Chapter Thirty-Six
Fuck me. We almost missed her. We literally almost fucking missed each other by like thirty seconds. She was right there, watching as we turned up to try and save her. Probably even heard me taking down Rossi’s guys.
I mean, I literally signed my death warrant for her tonight.
Attacking ‘the family’ was like turning traitor.
I mean, I only gave them a little nap, not killing them, but still there was no way out for me now, and the fact that Micro and Torch were right there with me?
I was fucking desperately praying that they wouldn’t catch the heat for it too.
I told them to wait outside, wanted to keep them from getting involved, but they kept insisting I was their brother, and brothers stick together, and it was all I fucking wanted. Except for the fact that nothing mattered anymore if she wasn’t with me.
We headed out of town to a ‘safe house’, aka a place Sophie was able to arrange via an old school friend.
It wasn’t a long term thing, but I was hoping we could resolve everything with a few hours, even if it meant changing our identities, and running for the rest of our lives.
I had secret bank accounts, with money, and I had IDs for me. We just had to sort something for her.
I pulled up at the address Sophie had told Micro about when he called her from my burner, and checked out the perimeter by eye before I even lifted my visor up. It was quiet, a small house about a hundred yards off the road, and with no close neighbours.
Micro and Torch pulled up beside us, and made their way off their rides, and around to check the place out, while I kept Jamie on with me, just in case.
“Should we get off?” She yelled at me, and I shook my head, holding up a finger for her to wait. It wasn’t necessarily easy to talk with the motor still running, but I was taking no chances with her safety.
Micro stepped back outside the house and waved at us, so I turned off the engine, and helped Jamie off, before I led her inside.
I wouldn’t let her take the helmet off until we were behind closed doors, just like I kept mine on too.
It was probably a pointless exercise, but nobody could describe us if we didn’t show our faces.
“What is this place?”
It was furnished, but dated, and cold, because it had been empty and all turned off.
“I found the thermostat, but it’ll take a little while to warm up,” Torch said, while Micro fussed around in the kitchen, and I checked outside after locking the door.
“Okay, I think we’re safe for now. Jamie, your phone.” I held my hand out, and she frowned, but dug out the pieces and handed them to me. Already disabled. Thank fuck she was ahead of the game.
“Good girl. That was smart. It stays off until we figure this out.”
“What’s going on, Grease! You need to tell me something, because this is… this is all insane! Were those guys going to kill me?”
Torch grinned at me over her head and disappeared into the kitchen, heckling Micro while they tried to make coffee. At least they were giving us some privacy to talk.
“Sit down, little pain, I have a few answers for you, but there’s some stuff I can’t answer, I’m afraid. Not because I don’t trust you, but because knowing could put you in even more danger.”
She groaned, sitting down and rubbing her hands over her face, finally dropping back against the sofa cushions, looking as drained and frustrated as I felt.
“You really are mafia, aren’t you?”
Well, shit. I didn’t think she’d figured that part out yet. How much did she even know?
“Uh…”
“Just tell me, Grease, it’s not like I’m surviving this, is it? I knew it was a risk, but I looked up some-”
“Names,” I said bluntly. “You looked up names that were flagged, and got yourself into a bunch of shit. I kept telling you to butt out, but you’re just so… so… fucking hell… all you had to do was keep your fucking nose out!”
“Well, maybe if you weren’t a fucking mafia goon, it wouldn’t have put me on death row! You asshole. This is hardly all my fault!” Oh yeah, she looked energised now she was so pissed at me. Sexy.
“Uh… you guys want coffee? There’s long-life milk, so it’s probably shit, but beggars can’t be choosers…” I glared at Micro, and he shrugged.
“I’ll just guess how she takes it.”
“I bet I know how she takes it,” I heard Torch mutter under his breath. Fucker. Micro led him back into the kitchen before I decided to break his face for that one.
“Grease, please! Just tell me what’s going on. I looked up names, you know that part. They’re really mafia?”
Jesus. Sometimes there’s just no going back, and this was definitely one of those times. Probably the only one for us, since we’d die for it.
“Yeah,” I said, slumping onto the sofa beside her. At this point, we were probably both dead already, right?
