Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
ORION
I met with an acquaintance at the Providence Police Precinct to gather some details about Samuel Donatello. I didn’t trust my acquaintance, but he was useful. Now that his bank account was a few thousand dollars richer, I could see Sam’s dead body. It had contusions around his neck and wrists. He was hanged to death, his body tossed into the river.
I got to my car and reviewed the file Ralph had sent me. Then I opened the recordings I’d initiated on the day I broke into Sam’s house and saved those two girls. The girls had moved to another state with a nice settlement. I wondered if the settlement had escalated Sam’s death. The asshole should’ve been in jail, but I supposed this outcome was karmic enough.
I had planted a tiny camera on the cat’s collar. It was just intuition that had me wondering what Sam knew.
I searched for a clip where I could see Carlos in Sam’s home. Most of the recordings picked up strange sounds and voices. But there was a recording where the cat jumped on the couch and captured Carlos clearly. I didn’t need to know what he talked about. All I needed was a clip as proof of what I planned to do.
I drove to a convenience store just outside of Providence. The shop was a front for drugs and money laundering. On a late Friday afternoon, Carlos occupied a joint he owned and ran. The shop was financed through Stockholm Bank, which Elena discovered to be connected.
I parked my black SUV a block away in the parking lot of a plaza with a family restaurant, laundromat, and a hair salon. I walked to the convenience store and entered. A woman was at the register paying for bread and milk. Three men sitting at the table in the far corner stopped chatting when they saw me.
A man with long dark hair wearing a black shirt and dark pants strode up to me. Up close, I saw a tattoo of a cross on his neck and wondered if he had that to protect himself from all the sins he’d committed?
“How can I help you, amigo ?” He smirked, sizing me up.
I wore a dark suit made of Kevlar materials. At a glance it looked like a regular Armani suit. My closet was filled with a variety of Kevlar apparel. I had a team developing a more advanced version that incorporated elasticity within the fabric for better ease and movement. During a battle, those qualities secured safety and victory.
“I’m here to see Carlos. We have business to discuss. Tell him The Condor is here with a proposal.”
“He didn’t tell us he was expecting anyone,” said Cross Tattoo.
“Are you his wife? Does he always share his agenda with you?” I asked with a straight face.
He dismissed me with a laugh, and his two buddies approached.
The bald guy wearing a T-shirt promoting an alcohol brand stepped up to me. “If you want bread or milk, go down the street. We’re closed for business.”
Then he placed his hand on my arm, trying to nudge me out. I gripped his wrist and twisted it, cracking bones.
“Don’t put your dirty hands on my expensive suit unless you can afford two hundred thousand dollars. Got that?” I seethed and released him, adjusting my suit. Then I looked up at the camera perched in the top corner of the room.
I knew Carlos was watching me from the camera. Bastard. If he wanted a show, I’d give him one.
The third man charged at me with a fist, which I blocked. Then I pounded three punches into his face. A tooth flew out of his mouth and clanked to the floor. He reached for a knife on the counter by his plate and came at me. I blocked it with my forearm, grabbed his other arm, twisted it, and yanked the knife into my hand. Then I stabbed the knife into his thigh.
A scream erupted, and the other men stood back.
“Don’t fuck with me.” I shoved him away, and his comrades caught him.
Cross Tattoo tossed a towel to the injured guy to stop the bleeding.
“?Mata el jodido pendejo?!” the wounded guy shouted to his friends in Spanish. He extracted the knife from his thigh.
Kill the fucking asshole!
“Debes cuidarte esa herida antes te que mueras desangrando, cabrón,” I replied and was grateful for all those years spent learning multiple languages.
He should take care of that wound before he bled to death, fucker.
The men appeared shocked that I could speak their tongue. I didn’t want to waste time and walked up to the camera, looking right into it.
“I’m not here to fight. I’m here for a decent proposal, but if you’re not interested, that’s fine. Sam’s body was found recently. I doubt he fell off a boat. Perhaps The Trogyn have something similar planned for you.”
Then I turned my attention to the men, glaring at me with violence. “Do you think I came here alone? If anything happens to me, or if I don’t inform them of my safety, there will be a swarm of armed men charging in here for bread and milk.”
It wasn’t a lie. I’d alerted my team of my whereabouts. But I had exaggerated on swarming in for food. This visit should have gone smoothly, but Carlos was probably too terrified of people looking for him now.
As I headed to the door, Carlos appeared from an aisle. “Let’s go to the back and talk.”
He wore a gray suit looking like a man in charge, but his face was strained with anxiety. The fatigue in his eyes told me he hadn’t slept much.
Inside a room that smelled of leather and cigars, Carlos gestured me to a brown leather chair. I sat back, watching him at the mini bar counter.
“What do you want to drink?” he asked.
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
He walked over with the bottle of whiskey and a glass, settled on the couch, and poured two fingers, gulping it down.
“I apologize for my men’s behavior. They’ve been on edge lately.”
“Seems like you are too.”
He flicked me an annoyed look. “Why are you here?”
Leaning forward, I held up two fingers. “One, Elena no longer owes you anything. That debt is void. I looked at your contract, which was signed by her father. Nowhere on it does it say the debt must be paid by his family.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but I held up my hand. “Your lawyer can argue the clause on the contract, but no judge will agree with you. Especially the ridiculous late fees. If I were you, I wouldn’t want the spotlight on your illegal business right now.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw.
“The debt is a minor issue compared to what’s troubling you. Am I right?”
He flared his nostrils.
“The second reason I’m here is because you and Samuel Donatello concocted a life insurance scheme to steal money from a bank.”
I didn’t go into details that Stockholm Bank was owned by my family.
“Sam did it all on his own.”
“Is that why his body was floating in the Providence River?”
I turned on my phone, clicked on the saved video, and slid it over to the coffee table.
“Isn’t that you and Sam discussing the scheme? You were part of it.”
Shock splashed onto his face. “What do you know?”
“I know you and Sam killed many people. You used their vulnerability and made money from their deaths, which you coerced. Who else is part of this scheme? I want all the names.”
I left the meeting feeling satisfied because Carlos agreed to give me the names. In an exchange, I’d help him leave this country anonymously.
I gave him forty-eighthours to provide the names of those he’d worked with, including the names of his victims. He’d be paying them all back with interest.
At first, he’d hesitated, but what was the point in having all this money if he were going to be killed by The Trogyn? Who was the elite member inside the Reimann Corporation?
When I’d alerted my father about the life insurance scam, he said he’d look into it. I hadn’t heard from him yet.
Anxiety increased in me, but I thought about Elena and it subsided. I couldn’t wait to tell her that she owed nothing to Carlos. She’d be getting all her money back with interest.
On the drive home, I pressed the button on my car to call her.
“I’m heading home. Do you need me to pick up anything for dinner?”
“Nope, I’m good. I’ve made dinner for you, so hurry and get home.”
“What did you make?”
“A Peruvian dish called lomo saltado .”
It had been a long time since I had a home-cooked meal. I’dnever driven home so fast in my life.