24. Archer #2
I looked up to see Hector watching the men leave. His face was devoid of emotion, but he was clearly working through something in his head.
“Let’s go get this done,” Rocco said, walking toward a small closet. When he opened the door, I saw another door inside it, a secret entrance of some kind, leading to a set of stairs.
Before we walked down, Hector shouted to Rocco , who was now halfway down the stairs. “ Hey , shit, I left my kit in the back of the car. Will you go grab it while I tie him up downstairs?”
Rocco nodded and came back up and walked around us, presumably to the car. Once down the stairs we opened a door and walked into a small ten-by-ten room. No windows and only the one door.
The first thing I saw was Ace sitting on the floor inside a chain-link-fence cage. Her hair was messed up, but she looked calm. Angry , but calm.
Before I could say or do anything, I noticed movement to my left. There was a portly looking man in his mid-fifties with a giant cut on his face, blood dripping down his cheeks. He had his cell phone in front of him as though he was using his camera to see his gash.
“The hell happened to you, Giovanni ?” Hector asked the man in front of me.
“Bitch kicked me when I tried to fuck her,” Giovanni said, and I saw red. I jerked forward but felt Hector’s arm pull me back. He gave me a quick nod and moved me toward the cage.
“I’m putting him in here with her until Rocco gets back with my stuff,” Hector said to Giovanni . “ Where’s the key?”
“On the table,” Giovanni responded, sounding pained as he used a handkerchief to wipe some of the blood off his face. “ Be careful she doesn’t get you when you open the door.”
“She won’t if she wants her husband to stay alive,” Hector announced, grabbing the key off the small folding table in front of Giovanni . The same folding table with a cell phone, a roll of duct tape, and a gun with a suppressor on it.
As he walked me to the caged cell with the gun still pressed to my side, I felt something slide into my front pocket.
“You get three minutes to say goodbye to your wife before I put a bullet in your brain, so make it count,” Hector said, unlatching and opening the door and shoving me into the cell with Ace .
He closed and locked the door.
I made my way to Ace and pulled her into me as I whispered in her ear, “ It’s going to be okay.”
I reached into my pocket and felt what I assumed was a Swiss army knife Hector had just slid in there.
“Archer,” Ace whispered to me, but I looked at her meaningfully as I held my finger up to her in the universal be quiet sign.
I looked over to see Hector engaging Giovanni , so I figured now was my chance.
I pulled out the knife to show her, and she turned to her side so I could cut the ropes off her wrists as I stood behind her for cover. I used that time to lean forward and whisper in her ear.
“Pedro—the man who just put me in here—is on our side. He’s the agent who went dark. Coleman said to follow his lead.”
She didn’t say anything in return but nodded to confirm she heard me.
Just as I cut the last rope and pulled her hands free, the subdued sound of a nail gun echoed in the room.
I flinched, as did Ace , and we both turned back toward Hector and Giovanni .
I glanced out of the cage to see Hector standing over Giovanni , holding a gun.
Giovanni lay still on the ground, blood pouring out around his body.
Hector turned to look at me and began walking back to the table to set the gun back down. Not a nail gun as I had assumed, but a real gun with a silencer on it. Though I said nothing, he must have known I was confused.
“I don’t tolerate rapists,” Hector grumbled. “ Plus , shit is about to go down, and he was a liability.”
I appreciated his first sentiment since it was one that I shared, and I suspected that man absolutely would have raped Ace had she not kicked him in the face first. I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant about the liability, but I chose to trust his judgment.
I also couldn’t shake the question of whether or not there was at least a small part of why he shot Giovanni was because he suspected that was who shot and killed Manny .
We knew Manny was shot by someone inside the organization, but we never knew who. Being on the inside of the Pagano Family crime ring, Hector was probably privy to that information.
Before I could ask, footsteps could be heard from the stairway, and Rocco appeared a few moments later.
When he turned the corner, he saw Giovanni on the floor and Hector standing near the table, casual as could be.
“You and Joey are tight, so listen closely,” Hector told Rocco . “ Matteo is setting Joey up, and he’s using us to do it.”
Rocco’s eyes went wide at that announcement, but Hector continued as he walked over to Rocco .
“We nab the ex-cop and his wife, bring them here, and kill the guy. Giovanni kills us and removes us from the equation but keeps the woman for himself. Matteo pins all of this on Joey to make it look like retribution for his prison time.”
“Why?” Rocco questioned, clearly stunned.
“So Matteo can take over the business without Joey in the way or any other complications,” Hector explained.
“What about—” Rocco started to say, but his phone rang and he answered.
He said very little at first before finally responding to the caller. “ Yeah , Pedro and I figured that out too. I’ll take care of it, boss. Don’t worry.”
He hung up and looked to Hector . “ That was Joey . He just got booked and called me to tell me it’s Matteo . He said the same thing you did. He wants me to meet him at the station to bail him out and take care of Matteo .”
“Go,” Hector replied. “ I’ll take care of all this mess here at the shop.”
Rocco looked back at us, likely not sensing any concern since we were still locked up in this caged cell. He nodded, mumbled something to Hector , and turned to run up the stairs.
A few moments after Rocco left, Hector came over to the cage, unlocked it, and handed me the gun from his holster and his cell.
“Call one of your people and tell them they can come in now,” Hector said, walking back toward Giovanni’s body. “ My guess is they’re close by but waiting to move in.”
I handed Ace the gun as I picked up the phone to make the call. She took it from me and stood next to me, likely waiting to see what Coleman or Kerrigan told us to do next.
I dialed Vince’s number. “ Vince , it’s me,” I told him when he answered.
“Archer?” Vince questioned in reply.
“We’re in the basement of the vape shop just off Cardinal Street ,” I told him quickly. “ Tell Kerrigan we need EMTs and maybe a body bag. Ace and I are?—”
“Pedro,” a new voice yelled from the stairway, and I stopped speaking. “ Rocco said you need help with…” The young guy who had been working the vape shop upstairs trailed off as he walked into the room.
The man looked in Hector’s direction, seeing him on the floor by Giovanni’s prone body, checking his vitals, and then over to Ace , who was holding a gun. I saw him put the pieces together and make assumptions.
“Put the gun down, or I’ll shoot!” the kid yelled, pulling out his own gun.
“Sammy, don’t!” Hector yelled to him.
“You… You shot…” Sammy stuttered before lifting his gun toward Ace .
I saw the moment he decided he was going to shoot, and I did the only thing I could— I lunged.
I dove in front of Ace , blocking her and knocking her down as a shot rang out, followed by another less than a second later.
I landed on top of her as the sound of yelling, grunting, another shot, and furniture crashing echoed in the background.
“Archer,” Ace mumbled underneath me.
I knew I was likely crushing her, but I struggled to lift myself off her. I rolled to my side since that seemed easier, but as I landed on my back, I became aware of a sharp pain in my left leg.
I glanced down at the same time I heard Ace yell out, “ You’ve been shot!”