40. Attila
40
ATTILA
T he minute Caleph pulls the trigger, I see Ariadne at the window. Her mouth is struck open in horror, fear shining in her eyes. It’s an unfortunate turn of events where Caleph will have to deal with the fallout of his actions, and I know the outcome may not be one he’s looking forward to.
I take the gun from his hand and tell him I’ll clean up. He seems to be in a daze, one he snaps out of only when I move closer and whisper in his ear to go and check on Ariadne. He moves slowly, as though on wooden legs, and I watch him go with some trepidation over his mental state. Caleph just betrayed everything he stood for when he pulled that trigger. He stepped out of the light and into the dark to become the man he always swore he would never become again. Today, Caleph handed his humanity back to the dark side.
I call over two of our most loyal and trusted soldiers, ordering them to clean up what remained of Rinaldo. I look sympathetically at Ernesto, who narrowly dodged a bullet, and who now stands in shock, whispering a silent prayer.
“If you take away nothing from this today,” I start, addressing the men as they stand in shock, “Take this. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, otherwise you’ll go to sleep with the worms.”
* * *
We’ve buried Rinaldo out in the woods, where no doubt a wild coyote will dig him up and feast on his flesh. The driveway is clean and it’s as though nothing ever happened here. Except the shockwaves moving between the men like a spark of electricity. Most of them didn’t think Caleph had it in him, but now he’s gone and proved them wrong, and they’re absolutely terrified of their boss.
When I enter the house, Ariadne’s angry voice floats through the house, carrying down the stairs. No doubt they’re fighting over what she saw through the window today. Caleph is trying to calm her down, his voice low as he speaks with her in a soothing voice, telling her she’s too sick to be making such rash decisions.
I feel sorry for my best friend, but he needs to realize that anyone he brings into our world needs to understand not only the danger, but also the nature of what we do. There’s no way to sustain a relationship if the other half of you must learn as a sidenote those things of which you’re capable.
Caleph’s voice rises suddenly, an angry bellow in an otherwise quiet house. I can tell from the way the silence envelopes them that Ariadne is shocked at his tone; it’s probably one she’s never encountered before.
“You will not leave this house!”
“That’s not your decision to make, Caleph. You said yourself, I’m not a prisoner here!” she argues.
“I’ve told you the danger you’re in. You’ve seen it first-hand now.”
“I think I’ll take my chances!” she snaps back at him.
“What the hell has gotten into you?”
“I saw you, Caleph. I saw you kill that man!”
* * *
“Did you really think you could keep her away from the darkness in your life?” I ask Caleph, as I pour him another whiskey. The poor guy has bamboozled himself into whiskey heaven with how much he’s drunk tonight. He can’t get over Ariadne wanting to leave, and he can’t ignore the fact that she watched him kill a man and now she must live with that.
“It’s a side I hoped she’d never have to see.”
“And yet, it’s a side that emerged because of her. She’s the one that brought out the darkness in you.”
“She did no such thing. One of my men betrayed me.”
“One of your men betrayed you because someone needed to get to her.”
Caleph turns away, self-loathing evident in his expression. I hate to see him suffer, but he had to know on some level that at some point, Ariadne would find out who and what he really was. Although not directly linked to the mafia, he does have strong ties with them, and as displayed tonight, he does have a dark side that is just barely tamed.
“She won’t listen to reason,” he says, turning back to look at me, a ravaged look in his eyes. I don’t know that he’d be able to live through losing her again. Especially not if it were the sort of leaving where she wouldn’t be coming back.
“She has to,” I reply, “The bounty is still in force until we can get the pollies in the one room and annihilate them.”
“How long will that take?”
“A couple of weeks at most. Maybe ten days.”
“Make it happen. If she’s adamant that she wants to go home, I must make sure that she’s safe.”
* * *
I can’t believe he’s willing to let her go, but I put things in motion. To execute my plan, a rerun of the pollies/Hondurans meeting where arms were exchanged is in order. I’m not sure if the pollies even want to participate in any more business if they’re no longer buying for the government, but I guess they’ve lined their coffers enough to still handle multi-million-dollar deals.
They agree to buy another arms cache from me, then promptly turn around and contact the Hondurans with the order at such an inflated price, I’m starting to think these guys are gamblers. Marden’s on board for a piece of the action, which I’ll gladly give him for his help putting this shit to bed.
The hot, humid air clings to our skin as we make our way through the jungle to a new location, branches whipping at the cars as we jump along bumpy roads then weave through the mountains. Eventually, we reach a secure compound located near the sea, our new base of operations with easy access to the water in case of emergency. Caleph had insisted on the move, not trusting that our location hadn’t been compromised, considering there had been a traitor in our midst. Also, considering recent events, the move is warranted. A handful of men stay on at the jungle villa keeping watch, while the remainder join us at the compound.