"Nah, I'm good. I'll make it back after the guests have crossed over."
He didn’t question it, just shrugged and turned away. "Suit yourself."
I was left on my own again. Because I had the time to spare, I walked around a bit but staying around the docks. When I looked out over the water, I could see the lump of land that was Greco's own private world. It didn’t look like much from a distance, but that lump could easily house hundreds of people, maybe around five hundred if they were really getting crowded. I couldn’t comprehend the kind of money a person would have to have to purchase it.
I stopped a distance away from the boats, on a walkway built along the water line, a railing providing security so people wouldn’t fall off unless they jumped over it. I was close enough I could see when guests began to arrive, a few might even get close to me, but I didn’t want to be around the men there. The less they paid attention to me, the better.
Out of seemingly nowhere, I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Greco didn’t want me around his family, not really. The few times he'd had to introduce me had been out of necessity, and even then, it was to the older males of the family, or the women already part of the family business. But I'd been to the wedding, and now he was inviting me to celebrate the conception of his first grandchild. And especially after me asking about a woman with eyes like his, he'd practically warned me off. But then he all but commanded me to attend.
I didn’t understand what was going on. I didn’t like it, either.
I looked around once I heard the cars and chatter from guests and staff, that were to be sent out separately. There would be about as many people as before. I didn’t bother looking at the guest list this time, in a few hours, hopefully, it wouldn’t even be my problem anymore. I waited for the first surge of arrivals to get on the first boats and get on their way before slowly making my way down.
Instead of waiting for all of them to go and following with the rest of Greco's men, I could go with the guests, or the catering staff, to avoid more contact with them. I rubbed at the rough beard on my chin and jaw. I'd have to change my appearance once I left again. Facial hair was a good cover, but I couldn’t use it for a while. I wandered slowly with the group going on the next boat.
A hand patting my shoulder made me stop and turn, and I felt my eyes widen.
She was dressed in the same suit as the rest of the catering staff, white shirt, black slacks and matching vest and shoes. Her hair was tied in a low ponytail, a baseball hat pulled over her head, but when she looked up I had a clear view of her eyes. I glanced around, then grabbed her elbow and pulled her a distance away from everybody else.
"Elda?" She didn’t have any make-up on, and it made quite a difference, but it would be hard to mistake her eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?"
I'd wanted to see her for a while, I'd even dreamed of it when I was asleep and couldn’t stop myself from daydreaming, it took me a moment to grasp she was standing right in front of me, even with my hand still holding her arm. She didn’t move or pull away or offer any kind of refusal that meant I could have mistaken her for someone else.
She opened her mouth, then thought better of it and glanced around. She placed her hand on top of mine, pulling it from her arm and I did so reluctantly, as she sidled her body closer to mine.
"I need to talk to you."
"I'd like that," I said honestly. I'd… missed her. "But why are you here? And why are you dressed like that?"
I knew it was the worst place to stop and have a chat, but I didn’t want to let her go again.
"I will explain that later, maybe. Just not here. I must talk to you. Please, meet me in the bathroom?"
And just like that, before even waiting for me to agree, she turned away and went to the truck that belonged to the catering service. She chatted with someone pulling boxes out of the back and after a short talk, where nods and head shakes were exchanged, she changed course and headed for the closest building. There were offices in there, for what I didn’t particularly care, and bathrooms.
I watched her walk off before shaking myself out of my stupor. I glanced around, doing my best to act casually. No one was really looking at me, but I didn’t move until she was out of sight and after counting to ten. I moved with long, purposeful strides, not fast enough to call attention to myself, but I couldn’t just stroll casually either.
The inside of the building was mostly empty. Since this specific dock was used to access Greco's island, only he and his employees had access to it. Most of them were currently busy, so I was confident I wouldn’t run into anyone. The bathroom was just around a corner. It was the only bathroom, a co-ed one, and I headed right in, closing the door behind me.
Elda stood there, her back to the counter, cap off, waiting for me with her arms folded under her breasts. When she saw me, she moved so she was standing upright, arms dropping to her sides. I stepped slowly closer, enough that if I reached my arms out I could just brush my fingertips on her face, and I stopped there.
Why was she here? I'd felt excited when I saw her, but… it hadn't been that long, but it could not be a coincidence she was here, could it? I didn’t flatter myself thinking she came here for me. It must be whatever she wanted from Greco that she hadn't gotten before.
Technically, I wouldn’t be working for the man after tonight, but I still was. I didn't think I'd do anything to her, though. But that didn’t mean the rest of Greco's men would feel quite as I did.
"You shouldn’t have come back here, Elda."
She smiled. "Why do you say that? Didn’t you miss me?"
I pursed my lips. "I did, actually. But it's dangerous, especially tonight."
Tonight's security wasn’t quite as slack as it was before, not that it had been low quality, to begin with. But Greco was pulling out all the stops, protecting the next generation of his blood. If she went and tried something stupid, she wouldn’t make it out, not alive.
