Dangerous Flames (Mafia Hearts) (15 page)

The
spinning of the washing machine came to a stop, leaving the room in
silence. At least now the heat from the dryer would maybe do
something to warm him up.

He
glanced at the door. What was Gabi doing inside right now? He loved
the way she curled her body in the corner of the couch and got lost
in her thoughts. And the way the corners of her mouth turned up into
a hint of a smile. Such an innocent act tempted him to rush to her
and crush his mouth against her soft lips.

Sighing,
he jabbed the dryer’s power button. Once the dryer was turned
on, he went back to the chair. He needed a distraction from Gabi. The
comedy novel he had picked out might do the trick.

****

Enrico’s
confident stride came to a stop inside the warehouse, his gun hung
down at his side. His breath caught in his chest at the sight of one
of his men lying on the floor with a knife stuck in his neck, a
puddle of blood circling around the lifeless head. Spatters of blood
dotted the area.

Enrico
slid his hand over his mouth and fought back the urge to vomit. He
turned his back to the gruesome sight and fumbled with his cell. He
needed to call Leon right now. After having to redial the number
three times because of hitting the wrong keys, the call finally
connected.

“
Hey,
Boss,” said Leon.

“
I
found Wil.” Enrico glanced back over his shoulder to and
quickly away again when bile clogged his throat. He couldn’t
show any weakness in front of Leon. Gagging qualified as such. He
cleared his throat, then said, “Send in the men to do clean
up.” Enrico disconnected the call without hearing the reply.

He
turned to watch the door as the eeriness sprawled its ugly fingers
over his skin. Someone had gotten in here to one of his men and had
access to Enrico’s product. Not good at all, but he’d
worry about that after they got Wil cleaned up and everything
transferred to the vault.

While
most people would call the police and let the coroner take Wil,
Enrico wasn’t one of them. He had his own group of men who
would take care of the mess, dispose of the body, and then return to
the warehouse to do whatever else he asked of them without a single
man protesting. He let his eyes close for a second for a reminder him
of how much power he actually had. The footsteps crunching gravel
outside snapped his eyes open but that was fine. The sinkable feeling
of failure had already left before the first man arrived.

“
Boss?”
Clayton asked and then stopped abruptly as his gaze landed on Wil.

“
Don’t
be a pussy,” Enrico snapped as he motioned with his gun toward
Wil’s body. “Get him cleaned up. We have other work to
do.” He turned to the office. Recounting and packing up the
money would give him something to do while they fulfilled their
duties.

An
hour later, each stack of hundred dollar bills was personally counted
and recorded into the ledger by him, had been loaded into containers
and stacked next to the office door. Enrico’s Family didn’t
deal with chump change, just
big
money.

The
stuffy air grew worse by the second. Needing some fresh air, he
flipped open his cell and pushed the number one key- speed dial to
Leon’s phone. As expected, his underboss picked up on the first
ring.

“
Leon,
I need you to supervise the transfer of money for a few minutes.”

“
Sure
thing, Boss.”

As
Enrico waited for Leon, he ran his hand over his thinning hair while
pushing the reminder of his age away. Maura claimed fifty was the new
forty, or some shit like that, and he was going to force himself to
believe her claims even with his increasing ailments. Besides, age
didn’t matter when he held his favorite semi-auto. His trigger
finger often proved to be quite a bit faster than any young man,
fueling his confidence even more.

Leon
strolled into the warehouse dressed to impress in an Armani suit and
equally expensive shoes. Usually, Leon stood on guard, with a
matching semi-auto, outside while the wise-guys loaded the G’s
and guns into the van. Enrico couldn’t have asked for a better
man to help run the Family.

“
What
are they doing today?” Leon asked.

“
Even
though nothing seems to be missing, we need to do a drop at the
vault. They are loading up. Have Clayton count the guns while Rif
puts the money bags into the van.” Enrico stifled back a cough
as he walked around the various stacks of boxes and then passed the
van on his way to the door.

“
You
know, Enrico. I heard a storm is getting ready to hit,” Leon
called after him. His voice echoed through the warehouse.

Enrico
stopped. “I know, but this can’t wait.”

Leon
nodded. “Sure you want to head up to the vault during the bad
weather? We can move this stuff to a new location in Vegas until the
storm passes.”

Enrico
motioned toward the goods with his gun. “We haven’t been
to the vault for a while, so we need to check it out, make sure
nobody has been up there, and unload the goods. Whoever was in here
today knows what we keep here and might be back.” He fanned his
hand in front of his face. “I‘m going to step out for a
minute, eh?”

Leon
nodded before Enrico turned for the door. “Hey, Boss?”

“
Yeah?”

“
Have
you heard from my son?”

Enrico
shook his head. Now that he’d thought about it, he hadn’t
talked to Mikolas since Friday night dinner. “Sure haven’t.”

“
I
usually talk to him every day and I stopped by his house. He had some
bags packed. Do you think he’s behind this?” Leon
motioned toward the wet spot on the cement where Enrico had found
Wil. “Maybe killing you, get the payoff, and then leave?”

“
All
I know is that I didn’t hire him for this hit, Leon. He’s
your son. What do you think?”

Leon
went over to Enrico to close the gap between. Letting his voice drop,
he said, “We’ve trained him to be a ruthless killer so
anything is possible.” He tapped his finger against his
smoothly shaven chin. “And he hasn’t been made into the
Family yet. He may be the one working for a rival. Really though, he
is good, but I don’t think he is cut out for this type of
life.” He swept his hand in the air in front of him.

