Wait, did he ask me a question I’m supposed to answer. Shit. Focus. The last thing in the world I need is water.
“And I think I’ve got the answer. I think I’ve figured out how that was possible.”
Good, he wasn’t waiting for me.
“Because Darwin was working for one of the other families. That has to be it. There can be no other reason. And I think it is the Gambino family.”
No, not that. Not Darwin.
The old man turned away from the window and looked at her. “I need you to tell me who hired him to be out there at that exact time. I need to know who set this up. If you give me concrete details and you make me believe you, I will collect my blood debt from them. You will be free to walk out of here and go on to live your life. So tell me, convince me, who sent your husband to execute my son?”
She tried to speak, but at first, nothing came. She tried again. “No … one … did.”
“Okay, well that’s not good for two reasons. One, you will have to pay the debt and two, I don’t believe you. When I feel someone is lying to me, your pain upon death is amplified.” He paused and sauntered over to her. “Do you really understand what you’re in for? Do you realize how dire your circumstances are?”
She nodded.
“I asked you a question,” he shouted.
“Yes,” she said as fast as she could.
“Wow, that’s great. Okay, that’s good.” He walked away and sat behind his desk again. Then he picked up that damned letter opener and started his insane tapping. She felt she was losing her mind in that moment.
“I will keep you alive as long as I can. I at least want to talk to your husband before I start really having fun with you. Your husband, by the way, was picked up at the airport. He’s on his way here now with two of my finest men. After he confesses, you will die first. I want him to watch as all of my men get a taste of you. How would you like that? I’m offering you the pleasure of having sex, multiple times with each and every man here, as long as they like. Isn’t that what women want, multiple partners and the sex lasting longer than a quicky?”
She didn’t respond as she didn’t think he was looking for a response. She wasn’t sure she could respond, as her stomach rebelled at what he was saying.
“After you’ve been used in front of your husband, I will get my Harvester of Sorrow over there to start cutting things and taking pieces off you.” He was smiling wide now. “We will be aiming for as much blood as possible, as that is the debt, after all. Darwin will watch everything. Then he will die even slower. I don’t have any women on the payroll, and no men who are gay, so Darwin will be spared a royal fucking. Although I do have a few brooms sitting around somewhere.” He set the letter opener down. “Okay men, get her up, take her clothes off. You can all start raping her whenever you please. We’ll do it all again when Darwin gets here.”
Her heart caught in her chest. She looked around as everyone advanced on her. She had nowhere to run, no one to help, and she was too weak to run anyway. The elevator was out and not a single human being knew where she was.
In that moment she knew she needed to die before she could let them touch her repeatedly in that way. She got up from the chair and bolted for the office window, intent on throwing herself into it. In her weakened state, she didn’t get three steps before they were on her.
A telephone rang. Hands pawed her stomach, her legs. Someone yelled. Her shirt was torn off, buttons flying. Someone yelled again. Hands ran between her legs. She was ready to throw up. Hands pawed her breasts, her panties about to give.
The phone rang again.
Then everyone let go. The man yelling was the boss.
“Leave her for a second. Let me get this. It’s downtown.” He looked down at her. “Make a peep and I will personally pull out your right eye and stick my cock in the hole to fuck your brains out. Do not betray me.” He emphasized his point by raises his index finger like a father disciplining a child.
“Hello,” he said. “Yes, I understand.”
She looked around at the hired muscle, her heart racing so fast she thought it would explode. One of the men smiled, winked and blew a kiss at her. She almost lost consciousness. She considered screaming. At least her death would be quick.
“Okay. I will handle it.”
The old man hung up. He looked around the room as if taking in everything for the first time. Then he picked up his letter opener, skirted his desk and ambled over to the men huddled around her.
He placed an arm around the man who had winked and blew a kiss at her. “She is something, eh boys? Twenty-five. Those were the days. Perk tits, tight pussy. Irresistible, eh?”
The men nodded and mumbled their agreement.
With a violence that belied his age, the old man plunged the letter opener into the neck of the man he leaned on. Blood shot out in torrents. The man reached for his neck, his eyes wide.
Acting on instinct, the other men reached in and restrained their colleague in the event he would try to attack the old man.
The old man gouged the letter opener back and forth and up and down as if digging in tough soil, looking for a buried coin.
Rosina watched in horror. She had never seen a man killed before. She’d never seen
anyone
killed before. The man fell to his knees, the color draining from his face.
In under a minute, it was all over. A man lay dead five feet from her. The old man wiped his letter opener on the dead man’s shirt.
“It appears that your Darwin is more able than I previously thought. I will not underestimate him again. I assure you of that.”
The old man walked behind his desk. “When I said stop, I meant it. Little Mickey didn’t stop. He winked at her. He blew her a kiss. That isn’t stopping. Defy me at your own peril. Now, we have other business to handle. Give her back her shirt. Get her looking reasonably good again. No one touches her until we have Darwin. We may need her intact.”
The old man looked directly at her. “I thought your husband would be here at any moment, but sadly he won’t be joining us quite yet. It seems he has killed two of my best men and escaped on foot.”
“What happened, boss?” The man in the suit stepped forward.
“I don’t know exactly. All I do know is that our men are dead in the van that was sent to get Darwin. They were killed in an accident on the highway.”
