Chapter 3
Billy
“You want to play?”
“That depends. Where’s the game?”
DeLuca sounded on edge as he answered, “My place.”
“I see.”
It had only been a couple of weeks since our meeting, but I wasn’t surprised that Mr. DeLuca was already in need of my services.
Bringing the Italian mafia and all their business connections into Nashville would give him direct pipelines from Texas and Memphis, and eventually, he would have the means to branch out to even larger cities up north. But it wouldn’t be easy.
Nashville was already overpopulated with criminals who’d claimed the territory as their own, so he’d have a great deal of resistance to contend with.
But that wouldn’t stop a man like DeLuca.
He was a man who had no moral compass.
He didn’t care about right or wrong.
He was driven by his hunger for money and power, and that had made him one of the most ruthless, callous, and unremorseful men in the city.
It also made him a target. There would be many who’d come for him.
They would fight for the throne, and like tonight, it would be my job to make it look like the encounter never occurred.
Keeping on track with the script I’d given him, DeLuca remained silent as he waited for me to ask, “How many are playing?”
“I’d say five or six, but it may be more.”
“Okay, I think we can manage that.” I glanced up at the clock, then told him, “Give me five, and the boys and I will be on our way.”
I ended the call, and half-an-hour later, the boys and I were winding down the long driveway to DeLuca’s place in Belle Meade.
I was concerned about the possibility of his neighbors seeing or hearing something and causing problems, but the house was sitting on four acres and there was a ten-foot brick wall that wrapped around the perimeter of the home.
It was doubtful that anyone saw anything.
As soon as I got out of the van, Antonio appeared with two of his men, and he looked rather agitated as he snarled, “These assholes actually came to my fucking house and tried to take me down. Can you believe that shit?”
“Looks like you handled it.”
“I certainly did.” The smug tone in his voice did little to impress me. Instead, it did just the opposite. “Next time, motherfuckers will think twice before going up against Antonio DeLuca.”
“That they will.”
Antonio glanced over at one of the bodies near the front door as he asked, “How long do you think this is going to take?”
“I’ll have to take a better look around before I can say for sure.” I walked around to the back of the van, took out my duffle bag, and started putting on my gear as I continued, “But I’d say at least a couple of hours. Less if your guys give us a hand.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
Antonio had a word with his men, then turned and headed inside the house.
Hop and Trip started putting on their gear while I took a moment to further survey the scene.
I had no idea what, but something felt off.
There were two bodies near the front door and another on the front steps—each of the men had been shot various times in the chest. Since most of the carnage appeared to be in his front yard, it was definitely an asset that his house was a good distance from any of the other homes and had the tall security wall.
I ignored that uneasy feeling in my gut and continued up to the front door.
As I headed inside, that unsettled feeling grew even stronger, but I continued into the foyer, where I spotted two more victims. Like the others, they were lying face down in a pool of their own blood.
From the looks of it, they were trying to make it up the stairs, but neither of them made it far before they were shot down.
It appeared to be a surprise attack, which lined up with my conversation with Antonio, but then I spotted another body just down the hall—one that didn’t seem to fit with the others.
As I got closer, I realized it was the young woman I’d seen several weeks ago in DeLuca’s office.
I didn’t typically notice women, not like I used to, but the woman was stunning—young, with long, curly, blonde hair and soul-searching green eyes.
I was instantly intrigued by her and wondered what she was doing with DeLuca, but she was ushered out of his office before I got the chance to find out.
Not that it mattered now.
She was dead, and clearly, Antonio could’ve cared less.
If he had, he would’ve dealt with her body and burial arrangements himself.
I was still looking her over when Hopper and Tripp came walking in the front door with two of DeLuca’s men.
I was still trying to piece things together when Hopper came over to me and asked, “There a problem?”
“I’m not sure.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right.” I motioned my hand down at the woman as I told him, “She was shot in the back.”
“Yeah, so?”
I thought back to that day in Antonio’s office and the moment I first laid eyes on the beautiful blonde.
There was something about the way she looked at me that got under my skin.
