Chapter Four
Leon smiled at the memory...
They had to rebuild most of the estate but damn, the women made him proud that day.
Eventually, he slept for a couple of hours on his couch and when he opened his eyes the sun was just coming up.
He swung his legs over the sofa’s edge and got up. Walking to the kitchen, he found his old friend Alfredo sitting there with a cup of strong coffee in front of him. Leon poured himself a cup and he sat down at the table.
For a few moments, his friend held his peace. Alfredo then looked at Leon and said softly, “You know you cannot allow those men to dig themselves into this city.”
Leon sipped his own coffee and nodded. “Si, I do know that.” He paused, then added, “I cannot allow them to live and come back to fight another day either.”
“What are you going to do?” Alfredo asked.
Leon gazed down at his watch and noted the time. He looked at Alfredo and smiled. “If Frost, Tornado and Lightning have achieved their objective, the rest will happen very soon.”
Alfredo just stared at him. “It is survive or be killed. The things they have done will haunt them when they arrive in hell. Even here in Boston the Gondos have been whispered about. Their evil deeds precede them.” He then made the sign of the cross over himself.
“I have added extra prayers for you and your men.”
“Grazie, amico mio.” Leon nodded at him. “There are things I have had to do that may haunt me as well.”
“Things that protected your family and associates. I do not think the Good Lord will keep you out.”
Bane came through the door into the kitchen from the hall and said, “Some of us will never make the cut Senor Alfredo. St. Peter will definitely see me coming. He will light that gate on fire before he ever lets me through. We did what we had to do, but we may have enjoyed it too much.”
At the same time, Orrin came into the kitchen from outside. “Don’t be saying WE, brother. St. Peter knows that I have not committed too many sins and certainly none were bloody.”
Bane shook his head. “But the couple you had, you enjoyed too much.”
Alfredo looked back and forth at the Jessin brothers.
Orrin shrugged. “Ok, you got me there.” He smirked.
Both men turned to Leon and gave him a nod.
Orrin actually gave him a wink.
Leon smirked back at them, knowing quite a bit about their past. More than he ever let on.
At first, it would not have been good for his health telling them what he knew.
Secondly, he always needed them on his side, so mums the word was the best option.
He did know that once they joined Bastian in his quest, the entire Jessin clan turned into a super force against evil.
“You two have done the world a favor several times. You saved humanity as well. Do not think I am unaware of that. If I am aware of these facts, then I assume God knows too. You may have a chance at heaven yet.”
The two brothers looked at him then at each other.
Bane actually barked out a laugh.
Leon smiled at them. It wasn’t a joke, but nevertheless, they would make an odd pair in angel wings that was for certain. He took the last drink of his espresso. Stood from his chair and straightened his suit jacket then neatly tugged at each gold-linked cuff of his shirt.
Orrin looked him over ad said, “I assume you got very little sleep and have not changed that suit. I only mention this because there is not one freakin’ wrinkle.” He shook his head. “How is that possible?”
Alfredo answered this, “This man has a powerful, resolute mind and rarely yields to others. In essence, he possesses an Iron Will. Therefore, his entire presence reflects that.”
Bane and Orrin stared at Alfredo.
“Damn, that is absolutely spot on,” Bane stated quietly.
Orrin was a little more jovial about it as he quipped, “Therefore, even his clothing is too afraid to cross him.”
Bane, Orrin and Alfredo all laughed.
Leon raised a brow at them and their amusement as he did give them a half smile.
“It also helps that they are very expensive and the tailor swore to me that the suits would not wrinkle. I hardly think my clothing is afraid of me.” He snorted.
“Shall we see what has happened overnight?” He made no reference to the conversation as he turned away and headed out of the kitchen.
Everyone followed him down to the security room.
John had cued up the city’s cameras already.
The warehouse they were monitoring was quiet in the early morning light.
Switching to the inside cameras, John scanned the main room's interior.
Very little had changed except now the occupants were all sleeping.
Pinto and Carlos were on sofas and the other men were all taking up space on the floor or other furniture inside the room.
The old man was missing from his corner and no one was awake otherwise.
This time they were able to see Trego laying along the outside wall on an old couch. His clothes were stained with his own blood and they could see he had dirty bandages covering his wounds.
Leon shook his head. The bandages were spotted with dried blood and they needed to be changed but no one was too worried about that, it seemed. No, the man was concerned about the war and he had brought at least twenty men.
