“It’s okay,” I said. “You’ll be alright.”
Massimo nudged his wife and tilted his head.Please?
“Come on,” Lucia said kindly as she took Emilia’s hand and pulled her towards the other side of the car.
“Thank you,” I said.
Lucia smiled. “Don’t mention it. I’ll take good care of her.”
Vincenzo grabbed the keys from Adriano and got behind the wheel. Amadeo rode shotgun again.
The metal security door rolled up. Vincenzo pulled out into the alleyway, followed by two other cars full of foot soldiers.
Emilia rolled down the window and looked at me somberly.
I blew her a kiss, and she smiled wanly.
Then the car sped off and was gone.
As the metal door rolled back into place, Massimo asked the remaining foot soldiers, “You guys need a hand with this asshole?”
“That’d be great,” Cristoforo said.
Massimo squatted down…
Pulled the gorilla into a sitting position…
Heaved him onto his shoulders in a fireman’s carry…
Then stood up and casually walked back towards the office.
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” Cristoforo murmured, pretty much speaking for us all.
78
The office was a free-standing room with glass windows. The windows were mirrored on the outside, so whoever was inside could lookout,but it was hard to seein.
Perfect for bosses spying on their employees – or making them paranoid, so they worked hard without ever knowing if the boss was watching or not.
Outside was a concrete floor and a single naked lightbulb. There was a metal drain in the floor and a nearby water hose for washing away any spills.
It made for a perfect interrogation setup. Someone could go out and question theCamorrathug on the concrete floor while everyone else watched from behind the mirrored glass.
And if things got a little rough, well, we could just wash the blood down the drain.
I stood in the office with Adriano, Niccolo, Roberto, and Mei-ling and told them everything that had happened:
How I’d been in the café and seen the Cadillac.
How I’d snuck into the dress shop from the back and shot both guys.
How the Molotov cocktail had broken and burned down the store.
How I’d made sure Bianca and Lucia were safe, then gone back through the café and taken out theCamorrathug.
The entire time I talked, Massimo was prepping the thug out on the concrete slab. He sat him up in a sturdy metal chair, then handcuffed his hands and legs to the chair.
It was a good thing Massimo was out there. It saved me the embarrassment of one more person watch Adriano rip me a new asshole… although I was sure Massimo could hear every word of the screaming.
