7. Chapter 6
Tucker
This morning, we were meeting in Sandro’s office. I knocked on the door, then walked on in, just like Sandro had told me was protocol with him. If he knew I was coming, he didn’t need me to wait until he told me to come in.
Marco was already in the office, but Elio wasn’t there yet.
“This morning we’re going to be tailing someone.” Sandro addressed us as soon as I sat down. “I’ve got Elio in the garage making sure the vehicles are ready to go.” His attention turned to me. “Have you ever performed a tail before?”
I shook my head. “No. Not something my family specializes in.”
One corner of his mouth tipped up in a grin.
“That’s what I thought. You’ll ride with me then.
Don’t want your inexperience to mess this one up.
The boss is really trusting us with this one.
” He opened his folder and handed us both a dossier.
“This is Leonardo Farina. He’s been working for my father for as long as I can remember, but now there is reason to suspect he’s working against us.
Everyone that works for our family has a tracker on their phone and vehicle.
It’s not something my father hides. Everyone knows it when they join.
Every Tuesday, his trackers go dark for a few hours. ”
Marco nodded. “That’s why we’re tailing him.”
“Yep. Our specific instructions are to make sure we’re not caught, don’t lose track of him, and get evidence of whatever it is he’s doing.
” Sandro leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his stomach as his attention focused solely on Marcus.
“We’ve been authorized to pull in a couple of more people if we want so that there are two people to a car.
I don’t really want to trust anyone out of the circle on this though, and I fear that he’ll make it seem like we couldn’t have done it without his seasoned guys. What do you think?”
“I agree. I think we load the car down with dash cams, enough that every angle is covered. That way, even if we’re driving we still have evidence of it all.”
Sandro nodded and then turned his attention towards me. “I think that sounds like a good plan. That will also allow us to evaluate the footage later to see if we notice anyone else involved that maybe your father overlooked as being shady.”
His brows furrowed. “You think there could be other people going against us?”
I shrugged. “We don’t even officially know that Leonardo is going against you. However, if he is, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure he’s the only one involved.”
“He’s not wrong. If we catch Leo doing something shady, Don Vitale is going to lose his shit and start suspecting others. Showing that we went into this mission prepared for that possibility should impress him and hopefully keep him from being even more erratic than he has been.”
Outside of my family, I’d never heard anyone talk about Lucian’s strange behavior. While I figured people inside the organization probably whispered about it, I was surprised Marco said it so freely with me in the room.
“Can I ask what that means?” I wanted as much information as I could get because after all, knowledge is power.
Sandro sighed and started bouncing his foot.
“He’s constantly looking for threats that aren’t there.
It’s like he’s paranoid. I mean, a certain level of distrust is expected and required in our world, but this is on another level.
I don’t think he’s sleeping, either. Sometimes he almost seems manic.
I’m afraid that if he doesn’t get his shit together, he’s going to burn our empire to the ground. ”
“The other families haven’t seemed to notice yet, but they will if it gets worse.”
Marco’s words made me think about what Atlas said. If the other families feel they can’t trust him, they’ll strike first.
Sandro’s phone chimed and he looked at it before turning his attention back to us. “Elio said the cars are ready. We should head on down so that we can get the cameras rigged up and ready to be in place before Leo takes off on his weekly adventure.”
I was more than a little surprised when we hopped into an old Toyota Camry. I’d never seen Sandro drive anything that didn’t attract attention before, but I guess that would be counterproductive to what we’re doing today.
The seats were worn and the leather was scratched up and jagged, making me glad I was wearing jeans. The AC also was on the fritz, only working a fraction so sweat was dripping down my back as we sat in an alley three blocks from the estate.
Elio was parked in a lot right across from a bar the Vitale’s owned. This bar was where Leonardo’s trackers went dark each week. Marco was in an alley three blocks to the west, we were in an alley three blocks to the east. As soon as Elio saw which way he was going, we’d be prepared to follow him.
I was really glad they hadn’t told me to drive a car for this as well. I definitely would have fucked it up. As it was, I was already nervous we’d get caught.
“Chill out. Marco, El, and I are pros at tailing people by this point. My father has had us practicing and perfecting the technique for years.”
I chuckled. “What different lives we’ve led. You spent your high school years learning to tail someone. I spent them learning tax codes and shit.”
Sandro let out a laugh. “I learned about tax codes too. Can’t pull a Capone and get caught cheating on our taxes.”
“Sandro, he’s heading your way. He took off heading east.” The three cars were on a conference call on speaker so we could keep in communication.
