“Someday perhaps we’ll be able to return,” he said. “But for now, things are—complicated.”
“Yeah,” Betsy agreed. “Very complicated.”
“Let’s get some sleep,” he suggested, and that’s exactly what they did.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The following day, both Betsy and Gabriel were expected to pay a visit to Lupo, and they decided to do it together. Rico drove them there, of course, and the three of them stood waiting to be noticed as the man took his time eating his late breakfast.
“It’s been over an hour already,” Betsy whispered irritably. “How much food can one man eat?”
“I heard that,” Lupo said from where he sat at his table.
“So sorry, Signore,” she said with very little sincerity.
“Andare, let us discuss business, and then I will continue to eat at my leisure.”
“Wow!” Betsy mouthed at her companions, who both had to suppress their laughter over the look on her face. The three of them stepped further into the cavern and stood before Lupo, one man to either side of the much shorter woman. They had no idea what the crime lord intended to tell them to do next.
“The three of you are a bit of an enigma for me,” said Lupo as he dabbed at his lips. “I sometimes think I should have simply let the Alphas take you when you were running from them last year. But, as Betsy has proved a useful courier and she seems to enjoy writing checks, I suppose it won’t be a bad idea to keep you around a little longer.”
“Yes, Signore Lupo,” they said in unison.
“I have figured out what to do with the woman. But, what to do with the two men?” he continued as he got to his feet. “I thought I would let the two of you take part in the shipping operation, but I can see that Gabriel and Lucretia would never get along well enough to get anything meaningful done, and it doesn’t help that everyone on her crew would like to see you all dead. So, I believe the best place for you two may be out on the streets, hitting up businesses for protection money. After all, that seems to be something Gabriel excelled at back in Las Vegas. Isn’t that right, Gabriel?”
“Yes, Signore,” he answered nervously. “It was easily done in that environment, as I’m sure you must know.”
“Good, it’s settled then,” he said with a clap of his hands. “You and the small crew I gave you will begin hitting up local businesses starting tomorrow. I’ll expect you to bring me ten thousand dollars a day.”
“Ten thousand a day?” Gabriel gasped.
“You don’t think you could do it?” asked Lupo with a smirk just touching his lips.
“Of course, Signore, it will be done,” Gabriel answered, looking down at his hands and biting the inside of his cheek to keep from saying anything more.
“Good,” he said as he sat down and began to eat again. “Now get out of my sight, all of you, before I change my mind.”
“Yes, Signore,” they all answered, and quickly headed out of the cavern and back into the lift that had brought them down to the underground dwelling.
They knew better than to discuss the interaction they’d just had while they were in Lupo’s building, or any other building or vehicle they usually frequented. It was pretty much standard procedure to expect such places to be bugged, either by the Feds or by Lupo himself. So they waited until they were outside before any of them spoke.
“Ten thousand a day from this place?” Gabriel grumbled. “He must be delusional. I could see it if we were in Vegas, but around here there’s not a lot of money to be had.”
“Maybe, but he didn’t exactly say we had to stick to just this area,” Rico pointed out. “Find the right business and extort more than we need in a day from them, then just deliver the amount he asked for each day, and it’ll keep him happy.”
“Why do that?”
“Because if we go get thirty big ones and hand it to him, he’ll expect us to keep doing that each day instead,” Rico pointed out.
“Okay, then what business do you have in mind?”
“As to that, what if I were to tell you that I know where we could lay our hands on five hundred thousand dollars right now?” said Rico with a smirk. “If we invested some of it into a black market scam, we could give Lupo the amount he wants each day and he’d be none the wiser. All we’d have to do then is just hit a few businesses up to look like we’re doing what he wants, and never give him larger sums than he asked for to keep him from thinking we could give him even more.”
“You two are insane,” Betsy mentioned. “Just how long do you think you could keep that up? Plus, who knows what Lupo’s going to ask us to do next? No, I just wish there was some way we could get ourselves out of his clutches completely. Too bad we didn’t touch that stupid old amulet as well, then the Alphas would be no stronger than we are, and they would no longer be a threat.”
Both of the men stared at her as if she were some sort of snake that had slithered out of the lawn. Almost at the same time they stopped staring at her with their mouths hanging wide open and looked at each other instead.
“Did your wife just call us insane and suggest we touch the Amulet of Fenrir in the same sentence?” Rico wanted to know.
Gabriel grinned indulgently as he replied, “I believe she did.”
“Okay, so it’s a crazy idea,” she grumbled. “Just wishful thinking.”
“Rico, you wouldn’t happen to know where the Alphas might keep that thing, would you?” Gabriel asked. “You did work with them for a time.”
“I saw it before, once,” he admitted. “Fascinating object, really. They had it in a glass case in one of the subterranean caves.”
“Caves?” Betsy repeated. “These people have caves?”
“Yeah, the Alphas live underground,” Gabriel told her. “Nobody knows exactly how many of them there really are, as a result. The current estimate is about a hundred, but there could easily be more since they are created rather than born.”
“Where are these caves located?” Betsy wanted to know.
