Retaliatory Justice

by Tawa M. Witko

  “Hmmm, well, let’s look at the type of cases he had and see if there is a connection. Clayton, what do you have?”

  “A robbery gone bad over at Sonny’s, the gunman was killed at the scene.”

  “I had a jewelry store heist, nothing was actually stolen and no one was hurt. The owners were out of the country at the time,” Jeff states.

  “Mine was a fire at a restaurant. A gas leak, several people were killed,” Zach informs us.

  “I remember that, that was big news about eight years ago,” Jeff interjects.

  Remembering the charred pendant, I perk up. “Is there a list of who died in that fire?”

  “Hold on, I remember seeing something.” Zach tosses another dumpling in his mouth and goes through his file, pulling out a sheet of paper. “Let’s see, Lenore and Martin Smith, Michael and Judy Shapiro, Jalisa Khaleel, Anthony Mendoza, Jona…”

  “STOP! Hold on a minute, Zach,” I yell.

  In an almost panic, I rush back into the living room and scrounge around until I find what I want. I pick up the necklace, bringing it out to where everyone is and pass it around.

  “My father had this in our safe. Look how charred it is. It was obviously in a fire. It’s also identical to Dominique’s and Dominique said that only the men in the Mubarak family could hand these out. They gave them to their women.”

  “I think you’re on to something, Masterson,” Zach replies with a nod.

  “Khaleel, that’s an Egyptian name, isn’t it?”

  Clayton jumps in. “Yeah, it is.”

  “Okay, so what if this woman was somehow connected to Mubarak, maybe a wife or girlfriend of someone in the family, someone who couldn’t be touched. I’m not sure why she would be there alone, but, if she was connected,” I trail off, trying to piece it all together.

  “I’ll look at the case and see if there is something in that fire that screams Aryana, but let’s assume at the moment it is. They blow up this restaurant to send a message to Mubarak, kill someone they know they shouldn’t,” Jeff starts and then furrows his brow. “But why would Mubarak wait to seek retribution now, and if that was the case, why would they be getting into bed with them?”

  “Maybe they aren’t working with them,” Clayton concludes. “When we saw Komarovski he seemed to imply that we didn’t really know anything. He basically told us that something big was happening.” He shrugs. “We are missing pieces of the puzzle.”

  “It’s possible that the Sicignano killed this woman by mistake, but I doubt it,” I say with a shake of my head. “They don’t do anything by accident. I’m with Clayton, I got the distinct impression when we were at Komarovski’s place that something else is going on. He gave us Mubarak for a reason. We need to look into it further.”

  Everyone mumbles some sort of agreement.

  “Jeff, work with Zach, see what you can find in the pictures and documents. See if you can find Aryana’s signature. This was early on so it might not be as defined as it is now,” I bark out and then turn to Clayton, “Clayton, look through everything we have for a connection between Mubarak and Komarovski. Any feuds, etc., you speak Russian so go to FAPSI, there’s something, we’re just missing it.”

  “You got it,” Clayton replies with a nod.

  “Joseph, you and I will go through the rest of Carmine’s file, focusing on this restaurant and the people who were in it. See if there is a possibility that the hit was on someone other than Khaleel.”

  Joseph nods. “We’ll find the link.”

  “I meant to ask you before but everything got crazy. How do you know Russian?” I hear Jeff ask Clayton as I start to load up a plate of food.

  “When I was in college I dated a girl that was Russian.”

  Jeff nods. “I would’ve loved to have seen Komarovski’s face when you started speaking it.” He laughs.

  Clayton chuckles. “I think he was impressed but his son was definitely bent out of shape about it.”

  “I bet,” Zach adds with a laugh.

  They all grab plates of food and go about to work on their individual projects. I feel like we are really close to solving this. I feel invigorated, and looking at my team, I see it in them as well. And somehow, doing this in here, with my team, with Joseph, it feels as if my dad is here alongside me, helping me from beyond the grave, directing me, guiding me. I glance towards the stairs one last time, knowing Dominique is up there with my family, exactly where she belongs.

