Page 166 of The Slayer
“I don’t like to watch,” Nova argued. “I don’t forget shit, Chuito.”
“I learned this from you,” Chuito reminded him.
“I’ve never actually done it,” Nova choked. “And we’re on a time restraint.”
“Don’t let me stop you.” Chuito looked over to the Russians, who were staring at Angel with a look of horror. “Tell me when you’re done with them, ’cause I’m not drawing straws. I get to watch all of them suffer. I deserve it.”
They were all silent for a long time after that, while Chuito just sat there, his gun pointed at Angel’s crotch as he stared at his face, daring him to try and take the sock out.
“I should shoot you again for talking about raping my mother,” Chuito said as he raised his eyebrows at Angel, who choked on another scream and tried to scoot away from Chuito. “Nope.” Chuito shook his head. “Move and I will do it. Lie there and fucking die for me while I watch.”
“Okay,” Tino cut in at that. “This is much more disturbing in person than I thought it was going to be. I mean, I knew you were vindictive, but Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Important note, never fuck with a Puerto Rican’s woman. Holy shit. Oh, but wait,” Tino said thoughtfully. “You two are sorta guilty of that, aren’t you? I think you were going upstairs to rape her, weren’t you?”
“No.” The Russian Alaine shot suddenly found his voice. “I wasn’t.”
“I think you were,” Tino argued. “In fact, we have video of it. Shall we watch it together? Sorta a distraction against this motherfucker dying a slow, painful death. I know I could use a distraction, and my brother hasn’t even seen the video yet. Would it upset you, Chu?” Tino asked lightly. “Watching that? We’d hate to upset you, ’cause we can all see that’s bad for any man’s sexual health.”
“What do you want to know?” the first Russian asked, his voice tight but quivering in a way it hadn’t before. “You’re going to kill us anyway.”
“Yes.” Tino’s voice became as cold and icy as his brother’s had earlier. “We’re definitely killing you, but we’re reasonable. So here’s my deal. Give my brother the information he needs, and I’ll make it quick. You won’t even feel yourself hit the ground.”
“Bullshit, Tino!” Chuito growled at him. “I get this. From all of them! I earned it! Fuck the heat. I’ll sit here and watch them all die like this, and I’ll spend the rest of my days rotting away in prison happy as fuck about it.”
“Aldo,” the first Russian said without hesitating. “That’s his name.”
“What?” Nova sounded so shocked Chuito turned around to see that all color had drained from Nova’s face. “You’re fucking with me.”
“Why would we fuck with you? We have no loyalty to the Italians. Our boss, he made a deal with Aldo. We kill you; he gives him free rein of the arms trade in New York and Miami. It was a valuable deal for our organization. You dying must have been important to him.”
“Who’s your boss?”
“Nikolai Aristov.”
Tino looked to Nova. His eyes were also wide as he asked, “Is he in bed with Aristov right now?”
“Currently, yes.” Nova turned back to the Russians again. “Aldo Moretti. That’s who hired you to kill me?”
The Russian nodded. “Da.”
“That can’t be right,” Tino argued and pointed his gun at the Russian. “Aldo is our grandfather.”
The Russian shrugged, completely fearless in the face of death. “You must have pissed him off, then, huh, comrade?”
“He wanted it to be the Russians,” Nova whispered almost to himself. “Turf bullshit over this motherfucker.” He gestured to Angel. “That wouldn’t be his fault. This was my deal. His hands would be clean. No one would think to blame him. Cazzo.”
“Is this true?” Tino asked him in wild disbelief. “Does the old man want you dead?”
“Apparently.” Nova still sounded dazed as he looked back to the door a sea of Moretti soldiers had just walked out of. “Merda, Tino, I did this. I gave the old man the fucking address. He asked, and I told him. I was gonna call him every hour or so to check in, and he was gonna send backup if I didn’t answer.”
“Yeah, but he knew I was here,” Tino argued. “He knows if they’re gonna come at you, I’ll kill a thousand Russians to stop it.”
“I didn’t tell him.” Nova let out a bitter laugh. “I didn’t want him to know about this clusterfuck. I told him it was business with the Puerto Ricans.” He turned back to the Russians. “What information did he want? Tino said you needed information from me?”
The Russian crew leader laughed. “Why should we tell you?”
“Chuito.” Nova tilted his head at the Russians. “If you don’t mind.”
Chuito pulled off his other shoe and was tugging his sock free from his foot when the other Russian answered for his boss, “Bank account passwords. All the numbers. He needed a list of all the accounts too.”
