Chapter Twelve
Raymondo Benittinistood in the cold dark woods just out of view from the farmhouse.He kept staring at it as the late afternoon sun was slipping down in the western sky.He’d seen Charli standing at the windows off and on all day.Now there had been no sign of her in the longest time but he had a feeling she was still inside the house somewhere.
He’d also seen more faces in the windows and had to wonder how many people were actually in the house itself.But he was really only interested in one.He had to end Charli’s existence once and for all.He knew his brother Julien was on his way here to collect her for the festival that would happen in a couple of weeks.
Gypsy law was clear on this matter and even though she hadn’t been raised in the traditional way she was still her father’s daughter.She had to comply with the laws of their tribe.Ray sneered.Julien would make her comply if she balked.
He didn’t care about Gypsy law right now though.He knew things were going to get messy when Charli talked about never receiving any money from her father’s family.He set himself up as the only guardian she had here after his family spoke of returning to Italy again.Yes, he had taken those payments meant for Charli and used them to begin his own enterprise.And he had gained more money than he could spend over the last fifteen years.But he hadn’t wanted to share his wealth, not with her and certainly not with his family.Gypsy law required that you share your money with the family and he didn’t want to do that.He had been the one that had taken all the chances and it was his name on the line here.
He had barely survived Whittaker’s take-down and he was more than ready to move to another location and continue in his place.He had even grown his gun connections all around the world.He just had to eliminate the one contact here then he would be ready to move on.He tried to stay in the background and only a few of the contacts he had with Whittaker even knew he existed and that was the way he wanted to keep it
So he knew what he had to do here and that was to finally cut ties and that meant he had to eliminate Charli and possibly his own brother.
Neither death would really affect him as the longer the rest of the family stayed away the more distance he could put between them once he took care of this issue.But now he was cutting it close.He had to finish up here and begin the moving process before his past caught up with him.
He’d seen Charli at the windows and now he was searching them for her again.His rifle stood against the tree next to him, just a short reach away, close enough for him to grab when he needed it.But Ray was also carrying the blades that he hammered out of steel himself.Knives he spent his own time on, ones that were forged years ago but he trusted in their craftsmanship.He briefly gazed down at the scars he'd earned back in the day when he worked the trade his father had passed down to him in what seemed like another lifetime.
As he glanced up again at the house in the distance, he thought he saw movement at one of the windows again.Ray frowned as the shadows he saw were moving but he couldn’t make out who the person actually was.
Suddenly, a man spoke from somewhere behind him, “Hey, asshole.”
With a gasp, Ray twirled around and reached for his rifle.But before his hand could close around the barrel, a terrible pain exploded in his head.Ray crumpled to the ground in a heap of bones, blood and unconsciousness.”
Ray just hadn’t been paying any attention to anything but watching the house.
~*~
He hadn’t heard thefootsteps of the men coming up behind him as they were silent when they approached.They had been taught by the best and it seemed they weren’t facing a man of equal caliber.He paid no attention to his surroundings.Pathetic asshole was definitely not military trained either.So therefore, he got no chance to use his knife throwing skills or any other skill.
Joker stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight as he stared down at the man lying at his feet.He scoffed then shook his head as he turned to stare at his brother.“Well hell, that was anticlimactic.He didn’t even give us a fight.”
Jack shook his head.“Seems, he was sleeping while awake.Or had his head up his ass.Or up his culo as the Italians say.”He snickered.“Ok, let’s drag his sorry ass back so we can get him tied up and ready for Shay.”
Joker nodded his head.“Scan, bag and deliver.”
“Like groceries at Walmart?”
“Nah man, like funny hats, confetti and shit like that at Party City.”
They both chuckled and started bantering about what product Ray would be.
