Retaliatory Justice

by Tawa M. Witko

  ~*~

  “What do you think of this one?” Kailee asks Lynelle and me.

  “Oh, that color will be perfect against her skin,” Lynelle agrees placing the sheer blouse against the one I have on.

  “It’s see-through,” I implore.

  “And?” Kailee replies with a smirk.

  Lynelle chuckles lightly and brings out some kind of bra thing. “You wear this under it.”

  “I don’t know. Where exactly would I wear something like this?” I ask. I want to add that I have no intention of paying close to five-hundred dollars for a see-through blouse, but I bite my tongue.

  “Oh stop, there will be all kinds of places once all this nonsense is done,” Kailee says casually as she starts going through a rack of skirts, trying to match it to the blouse.

  I need to hook her and Santiago up. They would have a field day, I think with a smile. I think they would instantly love each other. I’m about to turn to Kailee when out of the corner of my eye I think I see someone familiar. Is that? Just as soon as I see him, he’s gone. Jesus! Stop being so dang paranoid, Dominique!

  “Here, try this on,” Kailee says distracting me.

  “Is everything all right?” Joseph asks, coming up to me immediately.

  “Yeah, I’m just seeing things,” I answer with a sigh.

  Joseph scans the surrounding area. “What do you think you saw?”

  “Marshall,” I whisper.

  Joseph narrows his eyes. “We need to go.”

  Kailee and Lynelle perk up and drop the clothes in their hands. Lynelle wraps her arm around my shoulders and smiles lovingly at me as if nothing is going on.

  “Everyone, be casual but move quickly,” Joseph says softly but with authority.

  There’s no talking, just pleasant smiles to the workers we pass along the way, who obviously are very familiar with Kailee and Lynelle. When we make it to the parking garage, Joseph unlocks the car and starts to usher everyone in when I suddenly remember what Valentino did when he picked me up at the airport yesterday.

  “Wait!” I practically yell. “Hold on a sec.” They all look at me strangely as I get on my knees and take a peek under the car. I gasp and start breathing hard.

  “Dominique, shame on you. You spoiled my fun,” Marshall says with an evil laugh.

  Joseph moves fast, shoving all us girls behind him as he draws his weapon. Marshall simply smiles that messed up smile of is and I know this is going to end badly. He pulls out a gun, but not just any gun, my gun, Betty. This is bad and my only thought at the moment is, ‘where’s Valentino?’

  “Put the gun down, old man,” Marshall laughs.

  “You put your gun down!” Joseph seethes, unmoved by Marshall’s craziness.

  “I always knew you would be an issue, Thompson,” Agent Adams says as he walks up to us casually.

  “How do you know me?”

  He smirks and pulls out two guns. “I want the girl.”

  “You can’t have her.”

  “Give her to me or I will kill your wife and daughter in front of you,” Adams says coolly, pointing one gun at Kailee and one at Lynelle.

  I see Joseph flinch slightly, and as he does, Marshall fires. “We don’t have time for this!”

  Joseph drops to the ground while Lynelle screams, a blood curdling sound that makes my heart ache. She drops down beside him. Adams glances at Marshall and glares at him before reaching over Joseph and yanking my stunned body to him. Marshall points the gun at Kailee, who is frozen in fear. I wrestle loose from Adams and push Marshall causing him to misfire and hit the car instead of Kailee.

  “You bitch!” Marshall growls as he turns and points the gun at me.

  Adams quickly aims his firearm at Marshall’s temple. “We’re taking her with us. If she dies, we both die. But… if she screams, I can justify you killing her,” he informs him, smirking before turning to me. “You won’t scream will you, Dominique?”

  “What about them?” Marshall yells crazily.

  “Leave em, it’s too late, there are people coming.”

  Adams yanks my pendant off and tosses it on Joseph’s bleeding body. “Here, Thompson, now you and Masterson’s old man can have a matching set.”

