by Hamel, B. B.
“I’m not a fucking bus driver,” he grunted.
“Please. Do this, and then I will help you.”
“Fine. Send the locations.”
“Thank you, Brooks.”
The phone hung up. He shook his head and looked at me. “I trust them now, but I don’t like them.”
“I don’t blame you,” I admitted, “but we have to drop them off.”
“Yeah,” he said, “we do.” His phone buzzed and he passed it off to me. “Get us here while I help the girls.”
I nodded and took the phone. The GPS application was already running, and a blue line stretched along a small map, showing me exactly where I needed to go.
I followed the GPS through quiet suburban streets. It was late and there weren’t any other cars on the road, but the streetlights were on and helped guide the way. I was exhausted, but there was an edge of adrenaline still jolting through my veins, keeping me awake and alert.
It took us about ten minutes to get to the hospital. I slowly pulled up the driveway toward the emergency room.
Brooks helped the girl up front. She’d been shot in the stomach, and blood was slowly dripping down from the bandage he had shoved against the wound.
“She doesn’t speak English,” he said to me, frowning, “but this is going to have to be good enough. Pull up here, open the door, and as soon as she’s out, you have to drive away.”
“Can’t we make sure she gets in?”
“Absolutely not. They have cameras all over the place.”
I hated this, but I knew he was right. I pulled up out front of the emergency room and Brooks whispered something to the girl. She seemed to understand and nodded.
I opened the doors and Brooks gently helped the girl down the stairs. As soon as she hit the ground, Brooks closed the doors.
“Go,” he said, his face calm.
I hated it, but I pulled away. The last time I ever saw that girl was in the rearview mirror. She watched us drive off, a sad look on her face.
“Come on,” he said, “we have to focus. Where’s the next place?”
I turned out from the hospital and checked the phone. It was already guiding me to a new destination. “Somewhere in the city,” I said.
“Let me drive. You should rest.”
“No,” I said. “I’m good.”
He grinned at me and sat down in the seat behind me, sighing. “How long?”
“Forty minutes, looks like.”
“Okay then.” He leaned back and sighed. “This is what this sort of work is, mostly.”
“What, running through a burning forest?”
“No,” he said softly. “Making hard choices between long stretches of boredom.”
I nodded. “I get that.”
“Leaving her wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the right one.”
“I know.”
“I want you to understand that. Maybe one day in the future you might wonder about her, but you need to remind yourself that you made the right choice today in leaving her behind.”
I nodded but didn’t answer. He was looking out the window, a serious expression on his face.
He was right. I was already having second thoughts about leaving her there, but I knew this was the right thing. They could save her life at the hospital, and we couldn’t risk everyone else for her. It was hard enough getting her there and leaving her without someone staying behind.
Besides, most of these girls were here illegally. They’d be thrown out of the country as soon as the police found them, though that would be a good thing compared to what the mafia would do to them if they got to them first.
No, this was the right choice. Like Brooks said, it was the hard choice, but it was the right one. I couldn’t start to second-guess myself.
I wished I could go back with him, press myself against his body, and feel his strength. I needed some of that strength in me, needed some of his cocky smile and his confidence.
But tonight, I had to be the source of my own strength. After what I went through, I was beginning to believe that I could make it through anything. I survived my father, I survived his killers, and I survived that house.
I was a survivor. I had to keep going.
* * *
The drive went relatively fast. Once we were in Chicago again, we had to be pretty careful. We were driving around in a small school bus full of illegal girls, most of them with small injuries. We were about as conspicuous as it got.
But we reached the safe house without any issues. It was a small place tucked in the back corner of a quiet residential neighborhood in a very nice part of town. The streets were all clean, the lights were all working, and the homes were nicely manicured. It was essentially the opposite of my own neighborhood. These houses were worth millions of dollars, at least.
I stopped outside the place. Brooks stood next to me. “You sure?”
“Look.” I showed him the phone. “See? This is the place.”
“Nice fucking neighborhood,” he said. “Stay here.” He climbed off the bus.
I watched as he walked up the stoop and rang the bell. He’d left his rifle behind, but I knew he at least had his knife. The door opened and he stepped inside.
He was gone for a few nerve-wracking minutes. The girls were looking around like frightened birds, and I smiled at them to try to calm them down. That probably just looked creepy, though, since they couldn’t really understand me. One managed to smile back weakly, which gave me hope.
Brooks came back out a minute later. He marched to the bus and opened the door. “Let’s go, ladies,” he said.
I stood up. “This is it?”
“Sure is. Get them in there.”
“Come on,” I said, gesturing. “Come on. Let’s go.”
The girls slowly got up and followed. We were a sorry-looking bunch of half-starved sex slaves, ex-junkies, and beat-up humans, but we were all survivors.
The girls walked up the steps and slowly filed into the house. I went to follow, but Brooks held me back. “We stay here,” he said.
“What?”
“We have one more stop to make.”
“Why?”
He smiled. “Just wait.”
