24. Rufino
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Rufino
“ Y es, I’ve got what you asked for.” He nods, pushing his thick glasses up the bridge of his nose with his fat fingers. I always pictured hackers looking cool. Dressed in neon colors and sporting wild attitudes. But this guy looks like he belongs in a library. Or like he lives in his mother’s basement which I’m sure he doesn’t with the amount of money I paid for this information.
I eye him up and down, waiting.
Dresden leans over his computer and tugs something out of a slot in the black. Sitting up again, he hands me a flash drive.
“Are you sure this is everything?” I ask, staring down at the small black rectangle, no bigger than a lighter.
“Every single one of the properties he owns. Including several in trusts and several that he tried very hard to conceal from public knowledge. He even used faked names for some of them. But I got them all. I don’t doubt it for a second.” He looks smug. Proud of his work.
“Residential and commercial?” I ask, flipping the drive in my hand.
“What - do you think I’m an amateur?” he snorts. “ Everything that Luca A’Vara owns. Like I said. Even his well-hidden crypto-assets and some questionable charity funds.”
I slip the flash drive into my pocket.
“We transferred the balance to your account this morning. It’s all there.”
“I know.” He smiles, a weird sort of inhumane smirk that doesn’t reach his eyes. He gives me the creeps. Lookin at him is like having ants crawling over my skin.
It’s a relief to walk out of his weird underground office. It’s crowded with too much tech. There are too many flashing lights and flickering screens. It’s claustrophobic in there and smells of stale cheese.
In my car I slot the flash drive into the console of my LCD screen on the dashboard. Double tapping the only icon that shows up I grin when it opens a list of addresses. It better be everything. But even if it’s not - it’s enough to cause a lot of issues for the man.
I scroll down the list then back to the top. There’s a lot of property to burn.
A lot of fires to light.
He has a lot to lose.
But before I start my rampage, I will give him a chance to do the right thing.
My engine purrs as I pull away from the hackers building and drive deeper into the city.
I punch my finger against the LCD Screen again and a list of phone numbers comes up.
“A’Vara.” I say and the list narrows down to two names.
Verity and Luca.
My heart constricts at the sight of her name. The letters that make up the shape of her - I pull my mouth tight and punch my finger against ‘Luca’. The pain of not having her can’t distract me. Not now. Not when I am so close to getting her back. I’ve tried to dial Verity’s number too. Over and over again. It always goes straight to voicemail. Her phone hasn’t been on since we left my mansion.
His line rings.
Luca’s voice fills my car.
“Rufino Vece, I was wondering where you were and when I’d get a call from you.” His dry, emotionless voice fills me with rage.
“This is your last chance Luca. Give my wife back to me or I will take things from you.” I warn him.
“You can try - but the agreement I had with your brothers - not to kill you - that was a onetime thing. If I see you again, I will put a bullet between your eyes and savor the moment.”
“Where is my wife?” I ask again ignoring the threat.
“Have a nice evening, Rufino.”
The lines goes dead, and silence sits heavily on my shoulders.
He made his choice.
Now I will make mine. He can’t say I didn’t give him a chance.
I flick back two screens and the list of properties is back on my dashboard.
I guess I’m starting at the top and working my way down the list.
His commercial properties take the first position on the list.
That good. It will be a bigger loss for him.
More money. More annoyance.
It’s going to be a long night of painting this town red.
Before I make my way to the industrial side of town, I stop at my storage unit. The trunk pops open with the click of a button, so I can load it with five-gallon cans of gas. Enough to fill the entire space. The more the merrier.
I tap my pocket checking to see if my new lighter is still there.
The reassuring shape of it shifts against my hand.
I’m ready.
Slamming the trunk closed I climb back into the car. The smell of gasoline is already creeping into the front area.
It’s like an entire year has passed since I locked Verity in the trunk of this same car.
I chuckle, remembering how pissed off she was with me.
“I’m coming, little vixen.” I whisper, pulling away from the storage unit. I tap the first address on the list and a map opens up to show me the best route.
Thirteen minutes. Closer than I expected.
My music blasts at full volume to silence my thoughts so that I’m not distracted, I arrive at the address in no time at all. The building is dark and closed up. It’s an office of some kind. But not a normal office where normal people work. It’s too undercover. Too dark and closed up. There is no logo or company name on the outside to welcome clients in.
