“Thank you for coming, Don Russo.”
The lackey turned the bag over and dumped a pile of hands, arms, and legs on the ground like Christmas presents from Santa’s pack.
“These gifts are for you.” Icarus stepped forward and put his foot on a leg. He changed its position with his boot before he kicked it like a soccer ball. It landed about ten feet from the car.
I got a closer look at it, studied the hair on the tanned skin, and knew it belonged to one of the men.
“I’m glad we’ve finally found the time to get together.” He raised his hand and beckoned us forward with his fingers. “Come on, don’t be shy. It’s time we sit down like men and have a nice conversation.”
His cronies grabbed a couple cheap lawn chairs and placed them in front of the pile of body parts.
Icarus leaned his gun against the chair then took a seat. “I apologize, but I’m all out of tea.” He raised his hands in the form of a playful shrug, smiled widely to show all his teeth, and then got comfortable in the chair. Then he clicked his tongue and pushed the other chair with his foot. “Come on. If I wanted you dead, you’d already be dead.” He clicked his tongue again.
I’d dealt with some psychopaths, but this man was a cut above all the rest.
I looked at Don Russo and silently asked what we should do.
Don Russo stared for a while before he met my look. Then he shook his head slightly.
That meant we needed to get the hell out of here.
I motioned to Santino behind me, and we spread the message, knowing we all had to jump into the car and take off in the next few seconds.
“Wow, didn’t think Cosa Nostra was the type to run from a fight,” Icarus said. “What a disappointment.” He snapped his fingers, treating his own men like dogs.
They all moved forward and aimed their guns at us. Like soldiers marching into battle, they kept their rows intact and even marched in sync as if they’d trained for this.
Then he snapped his fingers again.
They came to a stop.
When Icarus spoke again, he was no longer calm. He shouted with the force of a hurricane that could fell trees with itsstrength. He rose to his feet at the same time. “Sit with me—or you all die.”
Santino leaned the back of his head against the car. “We’re fucking dead.”
As if Icarus somehow heard that, he said, “If I wanted you dead, you’d all already be gone. Sit with me like a man, and let us negotiate.”
Don Russo took in a slow breath before he started to rise.
I had a lot of belief in my mentor. I’d watched him pull off moves across the board that no one saw coming. Saw him break skulls and rip a human body into pieces with his bare hands. But he wasn’t that young leader I remembered anymore—and I knew he was outmatched.
So, without thinking it through, I rose from the tire and stepped out into the open.
“Wolfe,” Don Russo hissed as he watched me walk off.
I continued forward, eyes locked on Icarus, and I pulled the strap of my automatic off my shoulder, tossing the gun into the dirt because it was useless to me now.
Icarus’s eyes lit up with uncontained mirth. A boyish smile even moved across his masculine face as I approached. “Ah, I’ve heard about you. Nothing but good things, of course.” He gestured to the seat across from him before he sat down again.
I lowered myself into the chair, our knees just two feet from each other. I sat back in a relaxed position, arms on the plastic armrests, with his line of men standing on guard behind him. I could see Ciro and his family continue to writhe in the dirt. Hisdaughter didn’t move at all, so I was pretty sure she’d already bled out and died.
There was nothing I could do for them.
Icarus continued to study me like I was either a work of art or a puzzle. His arms rested on his knees, and he stared at me without needing to blink once. He cocked his head in one direction and then the other.
This level of adrenaline would have been a gold mine for me before, but those days were over. I couldn’t think about Francesca at that moment because all my energy and focus were committed to getting out of this alive. “And I’ve heard about you—nothing but shitty things.”
He smiled.
