Victor, why did you make me do it?"
"Just wanted to be sure you are who you say you are my dear, after all, you've been acting a little strange lately. Better to not take any unnecessary chances, what with the missing shipment and all." Leer responded, quickly diffusing the situation.
"Ha! I don't know what has gotten into you, Victor, but I really like it. You just better be careful when you talk to Sal, I doubt he's in the mood for comedy." Max warned.
Who said I was joking?" Leer responded, smiling and nudging Max gently.
"Right then," Max surrendered, "it's your funeral."
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