by Adams, Evie
I didn't see Nico behind him until Nico let go of the wire around his neck and threw him to the ground.
“What are you doing here,” was all I could say.
“Saving you.” He said when the color returned to his face. “I could ask the same thing of you. I thought you would try to escape, but I didn't figure it would be so soon. I was having lunch on the rooftop when I saw my boat going past. Are you okay?” He asked.
“I think so.” But I wasn't sure if what I was saved from was any worse than what I was saved by.
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CHAPTER 6 - NICO
It was dusk by the time I hid the body and got the boat unstuck.
The running lights on the boat were on and the sun was going down. She leaned into me, we were close to the boat launch, maybe another 20 minutes, then a car was waiting for me to go to New York. I almost didn't want to go.
This was nice. Her against me. No longer struggling. Safe, for the moment from the world, and from me.
There was a certain peace I felt with her. Of course she hated me and she fought me whatever chance she had, but still her defiance and rebellion and challenges were easier to take than the rest of the ones I had to deal with. With her, she angered and aroused me, with the family and everything else they just bored me. To settle their stupid arguments. To be paranoid of power struggles, to worry about the knife in my back bored me. Let it come.
But with her, it was different. The stakes seemed higher than life and death. Her resistances and rebellions interesting rather than boring. Her motives I could at least respect.
Freedom. To get away from me. To get away from all of this and live a normal life. Maybe because that's what I wanted too.
We were in my boat and I had no idea whether to go back to the compound and figure out what happened or to just go on like I planned and take her with me.
"What was that man after?" She asked, sitting next to me, holding on as the boat crested a wave and banged back down on the water. Somehow I drove too fast for her even though there was nothing to crash into out here.
"I don't know. He wasn't supposed to be out here today. But neither were you. You at least should have grabbed the flare gun. It wouldn’t do any real damage probably, but most people wouldn’t want to risk it.”
She looked at the little orange revolver in the open aid kit next to me. I almost saw her mind working out whether to grab it and use it on me. I didn’t want to give her the chance to think it over. There was no telling with her. “Lucky for you, I was having lunch and spotted my boat passing, when I knew it should have been safely at my dock."
"He was waiting for you."
"Waiting for someone driving my boat. Not me, and certainly not you. But whomever was supposed to be on the boat, did so without my knowledge or consent. When the cat is away the mice will play."
"Does that mean we're going back?" She braced herself against another wave and bounced into me, holding my arm to steady herself in her seat.
"I don't think so." More betrayal more deception, I didn't care enough anymore. Kill them all, let them kill them each other, who cared?
“He mentioned you. Said you weren't in charge over there anyways.”
“I heard. It would have been useful if you asked what he meant by that.” I joked with her. It would have been useful if I hadn't killed him too, but I wasn't thinking about that. The rage had taken over, and I was lucky I wasn't strong enough to cut his head off with my wire, because that's what I was trying to do.
She seemed safe enough, now. Shaken up, but handling it very well. Better than I was.
I couldn't go back there now. I wouldn't be able to control myself.
Hoping Mina would lead to Tess would have to be abandoned. I gave a brief thought to perhaps she did take the same path as Tess, but I couldn't think about that now.
What I needed was an ally, someone with a level head who could figure this out with me. Aldo was good and his men were loyal, but the rest I couldn't be sure about.
And the Markovs in New York were giving everybody problems. We were the smallest family now and if we splintered any more, fell any more, that would be one less New York family to fend off the Markovs. I needed to ally with another small family or all of them to settle my house, then go after the Markovs.
"I think I'm going to the Catskills, and I'm taking you with me."
“Why?”
“I have a friend who opened a resort up there. Maybe he can give us some tips on my resort.”
The boat sputtered and the engine died.
The gauges were all fine. I got up and opened the engine hatch. The engine doesn't sputter and die like that usually with mechanical problems.
I leaned inside and noticed the gas tanks. They weren't connected. The gas came out of a little gas can taped to the inside walls of the hull.
“Why hide it so stupidly” I said out loud.
“Hide what?”
“Nothing.”
“What's wrong, do you even know anything about boats?”
“Of course I do. We're out of gas.”
“But that can't be, the gauge says full. I checked it before I left.” She said.
“They tampered with the gauge and the tanks. Obviously there is something more important than gas inside those tanks.”
“What?”
I gave her a look, “Whatever that man had wanted, besides what he wanted from you.” I had a good idea, but didn't want to say out loud.
We were close to the boat launch. Other boats were going ahead of us and the coast guard was surely out here, this was a bad place to be stuck.
I ripped the tape from the gas can and shook it. Some liquid squished around, but not very much. Hopefully enough.
I closed the hatch and she sat across from me, wrapped in a blanket. She looked beautiful with her hair being swept by the wind.