"Don’t worry, Luke," she lost the teasing look. "I didn’t come here for your boss. I came here for you."
… What?
"I have something for you, some information. I want you to listen to me, you don’t have to believe me, but just listen and judge for yourself. I wouldn't come here, risk this, over something trivial."
My expression settled into something grim as I gave a sharp nod. I waited to hear what she had to say.
Chapter 20
Elda
Luke stood right in front of me, and for a second I couldn’t help but be distracted. He was in a suit much like last time, and he looked even better than I remembered. I thought he looked a little paler, and his face slightly pinched in discomfort when he shifted his body.
I wondered if he'd been injured, and felt worried. But he was standing alive and well, and I had come here for a reason.
I took a deep breath and dived into the story.
"So, I've been checking into Greco’s activities for a while."
He frowned, but he must have guessed that before this point. I'd be disappointed if he hadn't. He didn’t speak, just waited for me to continue.
"When I went to the party, that wedding, I wasn’t lying when I said someone there did invite me. I just didn’t bother to look for a formal invitation. But because you were there, and I sort of guessed… what you do, I just left after we had our fun."
"Fun," he muttered. "Is that what you're calling it." But he shook his head before I could reply to that. "When you say, you guessed what I do…"
"I know you're working as a hitman for Greco," I said bluntly and watched as he stiffened. "Well, know is a pretty strong word, but really I was just guessing, though I didn’t think I was wrong. I mean, I am in the same business, after all."
I watched as his body grew rigid, keeping my own relaxed and hoping he wouldn’t pull a weapon on me. I hoped he wouldn’t, because I didn’t have anything on me I could get in my hand before he could jump me. I wasn’t sure he even had anything, but without the heels this time, ou
r size difference was a bit more obvious. I was five ten, and he was around six three, which meant he had about five inches and maybe twenty percent more muscle mass on me. I was confident in my fighting skills, but I'd only been learning for the past four years, and this was a man that had been in the army, which meant we learned different skills, and his would likely be better than mine.
But he didn’t do anything, just stood still. After a bit, his body relaxed, with some effort.
"Go on."
"Okay. So, I left, and I kept tabs on Greco in the time since. I got a message from him through one of my… um, clients. Luke, he wanted me to become his hit woman."
He frowned. "But why? As far as I know, he hasn’t had anyone else in that position since I joined him, and it's been five years."
I shrugged. "The information was passed to me by a contact of mine, one of the guys I use to get jobs because I don’t work for any one person, organization, or group. I didn’t understand why he was reaching out to me because I knew he already had someone—"
"Wait, how did you know that?" he cut me off, frown deepening as he took a step closer.
It took a great deal of will not to move, flinch back from his advance, although it didn’t seem threatening. Still, Luke was an intimidating man, and even though I knew the frown gracing his face wasn’t really aimed at me, my instincts screamed at me to keep distance between us when he wasn’t exactly happy.
"How do you think I know that, Luke," I said, forcing sarcasm in my voice to hide the tremble that wanted to come out instead. "No one has an empire that airtight, especially not a criminal. I know what Greco is, I know he's a big part of the Italian mafia here in the US. With that information, it wasn’t that difficult to find someone that could get me some inside intel. Do you want to ask me for names?" I wouldn’t give it to them if he did.
He was still, but then slowly shook his head. "No. It's not really my business, and I just don’t care. You're right, leaks are inevitable in most ranks. So, this informant of yours got information that had you interested enough to come here and talk to me? What is it?"
I watched him intently, wondering how to word it. I was going to tell him the truth either way, but I wasn’t sure if there was a way I could put it delicately, or if I even should. I didn’t have anything planned because I didn’t know him enough to know what would and would not trigger his anger. But going with the truth was working so far, so I thought it was safe enough to stick to.
"I heard about the General."
His expression went tight. "The General," he repeated.
"Yes, Luke, the General. I have several sources, not all of them from inside Greco's organization. A man known only as the General has been in touch with Greco. And the reason why he is suddenly in the market for a new killer is because he is planning to kill you."
His face bloomed in surprise. "What…"
"One of Greco's men—not any that I've talked to—has been feeding information about you, lying to Greco. Telling him you were betraying him. Not a lot of Greco's employees know this, but there are quite a few that heard the information and kept it to themselves. If you were maybe closer to the rest of them, you might even have found out for yourself, but I do understand why you aren’t."
The need to remain anonymous no matter what, so even when you're caught you can bluff your way out of the situation, even if you were guilty, because as far as anyone cared you weren’t anyone of much significance. I'd understood that when I decided to take on the job.
"Did you get a name?"
I shook my head. "No. Though I'm sure this man betrayed Greco himself, and he was just blaming it on you. It's none of the guys I've talked to, though, I'm sure of that. It's probably someone close to him."
"How could he…"
"When you think about it, it makes sense," I told him, not unkindly. When he narrowed his eyes at me, I held up one hand. "I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I will guess the man is Italian—pretty much everyone in his organization is Italian, except you. It's entirely possible the man is even a friend of the family, Greco wouldn’t listen otherwise, and I'm sure most of his family doesn’t know what you do. And you're Irish, so, of course, he'll believe a close friend of the family over you."