  Marshall chuckles, as Adams pushes me along. I keep glancing over my shoulder, and as I do, I see that Kailee is now on her knees and is talking on her phone, sobbing uncontrollably, while Lynelle cries inconsolably, trying desperately to stop the bleeding on Joseph’s chest. Marshall shoves me into the backseat of a car and slides in next to me, sticking his gun, or should I say my gun, against my side while Adams gets behind the wheel. We casually drive away as several people run towards the Thompson’s.

  29 Enraged

  Valentino Masterson

  August 5th

  The drab walls of the federal building seem suffocating, especially after the easiness that accompanied us at the Blue Sanctum. My team and I have been in here for nearly three hours running through our theories about Enrico and the other families to the assembled FBI agents in the large conference room. They have been acting as if they’re doing us a favor by gracing us with their presence and have dismissed most of what we’ve said as information they already knew, which I know is a lie. Now they are mumbling to each other and acting like we aren’t even in the room, which pisses me off.

  “If you’re not interested in working with us, that’s fine.” I motion to my team. “Then let us go because we have a case to solve.”

  One of them eyes me while another shifts some papers. “I had heard you were single-minded,” one of the men says to another with some sort of knowing look.

  “By who, Agent Jones?” I ask with a scowl, kind of upset. I hope she wasn’t saying anything about me to them.

  “Agent Jones,” one says with a snort. “I think she grew attached to you all. She lost her focus,” one of the men says dismissively, and now I’m really pissed.

  “What she lost was someone she cared about,” Zach interjects angrily.

  “Something you could have prevented,” Clayton adds, crossing his arms.

  “You guys set her AND Tony up. You didn’t care about either of them. We did, damn it,” Jeff asserts, fuming with anger and, knowing him, he is about to blow a gasket.

  “Where exactly is she?” I ask, sensing that my team, like myself, has had enough of this coy bullshit they are slewing.

  “That’s classified,” he replies, annoyed.

  I push back from my chair and am in front of him within seconds, getting right in his face. There is no denying the anger that is written in every hard line on my face. I hear chairs all around me move and sense that my team has now followed suit and are standing right behind me, prepared to stand up for one of our own.

  “She was a part of MY team and I want to know what you did to her,” I seethe.

  “This meeting is over,” he replies coldly as they all rise to their feet.

  “The hell it is!” I shout.

  “Masterson!” Anderson growls.

  I follow the bureau agents to the door, slamming it behind them as they exit. Turning, I see Anderson scowling with his arms crossed over his chest. He’s angry, but I’m not certain whether it’s with me or them. As I look at the expressions and body language of my team, I know for a fact that they are just as enraged as I am. We spent hours wasting our time in here for them to treat us like crap, and to top it off, I know they did something to Michelle. She was expendable to them.

  “They just wasted three hours of our lives. We,” I wave to my team dramatically, “have people to interview and…”

  “Sit down, Masterson,” Anderson bellows.

  I yank the chair out of the way and plop down angrily. “This is ridiculous, sir. You know they are trying to steal our investigation and they’re probably going to screw everything up. All our hard work will be for naught.”

  “I’m just as upset as you, Masterson.”

  I narrow my eyes, unsure if I believe him or not. “And I k
now, and you know, that they did something to Michelle. I don’t trust them.”

  He sighs and gets a contemplative look on his face. “They threw Michelle in here without consulting me, but ultimately, I liked her and she worked well with your team but we will never know what happened to her. I have tried to find out and have been blocked. That’s the way it works sometimes.” I roll my eyes and I hear grumbling coming from Zach’s direction. Anderson glances that way and then looks back at me. “But damn it, Masterson, we need information that they have, so quit pissing in the water!”

  “So, what are…?” I stop mid-sentence when my phone buzzes. My brows furrow as I answer. “Hello?”

  “They shot him!” Kailee shrieks.

  “What! Who was shot?”

  “DAD!" she screams. “A man shot dad,” she says between sobs, “and they took Dominique.”

  My heart drops into my stomach as I jump up. “What!”

  “They took her, Tino. I’m so sorry,” she cries.

  “Who took Dominique?” I try to say calmly but fail miserably.

