A Shadow Around the Sun

by Hugo Damas

  “Donna can speak fer’erself,” a female voice surged from the car, and out came the old woman.

  She was at least sixty years old. She dressed in black ever since her husband had died. And it she picked up the mantle after him, she always had it. Donna was as tough as they made them, and the oldest of the Dons. Lazaros had learned a lot about her during his time in prison.

  Even with how powerful he was, she still looked down at him. From above.

  It made him want to lash out and knock her down, but he steeled himself. He remembered the words of his tutor.

  “Whatever you do. You can try and swindle her, you can try and lie to her, you can try and kill her, even. But do not ever disrespect her. She will stop playing the game.”

  The Don had to play the game, otherwise he couldn’t win.

  “Donna, it’s good ta see ya.”

  “Is it, now, Lazaros?” Her voice grated in his ears, with all that arrogance and self-importance. “Because I think I’m the last thing you wanted to see right now.”

  Lazaros raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t act the superior, he couldn’t threaten her outright, but he wasn’t about to show fear either.

  “What’re you talkin’ about?”

  “Oh please, you’ve never been a fan of discretion. Least of all when you think no one can stop you. What is it you got? Did you actually win the Conclave?”

  Lazaros didn’t let show how surprised he was that she knew about that. He also didn’t want her to control the conversation, so he crossed his arms, pistol still in his hand. “What if I did? What if I didn’t?”

  “Giuseppe and Pedro, and Tulio, they already folded, haven’t they?”

  The Don grinned, slightly moving his big cigar in his mouth so his smirk could take over his lips.

  “Yeah, see? And we always said they were stupid. They’re actually smart, they finally saw the advantage in—”

  “I know you didn’t win the contest,” she interrupted him, which was disrespectful. He clenched his pistol hand but contained his indignation. “But it didn’t end, right? I know it didn’t end.”

  Lazaros’s mind ran, searching for explanations.

  How? She has…oh, probably the people that were hired to act as patrols in the last match. She must’ve gotten to one of the survivors.

  “But I imagine they gave you their support all the same,” Donna continued. “If there’s one thing we know about the Shadow Conclave is that they are truly dedicated to stopping these monsters. I’m guessing that…” her tone of voice implied that she knew she was right and that her guesses were the truth. “I’m guessing they want you to rally everyone around here against the monsters, that’s why they support you.”

  The Don shrugged.

  “Hmpf. Ever the creative old broad, huh? So what if you’re right? And what if you’re wrong?”

  She rolled her eyes, and even Florin was offended at that on his behalf. He was ready for a shootout, anyone could tell. It made Donna’s men worried but not her. She stood as if nothing could really threaten her, let alone harm her.

  “Lazaros, you don’t care about the monsters. You don’t care about anyone else other than yourself. You’re just a fat cat opportunist.”

  The Don tapped his forearm with the tip of his revolver, smoking for a small second. He decided to play it with patience, but not an ounce less of self-respect.

  “And what if I am?” Lazaros asked, amused by his strategy.

  “This is no time for games!” She cut the air with a hand motion, sounding legitimately angry. Her accent was noticeable. “These things are coming for all of us, and you are playing power games!”

  Donna seemed sincerely upset, it was a bit of a surprise. It also drove Lazaros over the edge.

  “This is what you come to talk to me about?” He looked right at her, no more mister cowed eye. “Sanctimonious Madonna trying to save everyone from the big bad Lazaros, is that it?”

  Donna squinted her eyes, displeased, giving him that expression he had been warned about. That he had avoided all those years.

  “Listen to me, boy. Listen to me and do what I say, and maybe we can all survive what is coming.”

  “You have no idea what is coming,” he said, thinking that if that’s how she wants to play, he can do that too. “I was there, see? I saw it all. I know what’s comin’ better than anyone.”

  Donna stomped her foot. “You’re power hungry and irresponsible, you’ll get everyone killed.”

  Lazaros allowed his arms to uncross and assumed a more combative posture.