“Tell me,” she hissed, turning sideways in the seat to watch me. She was wearing her uniform, minus the stab vest, and with a light black jacket over it. She looked hot, but I had a feeling she’d look thoroughly disgusted with me by the end of this conversation.
“You were right. They’re mafia. I mean… me… I’m mafia. Fuck me, I can’t untell you this shit, so be really sure you wanna know. I was trying to keep you safe, but you looked up the fucking Don’s name!”
Jamie nodded slowly, a wary look on her face. “I saw their helicopter at the compound this morning, and-”
“You were there this morning? Fuck. Were you seen?”
“I hid in the bushes to the left of the gate. I saw the guy who left with a bunch of suited guys with him. That was the Don? I can’t believe we’re talking about mafia. Real mafia. Here. I thought bikers were the worst we had in this town.”
“Charming, thanks so much,” Micro said as he dumped two mugs in front of us, and disappeared back to the kitchen.
“The thing about bikers is that they’re not all assholes, and the good ones…
The Phoenix ones, for example? They’re the best fucking people you could get to know.
I’ve loved every minute undercover for them.
I don’t want to leave…” I barked a laugh then, “I mean, on one hand I doubt the Don wants me back now, but that doesn’t mean I get to stay. It means I run, or I die.”
Jamie
He looked like he’d been given a death sentence already, and I had a feeling I’d caused enough of it that he couldn’t go back now. My reckless drive to further my career had put us both at death’s door.
“I’m sorry.”
Grease snorted. “You didn’t make me get born into that life. Fuck. I thought it was all there was, and then I went undercover with Phoenix in Wiltshire, and it was like being given a second chance. A key to the city. However you wanna look at it. It was like living at last.”
“But you were always going to have to go back to the Don?”
He shrugged, picking up the coffee nearest to him, and sniffing it warily, then he shrugged and tried a sip. It must have been too hot, because he grimaced and put it back down again.
“I looked up the Don, and two other names. Luca Vanotti and Tesio Agosti.” He winced as I spoke.
“Is… are you…”
Grease heaved a big sigh, dragging a hand down his face.
“Fuck. I’m Tesio Agosti, yeah.” Tesio. He wasn’t Grease at all. He was a mafia guy called Tesio.
“I… you’re Tesio…”
Grease shrugged. “I mean, not… not anymore, not inside. Inside, I’m Grease, and I feel like I was always someone else, stuck inside the uptight mafia prick I had to be. I was gonna try to get out of it, to try and stay with the club, but I guess that’s all gone now.”
Because of me. If I’d just stayed out of his business, he’d have had that chance.
“I’m sorry I messed that up, Gr… Grease.”
I’d debated calling him the other name, but I knew he didn’t want to answer to that one. I could see it in him. When I’d hesitated, he flinched.
“You didn’t. I did. All I had to do was stay away from you. He kept warning me, but I was too much of an asshole, I just kept wanting you, and now I’ve probably cost you everything too. Even if we got to be together, you’d end up hating me for that.”
Laughter from the kitchen distracted me from the horror of this entire conversation. At least someone was enjoying this little interlude.
“What will happen to you?”
Grease shrugged. “I mean, if I were to show my face around the Don, I’d probably take a bullet in the head before I could even say hi.
You don’t betray the Don and get to live.
Ha… to think, last night, my biggest worry was him giving me just one more week before I had to return.
One fucking week to pack a lifetime into, before I had to go back to hell. ”
“I’m sorry. I messed up, and had to put myself on their radar to protect another officer. He was freaking out after he realised what I had him searching for.”
In trying to save Eddie, I’d potentially killed myself and Grease, or Tesio, as the Don knew him. And what about Micro and Torch? They didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
“Are they staying here too?” I jerked my head toward the kitchen, and Grease nodded.
“They’re our backup for tonight. Chances are the Don will reach out, probably to Reacher, who’ll try and contact Micro, and I dunno… I guess we’ll figure it out. I didn’t have a plan for this. I wasn’t ready. For once, I wasn’t fully fucking prepared, and now it might kill us all.”
He dropped his head into his hands again, a frustrated growl rumbling from him.