  “I don’t know, but Dominique seemed to recognize them,” she continues to cry. “Tino, Dad is bleeding a lot. I think he’s dying. Oh God! I can’t do this,” she sounds like she is getting sick on the other end.

  I feel my eyes sting from my unshed tears. “Kailee, I need you to calm down. Where are you?” She rambles off the address. “I’m on my way. We aren’t far from you.”

  I hang up and my hands immediately go to my knees. This can’t be happening. Not again! My mind immediately flashes to images of Joseph and my dad. I cannot remember a time in my life where he wasn’t around, where he wasn’t offering some caring words of wisdom. I realize I am nearly hyperventilating and take one long breath before standing upright. Clayton is staring at me and I can tell he is worried. I bring my phone out to call an ambulance.

  “My godfather’s been shot and they took Dominique. I’m leaving,” I say, darting out of the room, not waiting for anyone.

  I call in the emergency as an officer down, knowing that that will expedite the ambulance. They always rush for officers. It’s a lie, but not really. Joseph is an ex-policeman, and once a cop, always a cop. I pocket my phone, trying to control my breathing. I need to be calm. I need to control the situation. I need to help my father and I need to find Dominique.

  “No way in hell you are going without us,” I hear Jeff say as he runs up beside me.

  Zach slaps his hand on my shoulder and I notice he has the packet of pictures in his hand. “We need to identify who was there. I know your family will be distraught, but we need to figure out which of these men we’re looking for.”

  I nod and glance to my side and see Clayton on his phone. His brow is furrowed and he is talking intently. I hear him say I love you several times so I know he is on the phone with Kailee. I’m glad she has him. He’s a good man and makes her extremely happy. I couldn’t ask for a better brother-in-law or friend. As the elevator doors close behind us, he hangs up.

  “She said they were shopping, Dominique recognized someone and Joseph made them leave. She said they got to the parking lot and Dominique stopped them from getting in the car and dropped to her knees to look underneath. She didn’t know what she saw but Joseph told them to get out of the car.”

  The door opens and we all rush to our vehicle. My heart is racing. She checked the car because of what I did at the airport. If she hadn’t… I close my eyes for a moment and breathe in deeply. If not I would have lost my family again. I go to the driver’s seat and Zach shakes his head vehemently and gets behind the wheel. Yeah, he’s probably right. I’m not in the right frame of mind to drive. I slip in the backseat as does Clayton, while Jeff hops in the front.

  “Kailee is really shaken up. But she said the men knew Dominique and one seemed to know Joseph. Hurry up, Zach,” Clayton yells.

  Jeff turns around in the seat to face us. “Do we think it’s Adams?”

  I nod. “I would imagine so and possibly Marshall. Kailee said there were two of them. Enrico wouldn’t go anywhere without Gino and possibly Aryana. Besides, Marshall is crazy enough to abduct someone in broad daylight.”

  We pull up to the parking lot in record time and there are already crowds of people hovering around as well as the ambulance. Paramedics are working on Joseph who is bleeding profusely. I can’t look at him. I can’t face what I might see so I turn to Lynelle. She is covered in blood and I panic at first but realize that it is Joseph’s blood not hers. Kailee looks uncharacteristically out of sorts. Her make up is smeared, unable to withstand the onslaught of her tears, and she is shaking as if she is cold. The minute she makes eye contact with Clayton she starts crying again and rushes towards him.

  “It’s okay, Kailee, I’m here,” he coos against her trembling body.

  I kneel next to Lynelle and she leans against me, her face emotionless, I remember that look. It’s the same one I had when my parents died. As I kiss her temple, I feel her body shake in response. She is watching, in shock no doubt, the paramedics load Joseph onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. Standing, I help her up and gingerly walk her to the ambulance so that she can accompany Joseph to the hospital. As the door closes, my hands immediately go to my head.

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “Sir, you can’t do that?” I hear and turn towards the commotion.

  “Screw you,” Jeff replies as he slides part way underneath the car.

  “Sir, do not touch that, we’re waiting for the bomb squad,” the cop states angrily.

