Page 89 of Matteo

Turning the phone off, and tucking it away I waited for my brother to be finished. I was bringing one gun and a Corsican. Carmine on the other hand thought he was going to war and had a bag full of weapons to throw in the trunk of his car.

“You can never be too prepared,” he shrugged as we walked out into the darkness. The sun had set a few hours ago and

“We’re just going to talk to the man,” I quirked a brow.

“You think a government agent who knows Augustus Zacharra Sr. and Jr. and a formerly dead Alaska Zacharra is just gonna hand over all that information willingly?”

Carmine popped the trunk of his classic car and tossed the weapons inside.

By the time we’d reversed out of the driveway, I had to admit Carmine had a good point. I shot him a wry grin, “Let’s not kill the guy.”

Carmine shrugged, “I haven’t had a good kill in a while, no promises, bro.”

I didn’t argue it any further. At some point, I knew we were going to do some killing. My Corsican was itching for some sort of action, I just didn’t want to kill an FBI agent.

The drive to Jacob’s Lance was relatively uneventful, with light traffic. We parked down the road from the house. Nora had found specs online and I’d memorized every inch of the layout including where the alarm power box would be.

Carmine and I moved with stealth, disappearing and blending into the night. Our feet didn’t even seem to touch the pavement as we headed for the house.

Mansion, my Corsican whispered.

The deputy director was definitely making a good government salary and lived in luxury despite not having ever been married and no children.

We hadn’t been able to find anything on him but I knew better. If he knew Augustus Zacharra, there was no way he could be squeaky clean.

Nah,I thought.This motherfucker has dirt he’s probably killed to keep hidden.

Carmine and I did quick work on the alarm system and we worked the perimeter up just once more. We noticed only one light was on and it was in the the area of the house that had to be his study. The old bastard was probably having a nightcap. Finally, we slipped inside the mansion and an eerie silence fell into place, our footsteps barely even made a sound, both of us with Glock 9s ready to dance if needed. We followed the faint glow of what had to be a desk lamp, finding ourselves outside of the study door.

Carmine took one side of the door and I took the other. He raised his gun, took a breath, and eased the fucking door open.

I could smell cigar smoke in the air as I sniffed before easing inside.

“Ahhh, the other two,” a voice said from a chair that wasn’t facing the door.

Carmine and I stopped, guns still trained to shoot.

I heard the older man sigh, and he stood up and turned to look at us, a laptop in his hands. His face was burned horribly on side, and he wore glasses but this was definelty the man we’d come in search of.

“I wondered when you’d come,” Jacob Lance nodded.

“How…”

He turned the laptop around and I could see a video feed of his entire house on the screen. “You don’t get this old in a game like this and not have a cameras.”

Carmine winced. “Hey…I handled the alarm system.”

Jacob chuckled. “Would the two of you mind lowering your weapons, please? It’s making my dog nervous.”

I heard it then, low growls and a bull mastiff appeared.

Jesus, a whole ass horse,my Corsican assessed the animal.

“I don’t know about that, Chief,” Carmine looked the man up and down.

“If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you years ago before you became what you are now…” Jacob looked at his dog and spoke. “Relax, boy they’re not here to harm me. They want answers.”

The dog relaxed then eased himself down onto the oriental rugs decorating the office floor. His tail did a few thumbs but his eyes never left Carmine or myself.

---