No. We most certainly are not.
* * *
Ben talks brieflywith Accardi after we say our goodbyes to Barretta, and then we set out for the airport.
“What did you tell him?” I ask when the privacy screen is up.
“I told him I would talk to The Commission and put it to a vote.” He rubs the back of his neck.
“He’s full of shit.”
“I know, but my hands are tied.” Ben rests his head back, closing his eyes briefly. When he straightens up, I see the plan forming in his mind’s eye. “We will go along with this. Pretend we support it. I’ll delay the vote for as long as I can, and we will use the time to find out what is going on. I don’t trust Gino. He’s up to something, and I intend to find out exactly what that is.”
43
Leo
Istep into the bathroom on the plane while Ben is sleeping to check my burner cell. I know Nat will be worried, and I want to let her know we are on our way back home. It’s four a.m., so I’m not expecting her to reply much less call.
Answering it quickly before it rings out and alerts Ben to my suspicious behavior, I whisper, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Caleb.” Her voice shakes. “He didn’t come home with Joshua. They got into a fight. I stayed up, thinking he would stroll in once he cooled down, but he didn’t. I woke Joshua up at one a.m. when I discovered Caleb was over at Mott Haven via the app.”
Shit. That’s not good. Mott Haven is South Bronx, a place notorious for murder, violence, and drugs. “Please tell me you didn’t go there.”
“I was going to,” she admits, “but Joshua went crazy in a way I have never seen him act before. He told me he would fix it and made me promise to stay at home and not to call Gino. He left ninety minutes ago with a couple of their friends, and I haven’t heard a peep from him. Now the tracker shows he’s in the same neighborhood, and I’m terrified, Leo.” A shuddering breath filters down the line. “What if something has happened to them?”
That place is a shithole, but Caleb and Joshua are made men, and they know how to use weapons and how to fight. I’ve got to trust they aren’t in serious shit. “I know you are worried, but you need to keep calm and don’t jump to conclusions. Joshua is a smart kid. He wouldn’t have gone to handle it himself if he thought his brother was in serious trouble. Here’s what I need you to do. You need to hang up with me and call Ben. Tell him what you have told me, so he can send someone to check on them. We’ll be landing in forty minutes, and we’ll go straight to Mott Haven.”
“Call me the second you find out anything.”
“I promise I will. Try not to worry,” I add though I know it’s pointless. “We will find them.”
* * *
“Alesso and Brando have located them,”Ben says, reading from his phone as Ciro drives like a maniac through the streets of New York. The city is starting to stir, but it’s still early, and traffic is minimal.
“Are they okay?”
“Yes, but they’re caught up in some drug shit. Alesso is holding them there until we arrive.”
“That explains a lot,” I murmur.
“It does. Shit.” Ben rubs at his temples. “This will devastate Natalia.”
“Let’s just wait until we get there and see what the hell is going on.”
We pull up outside the location Alesso gave us twenty minutes later, thanks to Ciro acting like he was driving in a Formula 1 race. The residential street is quiet, and it’s one of the nicer parts of Mott Haven. The redbrick brownstones are well maintained, and it could be worse. It could be the Mitchel Houses where all kinds of sick shit goes down behind closed doors.
“Down here, boss,” Alesso says, poking his head out from the basement door of the house in front of us.
“What are we dealing with?” Ben asks as soon as we step foot in the dark, dank space. The front room is a mess with empty beer cans, half-eaten takeout boxes, and stale pizza slices littering the coffee table. A black sheet is draped over the window, blocking out the light, as if vampires live here. A torn red leather two-seater couch is piled with crumpled clothing.
“Nothing good,” Alesso cryptically says, jerking his shoulder, urging us to keep moving. “We sent Joshua’s two friends home. At least the kid had the wherewithal to come with backup.” Joshua is smart, and he thinks things through unlike his brother. At times, Caleb reminds me a lot of Mateo.
We walk over cracked wooden floorboards in need of repair and past a poky kitchen and a bathroom that looks like a throwback to the seventies. Alesso leads us into the bigger of the two bedrooms at the back of the place, and Ben cusses under his breath. The room has been cleared of all furniture to fit several filthy mattresses. The scent of weed is cloying in the air, and I feel it clinging to my clothes. But it’s the needles and evidence of other drug use that is most alarming.
That and the prone form of Caleb Accardi being propped up in his brother’s arms. Caleb’s eyes are closed, his chest moving as he breathes heavily, confirming he’s sleeping off the aftereffects of his drug high. Joshua’s jaw is tense, and he looks worried.
