Travis: To accompany the Fallen Angel Series - A Mafia Romance

by Tracie Podger

  “Okay?” Robert said.

  “Yeah, shame the fat fucker was so drunk. I think he recognised me, I hope so anyway,” I replied.

  “Let’s go see what he has in his apartment,” Robert said. He read an address from a text he had received from Mack.

  As we pulled into the alley that ran down the side of a run-down block, I reached under my seat. I pulled out a small revolver; one that had a silencer fitted to it. As we exited the car, I fired at the one streetlight, plunging us and the car into darkness.

  “You could have just thrown a fucking stone,” Robert said.

  “Not as much fun, bro, and I doubt you would have gotten that high,” I replied with a chuckle.

  With a shake of his head we made our way into the apartment’s front entrance and up two flights of piss-soaked stairs. The stench was overwhelming and I pulled my hoodie up to cover my mouth and nose. I picked the lock of the apartment door and quietly pushed it open. Although Tony had found Padriac’s address, we had no idea if he was living there alone. Knowing Tony, if he’d had a little more time, we would have received a twenty page report with every detail.

  Silently we walked through the rooms. The kitchen sink was full to the brim with dirty dishes and takeout containers. Something certainly shared the apartment with Padriac, I heard the scuttle of rodents running across the kitchen counter. As I pushed through a door I saw a mattress on the floor and a towel nailed to the window to block out the light from now ‘broken’ streetlight. I rummaged through a pile of clothes on the floor while Robert opened the drawers of the one cabinet. Finding nothing, we moved back into the living room. On a small table we found a pad, the jagged edge showing where a page had been torn out.

  “Sure knows how to live, doesn’t he?” Robert whispered.

  I chuckled. “Reminds me of my childhood home, although at least my mom kept it clean.”

  After adding the pad to the zip-lock bag we left, there was nothing else of use in that disgusting apartment.

  ****

  Arriving back, I changed the plate back to the correct one and followed Robert into the house. I emptied the bag onto the breakfast bar. There was just over a couple of bucks in coins, a few receipts from a liquor store and a piece of folded paper. That piece of paper contained the address for Vassago. Robert flipped through the notepad. He showed me page after page of scrawl. Padriac had made a list; he documented the office address, our home address and even the details of the cars we owned. Underlined were two words, Guiseppi Morietti. He had made the connection between me and Joe. It wasn’t a secret that we had known Joe; many of the locals still remembered us as kids and would stop and chat for a minute or two. But they were older people, not someone from New York.

  “So he knew something,” I said.

  “Seems that way,” Robert replied.

  “Fucking shame we didn’t sober him up.”

  “Not worth it, bro. He’s out of the way now, that’s all that matters.”

  In one way I was glad, a sober Padriac had a vile mouth. Did I really want to hear what he had to say. More important, would I want Robert to hear what he had to say? No. We took all the papers and the notebook and set them on fire in the hearth, watching until they were nothing more than a pile of ash.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, bright and early,” I said, as I made my way out.

  Robert nodded and locked the front door behind me. I made my way straight to the fridge for a beer. I sat for a while, just thinking. I felt no remorse for what I had done. That brutal man had hurt my mom, my sister and me for many years. I raised my bottle of beer and smiled, making a toast. Revenge, dear brother, revenge.

  I pulled the piece of paper from my pocket and stared at the two cell numbers. Should I tell Carrig? I sent a text.

  ‘You can stop your searching for Padriac. Travis’

  An hour later I received a reply. I had showered and was about to climb into bed.

  ‘We should meet, compare notes. C.’

  ‘One day.’

  ****

  The following morning we were back to business as usual. I had the car ready, and as Robert walked across the drive I greeted him with a smile.

  “Morning, bro,” I said.

  “You sleep okay?” he asked.

  “Best night’s sleep I’ve had in ages,” I chuckled.