I looked at her, and we met eyes, briefly, the way she looked stopped my heart. But I saw the boat out of the corner of my eye, coming towards us. An orange boat. I picked up the flare gun, I wasn’t going to go to jail no matter what. I couldn’t handle a cell again. The flare gun couldn’t do much damage to a person if they boarded, but maybe if I sent a flare into their boat it would cause enough problems to get away or dump whatever was in the tanks.
I lunged towards her, unwrapped the blanket and laid on top of her, I put my head against her neck, she squirmed, “What are you doing, stop,”
In her ear I told her, “Shut up, the coast guard is coming towards us. Pretend we aren't broken down. Whatever is in that tank will land us both in jail, this is not the time to look for your freedom. ” I didn’t tell her about my plan with the flare gun, but stuck it behind her, under a rope. In reach in case I needed it.
She stopped struggling, except when I kissed her, and took the top of her dress off, she squirmed, but I had her mouth as she struggled against my kiss and hands. I hoped the boat would go past us and I could keep going.
The spotlight hit us and a voice came over the speaker, “Do you need assistance?”
“Act embarrassed,” I told her as I let her lips go from mine, her eyes a torment, her body warm under me, urgent.
I turned around and covered my eyes from the spotlight to answer them, “No, I think I have this under control. Sorry, I'll start up and get out of the way. She couldn't wait,” I shrugged and pointed to Mina, her face angry and full of desire, the combination looked close enough to embarrassment as she covered herself and shot dagger eyes at me.
“Move along please,” the microphone said, as the rest of the boat laughed.
I moved to the key and prayed it would start.
After a couple gurgles, it did, “Thanks guys!” I yelled at the Coast Guard boat.
They shut the spotlight off and watched, one of the guys shouted, “No, Thank You!”, and the rest laughed.
Mina was red-faced in the moonlight, and didn't come sit with m
e. She sat there with the blanket the rest of the way.
I called Aldo when we docked, and told him to fetch the boat. “The gas tanks are full of something that isn't gas. Find out who was responsible, but don't be obvious about it.” And I told him to do something about the body I had hid. But I didn't tell him about my fears for Tess.
“I know where to hide a body over there,” he answered. He was one man I could trust anyways. But someone was running drugs through my family without my knowledge.
I needed an ally, but I also needed to find out for sure who was behind this betrayal.
I felt I had to do something reckless.
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CHAPTER 7 - MINA
"You can't be serious?" I asked him, as we pulled into the parking lot after the long drive.
"I am," he said as he pulled on his suit that hugged his shoulders and fit him perfectly.
"Marcelo's Club? You can't walk in there and expect to walk out alive."
"It was mine not very long ago. He just ran it. Sort of like you.” A playful smile on his lips, but this was serious. “I doubt he'd kill me in public, and anyways, you should be happy. With me gone, you can go do what you like."
That was true, but still, this was madness.
"You said we were going upstate, to see a friend. This is not upstate and Marcelo is not a friend. He'll destroy you. You’re his only problem, if he kills you, he has no more problems."
"That's not altogether true. The other families wouldn't like that very much. He needs their permission, and they won't give it. Us fighting weakens us both, the better for them."
"But still, you can't be sure he'll be logical about this."
"No," he paused, but it seemed like he didn't care. The fire in his eyes had completely extinguished. He was dull and gray and resigned.
It infuriated me.
"I can't wait around to see if you come back out, if you go, I go the other direction."
He turned to me, and pushed me against the car door, his eyes shining again, with a spark, a fire, "If I come out and you are not here, you'll see how I react. I'll hunt you down, be sure about that, and when I find you, neither of us can be sure what I'll do." I thought he might kiss me or strangle me, and I didn't know if I could fight him off from either. Instead, he withdrew and tightened his tie.
"My threat isn't an idle one. I plan to come back. And I plan to see you here. I'll be disappointed if either doesn't happen."
“Disappointed?” I asked, but he was getting out of the car and walking towards the doors.
I couldn't wait around.
A few moments after he left, I followed.
Clubs can be a small world, I knew the bouncers, sometimes they worked at my club, “Mina, what are you doing here?” One asked me.
“Checking out the competition,” I told him and he let me through.
The club was moderately busy, still not late enough for it to really get going, but enough people at the bar and eating that any violence would have too many witnesses, but still. He could be dragged away to a private room.
My mind raced with the possibilities and dangers.
I took a seat at the bar and watched Nico as he walked up stairs to a table behind a velvet rope, the table reserved for Marcelo.
His back was turned to me, and he sat across from what must have been Marcelo and a few of his men.
He was stupid for going alone and unarmed. What could he possibly hope to accomplish with this?
“You look like you need a drink,” a woman sitting next to me offered. She was an elegant platinum blond with her hair pulled back tightly and thin arched eyebrows, which gave her a sort of predatory look.
