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Our hostage pulled gently at his chains as he replied, “Because I have absolutely no idea what’s going on here. I’m guessing that those vigilantes must have been upset about something a member of your club did. All I know is I got caught between two groups of people intent on killing each other. Anything I say could be the wrong thing, the thing that gets me killed.”
Storm glanced at me. “What do you think? Is he telling the truth?”
“Yeah, I think he is. I remember wondering why there was a kid at a shootout. He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen, but now I’m thinking he might have been younger. It could be that his people were trying to leave him behind, but he wasn’t having it. If he’s not old enough to drive, that could explain why he kept the driver.”
“Lots of people in LA don’t drive even if they are old enough because LA has good public transport and shitty parking in the city,” our hostage chimed in helpfully.
Storm and I both just stared at our hostage. He wasn’t wrong, though. Finally, Storm grumbled, “This is starting to look like the mother of all fuckups. I’m inclined to believe him because he thought the mobsters were vigilantes. That’s the kind of mistake someone unfamiliar with the criminal underworld would make.”
“Does that mean you’re letting me go?” The man asked hopefully.
“Yeah, we’re not in the habit of harassing innocent people. But there are some things you need to understand before you leave. First is that those men shooting at us were members of the mafia. They’ve been trying to make a push into our hometown for over a year now. And what you saw was us defending ourselves. The police are already involved, and we’ve given statements.”
The more Storm spoke, the more relieved the man looked. I began removing the chains as Storm continued talking to him.
“We’re sorry you got caught up in this situation that didn’t concern you. We mistook you as one of them for obvious reasons and are willing to go the extra mile to make that right again. If you want to come with me to my office, we can talk about restitution.”
The man looked from one of us to the other. “Are you being serious right now?”
Storm handed him his wallet and gestured toward the door. “We’re never anything other than serious around this place.”
As they walked out, I could hear our club president asking if he was hungry or if he wanted a cold beer and offering to get the club medic to take a look at him. I wasn’t too sure that even a smooth talker like Storm would be able to make this situation right.
As I rolled the situation around my mind, it made sense that this guy was the least injured since he was trying to escape rather than engage in the conflict. It’s a real shame the kid went after Corey the way he did. He was way too young to have died.
I cleaned up the room and wiped down the chair, intent on pulling out our next hostage. But Grit beat me to it, walking through the door with Vincent Lorelli. As we took turns talking to this one, it became clear that he wasn’t an innocent bystander.
Grit was good at getting people to talk, so when the hostage gave up the intel, I started texting Storm the information in real time. We learned they were Don Diavonte’s men and were headed to Griffinsford when one of their crew got tipped off that a half dozen of us were on our way to Mammoth Rock. Setting up the roadblock on an isolated part of the highway had been a spur of the moment decision, one they lived to regret.
It was pretty clear that letting them go was just asking for trouble. However, it occurred to me that they might end up being useful in the near future, maybe for extracting more specific information or even for a hostage trade in the upcoming turf war.
Rob stuck his head in the door just as Grit had unchained the second guest in our chair today.
“Storm told me to tell you two that he’s finished with the consultant you guys nabbed by mistake. He wants to talk to Mason.”
Grit jerked his chin toward the door. “You had best go see what Storm wants. Rob and I can handle it here.”
I headed upstairs and went straight to Storm’s office. He was sitting back in his office chair with his boots on his desk, scrolling through his phone. He looked up when I stepped into the room and gestured for me to sit down.
“What’s up, boss?”
Storm held up his cell phone. “Thanks for the intel from Lorelli. I hope getting him to talk didn’t turn out to be too bloody.”
“Nah. Grit’s like a gator with a grudge when he wants to be. Lorelli took very little in the way of physical persuasion. Of course, we’ve got two more to go, so maybe we’ll be able to drill down on more details.”
Storm nodded. “It all depends on how well placed they are in Don Diavonte’s organization. If they’re low-level henchmen, they likely won’t have meaningful intel to share.” He put his phone down on the desk and he folded his hands in his lap. “However it all shakes out, that wasn’t what I called you in to my office to talk about.”
“Well, I’m all ears, boss.”
“Yesterday, when you were at the hospital with Javelin and Corey, I met on neutral ground with Sophia’s brothers. In case you haven’t heard, the Russo brothers are up and coming young mobsters with ambition and balls of solid brass. They’ve been plotting and planning over the last year to get rid of their don and take his place at the top.”
“It’s nice to have ambition and balls. The question is do they have the guns, connections, and manpower to pull off something like that.”
Storm’s expression turned calculating. “If I had to bet on one side or the other, I’d put my money on the Russo brothers because they always seem to land on their feet. It’s the reason I decided to broach the subject of an alliance with them. Truth be told, they were agreeable and traded Sophia to us in order to cement that alliance.”
“Since our club doesn’t buy, sell, or trade women, I’m going to assume there was more to it than that.”
Storm picked up a sheet of paper off his desk and handed it to me. It was a handwritten letter from Sophia asking Storm to accept her as in-kind payment for cementing the alliance with her brothers. She went on to state that she was of sound mind and wanted to officially break with her family and marry Blade.
