Chapter 39
Islam on the brakes and shove the door open, rounding the front of the car while simultaneously pulling a gun from my holster.
Small pinpricks of pain on my face let me know I’ve been cut by the flying shards of glass.
With a glance inside the car, I see Cortez wave me away, letting me know he’s fine.
There’s a partially open window, but nobody is in sight, so I quickly make my way to the door that leads into the brick building.
Gun outstretched in front of me, I scan the area and make my way down a hall. The place seems abandoned, and I wonder who the hell Cortez was planning to meet here, but more importantly, who gave him up and to whom.
In the hall, there’s a few closed doors, and as I inch past one, a slight noise inside gets my attention. Someone’s in there.
With the gun in my right hand, I put my left on the doorknob, ready to push it open and shoot whoever is on the other side. But I don’t want to kill him. Not right away anyway.
I turn the knob ever so slightly, just to disengage the latch, then I lift my foot and kick the door with ferocity.
When I step in, I see a tall, skinny man to my left, a gun aimed right at me.
My bullet meets his shoulder before he can pull the trigger.
As his body jerks back, I rush forward, hitting him in the temple with the butt of the gun.
He stumbles, body going loose as his eyes glaze over.
I take his gun from him and shove it in the back of my pants before pushing him to the floor and aiming at his forehead.
“Tell me everything.”
“Fuck you.”
I lift my foot and bring my black boot down on his knee. He screams, reaching for his leg.
I crouch down so I can look him straight in his eyes. “This can be done in a more civilized way, but only you can control that.” I reach behind me, unsnapping the button on the sheath that holds a knife along my belt.
“Man, I’m just doing what I was paid to do,” he says, his eyes stuck on the sharp blade.
“Who paid you?”
He hesitates, reaching for the wound in his shoulder. “He’ll kill me.”
I lunge forward, putting the tip of the knife at his balls. “I’m going to fucking kill you, but I can leave you in one piece or cut you into many. It’s your choice. Now tell me who the fuck paid you to shoot Cortez.”
He sucks in a shuddering breath, attempting to scoot away from me, but he’s already backed into a corner. “Okay, okay, okay. I wasn’t paid to shoot Cortez.”
I push the tip of the blade into his jeans, cutting through the material. “Fine.”
“Fuck! Okay, look, I’m serious. He wasn’t the target. You were.”
I inhale through my nose, fury boiling in my veins. “Who paid you?”
“This guy. He didn’t tell me his name. He was kinda big, you know? He was wearing a hat and glasses, but he had a gold ring on his pinky. It had the letter J stamped in black. I noticed it because he kept fucking with his disguise.”
“Fucking Johnny,” I seethe. “All right,” I say, standing up. “You did good.”
He sighs, body slumping as I sheath my knife. I take the gun and aim, shooting him right between the eyes before he’s aware it’s happening.
Back outside, I find Cortez standing by the car, his phone to his ear.
“Yeah, exactly. We’ll be there soon. Keep an eye on him.”
“He told me Johnny hired him, but it was me who was the target.”
“He’s trying to get me unprotected,” Cortez says. “With you gone, he might feel like he has a better chance.”
“I doubt Johnny will do anything himself. The Bonettis want me gone since I’m the brick wall between you and their bullets.”
“Well, I thought I had an inside guy. Looks like he turned back and told the Bonettis about my meeting with him. They probably told Johnny to pay someone for the job so it wouldn’t be linked to them.”
“Think he’ll still show up?”
He looks at his watch. “We’ll see in about five minutes. Let’s get inside. Park the car along the building and roll the window down. I don’t want him to see that it’s been shot.”
“You okay?” I ask, gesturing to his shoulder.
“Just a graze. Besides messed up sleeves, my skin is only slightly burnt and bleeding is minimal.”
“Good.”
I get in the car and park it with the passenger side close to the building. There’s shattered glass in the alley, but it’s not like the road was clean before. I kick it around to spread it out before heading inside.
I watch from the window as another car slowly pulls up a few minutes later.
“He’s on the phone,” I whisper to Cortez who’s on the other side of the hall.
“Yeah, I bet he is.”
Loud vibrations start filtering in from the other room.
“Shit.”
I rush to the dead man slumped in the corner and fish into his pockets to silence the phone.
“He’s checking on him,” Cortez says when I make it back to the window.
“He has to know he didn’t get the job done.”
“We still need to get him inside.”
Cortez walks to the door, pulling it open and raising his uninjured arm. The man in the car sees him and lifts his chin before removing the phone from his ear. Cortez lets the door close as he comes back to stand against the wall.
“How do you wanna do this?” I ask.
“We don’t really need information from him. That guy said it was Johnny, right?”
I nod. “And we know this guy is a rat.”
“So, the Bonettis could be aware something is coming. I never told him details of what I was planning, but he’d know enough that they’d be on guard.”
“So, we need to change our plans,” I say, reaching for the gun in the back of my pants as I watch the man exit his car. “We can’t wait for the wedding.”
“That only leaves us tomorrow or the next day.”
“If we kill him now, they’ll know we know.”
Cortez huffs. “I’m tired of the bullshit. We already got one man dead in there. What’s another one? We’ll just have to move fast.”
“You sure?”
Cortez nods.
“Step back,” I say, right as the door opens.
“Hey,” the man greets, watching us with a careful expression.
I lift my head, arms positioned behind my back.
“Hey,” Cortez greets, standing in a way that hides his torn shirt.
“So—”
He starts speaking but doesn’t finish, because as soon as I hear the click of the heavy door, I extend my arm. Pulling the trigger, a bullet hits him square in the forehead, dropping him into a heap on the floor.
Cortez sighs. “Let’s get out of here before my blood starts seeping through my clothes. Wipe down the knobs and meet me in the car. We have to meet up with the guys and get started on this.”
“Okay.” A thought hits me. “Hey, boss.”
He stops and looks at me.
“If they’re after me like this, maybe Carlo shouldn’t be alone at my house. They could know where I stay.”
His jaw clenches and he pinches the bridge of his nose. “Okay. We can get him.”
“All right. I’ll let him know.”
Cortez walks out and I start calling Carlo while I wipe my prints from the dead man’s gun and leave it next to his body.
“You okay?” he asks as soon as he answers.
“Yes, but I have to get you soon. Me and your dad will be there in half an hour.”
“What’s happening?”
“A lot, but I’ll explain later. Stay away from windows. Don’t answer the door either.”
He’s quiet for a second. “Okay.”
“See you soon.”