  We stood and looked at one another for just a moment, and gave each other a nod. No words were necessary. We had done what we had to do; another threat had been eliminated. Maybe I would call Aileen and tell her Padriac was not around anymore, maybe not.

  I knew Robert had a stressful day ahead, a board meeting scheduled to last most of the day to finalise what had turned out to be a hostile takeover by Vassago. It hadn’t started that way, they never did. This particular company had borrowed money from Vassago. It couldn’t afford to pay back that loan so Robert had decided the company had to convert its debt into shares that Vassago would own. The CEO of the company disagreed. They had been locking heads for months, and Robert was at the end of his tether. It was make or break day. The CEO complied, or the company would be forced to close, its assets sold to pay back its debt.

  Robert had explained the process to me many times and I got it, but there was no way I could do what he did. I couldn’t sit in that boardroom day after day and listen to the abuse the CEO threw at him without rising and punching the prick square in the face. Mack and I watched some of the proceedings with a smirk on our faces. Robert had a wonderful knack of making people feel uncomfortable, of having them baying for his blood to start with, then subduing them enough for him to go in for the kill.

  “How does he do it?” Mack asked as we watched a little in awe.

  “He has no emotion, Mack. They can’t rile or intimidate him, and the cooler he is, the more panicked they are,” I replied.

  “Makes him a very dangerous man.”

  “That it does,” I replied.

  We watched a little longer before boredom took over. I had no idea what the fuck they were talking about, shares, figures, assets, stock values - it meant nothing to me, and I was quite happy with that. Mack needed to run an errand and I was left with Mark. There was something about Mark that was beginning to niggle at me, he was a little too shifty for my liking. He rarely spoke to anyone, just sat and played with the CCTV or drove one of the guys around occasionally. I wondered if we should have had a camera installed in the command centre and made a mental note to talk to Robert when things settled down again.

  I needed a coffee, and entering the kitchen, I saw Gina waiting for the machine to filter. We had an uneasy relationship, we just never clicked. I imagine it hadn’t helped as she overheard me constantly running down her friend, Miranda. Gina never mentioned her private life, but of course I knew most of it. She lived alone in one of the apartments Vassago owned Robert liked the staff to rent his apartments, he felt it kept them tied to the business in exchange for a discounted rental.

  “Can I pour you a coffee?” she asked. If nothing, she was always polite.

  “Thanks, Gina, that would be great,” I replied.

  We stood in an awkward silence until the coffee was ready; she poured me a cup, added milk and handed it to me with a tight smile. I gave her a broad smile back as she left the room.

  I pulled my mobile from my pocket briefly wondering if I should call Aileen I scrolled through my contacts until I found her number, then paused my finger over her name.

  What good what it do now? I thought. It seemed we had both chosen a life of crime; in theory, we had something in common. But then I realised that too much time had passed, with too much pain. Did I want to be involved in the life she had chosen any more than she would want to be in mine? With a heavy heart, I deleted Aileen from my phone and walked back to my office. I had her address, I would send a card sometime, but right then, at that point in my life I didn’t think I had anything to say to her.

  We had some new staff members join Vassago over the past few mo
nths; the company was expanding at a rate I couldn’t keep up with. I set about to catch up on my background checks and create their security files. We asked for consent from each person for most of the checks; but not for all. Everyone had a skeleton or two in their closet and I liked to dig away until I found them. I could only hope no one had slipped through the net.

  ****

  It was late in the day, long after most people had left for the night that Robert and I headed for home. We were about to walk through the parking lot door when I noticed Robert immediately stiffen and turn his head slightly to one side. I followed his gaze.

  Striding across the foyer was a woman. She faltered slightly, looking around her before smiling and heading towards Stan. She was beautiful in an unusual way; it was very hard to describe her. It was the contrast of her fair skin, and the deep blue of her eyes against her raven-coloured hair that gave her an unusual, exotic look. Her hair was so black it was almost blue. I was about to button up my jacket and ask the young lady if she needed any help when I saw the look on Robert’s face. He didn’t blink, he focused totally on her, even staring at the elevator long after the doors had closed. His stare was more intense than I had ever seen, his features were rigid and his nose slightly flared as if he was inhaling her - like a lion having just focused on its prey.

