Page 29 of Iron Cross

But maybe I had to find out.

Chapter nine

A Snow Day

Eoghan

“Your hobbies are starting to be concerning,” Shiny said, as she sharpened the blade in her hand. “The amount of glee you take at the prospect of killing this guy is just… macabre.”

Dairo and I had carved her a pair of blades like ours, a declaration that she was like a sister to us. A pair of simple, carved iron blades with her new initials on the handle - SFL. Sinead Flanagan LeBlanc.

Luck and fates were on our side again. The familiar Bugatti, belonging to a member of Durante’s extended family, was bumping obnoxiously down the winding country road, crossingour path at the one gas station that stood between Mourningkill, New York and Hollowbrook, Massachusetts.

Hollowbrook. The place that Sinead had last seen my wife and child. A place that, according to her, was still her known residence.

“Oh, come on,” I said with a chuckle. “These mafiosos spend too much time watching movies, and not enough time learning tactics. They’re practically asking for it.”

My delight in their ineptitude knew no bounds. My heart was light and my family was near. I was doing what I should have always been… protecting them.

“Tactics you learned from Dairo,” she snipped.

Dairo had joined the British SAS. Shiny had joined the Army and her man was a Navy SEAL. All came with skills that had been foreign to Green Fields Enterprises, and I was not above exploiting their occupational detours for my own benefit.

“Don’t tell me he’s your favorite,” I said, punching her in the arm.

“Hey!” she said, rubbing it facetiously, as if I had hurt her. I hadn’t. “He’s everyone’s favorite.”

“Not Kira’s,” I said with a smile.

Never Kira’s.

Shiny and I had come out here as a pair, with Dairo holding down the fort in my stead. Our footprint was small so we coulddash in and out unnoticed. Not attracting more attention than was required for my upcoming family reunion.

“Good thing we do our homework,” Shiny said. “Memorizing all the Durantes.”

It was her way of giving me a compliment withoutactuallygiving me one.

Green Fields Enterprise soldiers all had to go through academics and tactics. The academics involved the inner workings of the Durante clan, its members, and their vices.

This one was Alfredo Durante, a trust fund kid with minimal ties. His patron, Eugenio Durante, had threatened to cut him off for his useless lifestyle of parties and cars. What was he doing here? If I had to guess, trying to win favor by finding my wife and bringing her to the head honcho himself.

But getting shit faced at all the trendiest bars did not hone his situational awareness as he remained blissfully unaware that we were tailing his sorry arse.

He pulled into a hotel, parked, and placed the phone to his ear. His wing-tipped shoes and expensive t-shirt and sweats were the height of fashion. He had his phone to his ear as he strode inside, spinning his keyes on his finger, blissfully unaware of his surroundings.

“This is going to be so easy, I almost feel bad,” Shiny said, as she put her blade away, grabbed a roll of duct tape, a black bag, flex cuffs, and a gun.

She had a wicked gleam in her eye, and a smile on her lips that must have matched my own.

“You don’t have to come in if you feel bad about it,” I said, checking the pistol in my ankle holster.

“I don’t feelthatbad.”

Who knew that the dear Mafia princess of yesteryear would turn into La Femme Nikita? It was tragic, the circumstances that had chased her away from the family, but now that I saw her, a woman so strong she buried the demons of her past alive - literally - I felt that overwhelming sense of fate again. That this was exactly where I was supposed to be - hunting down the likes of Alfredo Durante with my childhood friend.

“Our little Shiny had such a sadistic streak?” I was proud of her.

That might mean less than nothing to her, but to me, seeing her come into her own was what I had wanted all along - for her, and for me. For us.

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