  “We’ll survive this by doing what I say.” He pointed at himself with a thumb, “I’m the boss, see? My country’s my turf now, you either fall in line and be part o’ the solution or you’re part o’ the problem. An ally to those Beasts for all I care.”

  Donna cocked her lips with utter displeasure, giving him that look of disappointment that is as threatening as anger. The look a boss gives someone when they’re no longer useful to them and past being just a nuisance.

  However, Lazaros didn’t let up as far as his body language was concerned. He glared powerfully, threatening her with his look and stance even though, at that very moment, he was at a disadvantage. Lazaros didn’t say anything, he waited for her to challenge him.

  “I always knew your ego would be the end of all of us, Infeperio.”

  Calling him by his last name was the exclamation point to how distanced she was from him. In a usual situation, it would have been terrible, it would have meant they would never again do business together. In that situation, though, it was good to hear her refer to him with respect.

  Of course, he would reply back in the same way. “Wow, Serratore, can you be any more dramatic?”

  “It’s the truth,” Donna said, her eyes squinting with distaste. If not disgust.

  She had men watching, so Lazaros wanted to give a show of trying to solve their differences.

  “Come on, Donna. There’s no need for this, we can work together to beat these things if they ever reach this far.”

  “That is exactly what is wrong with you, Infeperio.” She pointed at him accusingly, “you think they might not.”

  “I’m assumin’ they will. I’m plannin’ for it. Just like I assume that if I don’t bring everyone together, we’ll be too busy fightin’ each other and clearing out o’ town to do anythin’ worthwhile.”

  “And it’ll be better if we fight now?!” Donna demanded, flustered.

  That was good, things were going well.

  “It’ll be even better if we don’t fight at all!” Lazaros protested. “Face it, not one o’ us has the muscle to face all the others put together, it’s why there hasn’t been a real Don o’ Dons in decades. That’s over now, I’ve got the Conclave’s support. I’ve got the muscle, and I’m takin’ over.”

  Her hand shuddered back from pointing as her head processed what he was saying. He had her, he felt it for sure in the look she gave him.

  “Yeah, see? Yer the one with the ego that’s gonna ruin’ it all, not me. Yer the one who can’t stand to be second place, see?”

  “Ha!” Her voice cracked. “That’s rich.”

  Time for a very convincing lie to sell his point.

  “It’s true. If situations were reversed, I’d bend. I’d hate it, see? Like Giuseppe hates it, you know what I did to his nephew.” She should, it was thanks to her that there hadn’t been a war over that situation. “I’d hate it, but I’d do it. Will you?”

  Donna clenched her hands.

  “Then do it, Lazaros, bend to me,” she said still.

  Lazaros scoffed. “I don’t think so.” He frowned again, insulted. “I’m not the one losing the war you want to force, why should I back down? How’ll everyone else respect me if I do?”

  “They won’t, but they just need to respect me. And they already do,” Donna argued, stubbornly.

  Lazaros scoffed a second time, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “You really can’t stan
d being second place!” He grinned victoriously. “But you are, see?” She twitched. “You wanna fight over that?” He opened his arms, “come at me, then. I’m right ‘ere, bella Donna. Make your move. Decrease our chances of survival. Ruin the collaborations I’m settin’ up.”

  Donna was very upset.

  It was obvious by how she squinted at him and how she chewed on nothing but saliva and air, clicking her teeth rhythmically in response. It could be heard over the tense silence that was propagating.

  Lazaros blew smoke through the corner of his mouth, not wanting to bring his hands back in to grab the cigar, just in case she called his bluff. He was still holding his pistol, he could probably shoot one of the goons pretty quickly if she made a move, and then duck behind the car.

  It should be okay, probably, he and Florin were deadly in a shootout.

  “I’ll think it over,” she said, turning before he could read her face and discern what decision she had actually made. Even still, the Don knew an enemy when he heard one.

