Fearless Sinner (Empire of Sinners #3)

Chapter 18

Cillian

Chapter Eighteen

“What’s your name?” I aim my gun at the ugly motherfucker with the bald head, missing teeth, bloodshot frog eyes and the worst beer gut I’ve ever seen.

He’s the one in charge of this shit show at the old military base.

We’re inside. We just intercepted the exchange of part one of Jaxon’s gun shipment with the Mazzone family’s capo and underboss, who fled like the cowardly assholes they are when they saw us.

I can’t blame them. No one wants trouble with me, let alone with the Creed. But they’re already in trouble, and they know it. The fact that we saw them and knew about them coming here tonight to buy Jaxon’s guns was enough to put a target on the entire family’s back.

Now I have this fucker—the one in charge of tonight’s op—on his knees with his hands behind his head, staring back at me in terror. Next to him are the five other members of their gang. Around them lie the dead men who tried to protect them.

Joining me are Jaxon, Dante, and Virgo. And we have the place surrounded with our men. Unlike the other week when we just had to act on the spur of the moment, this time we’ve had days to prepare.

Seeing that this ugly fucker before me is choosing to keep his silence, I cock the hammer on my gun. The click-clack sound makes his eyes snap wide. They’re going to pop if they grow any wider. “I said tell me your fucking name. If I have to repeat myself I will fuck you up so bad you’ll have to pee through a tube.”

“It’s… Do…minic. Dominic.” His voice shakes like he’s on a bumpy ride to hell.

Jaxon raises his shotgun and points it at the guy next to Dominic. That’s Dominic’s son. He looks a fraction better than Dominic but you can tell he’s young. Maybe early twenties young.

“Do…minic.” Jaxon mimics Dominic’s stammer. “This one is dead if you don’t talk. Do you understand me?”

Dominic nods fast, his head bobbing like one of those dashboard dollies. He switches his gaze from Jaxon back to me. This asshole knows that we’re both ready to kill even though we got back some of Jaxon’s shipment.

This heist tonight was the only thing distracting me from Chloe. I knew tonight could be important in pushing me in the right direction to finding Lance if everything played out right. So far so good. They didn’t know we were coming. That means we finally have the upper hand.

“Okay, Dominic.” I keep my gun trained on him. “Tell me where Harlan is or, even better, Lance Polinsky.”

“If I talk, they kill my family.” Dominic sounds firmer, unlike before.

I throw him a relentless grin. “Oh, you mean your wife, who is currently at home with your ten-year-old daughter baking a cake for your parents' anniversary dinner tomorrow night at the Langdon Hotel?”

Jesus, his eyes are going to fucking pop.

“Oh my God, no, please. Don’t hurt them.” Dominic moves his hands from behind his head and clasps them in front of me to beg.

I shoot the space next to him and he yelps. “Hands back behind your head.”

“Yes, yes. Of course.” He places his hands back but then I notice that he’s pissed himself. Urine darkens his beige pants then spreads out around him. Then I smell it.

“Fucking pathetic. You call yourself a gangster?”

No, these aren’t the core members of the actual gang. They're mules. The best paid delivery boys on the planet who deliver shit like drugs and weapons to wherever their masters send them. But tonight guys like Dominic are no less important to me because of what he knows.

“Please don’t hurt my family,” Dominic pants like he’s been running a marathon. “They have nothing to do with my work.”

“Yet your son is here.” I motion to the son, who is shaking next to Dominic and looks like he’s going to shit himself. I don’t know if I could stand the stench of piss and shit in the same sitting.

“It was just some quick money. For college.”

I believe him but that’s no excuse. This is what happens to people like them who walk the line of danger. They happen upon people like me.

“Cooperate. Tell me what I need to know and I will spare your family.” I grit my teeth and glare at him. “Get talking now.”

“Harlan and Lance are operating down in New Jersey.”

“Where in New Jersey are they?”

“At the old shoe factory called All Wear.”

“Is the rest of the shipment there?”

His breathing quickens. “It was when I left earlier but it might be gone now. They were going to sell it to the Alfonso Cartel in Colombia and some other groups. They’re negotiating a price.”

I look over my shoulder at Dante and Jaxon, who are already nodding at me.

“Jaxon and I will head there now,” Dante says, and the two rush away with their men.

I look back at Dominic. “How did Lance and Harlan get together?” The question might be irrelevant but I want to know how the fucker infiltrated my staff.

“Lance got to Harlan because he worked for you and he knew he was in trouble. Harlan was in substantial gambling debts to the wrong people, so Lance offered to pay them off if he helped him out. He wanted the guns all along because of how much they’re worth.”

“That motherfucking bastard.” I glance at Virgo as he moves closer.

The timeframe makes sense. Those guns went into production months ago when I was at the height of searching for Lance. Harlan was perfect because he was one of my most trusted employees at the time. That's why he couriered the shipments for my clients like Jaxon.

It was easy to sway Harlan to double-cross me and Jaxon because Harlan’s back was up against a wall.

“What else can you tell me?” I demand, waving my gun at him.