  28 Spinning Out of Control

  Dominique Walker

  August 5th

  “Wake up, sleepy head,” he says playfully, kissing me all over my face.

  “Mmmm,” I groan.

  “Come on, Dominique, wake up, sweetheart,” he insists. “I made you something.”

  I muster the energy to open one eye. He is standing there already dressed in a pair of slacks and button down shirt. I notice two guns in shoulder holsters and I know he has one on his ankle as well. He looks ready to leave. He sits on the bed beside me and lifts me into a sitting position, laughing as I groan. Note to self, kill Kailee and her red headed slut of a friend. He kisses my forehead and then rises again, bringing over a tray that he sets in front of me.

  “It’s not steak and eggs because I am just an ATF agent after all, not an awesome chef like you,” he says with a quick peck on my lips.

  I look at the tray and smile. He has scrambled eggs with what looks like cheese, green peppers, and onions, along with bacon and buttered toast spread with grape jam. He also cut up fresh strawberries, oranges and melon and finished off the meal with a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee. I cover my mouth because I can’t stop this crazy smile on my face. I can’t believe he made me breakfast, in bed, no less.

  “I want it noted for the record that I have never made breakfast for anyone,” he states proudly.

  “Valentino, this is perfect!” I say, holding his face in my hands. “Thank you so much.”

  He gets this little boy smile on his face. His normal cocky demeanor is nowhere to be found. He looks sweet and innocent and… happy. I want to cry at the sight because he resembles the Valentino in the picture so much right now and I want him to be this way all the time. I want to tell him that I love him, but I don’t. Instead, I grab a piece of bacon, letting it touch his lips. I wag my brows and he chuckles as he opens his mouth. He then snatches the bacon out of my hand and shoves it in his mouth as he stands again.

  “Eat, baby. I need to go into headquarters. Stay here, okay? This place is completely secure.”

  “You’re leaving?” I ask stupidly because I know he’s dressed for work. “But it’s Saturday?”

  He sighs and cups my cheek. “I know its Saturday but I need to.” He smiles and touches my cheek lovingly. “I got a text last night that me and the guys have a meeting at headquarters this morning. We also have some work to do in the field. Plus, I need to run some things by my area director. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

  “Will anyone be here?” The worry is starting to creep through.

  “Yes, Lynelle and Kailee said they would keep you company today.”

  “Okay,” I say blowing out a breath.

  “It will be fine, Dominique. I am confident that we will get these men.” He leans down and kisses me softly. “I already told you, I’m not going to be without you. Whatever it takes to make that happen, I will do.”

  I nod and smile. “Be careful, Neo.”

  “I always am, baby,” he says with another kiss.

  I watch as he casually strolls to a chair and grabs his jacket, slipping it on and then exiting the room. I hear the lock and sigh before digging into the breakfast he made for me. I’m not that hungry. Truth be told, my head is throbbing horribly. Now I remember why I don’t drink that much. I pick up my coffee and grin, grabbing the two aspirin lying there, popping them into my mouth quickly and downing them with my juice.

  ~*~

  I’ve been upstairs for several hours already, visiting with Kailee
and Lynelle. Much to my delight, Kailee is a bit hung over as well, which makes me unbelievably happy. Of course, it is making her unbelievably grumpy, which probably isn’t a good thing.

  “We should go out,” Kailee states simply.

  “Valentino asked me to stay here.”

  She rolls her eyes.

  “Kailee, stop. You know I don’t like when you do that,” Lynelle interjects.

  Kailee waves her hands in defeat and then pulls out her phone.

  “I’m taking mom and Dominique out to lunch.”

  “I know how dangerous it is.”

  There is silence and a lot of sighing on Kailee’s part. My guess is that Valentino is scolding her for even thinking about taking me out of this house. I understand where he’s coming from as it seems that lately I’ve been a magnet for trouble.

  “What if dad comes as our bodyguard?”

  More silence and then suddenly she starts bouncing on her toes. She must sense that she has offered a viable solution. Finally, she smiles triumphantly and gives me the thumbs up sign. So, I take it I can go out of the sanctuary after all.

  “No, we will just do a little shopping and go out to eat then come right back here.”