Once the last girl was in, the door shut. We stood there together in silence, listening to the night’s quiet deepen around us. It felt strange just standing there, but I trusted Brooks more than ever.
Soon, the door opened again.
Louisa Barone stepped out.
“Thanks for coming,” she said.
Brooks nodded. “As you instructed.”
“Hi, Emma,” Louisa said, smiling at me. “I’m glad you made it.”
“Me too. Thanks for helping us.”
She shook her head and leaned up against the door. “No. I should thank you. I’m sorry this happened. Someone must have talked and given away our locations. Whoever it was will be found and dealt with.”
“I don’t care about your internal troubles, Louisa,” Brooks cut in. “I need to know what you plan on doing for us before we walk away from this forever.”
“Well, Brooks, it’s simple. I want you to come to the compound.”
He stared at her silently for a second. “You’re fucking joking, right?”
“I’m not joking.”
“What’s the compound?” I asked.
“It’s what we call the Barone family mansion,” Brooks said. “It’s like the mafia’s fucking home base. It’s the last place we’d ever want to be.”
“It’s the safest place, actually,” Louisa said. “Just listen. Nobody knows what Emma looks like except for Dante. After we took you from the museum, we went to your apartment and cleaned it top to bottom. There’s no trace of Abram in there.”
“So why not let us go?” Brooks asked.
“Dante is still suspicious,” Louisa said. “I can’t just kill him, though. He’s too important.”
“So why would we go to the compound?”
“Gian left a message
for you, which I intercepted. He wants a meeting.”
“About what?”
“He didn’t say, but I suspect he wants to promote you.”
Brooks went quiet, his expression intense. Louisa stared at him, unblinking. Finally, he spoke.
“You’re up to something,” he said slowly. “I believe you have good intentions for this city, but I think you’re a liar, and I don’t trust you.”
She smiled. “Good. That’s healthy.” Louisa looked at me. “What about you, Emma?”
“I trust you,” I said, surprised. “I don’t know why, but I do.”
She looked back at Brooks. “Come to the compound. From there, I can provide you with money, documents, anything you need to escape. Meet with Gian, find out what he wants, and then the two of you can escape the city if that’s what you want.”
Brooks shook his head. “I don’t fucking like this.”
“So long as Dante doesn’t know where you are, you’re safe,” Louisa said. “Talk it over and decide soon.” She disappeared back into the house without another word.
Brooks turned to me, frowning. “I know what you’re going to say, but listen. We don’t know Louisa. Going to the compound sounds like a really, really bad idea to me.”
“I want to go,” I said. “If she wanted us dead, we’d be dead.”
“Maybe. Or maybe she wants something from me still. You’ve seen how much power that girl has.”
“I trust her, Brooks.”
He clenched his jaw. “You’re making a mistake. You can’t just trust people.”
“Like I trust you?”
“Yes, like you trust me.” He sighed, crossing his arms. “We can’t keep having this fucking fight.”
“You’re right. Maybe you should trust me the same way I trust you.”
“That’s not the same.”
“Isn’t it?”
“I have more experience with this, Emma. I know how these people work, how this sort of thing happens. And I can promise you, we’re far from the fucking norm here.”
“Nothing in my life is ever normal, Brooks. I’m going with Louisa.”
He went silent again and looked out over the neighborhood. I watched as he slowly relaxed and uncrossed his arms. “I used to hate neighborhoods like this,” he said finally.
“Why?”
“So much money here. All this money could help everyone else. It’s part of why I became the man I am today. I wanted to punish people like this. I thought becoming a hit man for the mob would let me give out some kind of justice.”
“And did it?” I asked him softly.
“No,” he said, looking at me. “There’s no justice left in this world. Being a hit man was all about the fucking money.” He sighed and shook his head. “We’ll go to the compound if that’s what you want.”
“You don’t have to go,” I said.
“I’m not walking away from you.”
I was surprised by the way he was looking at me.
Louisa opened the door and stepped out. “Decided?” she asked.
“We’re coming,” Brooks said.
“Good. There’s a car out back. Come on through.”
Brooks gave me a long look as I went and followed Louisa inside. He came after us, bringing up the rear. The door shut behind him.
I didn’t know what was going to happen from here. I had no clue if I was making a horrible mistake or if I was doing the right thing, but something drew me to Louisa. The way her fighters had seemed so willing to die to save their girls made me feel like I could trust her.
Louisa Barone was a fascinating person. The daughter of her enemy, nobody knew who she was or what she did. Brooks made it seem like she lived right under their noses, and they had no clue that she was running a serious organization.
It didn’t matter, though. I was putting my trust in her, and Brooks seemed to be putting his trust in me. That was going to have to be enough.
21
Brooks
I’d only ever been to the compound once before.
It was early on in my career. I was shocked by its size and even more shocked by the way they displayed their wealth. Years later, walking in through the back door with Louisa and Emma, I was equally shocked.
