Chapter Five Battleship
Romeo
“So that means we gotta play too,” Julianna said.
We all looked over at her.
I stared at her and asked, “What?”
Shrugging, she said, “We gotta play the game too, or we will lose.”
“She’s right,” my father spoke up. “That is the only way to compete.”
“Ok, but what the hell does that mean?” Dante asked. “I’m sorry but I don’t play games except for the video kind.”
“We devise a plan to combat what this V plans,” Talon interjected.
I looked over at him. “How on earth do we do that when we don’t know what she plans?”
He shrugged. “We know what she texted. At night, in a cemetery, at a tomb. So we have enough intel to make a plan. It's logical military play. Your girl is right.”
I smiled at him. She wasn't my girl yet…but she would be. I glanced over at Julianna.
She just shook her head as she tried to hide her smile.
“Si, she is right.” My father grinned at us. “It is military play and a criminal play.”
Shrugging, Julianna said, “I always thought of it as a litigation play.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Y'all are cray-cray as the Cajuns say.”
“Well, whatever the plan is,” Glory said. “I want my dad to be safe. I don’t want his life to be put into worse jeopardy.”
Legend wrapped an arm around her shoulder to comfort her.
I tried not to stare. I could tell Gio loved this woman. My brother with a fiancée? Wow.
“So, mia cara…” My father seemed to study Julianna and asked, “Do you have a particular plan in mind?”
“I have an idea, but you all are the ones that will be um...there or taking part in the exchange so...”
“Agreed,” I stated. “No need for you to be there.” Hell no, I didn’t want her anywhere near that place when all this went down.
“First,” Julianna said. “Mr. Descalia, you need to set men up to watch the cemetery. Today.” She looked directly at my father. “Right now in fact.”
He stared at her then grabbed his cell from his vest pocket. Tapping the screen, he fired off a text.
I stood there feeling totally amazed. Never had I seen him take any kind of instruction. Maybe he took advice in, but I had never seen him follow directions and from a woman, no less. I myself, had met many power-women who were CEOs, attorneys and judges, so I never paused when they told me to do something. However, my dad wasn’t that kind of a man. He was old world about it. My Aunt Maria was perhaps the only woman that had ever won any argument with him or made him back down in any way. Being my father’s sister that could be why.
Julianna continued giving her advice, “Make sure they stay back… like have them undercover, watching the cemetery entrance.”
“Yeah, but this will all happen the day after tomorrow,” Dante said.
“Better to see if they have men watching it too,” my father explained to him as he gave Julianna a nod. “Before the trade.”
“The next part of the plan is gonna be tricky,” Julianna went on.
“Tricky?” Liv asked. “Ya think?” she added with a scoff.
“Hell, it already is,” Glory said. “An exchange of two lives at night in a cemetery. It’s risky as fuck.”
“Yeah, I know and that’s why we have to take an extra risk.” Julianna gave her a nod then looked over at my father again. “Do you…” She then glanced at Talon as well to ask, “...have anyone that could pass for Deacon?”
“Oh, wow,” Dante said. “You can’t be serious?”
“I think she is, brother.” I stared at her. She meant to fool this V by having a look-alike in Deacon’s place.
With her dark eyes looking intense, Julianna explained it, “People like this. They are what I call the dark fringe. Like shadow people almost. They never come at you directly. They always sneak up on you. Almost unseen or they send someone else to do their dirty work.”
Now, we all stared at her.
I wondered why she would feel like that. What happened to her to make her think of people in that light? Then again, she worked for the largest criminal defense law firm in the entire South. There might have been some threat to her or her colleagues in the last couple of years.
She looked over at my father. “Do you employ anyone who could pass for Deacon in say, low light?”
“I hate to say it but take away the arm tats, the cut and jeans,” Talon replied as he motioned to Redemption. “And this guy could easily pass.”
Liv agreed as she looked Redemption up and down, “Yep, he is the closest we have.”
Everyone turned their heads to study Glory’s brother.
Same height maybe. Jawline was similar and his coloring was exactly the same as Deacon. I cocked my head at him. Yeah, he actually looked a lot like him. I only saw the video of this Deacon but Redemption could pass for him.
Looking a little upset by this idea, Julianna put her hand over her mouth. Then lowering it, she said softly, “I meant maybe someone from Mr. Descalia’s soldiers. Not any of you.”
“No, I’m afraid my sis is right,” Redemption said. “Deacon's a Walker, so he looks like us in some ways. Am I happy about that? No. But with shorter hair and a suit? I could pass for him. Maybe not real close up but I could pass.”
