Page 41 of Operation Wolf: Eli
“All right,” Gunner finally said with a shrug. “So, just one target, then. Olivia Giordano.” He picked up a photograph of her, and I was relieved to see it was a photo of her smiling rather than one of the photos the Outfit had left. “According to this letter,” he said, picking up a creased piece of paper covered in bold type, “they’re holding her at a warehouse on 35th and Halsted.”
“Let me see that.” Scowling, I snatched the letter from Gunner and quickly scanned it. “This doesn’t seem right,” I muttered, scratching my head with one hand. “Let me see those photos again.”
“Are you sure?” Ian asked.
“Yes, damn it.” I held my hand out impatiently until Ian passed me the photo of Olivia tied to a chair. “The floor,” I said finally, pointing to the sliver of wooden flooring peeking out from the edge of the photo. “There’s no wooden flooring in the Halsted warehouse.”
“How do you know that?” Gunner asked.
“I’ve been there,” I said, tossing the photo back onto the table. Ian picked it up with a frown. “The Outfit uses the Halsted warehouse mainly for storing illicit shipments—weapons, drugs, et cetera—and I’ve had to do pick-ups as well as drop-offs in the past. The whole place is steel and concrete. No wooden flooring.”
“Well, he didn’t say they were keeping Olivia at the warehouse,” Gunner pointed out. “Just that they would make the exchange there.”
“Yeah, but I believe they meant for me to think she was there,” I explained. “This whole thing is just one big operation to make sure I get fucked.”
Gunner’s eyebrows furrowed. “Okay, fine, but how does this help us? Unless you know where—”
“Hey . . . I think I know where this place is,” Ian interrupted, his eyes glowing with excitement. He held up the photograph, jabbing at it with his pointer finger as he practically bounced up and down. “I think I came up here once, back in the old days, to help unload a truckful of stolen weapons.”
“Really?” Hope lightened my heart a little. “Where is it?”
“Just a few blocks west of the Halsted warehouse.” Ian pointed to the map we had spread out on the table. “It’s on 43rd and Ashland.”
“Well, that makes our job a whole lot easier,” Matt commented, speaking for the first time since I had entered the room. He was the strong, silent type who rarely spoke, so everyone looked up at him. “Why don’t we just go ahead and snatch your girl from the other warehouse and get the fuck out of Dodge? Way easier than having to fight our way out of an ambush.”
“She’s probably heavily guarded,” Hunter warned. “I sure as hell wouldn’t leave her lying around unprotected if she were my hostage.”
“What if you called them and told them you’d meet them at Halsted instead?” Jordan piped up. “You’d go—of course, along with some of us as backup—and the rest of us would go and rescue Olivia.”
“No,” I growled. “I want to be there.”
“That’s a stupid idea, and you know it,” Hunter drawled with a scowl. “Just because you want to swoop in and rescue your woman doesn’t mean that’s the best way for things to go down.”
“What Hunter is trying to say is,” Gunner explained patiently, putting a restraining hand on my shoulder before I could launch myself at Hunter, “it would tip Carideo off if you didn’t show up to the exchange, if one of us tried to show up in your stead. For your girlfriend’s sake, it would be a hell of a lot safer if a few of us just went and grabbed her and then met up with you.”
I sighed. “Fine. But we’re going to need a better plan than me just walking into an ambush while someone else goes gallivanting off with Olivia.”
Gunner grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.”
And he laid out the plan.
