Red Handed by Jessa Wilder
“What the hell, man?” I threw on a shirt and followed Nico as he stomped to the elevator. “Listen, I know you have your own hang-ups about her, but she’s fucking good people so back off.”
Nico was silent the short ride down, not saying a word until we got into the privacy of his room. Then he spun on me, eyebrows pulled up. “Hang ups? They killed my fucking brother.”
“Your brother shouldn’t have been out that night.”
Nico got in my face, grabbing my collar, and pushed me into the wall. “Are you saying it’s his fault he died?”
“Of course not, man. I’m saying the whole thing was fucked up, and it took two sons dying for anyone to recognize it. How many people died when your dad ran shit? No one cared. Nothing changed until it got personal to the men running the gangs. I’m mad as fucking hell that Dante died, but the war should've stopped long before that happened. The men in charge were responsible, not Rae. She’s paid the same price for their selfishness as you did.”
Nico backed off and looked toward the window, his jaw still tight. “What do you think is happening here? You’re going to ride off into the sunset with your new girlfriend like some gangland Romeo and fucking Juliet?”
My mouth became a thin line. “No, but you don’t have a single fucking leg to stand on, so I wouldn’t go there.”
He pressed both hands on the kitchen counter and tilted his head up to the ceiling. “Fine. Fuck it. Forget about her.”
My jaw clenched. There was no forgetting about her, and he’d have to get used to it.
Nico’s gaze dropped to mine. “We have bigger problems. Tommy sent photos. All the guys that went missing aren’t missing anymore.”
My stomach dropped out. “Fuck.”
“Yeah, fuck. They switched sides and swore in with the Trilogy.”
I sat down hard on a stool, raking a hand through my hair. “How many?”
“So far only nine,” Nico said, his eyes totally black. “We need to figure out how many have defected. I want them hunted down.”
I nodded, my blood boiling. You didn’t fuck with me or my family. My smile broadened at the thought of cutting into every traitor. Maybe I would make the others watch so they’d know what was coming for them.
Nico patted me on the shoulder. I hadn’t realized I’d gotten lost in my thoughts. “There will be time for that, I promise. Right now, we have to concentrate. Giovanna thinks we have a mole.”
“What the fuck?” I started, but Nico held up his hand.
“They must be high up. During the renovations some of the fire alarms weren’t hooked up during the initial install in the building. The mole has been hiding within our ranks since before then because the bombers entered through an ‘alarmed’ fire exit.”
I stood and paced back and forth in the open space between the kitchen and living room. “What the hell was so important on that laptop that they blew up a building to get it?”
Nico was looking at his phone, eyebrows pinched, his smile was all teeth, but didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry about it.”
I gave him a questioning look. “Yeah, but—”
He cut me off. “I already know what information The Trilogy was looking for. I want you to find out how they got in, not why. I need you to get me the name of the mole.”
I grinned. “Who am I questioning today?”
Nico's expression grew dark again. “Luca.”
* * *
I headed down to my workroom in the hotel's basement an hour after my conversation with Nico. My blood burned at the idea of traitors lurking in our ranks, killing off our men. Or worse, defecting. My workroom was locked behind a solid steel door with a biometric scanner keyed to only Nico, Rush, and me. Not that it was a horror show inside. Everything was clean and organized. It was the sheer number of tools I had access to that would put the fear of God into anyone who came through that door.
I searched for the perfect combination of tools to deliver maximum impact. A smile tugged at my lips as I packed my black work bag. It held everything I needed: gloves, smelling salts to keep my victim awake, a large plastic tarp to keep the clean-up simple. It even had disposable coveralls for extra messy jobs. I decided on an old school dentistry tool. Nothing like pulling teeth to get a person to squeal. It was the next best thing to pulling eyes, but that would likely have men jumping ship to get away from me. I was going to make Luca talk, while reminding the others why they wouldn’t dare to fucking cross us.
What would my little thief think of my extracurricular activities?
Nico had already left, saying he was going to take Rae with him to retrieve the laptop. That shouldn’t have surprised me, since her skill at stealing was why he kept her around, but it did. I had become protective of her these last few weeks. A part of me hoped they didn’t find the laptop. I wasn’t ready for the fiery redhead to walk out on us. Even the idea she would head back to the opposite side, fighting against us, stung like a bitch.
My phone buzzed on the counter. I flipped it over, giving it a quick glance, and zipped up my bag.
Rush: Outside
I grabbed my stuff and headed to meet him. The mask I wore on jobs was already set in place. Today was going to be fun.
* * *
I looked over to Rush as we sped through the city. He drove like a fucking maniac, and that was a lot coming from me. We headed to a small city outpost where we kept a few men stationed year-round to monitor comings and goings in our district. It was a fucking cushy-ass job, so the idea that they were the ones defecting didn’t sit right. Plus, Rick was there.
Rick was a burly man in his late fifties. He’d been around when I was a kid and always treated me soft when my dad was doing his damn best to harden me up. Rick would murder my ass if he even thought I was questioning his loyalty. He wasn’t the problem, but the other men there obviously were.
We pulled up to the small building just on the edge of our territory. Three men stepped out, all dressed in jeans and leather patched jackets. Our lower level guys all preferred to dress like this instead of the suits Nico made mandatory for the enforcers at the club.
