Page 42 of Maid For The Mafia Informant

No more games, no more phone calls or planning prosecution.

Tonight, I’m judge jury and maybe even executioner if it has to come down to that.

Plus, it’s not exactly the whole Mafia tonight.

It’s just De Falco and his goons from what I can make out, although I’ve yet to catch a glimpse of the man himself.

I steal down into the dark stairwell, until a sudden thought stops me.

If I’m here, alone and so is De Falco’s gang with Sophie and whoever else I saw, where’s Partridge?

This is supposed to be a government building.

If he’s in on it too, I’m screwed. I can’t take on the mafia and a crooked fed in one night all on my own.

I feel suddenly despondent. Like I really have no idea what I’m doing. Am I just gonna march in with a gun I don’t know how to use and demand Sophie back, then walk outta here?

A shiver comes over me and I hear Sophie’s screams again as a clear memory from just an hour or so ago come to me.

It’s all I need to focus again.

Every minute I don’t know what they’re doing to her is like torture to me, and my only purpose now is to find her and get her the hell out of here.

Even if it means sacrificing myself or letting De Falco run, I don’t care anymore.

I just want my Sophie back, then we’re done.

We’re both going south of the border, I’ve already decided. No more courts and mob families, I’ll retire. I should have enough to do that in Mexico.

It can just be the two of us, what I know we both want.

I shiver again, crashing back to earth with the realization that I just have one thing to do before we can get there.

“Just find her, do what you have to and get the fuck out,” I murmur to myself, taking the stairs down deciding to check each floor until I do find her.

But something, a strong hunch, tells me what floor they’ll be on.

The rest of this building seems vacant, but the floor I was on seemed fresher, even though the room service was lousy.

Until Sophie came that is.

Luckily, the stairs leading to that floor are clear and the door to the floor unlocked.

Major security, no wonder they just walked in here when they wanted to grab me.

I figure a single guard and obscurity was supposed to be enough to protect one guy.

And one District Attorney.

Peeking through the crack in the door, I see them coming down the corridor from the elevators.

It’s Sophie alright, and another man with a hood over his head, along with the undeniable heels and perfume I recognize anywhere.

I almost groan out loud, wondering why that fucking woman has to be everywhere I am all the time.

I feel a weird relief though, when they stop out front of what used to be my room.

The man herding them is huge, even bigger than Enrico’s boy. I half wonder what they feed them, half vow to start working out more, when I hear the familiar snap of that aging electronic door, then they’re all filed inside before it closes again.

I know I don’t have long to do something, but how many others are in that room?

Is De Falco even here?

I crouch down, rummaging through my backpack, which I know I’ll have to leave here, only taking the gun with me.

Something catches my eye, at the bottom of my bag and it gives me an idea.

The rolled up ball of tape Sophie used to cover the door’s latch.

I remember the door locking from the outside, it’s worth a shot to try.

Leaveing my bag behind, I take huge, silent steps down the hall until I’m outside the door. I take a deep breath in. If I goof this, it could all be over.

I push the open button on the outside, feeling my heart freeze as the bolt snaps open, and I push the door just far enough. I breath a sigh of relief, some one must be looking out for me.

I hear a familiar voice from inside.

It’s De Falco.

I strain to hear through the door by nudging it open a quarter of an inch.

The usually collected De Falco sounds upset, on edge.

Unhinged.

“No more talking!” he shouts. “You’ll all get popped and then that’s that. Bruno, you know what to do. Once it’s done, burn the fucker down, blow it up I don’t care… just get rid of it. All of it!”

I can hear heavy steps coming towards the door and seeing a shadow, I push it forward with all I’ve got.

It clocks De Falco, right on the nose, sending him back about three feet as I burst in.

“Alright, hold it!” I announce, pointing my gun at the biggest guy in the room.

Two more goons are sitting in chairs in front of the couch, facing me. The heads of Sophie and two other are lined up in a row on the couch with their backs to me.

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