  She snapped her fingers at the men so they would close the door behind her and drive her away. They left quickly, but Florin and Lazaros didn’t let go of their pistols until they were far enough away.

  Their expressions frowned together, angry at how much of a disadvantage they had been in, and at how little Donna thought of Lazaros.

  “Fanabala, you old fart,” he cursed under his breath. He holstered his revolver back inside his overcoat.

  “We’re okay, boss?” Florin asked.

  It would take a few minutes for Lazaros to be certain of how to answer that. “Debatable,” he grunted. “Let’s go.”

  They got in the car and started driving.

  “So? Is she in the bag like the others? I didn’t really understand from how she left it,” Florin said.

  Lazaros saw Florin looking at him in the rear-view mirror. He liked Florin, he was a lieutenant that didn’t mind being his driver and was great in a fight.

  “Florin, if she were willing to get in with us, she would’ve done it. I would’ve gone to her first if that was the case. I was savin’ her for last because I know she’ll only bend if I got the rest o’ them filed in.”

  “Hm.” Florin thought it over. “Then why not just whack us back there?”

  “Yeah, that’s the question, see?” Lazaros nodded in agreement, “I’m pretty sure that’s what she was considerin’, the damn… I’d say it was probably the odds. We’ve handled worse.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Florin said, nodding in agreement.

  “And they know it. Best bet? She’s going to try to whack me quietly or turn the others against me. She knows they’ll prefer her to me, especially with the way I been winnin’ them over.” The entire span of her actual potential to ruin his plans really hit him then, like a wall of wind. Anger flared within him in reaction, so he punched through the car’s window.

  “Augh!” Lazaros pulled his hand back and glared at the cut he had just made. “Damn it! Why’s Donna gotta ruin everything?”

  “Just think it through, boss, you always find a way. Should we call Protos?” Florin asked.

  “That’s a good idea, sure.” The Don was already tying a bit of the scarf around his wound. “Stop the car, I’ll have ‘im meet us at Gonzalos’.”

  The Don left the car and walked up to the first building he saw. He demanded to be let in and use the phone, he also told the couple there to leave their home so he could talk to Protos in private.

  Lazaros told him the situation so Protos could think about it on his way there, he wanted them to waste as little time as possible.

  Then they left, heading for Gonzalo.

  She can actually ruin everything, Lazaros thought to himself as he returned to the car, not bothering to tell the couple they could go back into their home. How’d she know so much, anyway? I swear if there’s a rat in my crew…

  There should be. Though all of what she knew could be explained purely by information gathering and her own considerable ability for deduction, she knew who he had talked to and what attitude he was showing, and that was too much of a stretch. And all in the same day?

  Not normal at all.

  Lazaros eyed Florin in momentary suspicion, but just as he did that, he realized how else she could’ve done it.

  She beat me to the punch and told all the bosses what I was going to do. Everything started falling into place. He had underestimated her initiative. She knew I went to participate in the Conclave. She obviously knew when I got back the first time, so when I left to meet with the Conclave again, it must’ve been easy for her to guess I’d get their support.

  That was when she had then contacted all the bosses and had told them what Lazaros would be doing once he was back from the meeting. She would be able to predict how his diplomacy would go once he had the backing of the Conclave.

  It wasn’t about a rat, the bosses themselves were letting her know.

  The Don pictured it in his mind. All her predictions coming true, revealing how predictable Lazaros was and further driving all the bosses to her side.

  Hate. Lazaros hadn’t felt hate in such a long time, but there it was.

  Bitch. Even thinking it made him hesitate, such was her presence in every criminal’s subconscious.

  Donna had him trapped. Lazaros had disrespected her intelligence, and now he was cornered. But then, why engage him like that, then?

  She doesn’t want a war, Lazaros realized.

  That confrontation was her trying to avoid a fight between them, she was sincere in that much.

  He looked ahead again, noticing how Florin was glancing at him worryingly. Lazaros relaxed his posture, smiling like he had just figured out what to do. It was the expression he made whenever he found the perfect plan.