That was Darwin? My husband caused the accident that held up my bus? And now because he escaped, I’m getting a reprieve?
She wished they were together again so she could hug him and cry in his arms.
“But be careful. Do not underestimate this man Darwin. Apparently he was seen running away handcuffed. Most of the driver’s right ear is missing and my informant said it wasn’t because of the accident. They clearly saw teeth marks gouged in his head. Big John is dead too. Nothing could kill Big John, but he is gone.”
The old man addressed his crew. “Gentlemen, be on your guard. We may not have seen the likes of a man like Darwin Kostas who can be handcuffed, kill Big John, chew off the driver’s ear and then walk away from a van that apparently flipped numerous times. This man must be caught. He must be stopped. But until that time, no one touches her. We may need her for proof of life. Now, leave me. Find Darwin at all cost. But whatever you do, bring him to me with his heart still beating. I, and only I, will be the one who rips it out of his chest.”
Rosina found the resolve to smile.
Chapter 4
Darwin walked through the shopping mall, feeling like a new man. He had on new jeans, a new, slim-fit collared shirt, and a black jacket. Rosina wouldn’t recognize him. When he finished this business and got to Greece, she would be so happy that he did what he was doing.
He still couldn’t get over what just happened. Flesh from the guy’s ear was still stuck between his teeth when he’d gotten to the mall’s bathroom.
After washing up, he’d gone on a spree, buying up everything he needed to look good. It was time to do a deal. It was time to settle this. He had to do it from a position of power and status, and for that he had to look the part.
He strode out the mall doors and looked toward the highway, where a tow truck was trying to right the van.
A police car entered the mall’s parking lot to his right.
Could they be coming for me? Was I seen?
He headed back into the mall. He had taken the cuffs off right away, but there was a little bruising where they had cut into his wrists. If the cops stopped him, looked at his wrists and started asking questions, it could be a problem.
He hustled to the other end of the mall and saw, through the double doors, a taxi sitting idling.
He ran out and hopped into the backseat.
“Termini Station, please,” he said.
The cab driver was writing in a pad of some kind. He looked up and said, “My time off.”
Darwin reached into his pocket and pulled out a fifty euro bill.
“Take me to Termini. Then have your time off.”
The driver shook his head. “You want to go to Termini, one hundred euro.”
Fucking crook.
Darwin looked out the back window to make sure the cop wasn’t right behind them and then grabbed another fifty, thought again, and reached in for a twenty. He handed the driver the whole one hundred and twenty euros.
“Termini Station. And do it fast.”
The driver turned in his seat and said, “You got it.”
It took thirty-five minutes to get to Termini, making it almost three in the afternoon when he got there. He jumped from the cab and walked into the station, having no idea what he was looking for or how he would find it.
They would find him. That he was sure of, but he needed something to negotiate with before that happened. Or, he needed a weapon. Something to defend himself with, because he was prepared to deal, but they weren’t. He would need to take care of himself.
I’m convinced I can talk to them. Without that, there’s no hope. I can’t live on the run, so I have to try.
People rushed past him pulling luggage, yanking on their kids’ hands. Beggars asked for money. Uniformed policemen stood at the entrance to the station in pairs. A normal day at Termini.
He entered a McDonald’s where he ordered two cheeseburgers for a euro each. After getting his food, he headed for the downstairs. He needed a pay phone with relative privacy.
The call he was about to make was the first move in solving the Fuccini family problem.
Knowing Rosina was in Greece was such a relief that he felt he could do this. He was so happy she hadn’t run off that plane. Sure, she’d be pissed, but after he told her what had happened and filled her in on what he was about to do, she’d understand, forgive him, and they could really start to live.
He made it to a bank of phone booths, picked one at the end of the row and slipped his credit card into the slot.
He dialed Special Agent Greg Stinsen’s number and waited. On the third ring, the time zone thing hit him. Three thirty in the afternoon would be nine-thirty in the morning in Toronto. Would Agent Greg even be at the office yet?
On the fifth ring, Agent Greg picked up.
“Yeah?”
“Hi, Greg Stinsen?”
“You got him. Who’s this?”
“Darwin.”
“What?
The
Darwin? Our resident hero? How the hell are you? How’s life treating you?”
“Not good. I’m lucky to be alive.”
“What? What’s happening? Talk to me.”
“You know the man I killed with my Mustang?”
“Of course I know him. Go on.”
“His
family
is hunting me. They have tried to kill me twice in the last four days and stopped the highway traffic this morning to try to get to me. They actually kidnapped me hours ago, but there was a car accident and I was the only one to walk away. Two men are dead. I need your help.”
“How come this is the first I’ve heard of this? No one has told me about any renewed activity—”
“That’s because it isn’t happening in your jurisdiction. I’m in Rome.”
“You mean Rome, as in Italy?”
“The very one.”
Darwin looked around. No one paid any special attention to him.
“What the fuck are you doing in Rome?”
“Rosina and I came here to get married—”
“You have Rosina with you? And they still tried to take you out? Are they going after her too?”
Greg sounded incredulous.
“I don’t think they’re too worried about her. I need your help.”
“Tell me everything. Wait, you’re on a pay phone right?”
“Yes.”
Darwin started with the attempts on their life and finished with sending Rosina off to Greece and the accident in the van in more detail, leaving nothing out.