“Oh man, that's a helluva dangerous move,” Legend commented on the obvious.
“So, you want to fool her?” Dante asked as he looked uneasy about the whole thing.
“Yes,” Julianna replied. “But it would be really dangerous for Redemption.”
“Jarret would fucking hate it,” Talon said. “Putting his son in danger like that.”
“Yes, he would,” Glory said. “But it’s not like we have a lot of options.”
“I would rather have Dad pissed off than…” Redemption left the word hanging in the air.
“We could just trade Deacon for Jarret, you know?” I suggested.
“We could, I agree,” Dante replied. “I’m not sure what would happen if they or she figured this out before we could get Jarret away from there.”
“We don’t know that she won’t pull something though,” my father argued. “I caught this stronzo and I don’t want to just hand him back.”
“Stronzo?” Redemption asked.
Liv snickered as she translated the word, “It means asshole.”
“Papa,” I chided.
He slowly shook his head. “I beg the lady’s pardon.” He smirked.
I scoffed. “Yeah, I can see you're super sorry.” I turned to look at Julianna. “So, why do it that way?”
“You mean fool her?” Julianna stared at me. “That is part one. It will help us with part two.”
“Wow…” Dante smiled at her. “Part one and two…Are you sure you aren't from a mob family?”
“Dante!” I again got onto him.
Laughing, she said, “No, no. It’s fair to ask that. I’m not from the Familia, but I have always been competitive. Hence why I became a lawyer in the first place. Strategy. Like my favorite class in school was debate. My fave games were Battleship and chess.”
“I know chess well, but Battleship?” my father asked curiously.
“My brother’s absolute favorite game,” Liv said as she rolled her eyes and raised her hands up to exclaim, “You sunk my battleship!”
Talon’s serious look actually slipped and he chuckled. “Yeah, guilty.”
“Spiegare la corazzata,” my father said in Italian. Explain this battleship.
Julianna stared at him and then she explained, “It’s played on this plastic suitcase game board that you stand upright between you and your opponent. It sits where you can only see the pegs or what is supposed to be a ship on your side. You guess where a peg or ship is on the other side. Each player deploys his ships of lengths varying from 2 to 5 squares secretly on the square grid. Then each player shoots at the other's grid by calling out a location. The defender responds by calling back, ‘Hit!’ or ‘Miss!’ You try to deduce where the enemy ships are and sink them.”
“Well, this is not a battleship game,” Legend interjected. “Jarret is not a peg on a board.”
We all looked over at him.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to ruin your plans, but Jarret is too important. Damn it, he’s important to me. I don’t understand why you don’t just trade over like this V requested.”
Glory looked concerned about him so she grabbed his hand to hold it. “Baby, they know that. We need to explore all the ideas though, ok?”
He nodded but released a frustrated breath.
I knew why. Jarret had been his surrogate father all these years, I assumed. So it made sense that he would be upset about all of this.
My father’s cell pinged and he raised it up to stare at it. After a minute, he swung it over to Legend. “Look at this Gio and you will see why.”
Leaning in, Legend studied his father’s phone.
I stepped over to look as well.
On the screen, I saw a man with a rifle. He stood at a window of a large plantation house.
“This is across the street from the Metairie,” my father explained. “My men also tell me there are 2 more of these stronzos in two more spots.” He sniffed arrogantly and added, “So we have to play, Giovanni. Deacon’s sister is already doing it.”
“Looks like an ambush,” I noted.
“Looks like?” our father repeated sarcastically.
“She is already there,” Talon stated from next to me as he peered at the cell screen, then he glanced up at me. “Just like your girl said. V is gonna play games.”
“Well, of course she is,” Julianna jumped in while ignoring the ‘ your girl’ part. “Setting this whole thing up in a public place at night in front of a tomb of a famous gambler? That’s already a game.”
“She’s O’s daughter. She was raised…” Liv paused. “Badly, I am sure. The woman tortured people. She did things that would make even the mafia cringe.”
We all had some idea, because we all had watched that video at the truckstop. Talon had listed many crimes and heinous acts done by this infamous Ophelia. Crime syndicates were bad enough without a bloodthirsty monster for a leader.
Talon nodded and stared at my father. “So, we set up a strike team.”
“Yes, to take these snipers out at the right moment,” Liv added.
