“Hey, son, all good?” There’s a lengthy pause while Wire explains the situation. “I’ve got this covered. I’ll be the rooster in the hen house,” he says with a laugh. “Wolfie hasn’t left her side. I’m not sure who the dog loves more, you or her,” he replies after another pause. “Just come home safe. Love you, Colton. And I’m proud of you.”
When he hangs up, I see tears in his eyes. Without saying a word, I wrap my arms around his middle and squeeze. Instantly, Jackson hugs me back. No words are necessary, because we’re silently communicating our love for Colton and taking care of one another.
“Does someone want to fill in the moms?” Cindy jumps in.
As I clean up, Wolfie at my heel the entire time, Jackson tells Cindy and my mother the plan for the next couple of days. Mom offers to stay and help, but as lovely as Wire’s place is, we’ve only got three bedrooms, and one is mainly for storage.
Phoenix arrives last to drop off Kailyn. He struggles to let her go, but he has a job to do. We set up Sadie and Maya in the extra room; Kailyn is staying with me, and Wire’s parents will remain in the guest room.
The girls are embracing girls’ night in, and I force myself to relax. Wire says he’ll be home soon, and I believe him.
Wire
We get word from Phoenix that they’re on their way. The fastest way to get to us is through a cargo plane that happens to land a half hour out at a small private airport. Falcon and I have already discussed the easiest way to reach Atilio.
With help from Luke, we’ve developed a drawing of Atilio’s home and his office. He rarely visits the garage, and with Nick not arriving as expected, Atilio is on high alert, so he won’t show up unless he has a good reason to be there.
Falcon thought about using Nick as bait to see if we could lure Atilio out, but based on what Luke’s told us, Atilio has a small army. Any one of his hired goons could show up and take care of business, killing Nick with a single bullet.
We need Atilio in order to end the threat against Maria and Franco. He’s the one with the information, and we need to destroy the file he’s got on Maria. Maria is going to need reinvention, but that’s the second part of the plan. First, we need to deal with Atilio.
Falcon and I take turns sleeping. We’ve got father and son cuffed, but we’re not taking any chances. I take the first shift. I spend the time on the computer looking for any easy access routes to and from Atilio’s house to see if we can find a vantage point where we might be able to get him alone. There are a couple of side roads that could work for us. I mark those on the map, then do the same with the route to his office.
Next, I pull up all the photos I can find of Atilio and search for his bodyguards. Luke knows of a couple, but I want to confirm their faces and match them to the names Luke’s given us. What I find is that Atilio is a small fish trying to play in a big pond. His connection to Vito would have elevated his status with the mob. When Vito cut him off, that severed many business ties. Vito’s the big fish, and nobody wants to get on Vito’s bad side.
Atilio is planning on punishing Vito by murdering Maria and his illegitimate son. He wants Vito to suffer. But Vito has no ties to Maria or Franco, and even if he did, he’d never show weakness by bartering for their lives. It would start a war that would end with Atilio’s death.
That outcome doesn’t bother me in the least, but using two innocents to get to that inevitable end is a problem for me. Falcon, the team, and I have seen too many useless deaths to sit by and do nothing.
Falcon awakens, sits up at the side of the bed, and runs a hand over his face to shake the sleep off. “What are you working on?” he asks.
“Checking the weak points for a snatch and grab,” I tell him, then hand over the map I marked up.
“We need to do a drive-by to check these out. If you’re okay for another hour, I can get that done.”
“If you like, but we’d just have to do it all over again. You know Rebel and Bull will want to check it out too. I’m thinking Phoenix is going to be the guy to force the detour, making Atilio go onto the roads we want. He’s going to have to check this all out.”
He puts his elbows on his knees. He’s never been one to sit still for too long on a mission. “Yeah, you’re right.” He sighs.
“Since I got the roads mapped out, why don’t you figure out what kind of diversion we can use to make Atilio take the route we want. I need a couple of hours before the guys arrive. And we need food,” I remind him.
“In the morning, I’ll go out to the coffee shop down the road and get us something.” He jerks his head toward where Luke and Nick are sleeping. “What do you think of those two? Can they be contained?”
“Luke loves his family, and his brother took advantage of that. I think he’ll comply, but if not, I have enough to feed the police on the dirty dealings he’s been involved in to put him away. Nick is too freaked out not to listen. Knowing your uncle would kill you to prove a point has shaken the kid up.”
“Our job is to keep Maria and Franco safe,” Falcon says. ”What if Luke gets sloppy and mentions Maria and Franco?”
I pull a piece of paper from my breast pocket, unfold it, and give it to him. “It’s just a thought,” I say. “Let me know what you think. In the meantime, I’m going to grab a couple of hours of sleep before the party begins.”
A loud knock on the door wakes me up. Falcon is already moving to see who it is. Luke and Nick are sitting on the two-seater couch, their heads turned toward the door. Their eyes grow wide when Phoenix, Bull, and Rebel traipse through into the small room. With all of us together, we’re pretty tight.
“Let’s get the party started,” Bull says with a sly grin. He always gets revved up before a mission. His name doesn’t just come from his size; he’s also always raring to charge, like a bull ready to get the job done.
“Cool it, bro. I’d like to go over everything one more time.” Falcon looks at Nick and Luke. “And we’re going to hear your story one more time,” he tells them.
By this time, I’ve joined the rest of them. “This is Nick and Luke. Atilio’s brother and nephew. They’re our way in to get to Atilio,” I tell them. I glance at Falcon. “We need food. I’ll go grab it while you get the guys up to speed.”
“No need, man. Falcon texted, and we stopped on the way to get some.” Phoenix moves from behind Rebel and Bull and extends a tray full of coffees and two massive bags.