  “Yeah, hold on.”

  She hands me the phone. “He wants to talk to you.”

  “Hey, baby.”

  “Do not go anywhere without Joseph or the girls,” he says stressed.

  “I don’t need to go anywhere if you think it’s a bad idea. I think that Kailee is a little ADHD.”

  “Am not!” I hear from the couch. I giggle and walk into the other room for some privacy. I bring the phone to my other ear as he continues.

  “If Joseph is with you girls, I don’t mind. It’s just...” he hesitates.

  “It’s just what?” I ask, alarms going off in my head.

  “I can’t talk about it but I get the feeling this is going to be resolved soon.”

  “Resolved in a good way, I hope,” I mutter.

  “Dominique, I won’t allow anything to happen to you. Just stay with my family,” he reiterates.

  “Okay.”

  “All right, I need to call Joseph.”

  “I’ll talk to you soon, Valentino.”

  “Bye, sweetheart.”

  He hangs up, and moments later, I hear Joseph answering in the other room. I stride into the sitting room and hand the phone back to Kailee, who pockets it quickly. I walk back to the mantel and look at Valentino’s picture again. I just can’t get over how happy he is here. How happy they all look. It’s hard to fathom that only three months later three would be dead physically and the one left behind would be dead emotionally.

  “You ladies ready?” Joseph asks, stepping into the room.

  I turn around and offer a small smile and then furrow my brows slightly as he loads his gun. Lynelle and Kailee are talking and do not seem fazed by this at all. I suppose that makes sense. I would imagine that Kailee and Lynelle are used to having guns around. I tell them to hold on while I run downstairs to grab my purse. As I do, I stop at the wall that has all the pictures on it. I never really looked at it properly. I start from the beginning. There is a picture of Valentino and his family. They are dressed in the same clothes as the picture on the mantel but this one is a different pose. In this one, Valentino is standing next to his father and they have their arms draped around each other’s shoulders and their free hand on the shoulders of the girls before them. His dad’s is on his mothers and Valentino on his sisters. They are all smiling so brightly.

  “I wish I could have met your family,” I say longingly as my fingers trace over the outline of his smiling face.

  I move over slightly and see three men, labeled The Sicignano brothers. One man, named Benito, is crossed out. It says he is deceased and that he had two children, Carmine and Enrico. The second one says Salvatore. There are three children listed but that’s about it so my guess is he is not important to the investigation. The third man is named Francisco. His name is crossed out as well and it also says he is deceased. Under his name it lists one child, Gino. My eyes scroll back to the man named Benito. Carmine is listed as the older sibling. Under his name, it says New York. Now this guy is all kinds of creepy looking. Short, dark hair and small, beady eyes on an almost ghostly white face. He reminds me of that freaky preacher man in Poltergeist. I shake my head of the image. He is wearing a knowing sneer as if he is fully aware that he freaks people out.

  “If I see you, I’m getting the hell out of dodge,” I say with a shudder.

  There is a whole list of people underneath this guy including this monster of a man named Luka. He looks like he could crush a man’s skull. This Carmine guy must be in charge because he just has that air about him. To the right of him is Enrico and under his name it says Chicago. Now if the guy didn’t look scary as hell, he would be attractive. I immediately start chewing on my nails. Valentino has mentioned him a lot so I know this man right here is his nemesis. Underneath him are two people, Gino and Aryana, and if I thought that Carmine was creepy, these two are on another level. Gino isn’t much to look at. He also has black hair, but its cut in an odd design, which combined with his almost disappearing neck, makes him look like some cartoon villain. It says he is Enrico’s cousin and right-hand man. It also says that he has a daughter named Aryana. On the surface, she is very attractive, ethereal almost with piercing eyes that you could get lost in. But there is something else about her that makes my skin crawl. Next to her picture it says, that she specializes in explosives, and is extremely dangerous.

  “God! You two look seriously scary,” I say shaking my head.

