Page 21 of Retribution

“Stop with the jokes. You said you had good news as well,” I said, my voice impatient.

“That’s it, he knows and guess what?”

I sighed a second time. “What?”

“He’s suspended all missions until we resolve your brother’s murder.”

A cold sensation crawled over my skin. “This is more than just my brother's death, isn’t it? I could feel it last night.”

Luca reached into his pocket and withdrew a photo, placing it on the countertop. “You know this dude?”

I stared at the photograph of a man with shoulder length raven hair and a short beard. He was dressed in a dark suit with the standard security earpiece. I looked closer at the photo and recognized the earpiece as one resembling the Mercado’s. Since it was the standard 4x6 photo, the earpiece was small, and I wasn’t sure of the image on it was the dragon.

“Is that the Mercado logo?” I asked, pointing at the earpiece.

“That’s Marco’s uncle, Santiago Gonzales. We checked it out and he was the personal secretary for Mr. Mercado years ago. He started his own faction and stole Mercado logo.” Luca glanced across at Sandy sitting at the table. “He was instrumental in kidnapping Sandy for the Mercados.”

Santiago must have been nineteen or twenty years old in the photo which was more than twenty-five years ago. I also glanced at Sandy and knew that he must be feeling some kind of way.

Chapter 14

Ciara

This was my responsibility. I was so taken aback by my brother’s death that I never took the time to seek the truth. Had it not been for Luca’s investigation, we would have had no idea who was the head of the Dragon Crew.

We’d shifted location in the last few hours to an old factory just outside the city border and basically situated in the middle of nowhere. This was the idea place for combat and to keep prisoners. My plan was to lure Santiago out of hiding or to find him. Whichever came first was okay with me.

I took the chance to go for a quick walk around the building to familiarize myself with the premises. But the main reason was to clear my head and think about our next move on how to treat the convicts, because that’s what they were to me now.

Coming back inside, I went in search of food to find that some of the men had bought pancakes, bacon and eggs from a popular restaurant a few blocks away. I grabbed a stack of pancakes and downed it with another two cups of coffee. After breakfast, it was time for strategic planning with Luca and Sandy. We met in an old storage room where there were still piles of boxes against the wall. A long table was in the center of the room with a few chairs.

“Here’s my plan,” I told them. “We’re going after Santiago.”

“We don’t know where he currently hides,” Sandy said.

“Then we draw him out of hiding.”

“I like that idea,” Luca interjected. “What do you suggest?”

“I want to send him a little gift. How about we package Pretty Boy Mike and send it to his father. That should do it,” I explained and looked at Sandy.

“Kill him?” Luca asked.

“No, how about we pluck his eye out and drop him off at his favorite hangout? He can give his father all the details about our location.”

Sandy looked at me with renewed admiration. I felt like I was a kid who won the candy lottery. Luca was also looking at me with the lust-filled eyes I’d gotten used to.

“I like her,” Sandy told Luca. “She’s a keeper.”

Luca beamed. “That’s my girl.”

“Now, don’t get ahead of yourself. We need to talk about some things. But let’s do this first.”

In the main factory was a humongous cauldron with chains hanging over it, a two-hundred-foot conveyor belt and a labeling machine. We passed through that area and came to a packaging unit at the back where the three musketeers were.

We found one figure curled up in a corner, trembling for dear life that I was almost sorry for the bugger. Carlos and his cousin were tied up to two chairs, their backs turned to each other. Heads hung on chest and mouth gagged, they barely looked up when we entered.

I walked over to Carlos and pulled down the gag. I then crooked a finger under his chin, willing him to meet my eyes. “You go to church?” When he failed to answer I pulled out my gun and pried open his mouth. “Seems you’re not afraid. Do you go to church?” He nodded. “Good. Now pray for your cousin.”

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