Rush parked and looked at me. “We’re going to stay calm. The intel we’re going off of is thin at best. There’s just a hint that someone may be recruiting here.”
“Nico said that Luca was here,” I said, my voice emotionless. My body buzzed in anticipation of getting my hands on him.
“Yeah, Luca’s here, but that doesn’t mean everyone has gone sour. We’ll talk to Rick.”
I groaned. I was already hyped up. Adrenaline pumped through my veins. Staying calm wasn’t going to be an option much longer.
Luca was a mid-level Gentlemen who typically worked as an enforcer over at the hotel on Lexington. He’d been moved over to the new hotel a couple of months before it was finished being built to help run security there. He was close in age to Rush, Nico, and I, and had also grown up with parents in the organization, so we’d known him a long time. I fucking hated the kid.
Rick came out of a large steel door with a red “Do Not Enter” sign glued to it. The building was a nondescript old warehouse with faded grey paneled walls. Rick was burly as ever. A little grayer than the last time I saw him. He wore black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a patched vest. I got out of the car and he walked up to me, face hard. My skin itched, and my stomach burned at the idea that he was involved. The asshole broke into a toothy grin and clapped me on the back. “I hear you came to take care of my problem.”
“You know?” I asked, shocked to hear he knew we were coming. This wasn’t the kind of thing you announced beforehand.
“Of course I fucking know, boy. Who do you think called it in?” He looked at me like I was a stupid ten-year-old again. He wrapped an arm around my back. “I’ve got him all setup like you like’em.”
A smile split across my face, and my icy walls went up. Fucking showtime.
Rick hadn’t exaggerated. He led Rush and me to the basement where he already had Luca strapped to a chair, hands tied behind his back. The prick glared up at me, fronting that he wasn’t afraid, but his body trembled, giving him away. Everyone was afraid of me. The stench of fear came off the other Gentlemen as they stepped back from the scene, giving me plenty of clearance. I wasn’t here for them. My attention focused on the man tied to the chair. It didn’t matter that we’d sat together for dinner on multiple occasions, or that we’d gone out and gotten drunk and partied more than once. All I saw was a traitor.
“Come on, Beck. You know I didn’t do it. We’re friends.” Luca’s voice rose, shaking more with each word.
I tilted my head in mock confusion. “Friends” was a stretch. Luca had sort of followed us around as teenagers, especially after Dante died, and it became clear Nico was going to become the boss, but we were never friends. Reluctant acquaintances, sure.
I smiled, knowing his pleas and screams wouldn't penetrate the icy shell that came over me. I never spoke to my marks while I worked, beyond the occasional question. The silence drove them fucking crazy, and they always said more than they wanted to make the pain stop. They didn’t know that I wouldn’t ever stop until they died, or I got bored.
Making someone scream was the best adrenaline rush in the world. I never got bored.
I took my tools out, nice and slow, and placed them on the counter. With every agonizing second, Luca trembled harder. “Who hired you?” I asked quietly.
He convulsed. “No one, man. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Who else has turned against us?”
“You’ve got the wrong guy!”
I shook my head. They all said that. I started with a few choice cuts along his ribs. That made it harder for him to squirm. I didn’t like it when they moved too much. It made things messy. I moved onto his Achilles heels, which snapped when they were cut through. The men around the room groaned at the sound. By the time I started on his teeth he was giving up names at a speed so fast Rush abandoned his pen and started recording on his phone so we missed nothing. One of our men gagged and raced out of the room.
When it was clear he’d told us everything he knew, I cut the artery in his leg and watched as the blood seeped from him and relief that the pain would stop filled his eyes. I knew I’d done a good job when death became the only thing they wished for.
* * *
I cleaned my tools methodically. They would still have to go through a sanitize cycle in the industrial dishwasher, but I kept a clean ship. Rick sent men to pick up the list of men we’d gotten from Luca. They wouldn’t be an issue anymore.
Rush propped himself up against my worktable and scanned me over. “Hurry the fuck up, bro. I’m hungry.” He always did this after a job. He’d check me over and make sure going dark hadn’t done irreparable damage. He was afraid I wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t blame him. There was a time I didn’t want to. An image of red hair had me coming out of it sooner than normal.
I scoffed. “Oh yeah, you worked up such an appetite watching me work, did you?”
“The fucking teeth, bro. The squish and pop sound they make when they come out. Does it for me,” he deadpanned.
I laughed, sounding almost normal. “That’s fucking gross, man,” I was still coming down from the thrill of torturing Luca. Soon I would be covered in a thick coat of self-hatred over what I’d done…but not yet. That was the cycle: the anticipation, the adrenaline rush, then the comedown and inevitable crash. It was like chasing a heroin high, and shaking for days afterward, sick from withdrawal.
“Let’s hit Boloco. I want tacos,” I said.
Before Rush could reply, both our phones went off with several messages.
Nico: We’re under fire.
Nico: 166 Thompson Ave.
Nico: Get here fucking now. I need a distraction.
Fear skipped up my spine. He was with Rae. What the fuck happened? I fired off a frantic text, but nothing came back from Nico. We better fucking get there in time. Rush and I raced to the car, and he gave me a cocky smile. “Time to blow shit up.”