  Underneath those two is a picture of a large guy named Tony. He looks fierce as well, someone I wouldn’t want to mess with. Next to his name it says Carmine’s bodyguard, which is crossed out, then underneath that it says Enrico’s gun expert, which is also crossed out, and then finally underneath that it says FBI, which is circled in red. Under that it says shot by, Adams? Marshall? Enrico? Mubarak? My eyes widen when I see that last one.

  “Oh, that’s just perfect!” I sigh and move over to the next set of pictures.

  Now this group I know all too well. It shows Marshall, Phillipe, and Whitney. Valentino has scrawled all kinds of information next to each of their names. Under all the info for both Phillipe and Whitney it lists, DECEASED. There is also a picture of me underneath them. It says executive chef and connected how?

  “If you could answer that for me, I would greatly appreciate it.”

  Valentino then has an arrow that leads from Marshall, Whitney, and Phillipe to the name Mubarak Family. He then lists Hamadi in the middle and lists head of family next to his name. I start reading down the list of things near his picture: Gun Trader, Murderer, feud with Sicignano? There is also a picture of the pendant I have on and underneath it, it says family emblem.

  “Wonderful!”

  Underneath Hamadi’s picture are the two other men that were at the restaurant. It lists Kafele as Hamadi’s bodyguard, always with him, expert marksman. Then next to him is the smaller guy Mkhai. It says known assassin for Mubarak family, second in command, expert in ancient torture methods.

  “I wonder if you’re the one that got to the nut job, Whitney.”

  I should feel bad about that but a part of me doesn’t. I sigh and move to the next batch of pictures which says Komarovski Family. Underneath that is a man named Dimitri and underneath him is a younger guy named Aleksei, AKA Bolshoi. The information on the wall says that Dimitri is the head of the family; that they deal in drugs and weapons, that he has killed people and that his only loyalty is to his ‘family’. Apparently Aleksei is his son and next in line.

  “What do you have to do with all of this?” I ask this Dimitri guy’s picture.

  I sigh and glance at the next picture on the wall. It is a photo of Agent Adams that simply says, dirty, works for and then the names Sicignano? Mubarak? Komarovski? He has the word Sicignano circled several times so I think he has s
ettled on the Sicignano family as the one Adams is connected to. I tap his picture and frown.

  “Traitor!”

  I shake my head and step back over to Phillipe’s picture. It’s hard for me to imagine him in the same company with the rest of the people on the wall. They all seem so vicious while he was always kind to me. I start fiddling with my pendant.

  “What did you get me into, Phillipe?” I ask sadly.

  I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and immediately duck into the corner. I don’t know why because Valentino said I was safe here, but maybe it’s because I just spent the last twenty minutes looking at all these scary bad guys that I’m slightly paranoid. Okay, a lot paranoid! My heart starts racing as footsteps approach.

  “Dominique, are you all right?” Joseph calls out cautiously.

  I let out a breath and come out from around the corner quickly, too quickly because Joseph points his gun at me. I scream and he drops his hand and holsters his weapon, rushing over to me and enveloping my shaking body.

  “I’m sorry, Dominique. You startled me,” he runs his hand down the back of my hair. “You were down here a long time. Valentino was very specific that I must not let you out of my sight.”

  “No, I’m the one that’s sorry. I was looking at his wall and it scared me,” I cry.

  “It will all be over soon, Dominique. Valentino is close, the whole team is,” he looks at me, cupping my face tenderly.

  I nod and wipe my eyes. “I’m okay.”

  I start to walk towards the stairs and stop, turning to him. “You won’t leave me, right?”

  He shakes his head. “No, I won’t,” he hesitates for a moment and then nods as if he has answered some internal dialogue. “Valentino loves you, Dominique. There isn’t anything he wouldn’t do to protect you. When his father died, he became my son, which means that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to keep you safe for him. He knows this and it’s the only reason he has agreed to us leaving the house.”

  Tears streak my face again as I wrap my arms around his neck. I know it isn’t Valentino saying he loves me, but Joseph saying it is just as good. After all this is over I will tell him. I can’t be afraid. If it’s one thing I am learning very quickly, it’s that life is too short to waste time, and now that I know that he does feel as deeply for me as I do for him, there is nothing left but to tell each other.