I carry two bottles of gasoline with me towards the back of the building. My eyes scanning in every direction I’m on high alert. No one can stop me.
The climb up the fire escape isn’t easy with my hands full, but I make it work, tossing the bottles onto the level above me before I pull myself up.
On the fourth floor, one from the top, I kick open a window and use my sleeve to bash the broken glass clear from the frame so that I can climb through it without cutting myself. An alarm blares from the ground floor below me somewhere. A blue light flashes into the black night. I have seven minutes before this party is no longer private. Seven minutes to get this done.
Inside I find myself in a filing room. Lots of paper. Paper burns.
I walk into the other room. Computers sit in long lines across cubicles of desk space.
I walk to the end of the room and then make my way back, tilting the bottle of fuel and letting it splash across the carpet.
I pause when I see a glowing light coming from a room to my left.
Setting the bottles down on the ground I move to investigate.
It’s a server room. The low hum of tech makes me think of Dresden.
I nod in approval towards the information he gave me. Without him I would still wonder what the hell to do. The servers are loud, and the static agitate my skin.
There is a shit load of information stored here.
I hope it’s important, old man. I hope it hurts when you lose it all.
I pick up the bottles again and take a deep breath of the now familiar smell of accelerant.
It’s the scent of anarchy.
The scent of hell I am about to unleash on his life. Building by building I will make my way through the list until he give me what I want.
I use one bottle of fuel to dose the carpets and the other I pour down the elevator shaft. Splashing it along the wooden support beams and smiling to myself.
It’s going to be beautiful when fire consumes everything inside here.
Back out on the fire escape on the other side of the broken window I toss the empty bottles back into the building and slip my lighter out of my pocket.
I can smell gas on my hands.
I don’t care.
A click.
A spark.
A flame.
I touch the flame to the edge of the window frame and gasoline ignites.
I watch the blue tongue lap over the floor, devouring along the wet trail of fuel.
The flames lick upward onto the paper and I duck below the wall beneath the broken glass as explosive fire shoots from the widow.
I laugh as heat burns over my back.
I should move. The second explosion will be bigger.
Grabbing the railing of the fire escape I don’t bother with the stairs. I slide straight down the framework and onto the ground, landing hard and running the moment my feet touch the ground.
Another loud explosion blasts around me and the ground seems to shake beneath my feet.
The flames have engulfed the entire building.
A dragon, eating its way out from the inside. For a moment I stand looking up at it, flames glowing against the windows on the fourth floor where the servers are and beginning to creep through on the other floors - eating from the elevator shaft.
The ground floor foyer area is already burning.
I can’t stay though.
The alarm is silent now, but they’re already on their way.
And I have other appointments at other buildings across this city.
My tires skid on asphalt as I pull away.
I am so fucking alive right now. My heart is thundering against my ribs like a hawk trying to claw its way out. Music blares around me again and I slam my finger against the screen. The map changes, showing me the way to the next address on the list.
This one is a warehouse at the docks.
Once I’ve got inside, I pour gasoline over wooden crates. I don’t know what’s in them and I don’t care. I don’t care about any of it.
All I want is her, and he is soon going to regret not giving me that.
I work until the entire floor space reeks of combustible liquids. Waiting for my lighter, ready to burn it all to ash.
At the wide steel doors I crouch low on the ground and touch the little flame to the floor.
The blue flame runs across the narrow river of gasoline towards the crate.
As soon as it reaches the crates the size of the fire triples, lapping outward, it triple again and again until the entire warehouse is a furnace.
Sweat drips down my temple and I run my hand through my hair, pushing it back, away from my eyes.
The heat is breathtaking.
Bright orange and red is dancing in the reflection of my eyes and for a moment I am mesmerized by it and lost in thought.
I hear a car pulling up nearby and snap out of it.
Move.
They are here.
I bolt down the alley way on the side of the burning warehouse and back towards my car.
I can’t stop smiling.
I can’t wait to see her again.
After tonight is over, he will have lost so much he will beg me to take her.
I drive away with my lights switched off until I reach the main road. Then I press my finger against the next address.
I’m familiar with this area.
It’s filled with high rises, tall and expensive and painful to lose.
I’ll see if I can disable to alarm and take my time on this one. I want to cover as many floors in gasoline as possible to ensure that the entire building burns to the ground before they can put it out.
A quick stop at the storage unit is required though. I need more gasoline. And my tool kit to cut the security wires.