The Barone compound was really a large mansion surrounded by several acres of land. There were horse stables, hiking trails, a beautiful, large pool, and more. The house itself was basically a large hotel, with hundreds of different rooms, a full-time staff, cleaning crews, an enormous kitchen, and much more. The main bosses all lived in the mansion, and other important people came and went.
I looked around in awe as we moved through the lavish halls. I was exhausted, running on barely any sleep. The sun was coming up and the house was slowly waking, but most people ignored us as we walked down the carpeted halls.
There was expensive art on the walls, beautiful plants, and statues everywhere. It looked like a five-star hotel had bought a museum and fused the two together. It was incredible, and I guessed that the hallway we walked down contained a million dollars’ worth of art alone.
“You two will stay near my room,” Louisa said. “I promise not to spy.”
“I’m sure,” I said. “Your family is likely watching everything we say and do anyway.”
“Actually, they are,” she said. “But I’ll keep your room protected.”
“You can do that?” Emma asked.
Louisa smiled. “I’m daddy’s baby daughter. He lets me do whatever I want.”
“Like attack his people and steal his women?”
“Not exactly that.” Louisa stopped outside a door. “Here we are. Normally you’re supposed to check in and get cleared with security, but we’re bypassing all that.” She swiped a card through the door’s magnetic lock, and it swung open.
We stepped inside. It was massive and gorgeous, bigger than my apartment. We entered into a living room area, complete with couches and chairs. Off to one side was a small kitchen area with a table, plus another room in the back.
“Bedroom, bathroom, everything you need,” Louisa said. “Call and order food if you want. Brooks, you need to be awake at four this afternoon for your meeting.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Emma asked.
“Relax. Explore. Doesn’t matter.” Lou smiled. “Come visit me if you want. I’m directly above you.”
“Okay,” Emma said. “Thanks.”
“See you soon.” She put two cards down on the coffee table. Then she left the room. The door clicked shut behind her.
“Holy shit,” Emma said, collapsing onto the couch. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”
“I’ve been here before,” I said, “but no. I’ve never seen these rooms.”
“This is like an incredibly nice hotel, like something you’d see on TV.”
“Except this place is incredibly dangerous.” I collapsed into the chair across from Emma. “Are you sure about this? We can still get the fuck out of here.”
“Stop, Brooks,” she said, rubbing her temples. “I trust her. You should trust me.”
“Trusting you isn’t a part of this.” I stood up, annoyed that she wasn’t listening.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Looking around. I want to get a feel for this place before we commit ourselves further.”
“Fine. Do what you want. I’m sleeping.” She stretched out on the couch.
I stared at her for a second before grabbing a key card and heading toward the door.
I shouldn’t have been angry at her. I knew it was stupid for something to come down between us, but I couldn’t help myself. I felt like we were slowly getting further and further away from where we needed to be, which was as far from the Barone family as possible.
And yet I was wandering around the mansion’s hallways, ignored by everyone around me as if I belonged. As I moved, I made note of the layout of the mansion, and slowly I realized that the place wasn’t built in any sort of logical
sequence.
In fact, it seemed like it had been purposefully designed to be as confusing as possible. I was willing to bet that was a defensive function, meant to confuse anybody who was an outsider. That was going to make navigating the place much more difficult, but not impossible.
As I moved through the hallways, I took note of the cameras and the staff. They looked like normal hotel staff, but some of the men were definitely carrying weapons. I guessed they were guards, meant to look like they were just normal cleaning staff.
This place was much more than it seemed. On the outside, to the casual, untrained eye, the Barone mansion was a lavish hotel meant to show their wealth. And in truth, it was that. But it was also the home of a very dangerous and powerful gangster, a man with many enemies. Ever since the mafia and the Russian mob went to war, I was willing to bet the compound had been on high alert.
Which meant that there were more eyes around. Louisa may have been powerful in her own way, but maybe she was a little blind to her own family. She was so used to living invisibly inside their walls, so used to moving around the way she wanted to, that she forgot how it could be for a stranger coming into the compound. I was sure that multiple people were watching me every single step I took, whether they were watching through cameras or watching from the shadows.
It was an eerie feeling, and it only made me feel surer that we were making a mistake. But it was too late. We had committed to this plan. I’d been seen, so I was sure Gian knew I had come for the meeting. I couldn’t back down anymore.
As I kept moving through the mansion, I came to a more populated area. I saw more and more guys I recognized, other thugs and goons from the mafia. I guessed that these were the guest quarters, meant for thugs within the organization. There wasn’t as much gilt and as many expensive paintings all over the place, which suggested that the Barones were less interested in impressing their own workers.
As I turned a corner, I heard a familiar voice and stopped short. “Brooks!”
I turned around and saw Rice standing there, smirking at me. “Rice,” I said, nodding.
He walked over to me and we shook hands. He was a few inches shorter than me, though incredibly stocky. Rice was another hit man in the mob, a man I’d worked with numerous times over the years. He was brutal but efficient, and he was one of the better hit men. He was also much older than I was and had been doing this job for many years.