Bane could also see weapons were out but no one was doing anything but sleeping right at the moment.
Orrin was checking his watch and when he looked up he caught Leon’s stare and he held up ten fingers.
Time was passing slowly now and tension grew inside the room as each tick of the clock sounded. Leon glanced down at his watch and growled as they still had three minutes to wait.
More people entered the security room and they all felt the tension. Everyone moved closer to John’s monitor while silently watching what would happen next.
In the warehouse, Pinto opened his eyes and shouted for the whole room to wake up.
He sat up and kicked at his sons, as he he sniffed the air and frowned.
His head snapped over to the corner of the room and he growled as he surged to his feet, yelling about something.
Then he rushed toward the door, yelling in Spanish about death.
Carlos paid no attention as if Pinto was crazy and he was used to the man acting foolish. Reaching for his cigarros and his lighter, he put a small cigar into his mouth.
A few of the men shouted at him to stop.
But before anyone could stop him. He flicked the lighter open and hit the roller.
Then the countdown was over and in a blinding light, the explosion happened. The cameras went dark and the screens went blank.
For a moment no one in the security room moved and they all held their breath.
John tapped the keyboard buttons and two cameras came back online.
They were outside of the building to the back and the front.
At first, all they could see was the dust and debris flying everywhere.
It took several minutes to see anything else but smoke.
John turned the cameras slowly and when the picture cleared they could see the rubble of an entire building where a warehouse once stood.
The scene was surreal and looked like a war zone.
Bane turned his head and stared at Orrin. “Do you think you used enough explosives, brother?”
Orrin just shrugged. “I always say there is never enough explosives in the world, brother.”
“You two did this?” Alfredo asked them.
Bane shrugged. “Only a Jessin could get in, set the whole thing up and get out. With no one knowing...we are a bit like ghosts.”
Leon nodded at them. “This is true. Very true. So when they volunteered to plant them, I said, "SI!” He smiled as he now felt better at the new score in this battle.
Everyone again turned to watch the monitors.
After about ten more minutes, they could see the flashing red and blue lights as the fire department and the police department came into view.
Leon nodded at the screens. “This will not gather too much legal or news attention. Fire happens in that old district quite often with some buildings. Old pipes, gas leakage and bad electric wires.”
Everyone stood back and watched as the fires burned.
Orrin shrugged and said, “Just to be clear...I didn’t have to use explosives.
It wasn’t smart as Bane told me. I just tampered with the city’s gas line.
It will go down in the books as an accident rather than sabotage.
The people inside will never be fully recovered and the bones will be marked as homeless people sheltering in a dangerous building and dying by accident. ”
“Is everyone dead?” someone from the doorway asked.
Leon turned and stared.
Lucinda and Storm were standing there.
Lucinda’s face looked ashen as she stared at the monitors.
“There is a good chance of that, Mio caro,” Leon assured her. “Most of them were just waking up.” Shaking his head he added, “They never awoke or got up before the building blew.”
They all watched in silence as the fire department slowly put out the flames.
“I would feel badly, but those men would have hurt people here in my town. They also intended to do harm to the people I loved. I wish I could pray for their souls, but I cannot.”
Lucid gave him a short nod. “I understand.”
Leon and Alfredo left to have breakfast. Leon told Lucinda that he would send breakfast in for the others.
Storm said he would be back after he made some calls.
Bane and Orrin left quietly.
She stayed to watch the cleanup. After a while, Lucinda looked a bit lost as she watched them digging out the bodies from the rubble.
So she and John were the only two people in the room now.
She had to see this to the end though. All the way to the VERY end.This would mean her future was secure.
If they were all gone she could maybe have a life.
But she felt a fear deep down for her Poppy.
She never voiced it but she was very frightened for him, so she never asked about him.
The bodies were being laid out in the parking lot side by side and she could tell from the damage that no one would be able to identify them. Their bodies were too blackened by the blast.
After ten more minutes, when they were all laid out she counted them, then she counted them again, and then one more time. She slowly turned her head to John and whispered, “There are at least four missing.”
John snapped his head up to stare at her. “Are you sure?”
Lucinda nodded. “But there’s no way to tell who is missing.”
John reached for his phone and tapped the screen, “Leon, we have a problem, Lucinda says four bodies are missing.”