  “I am the damn bomb squad,” Jeff yells from under the car.

  “Everyone, please, move back,” the cop directs.

  Jeff scoots out from under the car and digs in his pocket for a little zipped case and seconds later he is back underneath there.

  “I need more light,” he grumbles.

  Zach quickly snatches the flashlight from the officer’s belt. When he starts to say something, I flash my badge at him and he quiets down. I glance at Clayton and he is still consoling Kailee. Damn it, I hate to do it but I need answers. Noticing the envelope that Zach had brought I snatch it from the ground and kneel where Clayton is cradling Kailee.

  “Kailee,” I touch her shoulder. “I know you are upset but I need your help.”

  She wipes her eyes and nods.

  “I’m going to show you some pictures. Tell me if you recognize any of them, all right?”

  Again, she nods. I first show her a picture of Enrico and she shakes her head. Well, I didn’t really think it was him but I had to be sure. Again, she shakes her head when I show her pictures of Aryana and Gino. When I bring out Marshall’s picture she visibly blanches and covers her mouth, nodding.

  “He’s the one that shot Dad.”

  I then bring out a picture of Adams and she nods again.

  “He said he wanted Dominique but Dad wouldn’t let him take her. He pointed a gun at me, mom, and then that guy,” she points to Marshall, “shot him. The other guy grabbed Dominique and they left.”

  “Do you know what kind of car they got into? Do you remember the plate numbers?” I ask desperate.

  She starts crying and shakes her head. “Tino, I’m sorry,” she flings herself at me.

  “It’s not your fault, Kailee,” I hold her closely. “But I have to find her. I can’t…” I stop talking, unable to allow myself to say the words that will break me.

  She shifts away from me and her eyes widen. “You love her, don’t you?”

  I close my eyes and nod slightly. “I need to find her, Kailee. Can you think of anything else?”

  She looks away and closes her eyes. Finally, they shoot open again and she turns to me before glancing around the ground. Finding what she was looking for, she crawls over the short distance and picks something up. She hands me Dominique’s necklace.

  “The one guy who was talking,” she starts.

  “Adams,” Clayton interjects simply.

  “Yes, he threw it at D
ad and said now he and,” she looks at me, “your dad could have matching sets.”

  I close my eyes and run my hands over my head again. That means that Adams knows that my dad had the pendant, and since we have reached the conclusion that he is working for the Sicignano, then they know it as well, but for how long? Is this why my family was murdered in front of me?

  “Boss, I got it,” I hear Jeff say, bringing me out of my thoughts.

  “Kailee, I’m going to have the officer take you to the hospital. Mom needs you and I need to know that both of you are safe.”

  I rise and head over to the officer, dictating to him what I want him to do. At first, he tries to give me a hard time, telling me that it isn’t his ‘job’ but then realizes his mistake very quickly. Once Kailee is off, I huddle with the crew.

  “This is definitely Aryana’s work. I have no doubt! Look right here,” Jeff points to a wire that is twisted in an intricate pattern. “She does this, it’s her signature.”

  “Kailee identified Marshall as the shooter and Adams as the one in charge,” Clayton adds.

  “Adams also tossed this at Joseph,” I hold up Dominique’s pendant. “He said that now he and my dad could have a matching set.”

  “That means Adams, and whoever he is working for, knew your father had the other one,” Zach replies.

  “Back then, my dad was all about Carmine. He said that even though he was in New York he had his hands in everything here as well.”

  “We’ve already established that Enrico wants to be in charge. He’s tired of playing second fiddle to Carmine, he wants to have all the glory,” Zach states.

  “That’s true, but I don’t know. I think my dad connected something, something related to this,” I look at the pendant and shake my head. “Something that got him killed.”

  There is silence for a long time. The thing is, we went through everything. If my dad found a connection, he didn’t indicate it anywhere in his notes and he would have. He was always meticulous. He told me many times that was the only way to be a good detective. Perhaps he found something and hadn’t linked it yet but Carmine wasn’t taking any chances. He knew my father would never let up until he figured it out.