I’d thought they’d use radios, but I guess that was easier for others to listen in on.
“Got it.” Sandro put the car in drive and waited until we saw Leo’s car pass. “We’re on his tail. He’s three car spaces ahead. Who’s swapping me?”
Marco’s voice came through the speaker. “I’m about to turn on the road ahead of him.”
I watched as Marco turned on the street, coming out just ahead of Leo, able to completely watch him from the rearview mirror. Sandro turned left, then right on the next side street so we could keep up just a street adjacent.
“He just took a right on Second Avenue.”
Sandro hit the steering wheel as we passed the street. “Fuck.”
“I’ve got him.” Elio would have been the best to pick up the trail with his position, and I saw just how well these guys worked together.
After a couple of turns, we were on Second Avenue, coming right up beside Elio. “I don’t like this. All of us being on here and not turning off might make him pay attention to our cars, but with these being one way streets, I’m afraid of you trying to run parallel."
Marco cleared his throat. “Where do we think he’s going?”
“If he really is betraying the family, there’s a chance he’s heading for the Brooklyn bridge to head into Accardi territory. Or he could be going to the docks.”
Marco chimed in. “There’s also the possibility that he’s going to take the Williamsburg bridge to Queens to meet with the Ricci family.”
There was a short pause before Elio spoke. “What are our orders if he leaves our territory?”
Sandro’s jaw ticked. “Technically, with the accords, we can go into Accardi territory, we just can’t operate there.
And since our orders are not to act, just gather intel, we’re not technically breaking the accords because the intel is on our own guy.
However, if he’s working with the Accardi family, our investigation would show that and mean that they were part of our intel, which could possibly be a breach of the treaty. ”
Marco grunted. “If he’s working with another family, that family has already broken the accords.”
“That’s true.” The line was silent for a moment as we all thought about the options. “What’s the call, boss?”
I could see the indecision on Sandro’s face, but his voice came out firm and without any doubt. “Elio, split off. Get on the FDR. If he turns, we’ll have a better idea of where you can head him off.”
“Copy that.”
Elio turned off and silence descended on the car again.
Finally, when I wondered if I could take it any longer, Leo’s car turned. “He just turned on East Sixth Street. Marco, go up to Fourth and turn, we’ll stay on his tail.”
“Wasn’t there a diner he liked up by the Manhattan Bridge?”
Sandro’s eyebrows rose at that. “Shit. I forgot about that place.” I watched as Leo’s car turned again. “He just turned south on Avenue A. If he was going to that diner, this route would make sense.”
“I’m approaching the exit for the Manhattan Bridge. Got stuck in a little traffic. Want me to take it?”
Sandro shook his head. “Nah. Go on down to the Brooklyn Bridge, just in case we’re wrong. Marco, ready to swap?”
Marco’s car pulled up right beside us. “Sure am.”
We turned and headed away from them, giving us a small break. “I’m taking a big risk here, but I’m going to the diner in the hopes that’s where he’s going. Marco, stay with him. Do not lose him.”
In just a few minutes, we pulled into the parking lot of an old diner and parked behind the dumpster so we were out of sight. It looked run down, but if it was anything like Maggie’s, I hoped we could get food before leaving.
“Boss, he’s about to pull in.”
Sandro’s shoulders relaxed. “Okay. Park across the street at the grocery store. Elio, get off the freeway and park about a block down Market Street.”
“On it.”
I pulled out the camera and got a few shots of Leonardo walking into the diner while Alessandro hooked up the parabolic listening device.
It probably wouldn’t have worked well if the diner was busy, but there were only a couple of cars and thankfully, it appeared Leo was going to sit by a window close to the door.
“He’s not the smartest, is he?” Marco’s voice through the speaker almost made me jump. I’d forgotten that they were still on the line.
Sandro rolled his eyes. “He probably thinks he has nothing to worry about. He’s still in our territory, somewhere he’s known to frequent, so the only thing making him look suspicious is the trackers going dark. But as far as he knows, we don’t know about that.”
Just a few moments later, a tall guy with blonde hair walked in and had a seat at the booth with Leo.
“Isn’t that Pinkston?”
Sandro’s jaw ticked. “Yep. Carter Pinkston.” His attention turned towards me.
“He’s our liaison in the sex trade and the one helping us get the brothel up and running.
There is absolutely no good reason Leo is meeting with him.
” He hooked the listening device to his phone to record the conversation while I snapped some more photos.
“Now everyone shut up so we can hear what’s going on. ”