I got the feeling that something wasn’t right with her—which made me even more curious about the way I’d found her.
“All the others were shot in the chest like they were in pursuit, but it looks like she was running away.”
“Yeah, or it could be that she just happened to get caught up in the crossfire.”
“Maybe, but I got a feeling there’s more to it than that.”
“So, what if it is? Why do you care?” Hopper gave me one of his looks as he added, “It’s not like it’s our job to figure out what happened. We’re just supposed to clean the shit up and get out of here, right?”
He had a point. I’d walked away from the badge more than ten years ago. It was no longer my job to find out who killed who or to even care. I was there to clean and nothing more. I gave Hopper a nod, then said, “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. Let’s get this thing done.”
Without wasting any more time, we gathered the rest of the bodies and put them in the van, then started the process of removing any and all evidence from the grounds.
It took some time to remove some of the heavier blood stains from the interior of the house, especially with all the shag carpets that had to be pulled up and taken out, but we managed to get it done.
And we got it done sooner than I’d expected.
I took one last look around and was feeling pretty good about the job we’d done, so I turned to Hop and said, “I’d say that’s a wrap.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” He motioned his head over to Tripp as he asked, “You want us to start loading up?”
“Yeah, that’d be good. There’s an extra sprayer in the foyer. Be sure to grab that, and I’ll let Antonio know we’re done.”
“You got it.”
As soon as Hop turned to leave, I headed over to one of Antonio’s guards and told him we were done. He made a call to Antonio, and it wasn’t long before he was rushing down the stairs.
Antonio knelt down and studied one of the areas that we’d cleaned in the house, and after several moments, a satisfied smile crept across his face. “Damn. Grinder wasn’t blowing smoke. You really are good at this shit.”
“I do my best.”
“I appreciate a man who takes his work seriously.” He reached into his coat pocket, then pulled out a thick envelope and offered it to me. “Until next time.”
“Until next time.”
I took the envelope, then headed out to the van to join Hopper and Tripp.
I got in, and moments later, we were on our way to my place.
As soon as we pulled up, I got out and walked over to the basement door.
I put in the security code, and once the door slid open, I headed inside and turned on the incinerator, giving it time to preheat while we got unloaded.
The flames had just started rolling good when Tripp came up behind me and announced, “Hey, boss. We got a problem.”
“Oh, yeah?” With his military background, Tripp wasn’t one to get rattled easily, so it concerned me that he looked like he’d seen a ghost. “What kind of problem?”
“A bad one... You need to come see this.”
Without saying anything more, he turned and started back out to the van. I followed, and when I made it to the back doors, Tripp motioned his hand inside and said, “The girl.”
“What about her?”
“She’s still alive.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Clearly, it is. Hell, look at her,” he urged. “The chick’s still breathing.”
I leaned in closer, and at first, I saw no signs of life. I thought Tripp’s mind was playing tricks on him until I heard a slight moan vibrate from her chest. Her breaths were low and shallow, but Tripp was right. She was still alive. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“I know! What the fuck are we going to do?”
“I don’t know.” I took a step back and ran my hand down my face. “I’m gonna need a minute.”
In all the years I’d been cleaning, I’d never run into a situation like this, and I didn’t have a clue what to do about it.
I could’ve just finished her off. It certainly would’ve made things easier, but I was no murderer—neither were Hop or Tripp.
That didn’t leave us many options. Hop must’ve been thinking along the same lines when he suggested, “We could always put her in the med room? Just let nature take its course.”
“You mean just let her die?” Tripp gasped. “We’re not gonna help her?”
“No, we’re not,” Hop answered flatly. “Saving her isn’t part of the job.”
“But she’s gonna die if we don’t do something.”
“Exactly.” Hop stepped over to Tripp as he told him, “If we help this girl and she ends up surviving this, then what? We just gonna let her go and hope she doesn’t tell the cops about us? Fuck no. We can’t take a chance like that.”
“He’s right,” I agreed. “We don’t need that kind of trouble on our hands.”
