“Don.” Elio stood up and immediately reached for his gun on his hip.
Don Mancini went quiet when he looked at me.
Leo didn’t get up, but his eyes narrowed like he wanted to shoot me on the spot.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” Don Mancini looked at Salvatore.
“He said?—”
“I know who stole your guns.” I grabbed a chair from a different table and pulled it up to join the gentlemen. “And I’ll get them back for you. Just need some backup.”
Elio kept his hand on his gun, but when he noticed thatDon Mancini was actually intrigued by my statement, he removed his hand.
Salvatore moved to a chair across the room, got comfortable, and crossed his ankles.
“How do you know about the guns?” Leo immediately sat up, a toothpick hanging in his mouth like they’d just finished lunch.
Don Mancini stared me down like he wanted to know that answer as well.
I didn’t answer the question. “Lombardi’s men took it. The first time, as well as the second time.”
“And how the fuck do you know this?” Leo snapped.
“Because a lot of people still owe me a shit-ton of favors,” I said. “They pretend to be your partners in distribution, but in reality, they intend to absorb your business into their own. Slow and steady, so you don’t suspect them. Their drug empire has weakened because the Skull King has cut off their channels. The Skull King isn’t interested in arms, so your product is the only safe commodity.”
“Unless you stole the guns and now are turning us against our own ally,” Leo said.
I shook my head. “I don’t play games. If I wanted your shit, I would just take it and leave bullets in your brains. Now, come on. Let’s go.”
“We need proof,” Don Mancini said. “We aren’t going to walk up to Lombardi and shoot him in the head without reason.”
“I’ll give you all the goddamn proof you need. Now get off your asses, and let’s go.”
Leo was in the passenger seat next to me, probably instructed to shoot me in the head the second I tipped my hat. We arrived in Port Gela shortly after midnight, where all the shipping berths were lined up along the dock. Customs was fifteen miles north, so they moved the guns a short distance along the sea to wait for the scrutiny to pass and they could get the items into the hands of their customers.
Leo looked at the building. “This is a tuna factory.”
“Did you think Lombardi was going to put it in a warehouse with the wordgunswritten over the top?” I looked across the street and saw the armed men through the large windows, keeping an eye on the perimeter from the windows on the top floor. “Come on.”
“This feels like a setup.”
“Then I’ll fucking do it. I’ll leave the heater on for you so you don’t get cold.” I slammed the door then moved tothe back of the truck, taking one of the sniper rifles before I mounted it on the ground between the cars. I took a knee and lined up the shot.
Leo watched me in the rearview mirror.
I fired one shot and hit the guy in the window before I took out the other guy on the opposite end. The sound of the shattering windows was louder than the silenced gunshots. I tossed the gun back into the truck then grabbed the AK-47 to go with the handgun and the big knife on my hip.
I ran across the street, moving quickly before the guys inside had time to scramble a defense. I ran up to the enormous double doors that connected to the street, grabbed a hand grenade, pulled out the pin with my teeth, and I threw it at the doors. Before it exploded, I shot the large padlock in the center of the handles, destroying it just as the explosion shook the doors and knocked one off the hinge.
The men would rush to the front with all their firepower, so I ran around the side to another entrance. I used my knife to pick the lock then threw the door open before I stepped inside the building, seeing five men rush to where the doors had been blown.
I let the rifle hang over my back by the strap and went to the first guy who moved right past me without noticingme. I grabbed him by the shoulder and stabbed him in the neck at the perfect angle, mercilessly ending his life with a slash of his spinal cord. He dropped to the floor, and I grabbed my pistol and shot the next one in the back of the head.
The others turned around and directed their gunfire at me.
One of them was Carlo, the snitch who had fed me the intel because he owed me a favor.
I angled my gun from him to the next guy and shot him in the head.