Our father looked over at them. He gave them a nod as he did look a little impressed. They knew strategy and takedowns. Talon was military and Liv was CIA or something.
Still, I felt surprised because no one ever seemed to impress him.
“Set the strike for when it all goes down.”
I looked over at Julianna again to ask, “What?”
“When we have Jarret,” she said.
“We toss say…Kevlar over him,” Liv suggested.
Talon nodded. “Then we do the same with Redemption.”
“But we gotta have some way of taking cover until…” Julianna halted as she looked pensive. “Cover…”
We all stared at her again.
“The tomb,” she whispered.
I almost couldn't catch up with Liv, Talon and Julianna. “What about it?” I asked her.
Instead of answering me, she looked over at my father again. “Have your men watch the Harrington crypt closely.”
He stared at her then his eyes narrowed. “Oh, dios mo. Santa Madre…you do not think…”
Nodding, she replied, “Hide your battleship.”
I finally caught up. “You mean she will be hiding in the crypt itself?” I asked with a shudder of disgust.
“No, she won’t even show up for this,” Julianna told me with an eye roll. “She would never risk that. It will be Deacon’s men who will handle it. They will be in that crypt.”
“How do you know?” Dante asked her.
“Because that’s what I would do if I played this game.” Julianna shrugged.
Talon slowly nodded his head as he stared at her. “You sure you were never in the military?”
“Or a cop of some kind?” Liv asked as she smirked. “With the way you talk and your OP idea. I could swear you studied at the Academy.”
“No, but I did take Justice and other classes that you would have taken, probably,” Julianna told Liz then she glanced at Talon. “I was always competing to win and I loved strategy games. Mazes, puzzles and such. And I never lost at paintball, I can tell you that.” She gave them a grin. “You know? I just strove to be better and better at figuring all the angles. My parents used to say I had the mind of a general.” She giggled.
Her giggle made me halt. My whole body reacted to it as I stared at her. It shocked me actually. My reaction came right out of nowhere.
Looking up at me, she stared at my face then her eyes rounded a bit as if she saw the heat I felt. She quickly looked at my father specifically, then she told him, “So this means we have to do the fake switch. She never intended for any of you to get through this exchange alive. So you have no choice but to keep Deacon.”
“Yes,” Liv agreed with her once again. “It’s like we almost have to do it like that or we lose.”
“So smart,” my father complimented her. “Well, Deacon will not be present either.”
I blinked at him. Again, he was impressed. But I already knew he liked this female attorney before now. Hell, I really liked her and I intended to do something about that too.
“She plans to murder you all,” Liv reasoned. “Take her brother and run.”
“Hell no, she won’t be doing that.” Redemption seethed. “I agree with this lady lawyer too.” He gave Julianna a nod. “Deacon shouldn’t even be there.”
“Ok, we sorta know part one. So what is part two?” Dante asked her as he looked very curious. In fact, my brother looked fascinated by Julianna.
I wrinkled my brow as this idea sunk in. Maybe a little too fascinated.
“Part one,” Julianna began. “You take Redemption dressed as Deacon. You have your men all in place. You wait till you see Jarret and then boom!”
I shook my head a bit and asked, “Boom?”
“Yes, then it goes to part two,” Julianna continued. “You kill her men in the windows and the ones in that crypt. And any more you spot up until then. All while both Redemption and his dad are under a Kevlar wrap.”
“No, I will not be lying around under no fucking wrap,” Redemption growled his words out. “I will protect Dad and whoever is with us.”
Looking over at him, Julianna sighed and said, “You can’t come in with a weapon. You’re supposed to be Deacon, remember? In our custody.”
“I will have my gun hidden,” he retorted. “There is no way I will lay down blindly when this goes down.”
I couldn’t say that I blamed him. If it were my dad…
“Have men come in from the back as well, Mr. Descalia,” Julianna advised. “That way, they can be sure no one is there to ambush them from behind.”
“Them?” Dante asked. “I haven’t heard who will be escorting the fake Deacon to this exchange. Because that person’s life will be in grande pericolo… in great peril as my father always puts it.”
Redemption raised his head and stared at Dante then at me. “I had another text from the kidnappers and didn’t know it. But it answers your question.” He looked over at our father. “Stephano is to deliver Deacon personally and with no guards.”
I gasped then shook my head.
“Si, of course it would be me,” our father said. “She knows I’m the one who took him.”
“Merda,” I swore.
“Yeah, holy crap,” Dante agreed as he looked a bit ashen. “There goes our battleship.”