  “Bro?” I asked, trying to revive him from his obvious trance.

  He shook his head slightly; he had a strange look on his face. His brow was furrowed as if in deep concentration.

  “Sorry. Do me a favour, wait for me in the car,” he said.

  I watched as he strode over to Stan and asked who the woman was. I laughed as the elevator door closed behind him.

  “Mr. Stone likes that one, I think,” Stan called across the foyer.

  Stan was the only person, other than the guys, that could joke with Robert. It was because Robert had a fondness for the old man; he was a trusted member of the staff that had been around since we opened the building.

  “Seems that way, Stan. A dollar she tells him to get lost? She looks a little too refined, that one,” I said.

  “No, Travis, I saw the way he looked at her, she’ll be on his arm in no time,” Stan replied.

  What Robert wanted he usually got, but I wondered. Maybe I was being a little snarky because I had quite liked the look of her myself. I chuckled. I couldn’t recall a time both Robert and I had ever liked the same woman, but there was something compelling about her that had captivated him, and it went beyond her looks. Even I’d felt a pang of want when I saw her.

  I sat in the car, the radio was blasting with a song by Evanescence Bring Me To Life. I was so into the song that I didn’t hear the car door open; I was alerted to it by the blast of cold air. I turned down the song.

  “Well?” I said, after a moment of silence.

  “Well, what?” he replied.

  “Who was she, and did you get her number?”

  He didn’t answer immediately, but kept his face towards the window as I drove home.

  “She’s someone I feel like I know,” he said quietly.

  “Huh?”

  “I can’t explain it right now, Trav. Let’s just get home, shall we?”

  We drove the rest of the way in silence. Occasionally I glanced in the rear view mirror; Robert was still staring out the side window. I recalled the woman’s face. She didn’t stir any memories for me, and I think I would have remembered that one. I was sure I’d never met her before.

  We pulled into the drive and I killed the engine. “Rob, you sure you’re okay? You seem quiet,” I said.

  “Sure, Trav. Sorry, I’ve just got something on my mind, that’s all. I’ll see you in the morning,” he replied.

  I knew exactly what was on his mind. Why he felt he couldn’t talk wasn’t necessarily unusual. Robert was a man who kept his thoughts to himself until he was sure about them, but I began to wonder what had happened when he caught up with her.

  Shortly after we had arrived home, Evelyn came through the apartment door; she had plated a meal for me.

  “Evening, Trav,” she said.

  “Did you see Robert?” I asked.

  “I did, what happened today? He’s in a very strange mood.”

  “I’m not entirely sure. We were about to leave when a woman came into the foyer and that was it. He saw her, followed her to wherever she was going, and wasn’t the same after.”

  “And he never said who this woman was?”

  “No, but, hold on…,” I picked up my phone and called the office. The night security guard took my call and I asked to be put through to Stan.

  “Stan, sorry to bother you. That woman, the black-haired one? Can you tell me who she was visiting?” I said.

  “You’re not bothering me, Travis. She was a friend of Sam Crawley, he had called down earlier to say she would visit. Let me just check my log…”

  I heard a rustle of paper before he was back on the line. “Her name is Brooke Stiles.”

  “Okay, thanks. You have a good night,” I replied.

  I grabbed my laptop and fired it up. Evelyn sat beside me at the kitchen table.

  “Her name is Brooke Stiles and she’s a friend of Sam Crawley. I think he works in marketing.”

  I brought up the employee records. I read aloud what I’d found. Sam Crawley had been employed for about three years and was recruited from the UK.

  “Is she British then?” Evelyn asked. “It’s just Rob said something very strange. He said, ‘he’d found her’. I have no idea what he meant but he had a broad smile when he said that,” Evelyn said.