Luke growled. "Son of a bitch." He ran his hand through his hair, so harshly I winced at the pain I imagined he was inflicting on himself. "I suspected something was wrong, but I can't believe he actually..."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because my missions have been going bad lately, a few times I nearly got caught. But when I talked to him about it, he said there was no issue. And for a while, there wasn’t, but then I nearly died."
I frowned, didn’t even bother to hide my displeasure. "So, you are injured."
He winced, hand raising in an abortive move to his stomach before he clenched his fist and forced his arm down.
"It's nothing, practically healed over by now."
I didn’t believe him, but I didn’t argue.
"And this celebration… he told me it was supposed to take place on Saturday, but for some reason, he insisted on everyone being present and even early. I mean, he has a mansion and several buildings on that island, I don’t doubt he can house all these people for the night if it bleeds into tomorrow, but I thought it was odd at the time."
I watched him as he scowled to himself, sorting his thoughts out in his mind. I gave him a moment to get his thoughts in order, but he seemed to only grow more frustrated.
"I'm not sure what or when it will happen, or if you'd even realize. I heard, and I just…. I had to warn you. Don’t ask me why." I warned him when he narrowed his eyes at me and opened his mouth. I held my hand up until he closed his mouth, then sighed and dropped it. I suddenly wished I had my hair down so I could run my fingers through it. "I don’t know why myself. I just… wanted to warn you."
He frowned, and I wanted to shut him down, but he dropped the subject, and he looked like he was thinking deeply about something.
"Is there more you aren’t telling me?"
"You have all the info I got, just the condensed version." There was no reason why I would hold back anything when it involved his life. He could do with the information whatever he wanted. "Look, I can't stick around long, I told that guy I was taking a bathroom break and I was going to drive the truck back."
"You're not staying for the party?"
"No. I only got this far because I was hoping I'd get a chance to talk to you, and now I have." I shrugged, turned around to the mirror as I pulled the hat back on, positioning it just right so most of my face wasn’t in view. "And I seriously advise you don’t go over there, either, Luke. I'm not sure if, or how, he can set you up with all those people around, but just be careful."
There wasn’t anything left to say, but I found myself wanting to stay anyway. I'd missed him, more than I would have thought, and I hadn't realized how much until he was within reach. But I had things to do, and he had a decision to make himself. I walked past him, heading for the door before I could talk myself into staying.
I was leaving him to think about it, but he stopped me, calling my name. I turned around almost instantly, a little too eagerly.
"I need to be able to contact you."
That would be convenient. I narrated my number for him and then left the bathroom, wondering if he would use it.
Chapter 21
Luke
I had been trained to be a ghost.
Somehow, that bastard forgot that.
After all the grueling training I was put through before I made it to the general's unit, what I'd experienced as the proverbial lone wolf, going out on my own with no one to rely on. I'd practically perfected it, which was why I was so good at what I did for him.
Admittedly, I had let my guard down around him, because I didn’t think I needed to keep it up. If it hadn't been for Elda warning me, I might have walked into a trap.
I didn’t go to the party, and I ignored Greco for a while a
fter that. He didn’t have any way of contacting me, usually I established contact or told him how to get in touch with me when he needed to. It changed after every job, because I was a paranoid bastard like that, and I was suddenly so glad.
That wasn't to say that I went underground. Hiding wouldn't accomplish anything, not when it came to Greco and the General if they really were working together. Because if it was true, then my goal was a lot closer than I would have thought. Instead of running away, I was getting what I'd worked toward for the past five years handed to me on a platter.
There was no way to be sure, I couldn’t just go and ask Greco, or any of his men. So, I stayed back and kept an eye out.
In a way, having the General nearby was inconvenient, because he was screwing with my plans. I still had the locations of several of his family members, and with him here, if I took off and did something, I would lose out on him. More than anything, I wanted to take him out. I didn’t know if he personally killed my family, but he was my ultimate target.
I had to be patient, though. I didn’t know if Greco got suspicious after I didn’t show up or what, but he was quiet for a few days. I kept up as much surveillance as I could without tipping anyone off, which was easy since he lived on an island. All I had to do was bribe someone working at the dock to warn me in case he left at night and be there to keep a look out in the day up to early evening.
Almost exactly a week after the party, he finally left his mini fortress.
It was growing late, about time for the shift change at the offices on the dock. I was paying the guy I'd contacted for every night he had kept watch for me, and I was thinking I would have to again, when I noticed people rushing out onto the dock, then a car arrived. I watched from a distance away, waiting. When I was sure Greco was on land, and being led to the car—the only one present—I moved away. I'd borrowed a car from some guy for a lot more than the old heap of junk was worth. But it had what I wanted—the means to get me around—and that was all I cared about. I waited for the car to come out into the light evening traffic and followed at a discreet distance.
Dirty Indiscretions: A Dark Mafia Romance Page 8