“
I
wouldn’t be surprised if he took off to escape this.”
Enrico didn’t like his underboss’s reasoning even though
it rang with truth. They had trained him from the time Mikolas had
been a kid to be the way he was now. Mikolas still held the freedom
to work for any Family. Something wasn’t right about Mik’s
disappearance. Had he underestimated Mikolas Russo? “We’ll
discuss this on the way up to the vault.” Enrico pulled the
shirt collar away from his neck. He had to get some air and now.

The
warm sun beat down on him. He swiped a bead of sweat trickling down
his wide forehead as he leaned against the hood of his work car, a
black Mercedes. He longed for a cigar to puff while waiting for the
wise guys to finish up. The cigars were never carried with him or
he’d smoke too much, so he took his cell out of his pocket.

Speed
dial number two belonged to Maura. Number three went to Gabrielle’s
phone. He pushed the lit up three. Once her voicemail clicked on, he
smiled. She’s probably out having a good time with her friend.
Good for her. He tried dialing Mikolas but the voicemail clicking on
increased the uneasiness in his gut.

“
Mikolas.”
He didn’t have to try too hard to make his voice sound gruff.
“I need to speak to you right away. Call me a-sap.”

A
crash rumbled from inside of the warehouse. He jumped to his feet and
ran through the double doors and around the van. He froze at the
sight of the mess. The shelves set from the floor to the six foot
ceilings no longer stood. The wood from the shelves along with
various containers of tools were scattered all over the ground.
Leon’s hand reached out from under the boards.

“
Fuck.
Help me get Leon.” Enrico started tossing the boards and
containers stacked on top of his underboss.

Clayton
ran to Enrico’s side and started throwing the stuff. “We
got you,” he said to Leon as they tossed some paint containers
off him.

“
Should
I call an ambulance?” Rif already had his cell out, ready to
dial.

Enrico
grabbed it out of Rif’s hand and tossed it through the air. It
hit the cement with a bang, slivers of plastic casing and metal
components flung all over. “Does it look like this is the kind
of place we’d want an ambulance to come?”

Rif
took a step forward. “My phone-”

“
Buy
another fucking one. You don’t call 911 unless I say to.”
Enrico turned back to getting Leon out of the rubble.

“
We
shouldn’t move him-” Rif started again.

Enrico
dropped another board, stood up straight, and turned to Rif whose
eyes were wide and etched with fear. “Shut the fuck up. I need
to take care of Leon or I’ll
discuss
this
with you later.” The son-of-a-bitch was right, but Enrico’s
family would be wrecked if he landed behind bars. He couldn’t
do that to them.

“
No
ambulance,” Leon whispered, the boards piled on his chest
preventing him from taking a full breath. His face twisted in pain.

“
Okay,
Leon. We’ll have you out in no time,” Enrico said. He
glanced back at Rif. “Why don’t you get over here and
help, eh?”

“
Chest
is on fire,” Leon said. He took a deep breath and winced.

“
Probably
broken ribs. Does anything else hurt? Arms or legs?” Enrico
took the last board off Leon but was scared to move the guy. He had
to though. There was no choice.

Leon
sucked in his breath. “Not yet.”

Enrico
and the other two guys went on both sides of him to lift Leon up.
Leon closed his eyes and clenched his teeth while tears ran down his
face. Enrico knew his friend probably would swipe those tears away if
he could raise his arms. Leon just didn’t cry in front of
anyone. Ever.

“
Ow,”
Leon howled as they stood him up one foot.

Enrico
put his arm under Leon’s left shoulder as Rif, the taller of
the two men, slid his arm under Leon’s other shoulder,
supporting him as he hopped on one foot to the car. Clayton ran ahead
and waited there with Enrico’s back car door open, ready for
Leon to be put inside. Leon moaned again as they laid him across the
back seat.

“
Follow
me in his car.” Enrico tossed Clayton the car keys.

After
Rif climbed into the passenger side with Clayton in the driver’s
seat of Leon’s McLaren, Enrico ran over to the double doors of
the warehouse. He pulled one shut and then the other. With the chain
and padlock put in place, he ran back to his car and climbed in. The
tires carved their imprints into the dirt as he peeled out of the
driveway.

Chapter Nine

After
the groceries were put away, she made another attempt to get a hold
of her mother but couldn’t get any service on her phone. She
hurried to the bedroom window to make sure Mik hadn’t finished
with the laundry, giving her some precious time to search for the
money. Mik had already foraged through the large closet, letting her
skip over the space for now. If there’d been any money in
there, he surely would’ve reacted upon finding it.

Getting
down on her hands and knees, she peered under the bed. Nothing. She
patted the floor, looking for anything to alert her of a hiding
place. Finding nothing beyond the solid floor, she climbed onto her
feet again, moving to the small dresser. After pulling each drawer
out one-by-one, she put them back, and pulled the piece of furniture
away from the wall far enough to look at the floor too.

“
Damn
it! Where is the money?” she asked the empty room.

She
glanced at the window again, listening for any indication of Mik’s
return. Not ready to inform him of the money, she didn’t want
to put herself in a situation where she’d have to explain
herself. She already owed him numerous answers and didn’t want
to add to the number. She looked out at the snow falling over the
laundry room. With only the bathroom left to search, the odds were
good that she’d have to search out there too.

She
needed to scour the perimeter of the cabin without Mik present.
Dropping the curtain back in place, she hurried into the bedroom’s
attached bathroom. Only taking seconds to search the medicine cabinet
and the cupboard under the sink, she flopped on the couch to wait for
Mik to come back from doing laundry. She waited and waited. And
checked the time on her cell four times.