Page 59 of The Bonventi Hitman
The man grabs the rest from me.
"Is this what you have?"
"Yes," I say hesitantly. "Those are my notes on the Bonventis, the fight with the Russians, the Greeks and Polish input, and a few other things. Oh, and the Russians just took out four Italians yesterday, so all this will be coming to a head soon, I’m sure."
The man scans the notes, and as he does this, I realize I’m still holding onto one of the pages. I fold it up and put it in my pocket.
Jesus, what am I doing?
"Yes, yes, we heard about that. Killed women, right?" the man asks me without looking up.
"Yes, I was shocked when Gab...I mean, Luca told me about it," I say, stuttering.
"Ivan does play like that. Anything else you want to tell me that’s not in these notes? I'll read them fully later and pass them along," he asks, now looking at me with a stern face.
"No, not at this time," I say confidently—or at least I hope I do.
"Okay, listen," the man says, tucking the papers into his apron. "We're getting ready to strike. We'll be moving into position soon. We want to get out in front before the Italians and Russians lay waste to the Chicago streets and innocent people are killed. A few other special agents?—"
"A few others?" I ask, surprised. "Undercover?"
The man nods. "Yes, but that's not important right?—"
"Not important? How many? Are any on the Italian side?"
"I don’t know all the facts. You know how it is—you’re only given what you need and all that. But listen, you need to try and come back in a few days' time with anything else you have."
"What if I can’t come back in a few days?"
"Look," the man says, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "We’ll probably come extract you or something. I don’t know. I don’t have any facts on when the sting will come, but you have a few days—they at least told me that to tell you."
"Who?"
"Agent Harris and Russell."
"Ah, yes, them."
"They have all the details," he says, turning around. "A few days and then, I don’t know, just come back in a few days and be ready for extraction," he says, opening the door and walking out. I’m left standing there with my mind spinning.
A few days? What sting? Extraction? What the hell is happening?
I feel as if the last hold I had on my life just went out the window. Were the FBI just using me? Since there are other agents at play, did they have a plan all this time and just want to see what else they could get?
What. The. Fuck.
I need to collect my thoughts, but I can’t do that standing in the bathroom. Besides, Gabriel is waiting for me.
I walk down the hall and over to the to-go counter and see my flat white with my name on it—Sofia.
I grab it but hesitate. I didn’t even tell him my name.
Of course, he’d know my undercover name. I shake it off and pick it up. I look around the coffee shop, but the man I was talking to is nowhere to be found.
I walk over to the small table where they have packets of sugar, straws, and lids, and I remove the piece of paper I kept from my pocket.
I open it, and scrawled across the top is a name—Gabriel.
It’s everything I have on him. The details of the hit I was at with Luca, any notes I’ve gleaned, all my intel. Enough to put him behind bars for life. Incriminating evidence—and I didn’t hand it over.