“The money Harlan borrowed from you was to make up for the loss Lance suffered from your father. The guns sweetened the deal a hundredfold.”

At the mention of my father I realize this goes all the way back into the past. To what happened to my parents.

“So, you know what he did to my family?”

Dominic nods slowly. “Yes. But I had nothing to do with that. I just know the story.”

The story of how my family was butchered for a business deal gone wrong and a computer chip containing top secret information that would have ruined Lance.

“Lance used Rosaline Ricci as a pawn.” Dominic speaks with more surety. “Harlan used the excuse of her restaurant to get the money from you. Now that they have that…” His voice trails off and the infused dose of fear in his eyes has me tightening the grip on my gun.

“What? Tell me.”

“They want to take you and your family down. But they’re going to start by killing you.”

I smile back at him. “I already knew that.”

Of course, I knew. Kill me, and the O’Ridians lose their right to lead the clan. Killing me ends the line of leadership because since Virgo is the Pakhan of his Bratva, his and Olivia’s child will be next in line to take over from him.

My cousins in Ireland don’t have a claim to the title. Neither does Seamus.

Like most groups, leadership passes from the father to his children. That was the oath all clan leaders agreed to and signed in blood over a hundred years ago.

I’d almost think that the Gallaghers would be in on this because they would be next in line to take the lead of the clan if we can’t for whatever reason. But I know they’re not rubbing shoulders with Lance because he killed my parents. The Gallaghers wouldn’t want to be seen as conspirators.

“Have you worked directly with Lance?” This fucker must have seen him. Dominic is talking like he knows Lance well enough to be in on his plans.

“Yes. I have for a couple of years now. I know him.”

Eureka. Finally, a strong lead. “What does Lance Polinsky look like? Who the fuck is he?”

“The name is a pseudonym so he can walk among you and you will not know him.”

Not many things twist my insides, but that does. “Have I seen him before?”

“I’m almost certain you would have.”

“What does he look like?”

“He’s Russian but was raised in the US. You can’t tell he’s Russian unless you hear him speak the language. He has black hair, he’s as tall and built as you, and he has a knife scar on his left arm. On his wrist is a tattoo of an eagle.”

“What’s his real name?”

“Borya Ta?—”

A bullet lodges in the center of Dominic’s forehead, stealing his words and his life.

Another bullet whizzes past me, taking his son’s life.

Virgo and I jump into action, covering each other as we check out where the bullets came from.

A man with long blond hair and a rifle on his back is running along the balcony on the upper deck toward the fire escape door. It was him. He killed Dominic. He fucking killed him just as he was about to give me the most vital information I could get—Lance’s real name.

Virgo and I shoot at the gunman. But we have to take cover when more gunfire comes our way. That allows the motherfucker to make his escape through the fire door.

The warehouse turns into a fucking war zone as men rush in. They must be Lance's backup crew, but they’re late. Even so, they managed to screw with me.

Our men take charge while we rush behind a concrete pillar and shoot from there.

“I’m going outside. I can’t let that guy get away,” I shout to Virgo. “Cover me.”

“Go.”

I jump out and bolt toward the door while Virgo takes down a man who was rushing toward me. I make it outside, where my men cover me, shooting at anyone who tries to shoot me.

The sound of a motorcycle gunning its engine booms around me, then I see the blond gunman speeding away.

I run after him, shooting, but I’m out of range, and he’s on a motorcycle.

Within seconds he’s gone.

Fuck. He got away.

That’s okay, Lance. At least I got something more on you than I had before.

I have a description, and I know your name is Borya.

I’ll have a surname soon and the sky will pour blood when I do.

Half an hour later I’m heading back to my house. I learned a lot tonight but I wish I had more.

Annoyingly, but predictably, by the time Dante and Jaxon got to New Jersey the factory was empty. When the gunmen attacked us I guessed word would spread to New Jersey.

I also guessed that the backup crew might have been tipped off by either the Mazzone guys or one of the men we held back for interrogation.

Now that I have something to work with, I know where to go. Just knowing that Lance is Russian helps. Sure, it’s still like attempting to pick air molecules apart, but it’s something.

I reach home ten minutes later and all I want is Chloe. I want to feel her next to me and bury myself inside her.

But now that I have it confirmed that a target is on my back, should I really get involved with her?

Shit. I’m already involved. I’m more than involved and I already have the instinct to protect her. I felt it the moment I found out about Nathan.

I gave her some time to herself yesterday and today because I knew she would have wanted to be with her mother, but I should make contact.

If another night passes and I don’t call her or see her, she’s going to think the other night was just about sex.

Once I’m inside my house I grab a beer, sink into the sofa, and use the tracker on my phone to check where Chloe is.

It’s after eleven so she should be home, but when the tracker tells me she’s at Decadence, a sex club, I nearly shed my skin.

The thing must be broken. I check the software by tracking myself, and it shows I’m exactly where I am. So it’s not broken.

But why would Chloe be in a sex club?

What if her phone got stolen?

Or she’s really there?

I get up, already heading through the door. No point sitting on my arse and making assumptions.

I’m going to see for myself.