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I could ring her and ask but my cellphone’s off. I need to make sure it’s not traced. I left it back at the club. We all did. No chance of the noise of someone calling giving us away.
I’ll deal with her after this, find out the truth about what’s happened. She’s playing a dangerous game if she thinks she’ll get away with it. No one has ever stolen from me and lived to tell the tale.
Have I fallen for a thief? Is that possible? Surely, I would have noticed the signs. Why get pregnant with me if she’s going to do that? Why agree to keep the child? To marry me? None of it makes sense.
I need to concentrate on this, not on her. Deal with the present. Focus. There’s something else though. Something I’ve not thought about for a while. What is it?
That’s been the problem ever since I met her. Losing focus. I’ve thought about her too much. Not anymore. I’ll focus on work. Get this done. Get back on track.
I pull up at the edge of the docks, as close to Don Colombo’s warehouse as I dare get. I’m moving in fast, going to make it look like a business meeting. I’ve got Albert to bring along a suitcase. That way if they see us on camera, they’ll think I’m doing a deal of some kind. By the time they see the truth, it’ll be too late.
I get out of my car, closing the door quietly. The others are doing the same, gathering around me. We move out fast. The Colombo warehouse is the third one from the end. The lights are on in there but the doors are shut. Diego moves close enough to whisper to me. “Back entrance. Fire escape. They keep it open so they can smoke away from the merchandise.”
I nod back at him. He leads the way around the side of the warehouse to the back door, open just like he said. “Good work,” I say in a low voice, making hand signals to the others.
“I’ll go in first,” Diego says, slipping through the door. “Check it’s clear.”
No one here. The place seems quiet. Too quiet in fact. I saw Colombo cars in the lot outside. They’re in here somewhere. Are they expecting us?
We get close to the entrance. I move, carrying the suitcase and walking in, looking around me to see what I can spot.
We fan out near the entrance, everyone waiting for my lead. I take out my gun, listening hard. I can hear talking somewhere ahead and to the left. I move down a long stack of wooden cases, straw sticking out from the lids. The concrete floor masks the sound of my feet as I ease myself around a corner, looking closer for the source of the noise.
Through a frosted window at the top of a flight of steel stairs, I spot them. Figures inside, moving around. I can’t tell how many but around half a dozen. I’ve brought twenty people. This should be a walk in the park.
I turn around and I’m about to give the sign to go when Albert yells, “Look out!”
I duck as a flash goes off too near my head for comfort. The noise is so loud, my ears are ringing and it takes me a second to work out what happened.
In that time all hell breaks loose.
I figure it out as I dive to the right, seeing the look on Diego’s face a couple of yards in front of me. He was trying to shoot me in the stomach or maybe the kneecap. The bullet has whipped past me as I moved. I’m only alive because Albert warned me.
Diego is pulling his trigger again as he runs at me with a roar. I sweep his legs out from under him, sending him landing hard on his back. His gun falls from his hand, spinning out of reach. He goes to pounce on me but he’s winded. I pull out my own gun as he stretches out to get hold of his own. He turns and lifts his as I aim at him. His jams. “Why?” I ask, kneeling on his chest, the barrel of my gun to his forehead.
“I lost three brothers because of you,” he replies. “Colombo lost a son. I get his empire if I bring him you still alive.”
“Didn’t I treat you like a son?”
“You taught me that you don’t give a shit about anyone. Didn’t shed one tear when they died. My family, Ricardo. You let them die.”
“They signed up same as you.”
“Fuck you.” He grins at me. “I know something you don’t know.”
Bullets are still flying around us. I press my knee harder into his chest. “Tell me.”
“Kelly thinks you dumped her. I called her from your phone.”
He lunges up, going for my gun.
I pull the trigger.
The bullet flies through his face. Twenty years of working together. Five years as my enforcer. Over in the blink of an eye. I found the other mole at last. That’s what was niggling at me.
His corpse falls back but I can’t rest. The battle is only just beginning.
My crew are on their knees, firing. Up in the office the windows are smashed, more men shooting back at us.
