Falling for an Italian Mobster

Ch 2: Pt 2 - Red Wine & Kills Shots

True to his word, Emeril was knocking on my door three minutes later. I'd pulled on some black pants and a black t-shirt in the time it took him to get here.

"Hey, kiddo." He announced when I opened the door and let him inside. He'd been on Uncle Gonzalo's payroll since I was in high school, at the very least. I just hadn't known what his role was until now. "Gonzalo said you were still a little drunk. It'll take us about two hours to get there, so we can swing by and get you something greasy to sober up on the way." I grabbed my purse, careful to leave my cellphone here, and locked up before following him down to the parking garage.

His windows were tinted all around on the sedan so when we pulled out of the parking garage, even if Sal or Hector had someone watching, they'd never see me.

We hit the highway after stopping off at the nearest open fast-food place to get some food to go – McDonald's it was. While Emeril drove, I ate and listened to him tell me about the target.

"Gonzalo has been cleaning up shop here, eliminating every player in the sex-trafficking ring that comes from Mexico to hide, while Andres takes care of the ones in Mexico and moving into Central America." He glanced at me before focusing on the road again. "The next name on the list is Ulises Ramirez. He's been hopping back and forth between here and California. Lucky for us, he just arrived at his safe house last week. Right now, he's setting up one last auction before he gets out of the game. Word on the street is this auction is something the big players don't want to miss because Ramirez wants to go out with a bang."

"If we take him out now, how will we get information or any of his contacts?"

"The auction is already set up as per the suppliers – he's just the middleman who hosts the auction and collects the money. We take him out, get whatever information we can find, and pass everything off to Gonzalo to figure out." I nodded, tucking my trash back into the bag and taking a few sips of my Coke.

"So, when we take out the target, that's it?"

"Gonzalo doesn't want you to have to pick through the information because even though he's putting a gun in your hand, he doesn't want you exposed to the grime. You can put the gun down, but you can't erase the data seared into your brain."

For the last hour of the ride, Emeril had me reacquaint myself with a gun. I field stripped it numerous times before he agreed I was efficient. Growing up, I'd been shown the way around a gun before I'd gotten my first period in middle school. I just hadn't picked a gun up since moving out on my own, five years ago.

We pulled onto a long, private driveway that veered off into thick woods around one forty-five. Emeril assured me he'd had a fake plumber come out to get the layout of the house and assess any threats we'd have. He pulled off the main drive into the woods and made sure the car was hidden before we walked on foot up the driveway to the house. I carried the backpack, gun in hand so Emeril could have both arms free just in case. He had a gun in one hand, and the other he left free so he could check his watch every so often.

When we finally made it to the house, we paused outside long enough to pull gloves on before we slid into the open basement window the fake plumber had left unlocked for us. It was nearly two, and I could feel Emeril getting antsy. He pulled out a map, checked it, then tucked it away and led the way upstairs to the first floor. I waited on the first floor while he cleared the rest of the house to make sure we didn't have any surprise visitors. Other than a cute little puppy that was locked in a crate, we were alone.

When we got to the bedroom upstairs, he offered me a silencer. I smiled, took it and screwed it on while he picked the lock.

A man was sleeping in the bed, his snores most likely due to the bottle of pills sitting on his nightstand. Guess selling people made it hard to sleep at night. My first bullet went into his right knee, just because I'd had a shitty day. Emeril chuckled behind me, but I didn't take my eyes off the now awake and screaming man, moving to grab his gun from the nightstand before he could. I emptied the bullets onto the floor before tossing the gun aside, smiling as they pinged around.