“Oh, they span most of the city as far as I know,” Rico chimed in. “They connect to the caverns under Lupo’s place, though. I know that much, since that’s where we went to get to them before.”
“Well, as fascinating a topic as the caves may be, we cannot linger here right now to discuss them,” Gabriel pointed out. “Rico, I’d like you to discreetly try to find out more about the whereabouts of that amulet now. The thought bears investigation, at least.”
“You mean you think we could actually manage to get down there and touch that thing?” Rico asked incredulously. “Now there’s a crazy thought.”
“I said it bears investigation,” Gabriel repeated. “It’s not like we’re going to try to steal it. Just sneak in, touch the thing, and sneak out again. Instant immortals. See what you can find out—even if you have to sweet-talk Lucretia to do it.”
Rico shuddered. “No, I’m sure I won’t need to do that, boss,” he said. “But consider the task done.”
*
Thanks to Rico’s hidden funds, Gabriel didn’t have to worry about finding ten thousand dollars for Lupo the first couple of days, but he did take the time to familiarize himself with what local businesses might be able to provide such funds in the future, and he even paid a personal visit to one or two of the most promising just to look around. Since nobody around here knew who he was yet, it was easy to simply act like a customer and observe the places without unduly disturbing them.
In one of the places, a hard-nosed man behind the counter snapped at every customer he saw, and the clients tended to quickly purchase their goods and get out. Gabriel thought he’d have no problem with putting the guy in his place. But in the second business, the place was run by an elderly oriental couple, and he knew they couldn’t possibly afford to pay him ten thousand a month. They’d probably be lucky to survive if he extorted five. He decided not to trouble them unless it became absolutely necessary.
When he told Rico about this, the other man shook hi
s head. “You are definitely not in the right line of work, boss. You can’t be worried about how what we do affects people all the time. Like I said, I think we should invest this money somewhere else and make it grow. All Lupo really cares about is getting paid.”
“Do it, then,” said Gabriel with a sigh as he sat forward in the back seat of the car. “But if I do approach them, I won’t ask for more than three thousand. We can make up some of their portion using other places.”
“All we need are about two or three businesses per day, hit them each up once a month,” said Rico with a smirk. “No problem.”
“No problem?” Gabriel repeated. “You are aware we’re talking about fifty thriving businesses we don’t want to make go broke, right? We can’t hit up some nickel-and-dime store and demand half the profit and expect it to still be there to hit again. This place is nothing compared to Vegas. Over there, it was a small matter of visiting the casinos once in a while and collecting payment. We hardly even had to enforce it since it was well understood that if we weren’t hitting them, someone else would. Out here, we’re going to need a bigger crew just to keep enough men on the streets to do the enforcing. Especially if those damned Alphas decide to make us actually do some protecting.”
“That reminds me, here’s that list of businesses you wanted, showing where the Alphas are already extorting,” said Rico, handing back a piece of yellow notebook paper with a bunch of names scrawled onto it.
“Great, there goes over half of my prospects,” Gabriel grumbled. “They’ve got this whole city sealed up tight as a drum. Lupo must have known that when he gave us the job.”
“I’m sure he did,” Rico agreed. “Well, where to next, boss?”
“I suppose we’ll need to hit the market, see what you can do with your cash,” Gabriel conceded tiredly. “Maybe we’ll hit the big time and be able to just sneak off to some exotic country to hide out for a century or something. Assuming Lupo let us get away with it.”
Rico chuckled. “Okay, boss, we can go if you like, but I don’t know how Betsy’s going to take it when you and I leave her alone with the kid.”
“Very funny. Just drive, Rico,” he practically snarled. “I am going to take a nap.”
“Sure thing, boss,” he agreed.
Rico thought it was just as well that Gabriel slept, and didn’t know what sort of a deal he was making on his cell phone. He knew Gabriel had never really liked the idea of trafficking illegal arms, and it was doubtful he’d want to know they were about to come into possession of a large shipment of such goods.
He had a buyer lined up almost as fast as he’d made the purchase, and now it was just a small matter of transferring all the funds and making certain someone got the goods to the buyer, all of which he did while they drove through Central Park and parked in one of its most picturesque areas.
Gabriel awoke to the scene of a fountain beside which Rico was sitting. His cell phone was on his ear, but his eyes were on a circle of small children who were tossing bread crumbs and potato chips down for the birds to eat. He stretched and got out of the car, striding over to his driver.
“So, what’s happening?” he inquired as he stretched and sat down beside him.
“We now have over a million dollars in a Swiss account,” Rico announced with a smirk.
“I’m not even going to ask how that happened,” Gabriel decided as he scooted further back on the concrete lip surrounding the edges of the fountain’s pool of water. He dipped in a finger and swirled it around. “Betsy left me a message saying she’s gone out jewelry shopping. Lupo ought to like that. He always seems to get a better payout than most when he resells the stuff.”
“Betsy ought to think about keeping some of the jewelry for herself,” Rico pointed out. “It would look suspicious if they observed her buying so much jewelry, and checked and discovered she owns hardly any at all.”
“Is this what you do all day, Rico?” asked Gabriel as he sat back to glare at the man.
“What’s that, boss?” asked Rico innocently.