  “He’s found her? Do you think he knew her before he came to the US?”

  “I don’t know. He added that he had no idea what that meant himself, though. If it was someone he’d known, wouldn’t he have recognised her? He was so young when he left the UK, though.”

  I did a general search using the name Brooke Stiles. Nothing in particular came up; no social media accounts, just a vague reference to a woman of the same name involved in marketing with a motorbike manufacturer.

  “I’ll do a little digging in the morning,” I said.

  There was a computer in my office specifically set up so it couldn’t be traced back to Vassago. It was the computer I used if I needed to delve a little deeper into someone’s background or access government departments I had no clearance for. I wrote the information I needed down on a pad. I took note of Sam’s previous address, it would give me a location to start with. If she was a friend she possibly had lived near him.

  Brooke Stiles stayed on my mind most of the night, even in my dream. I saw her face when I closed my eyes and I woke anxious and frustrated. What was it that had compelled Robert to follow her? What was it that had her image seared into my brain? Did I have feelings for someone I saw for less than a minute? My only thought, as I climbed into the car the following morning to travel to work, was that it was going to get awkward.

  ****

  Robert was stressed; he had been working much too hard over the past couple of months so when he called through to me at lunchtime asking if I fancied a match, I agreed. We made our way down to the gym; there had been no mention of the previous evening, but he was still quiet and pensive. The only chat between us had been work-related. I decided to give Robert another day before I pushed him about what was wrong. I was concerned.

  As we made our way into the gym I noticed her. Brooke Stiles was running on a treadmill, the one in the furthest corner. I couldn’t fail to notice her pert ass wrapped in Lycra. She obviously kept herself fit; although not muscular, her shoulders were well-defined. She wore a cropped top that showed flawless skin, her long hair was tied up, although tendrils had escaped and were stuck to the side of her neck, a neck that glistened with perspiration. She stood out amongst the other women ‘exercising’; she really was having a work-out. She ran at a pace I didn’t think I’d match. Yet again Robert stilled as he noticed her.

  “Ready to have your ass kicked?”
I said, giving him a nudge with my shoulder.

  “Whatever you say, bro,” he replied, his attention finally drawn from her.

  “Afraid I’m going to hurt you?” I said, chuckling.

  “No, just worried about marking your pretty face,” he replied.

  We climbed under the ropes and, as usual, the fully made up, not a bead of sweat women changed the machines they were on to ones closer to the ring. The one thing with Robert was that he could switch his focus and attention in a millisecond. His eyes bored into me and a slow, wicked smile formed on his lips. I raised my eyebrows as a challenge and we boxed. I managed to get a few good hits in; nothing that would serious hurt but might leave a bruise or two. We were always careful around the head. Years ago Ted would force us to wear head guards when we trained, but we had dropped that a long time ago. We boxed for fun and fitness, nothing more.

  I held my arms up as a sign of needing a time out, and pulling out my gum shield I rested my hands on my knees to relieve the stitch in my side.

  “Worn you out, have I?” Robert said. I could only nod my head.

  We laughed as we climbed back under the ropes. Instead of making our way to the gym door, Robert diverted to the treadmill Brooke was still running on. She must have been running for an hour. I stood and watched as he approached her and although she was facing the mirror she startled when he spoke. They had a brief conversation before a funny thing happened. She walked away from him. He smiled and shook his head; that was a first for him. Most women fell at his feet and he was the one to walk away, leaving them panting for more.

  “Crash and burn, my friend,” I said as he joined me.

  “Not yet,” he replied. He had a smile on his face, one that stayed put the entire time we showered and changed back into our work clothes.

  ****

  Later that day we were in the car, heading out to a lunch appointment. Robert was in the back going over some paperwork when something caught his eye.

  “Pull over, quick,” he said.

  “Huh?”

  “Pull over, now.”

  “Okay, calm down,” I said as I pulled straight across the lane cutting off the car on my inside.