Tripp shook his head and sighed. “Damn, this is all kinds of fucked up.”
“It is what it is.” Hop stepped forward and reached for the women’s feet. “Let’s get her moved and finish up with the others.”
I hesitated for just a moment, then reached inside the van and helped Hop carry the young woman to the med room.
We laid her down on the gurney, then covered her with a thin cotton blanket and left the room.
My guilt gnawed at me as I followed Hop back out to the van.
It just didn’t seem right to not do more for the poor girl, but like it or not, Hop was right.
Helping her would only cause us problems.
None of us spoke as we went back out to the van and started unloading the others.
There was a heaviness that had fallen over us, but we each did our best to ignore it as we continued with our duties.
It wasn’t long before we had the van wiped clean and the last of the remains in the incinerator.
Knowing Hop and Tripp were eager to call it a night, I went over and gave them both their cut for the night.
As he took the money from my hand, Tripp asked, “What about the girl?”
“I’ll handle her.”
“You sure you don’t want us to stick around and...”
“No, it’s late.” I motioned my head toward the door. “I’ll take care of it after I get you two back to the truck.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
They both followed me out to my car, and I took them straight to Hopper’s truck.
Once they’d both gone, I drove back to the house to check in on the girl.
I felt torn. A part of me hoped that she would’ve already succumbed to her wounds and had passed, but there was another part of me that hoped that she’d held on and would find the strength to pull through.
When I walked into the med room, she was still lying on the gurney, and the blanket was still draped over her body. She was so still, almost eerily so, and I was beginning to think she’d passed when her eyes fluttered open. My stomach twisted into a knot when she moaned, “Please... help me.”
A shallow breath escaped her lungs, and then her eyes fell shut once again. I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to do something. I knew it was a bad idea, but I couldn’t just leave her there to die alone. I stepped over to the gurney and took her hand in mine as I whispered, “It’s going to be okay.”
She gave my hand a slight squeeze, then muttered, “I can’t.”
“You can,” I pushed. “You just gotta hold on.”
I released her hand and rushed over to the cabinet.
I started sifting through all the medical supplies, searching for anything I could use to help her.
Seconds later, I was hooking her up to an IV and was administering fluids.
I needed to get a better look at her wounds, so I eased her over onto her stomach.
She groaned out in agony, then fell silent. The pain was too much for her, and she’d passed out. I decided to use the opportunity to remove her blouse and eased her onto her side. My stomach sank when I saw the three large bullet wounds in her back.
I couldn’t believe that she was still alive.
The bullets were buried deep in her flesh, and she’d lost a great deal of blood.
She was in bad shape, really bad shape, and if I didn’t do something fast, she wasn’t going to pull through.
Unfortunately, it would take a great deal of skill to remove the bullets without causing even further damage—a skill I didn’t have.
I stood there for a moment, just staring at her gaping wounds as I mulled over my options.
Sadly, I didn’t have many.
I couldn’t do this thing on my own, so I took out my phone and made a call I had no business making. I dialed the number, and seconds later, I heard, “You’ve got Viper.”
“Hey, brother. It’s Billy... Sorry to call so late, but I need your help with something.”
“What’s going on?”
“Can’t really get into it, but I need Doc and I need him now.”
“You okay?”
“I’m fine, but I’ve got someone here who isn’t.”
“Alright, I’ll send him now.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“You need anything else?” Viper offered.
“No, just tell him to hurry.”
“You got it.”
Doc was the best at taking care of the Ruthless Sinners’ injuries, and I knew I could count on him to help the girl and be discreet about it as well.
As soon as I hung up, I turned my attention back to her.
I gently brushed the hair from her face, then leaned down and placed my mouth close to her ear and whispered, “Help is on the way. You just gotta hang on a little longer.”
I’d fucked up.
I could feel it in my bones. I should’ve done just like Hopper said and let nature take its course, but I simply couldn’t do it. I couldn’t just let her lay there and die. I had to do something.
It would be a decision that altered my life in ways I couldn’t begin to imagine, and it might end up costing me everything.