  That relieved Florin, visibly, but the Don did not have a perfect plan. He just knew it was important for others to think he did.

  What could he do?

  When you don’t have a plan, he recalled Emiliano saying, you disrupt the others’.

  Lazaros imagined himself yelling at Gonzalo. Telling him he knew Donna had warned him, and threatening him. However, that was exactly what Donna expected him to do.

  “Let’s go back to Giuseppes’,” Lazaros suddenly said.

  “What? Shouldn’t we be hurryin’? Get to the rest before she does?”

  “She already got to ‘em all, Florin,” Lazaros said, with an impatient grunt. “That’s why I came back from the conclave as fast as I could, but then I had to go and be summoned again to dumb Britthan, and now she’s way ahead o’ me.”

  Florin turned the car around, upsetting other drivers but neither of them cared.

  “I need to do what she’s not expectin’. We’re going back to talk to that two-faced lying bastard,” Lazaros said out loud.

  “What about Protos, boss?” Florin asked.

  The Don cursed at the skies. “Fanabala! Stop the car.”

  “Boss?”

  The Don just opened the door and got out while the car was still whining into a stop. “You turn around and go gettim’. Meet me there.”

  “What? Boss, you want to go there alone? That’s nuts!” Florin said.

  The car behind them honked, so the Don turned around and silenced the driver with a glare. He then slammed the door shut and walked to the passenger window on the front.

  “Call your crew too, tell ‘em to meet us there,” Lazaros added.

  “Boss, you’re too angry, ‘re you sure--”

  Lazaros slammed his hands against the roof of the car. “Jus’ geddit done, Florin! Go go!”

  Florin stepped on the gas, and the Don saw him turn his car around, upsetting another bunch of drivers before continuing on back heading to Gonzalo’s turf.

  Right then, Lazaros stepped in front of the car that had honked at them and gave the driver a mean look. He pointed at his door. The man hesitated for a few seconds, but Lazaros just frowned even more heavily, breaking the man’s will.

/>   A minute later, the Don was driving off with the man’s car after giving him a standard threat. “You tell the pigs ‘bout this, I’ll find you.” He didn’t need to say anything more, he could see in the man’s feeble eyes that he wouldn’t tell anyone anything.

  Lazaros drove fast.

  Florin was right, he was angry, maybe too angry to be making split-second decisions that could affect his bid at ruling a criminal empire. If not his life.

  On the other hand, if there was ever a time to go all in, that was it. He had seen the Beasts first hand and those monsters were unstoppable. Realistically, even if he won, it was likely he would only enjoy it for only a few weeks.

  The Don squeezed the steering wheel, not a doubt in his mind that it would still be worth it.

  Lazaros might not be sure of the full extent of Donna’s plans, but now that her ambition and preparation was evident, he felt ready to meet them. He knew one thing, and that was that she was still playing how she always played. Cautiously and meticulously, sitting back and seeing things unraveling as she dictated them. She never got in the middle of the mess. She was never in danger.

  She never went all in.

  Ah ha! Lazaros suddenly had an idea.

  Giuseppe would be at some meeting somewhere, reporting to Donna. Not at home. The Don headed there. He parked the car right in front of the building’s side entrance, only a couple of feet away from its armed guard, which amounted to two big men concealing pieces.

  It was an apparently small one apartment building, but the inside was richer than most mansions.

  Lazaros didn’t skip a beat, exiting the vehicle with a purpose. The guards recognized him almost instantly. He liked how it took them long seconds to even figure out what to say to him. He just stopped in front of them, waiting for them to open the door, but instead, they awkwardly stared not knowing what to do or say.

  “You openin’ this or what?” Lazaros asked.

  The two, both taller and bigger than Lazarus, traded a preoccupied glance.

  Finally, the one on the left found words to say. “Giuseppe ain’t ‘ere.”

  “I know he ain’t ‘ere, now open the door,” Lazaros said.

  “We can’t just do that, Mr. Infeperio,” he said in apology.