“Figure out what all of us should be doing so we don’t look bad to Lupo, or to the cops, or to the government, or whoever else might be watching? It is somehow most unsettling.”
“Somebody needs to be doing it,” he excused himself. “Just because we’re werewolves doesn’t mean they won’t arrest us. They’re onto us werewolves big time, and you know it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be lethally injected with silver solution like I’ve heard they do. Hell, it hurts enough from just barely touching the stuff.”
“I believe they knock you out before they administer the silver,” Gabriel mentioned. “Still, I must agree with you. I have no desire to suffer such a death, either.”
“I wonder if anybody ever tried to inject an Alpha,” Rico said then.
“It wouldn’t work,” Gabriel commented. “They become immune to the effects of silver when they become Alphas. It’s part of the process.”
“Yes, but there must be something that could be used to kill them,” Rico persisted. “I wonder what metal Gordral’s lance is made of.”
While they were talking, Gabriel’s cell phone went off, and he scowled. “I suppose Lupo is looking for his money. Do we have any cash on hand to give him?”
“We’ll have to go to my stash and get it,” Rico said. “Now remember boss, only three people know about this place at the moment. Me and the two guys I hired to put it there. One of them should have been there a bit earlier to get money for my recent transactions, and he should be delivering the proceeds directly. You can’t mention this place to anybody, not even to Betsy.”
“Rico, you and I have always trusted each other,” Gabriel admonished him. “You are more than a brother to me. I assure you, no one will find out about this place from me.”
“Shake on it,” said Rico, extending his hand. Gabriel willingly offered his own, and the two men shook on it before they returned to the car.
While Rico drove south, Gabriel answered his cell. “Yes, hello, it will take us about an hour to get back to you, Signore. We are in the middle of obtaining your funds for the day right now. If all goes well, it should not take long. Impressive? No, Signore, it has been difficult, but we have managed to get it done. See you soon.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Gabriel was exhausted with all the time he’d invested in keeping Lupo happy over the last few weeks. As a werewolf, of course, the exhaustion was much more mental than it was physical, since his body possessed superior strength and endurance, but he was fairly certain had he still been an average human that he never would have made it up the stairs and through his front door each night.
On this night in particular, Betsy was fast asleep as he stepped into the bedroom looking for her. She had gotten comfortable by grabbing his pillow and hugging it the way she normally hugged him and this made him chuckle.
He slid his shirt off over his head and set it on a nearby chair, slipped off his loafers, and then crawled into the bed beside her. When he kissed the top of her head, Betsy stretched and opened her eyes.
“Mmm, you’re finally home,” she said sleepily as she rolled towards him and laced her fingers with his. “What took you so long?”
“Lupo sent me out on another mission since we did so well getting his ten thousand dollars today,” Gabriel grumbled. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to deliver the full amount each day. He might figure it out.”
Betsy sighed, “He was pretty impressed with some of the jewelry I managed to get today as well. He even decided to keep some wolf’s head ring for himself. But tomorrow isn’t going to be quite so easy. He wants me to try to start a new account in some bank where they supposedly don’t particularly care how the money was made. I’m kind of nervous about it, to tell the truth.”
“I wish you didn’t have to be involved in any of this business,” Gabriel said apologetically. “When we were married, it was never my intention that you would have anything to do with the mob or
their dirty work. You know this.”
“Gabriel, I don’t care about doing the dirty work,” she said, taking his face into her hands and drawing him down for a kiss. “I would do anything for you. Anything at all.”
“But the baby,” he persisted. “This isn’t what we want for our child. We can’t continue on like this, Betsy. The sooner Rico can find a way into the caves and locate the amulet, the better I will feel.”
“You really are tired, Gabriel,” she said with a finger to her lips. “You know that the walls have ears around here. We can talk about all of this another time. I can think of better things to do in our bedroom than worry about all of that.”
“What did you have in mind?” he asked with a smirk.
“Chocolate ice cream?” she asked hopefully.
Gabriel laughed, “Mi amore, you are not even that far along to be getting such cravings.”
“Maybe I’m practicing,” she suggested with a grin. “Plus, it’s already in the fridge so you won’t even have to go buy it in the middle of the night. I’m going easy on you this time.”
“I thank you for your consideration, my wife,” he chuckled as he got out of the bed and headed for the kitchen. Someone was waiting for him in the dark.
“Who’s there?” he growled, ready for a fight.
“It’s just me, Gabriel,” said Lucretia in an annoyed tone.
“What the hell are you doing in my living room?” he demanded as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. She was not the least bit intimidated.
“You left this in the car,” she said, handing him his wallet. “I thought you probably would need it tomorrow.”
“You’re probably right,” he agreed as he allowed her to set it in his hand.
“Sorry again for the flat tire,” she said. “That’s the second time this week I’ve damaged your vehicle. Maybe the third time will be a charm? Well, have fun fattening up your wife.”
Gabriel refrained from saying anything to Lucretia about the baby. The last thing he needed to do was give her any kind of ammunition to use against them. Instead, he said, “Well, thank you. Hopefully we won’t get stuck on another mission tomorrow.”
The Real Italian Alphas Page 9