“I'm fine, thanks,”
She snapped her fingers and the bartender came over, “A martini for the lady, she's been waiting too long,”
The bartender quickly went off to make the drink and returned to set it in front of me moments later. “Sorry,” he said, and it was clear the apology was for her, not me.
I reached for my purse, but the woman grabbed my hand, “My treat.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled and took a sip. It was icy cold, and strong, but I did feel better as it slipped down my throat.
I turned my eyes up stairs again, and they were still there. Sitting and talking.
Stupid.
“What brings you here?” she asked.
“I run a club across the river, just checking out the competition,” I told her.
“Interested in a VIP room like that upstairs?” She asked, noticing my attention. “Do you know Nico?” she asked casually, but studied my face for an answer.
“He owns the club I run,” I don't know why I was being honest with her. Something about her insistence, the way she asked, the way she commanded, there seemed to be no way to deflect her questions.
“So you are the competition?” She asked and raked her eyes over me, head to foot. “Not bad.”
“Enjoy your drink,” She said as she turned away from me and stood up.
She walked towards the stairs and no one stopped her. She climbed the steps all the way to the velvet rope.
To their table.
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CHAPTER 8 - NICO
Marcelo stood up to greet me with a slick smile and a warm hug, “Cousin, I'm so glad you've come to pay me a visit. I heard about everything and I'm so happy you're back.”
So it was going to be bullshit was it?
When he released me and sat, he spoke again, “You look good, a little thin, but good.”
“You too, I can't say you're thin, but you look, I don't know. Successful.”
“We need to throw you a party. Here, tonight. Why not? A welcome home party.”
“I don't think that's necessary, I have work to do.”
“All work and no play, you know what they say. You should relax and enjoy what you have, like me. Plenty of women around, and anything else you want. Anything.”
“You enjoy what I used to have, you see how that's difficult for me?”
“It was the families' decision. With your father gone and you gone, there was no one else. And the Markovs lapping at our heels, someone had to take it with a firm hand or else it would have been lost.”
“Maybe. Aldo should have been given the opportunity over you, but that's why we have a council right? To make these tough decisions?”
“Aldo was acting erratic. He wasn’t in any condition to take over. And as for the council, they've decided already.”
“Only because I was gone, presumed dead. My being alive changes things doesn't it?”
“It might.”
“It definitely changes things when you run your drugs through what's left of my family. I took my boat out for a ride and found it was missing gas. I believe what's in it belongs to you. But the problem is it was going through my men without my knowledge. That's something the council would not approve of.”
“Maybe your men needed to fend for themselves in your absence.”
“Maybe.”
This wasn't going how I had imagined it. I got the feeling that this was stupid, foolish, reckless. Everything that Mina had said. There was nothing to be accomplished here. His men could take me out, but not in public with a gun.
A knife or something was possible, but I didn't care. I hadn't cared enough to think this through.
The only thing this accomplished was how I could enjoy watching him squirm. I put him in an impossible situation, I threatened him openly, and I wanted to see what he was made of. Whether he had it in him. Whether he could do it and survive.
But I saw he could never do it himself.
And why would he? That's what you have your men for.
Everything I wanted to find out here I knew already, I was just too blinded by anger and stupidity to think it over.
“You have to know I can't take this lying down. I'll take what's rightfully min
e from you one way or the other.”
“I don't think it has to be like that Nico,” he said, but he must have known.
“We could settle this between ourselves, no need to get others involved. Best man wins.”
“I don't think it'll be like that either,” he said and looked away. I knew it. One of his men would do it, outside, in the bathroom, somewhere out of the public. Somewhere Marcelo would have an alibi.
“Then we'll meet again.” I told him and stood up, a knife in the back would be easy now.
I looked out at the floor, and there she was, Mina, sipping a drink and looking at me. Our eyes met for a moment, and her eyes got wide as there was movement to the side of me. One of Marcelo's men, trying the knife maybe. Perhaps push me down the stairs, pretend I slipped, then take me to a private space to finish me off.
I turned to defend myself, I didn't want her to see that. And there she was, the icy citrus smell hit me first, “Jenny?” I asked dumbly.
She was between me and Marcelo and his men. She hugged me, placed a soft kiss on my cheek, and looked at me, “I told you we would meet again.”
I had nothing to say, I stared, not believing she was here. Chills ran up my spine as I remembered her and my time as her prisoner.
“Go now, take my competition with you. We'll meet again soon.”
I walked down the stairs, and grabbed Mina and walked out fast with her.
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CHAPTER 9 - MINA
“I told you to wait for me,” he said with restrained fury. He held me close to him as we got out to the car and he pushed me in.
“And I told you to not be stupid, you could have been killed there.” I answered when he got behind the wheel.
“But I wasn't.”
“But you were an idiot, marching in there all alone. I'll bet you challenged him too didn't you?” I was so angry and frustrated I slapped him.