Page 63 of To Have and To Hold

“Kid?” Jano asked. “How old do you guess?”

“No more than fifteen. He pissed himself. My guess is that it was an initiation. Question is, one of our crews or one of Herrera’s? If it’s one of ours, someone was fucking with him to send him after me. If it is Herrera’s, they were hoping to get lucky.”

He shook his head. “If it was Herrera’s, why wouldn’t the chief do the job himself and kill you? You’d be a fucking big prize.” He scanned me from my head to my boots. “Unless they didn’t recognize you clean-shaven. The fuck? For atour.”

If Jano wasn’tel Patr?n, I’d tell him to shut the fuck up. However, it was in my best interest to keep that thought to myself.

Jano stood and stretched, reminding me of a cat. If he was a cat, he would be a black-footed cat. Based on kill counts, the deadliest cat in the world. After retrieving a plastic bag from his desk, Jano walked around and looked at the weapon. Using a pen in the trigger guard, he picked it up. “Your prints are on this weapon.”

“Sí. On the barrel. I carried it to my car and threw it in the trunk.”

He dropped the Glock in the bag. “Take it to Nick. Tell him to run prints and the serial number. We’ll see if anything comes up.” His gaze met mine. “What about this Lopez? Couldn’t have come up with a more generic name.”

I nodded as I removed the rubber gloves and threw them in a trash can near Jano’s desk. “When I get home, I plan to run his name through the known databases. The kid said they spotted us coming out of Pappalecco. I’m going to check traffic cams and neighboring businesses’ security for a visual of the kid and who he’s with. I thought I’d loop Rei in on it too.”

Jano nodded before stifling a yawn. “There were two reasons I told Silas to have you come in. The first was to let you know I spoke directly to Andros Ivanov.”

I nodded. He was the pakhan in Detroit.

“He’s accepting Kozlov’s men. They and their wives will be sent to Detroit in the morning. He’s also sending more soldiers to us. We’re going to make a move on Volkov as soon as next week.”

“What kind of move?”

“Like what he did to Kozlov andmí padre. I want his fucking head.”

“Herrera?” I asked.

“Fucking coward is paying others to do his dirty work. We get rid of his minions, and he’ll come out of hiding.”

“I’m here,jefe. Whatever you need.”

“I need you to give me an honest assessment of the chiefs you spoke to today.” He lifted his hand. “Not now. Tomorrow. Bring me every name and swear to me that you have no suspicions. If you so much as have or have had a passing thought to their fidelity, let me know. This mission will be done with only our best and most loyal.”

My mind was already going through the list of names. “Sí, I’ll work on that right after I take the gun to Nick.” I started to pick up the plastic bag.

“Not yet,” Jano said. “There’s one more thing.”

I squared my shoulders and held my hands in front of me, standing to attention.

“Before I had a chance to speak to the capo on your behalf, he called Mia.”

My heart sank. “About Isabella?”

“Sí.It was like they call a fucking game of telephone. It goes something like Isabella’s mother spoke to her and was very upset. She then spoke to her husband who took the matter to the capo.” He moved his hands as he spoke.

“What—?” His raised hand stopped my question.

“Mia adamantly defended her cousin to her brother. The problem came when Aurora Luciano later called Mia, saying she couldn’t reach Isabella and demanded to speak to her.”

“Fuck.”

“Fuck is accurate. My wife told her that Isabella and Liliana were together watching a movie at Liliana’s apartment. Mia assured her that the two girls were safe and guarded. She suggested that probably Isabella had her phone off for the movie.”

I let out a long breath. “I need to thank Mia, but why did she lie?”

He took a step toward me, and his volume rose. “You didn’t ask if you could take Isabella on atourwithout Horace. She’s too young and too virginal to be unescorted—by famiglia standards and ours.”

“She’s still a virgin.”

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