by Sarah Monte
“I guess he does, boss,” said Liam, “I don’t know what to tell you. I was just as surprised as you are right now.”
“Well then go and fucking find out!” said Donovan. “Get out there and do your fucking job! I want to know who this rich fuck is. I want to know where he works, where he sleeps, who he fucks, I want to know everything! Go, now! And don’t come back until you know every single thing about this guy.”
“Yes boss,” said Liam, exiting the office into the hallway. He was sweating profusely. Whoever this rich guy was, he had just made Liam’s life a living hell. He didn’t know where to begin with finding out who this guy was, but he knew that if he didn’t find something out soon Donovan would probably cut his balls off and feed them to him.
He prayed for the first time in a long time, and made his way to the area where Rat and Gunther had been apprehended, hoping he would find some clues over there.
Chapter Thirteen
Mike rammed his fist into the larger thug’s jaw, the man he now knew to be Gunther. So far, over the course of the beating he had given him, he had only been able to uncover the man’s name, as well as the name of his smaller accomplice. This was not nearly enough information but Mike did not mind. He was quite enjoying taking all of his frustrations out on these goons, watching them wince whenever he made to strike them again. They had made themselves the subjects of his rage, and it was rage that was truly terrible to behold.
“You know, if you start telling me what I need to know, this can all stop,” said Mike, rubbing his hand as he paced the room. “Your friend is in the room right next to this one. I doubt he’s going to last much longer, that is if he hasn’t spilled his guts already. If we get the information we need from him, we are not going to need you anymore. We are going to be able to throw you in jail and lose the key for good. Is that what you want?”
Gunther spat blood and said, “His name might be Rat but he’s no snitch. He knows who he’s loyal to and he’s going to stay that way. He knows that no matter what you do to him, if he talks he is going to get it a lot worse.”
“Is that so?” said Mike. “Your boss sounds like a pretty violent man.”
“Oh you have no idea,” said Gunther. “He is the kind of guy that would feed you your own testicles and watch you eat them. He is the kind of guy that would kill your family before your very eyes. You have no idea who you are fucking with here.”
Mike slammed his fist into Gunther’s nose, shattering it. Gunther howled with pain, cursing as he did so. “You motherfucker!” he screamed, “I’m going to fuck your mother up her ass and make her eat shit!”
“You’re going to need a cock for that,” said Mike, “and if you don’t start talking soon I am going to have to relieve you of that burden. You will have left me with no choice.”
“Fuck off!” said Gunther.
“So your boss is so violent,” said Mike, resuming his contemplative pacing of the interrogation room that was now essentially a torture cell, “that you don’t care about what I’m going to do to you? I have broken your nose and at least two ribs. I have pulled one of your fingernails out. I am talking about cutting off your dick and by this point I am pretty sure that you know I’m not the kind of guy that makes empty threats. What kind of a man can instill so much fear into his hired muscle?”
“The kind that strikes fear into the heart of mafia territories,” said Gunther. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? You think that you have it made because you have money and people lick your asshole trying to suck up to you. You work with mobsters and mafia dons, but you know nothing of the world I come from. You know nothing of the pain, the struggle, the torture. My boss comes from the same place I do, he is far beyond any mafia don you have ever seen.”
Mike made a mental note of that before proceeding. “Sounds like your boss is an aggressive person,” said Mike, “what exactly is he into that he needs to create such an aura of fear around him? The old days are gone, dons don’t need to cloak themselves in fear. Now they work like actual businessmen, which means that they wouldn’t even consider hiring a piece of shit like you.”
“Those cunts are no different from you!” spat Gunther. “They think they’re all high and mighty just because they put on a fancy suit and drink fancy whiskey. They forget where they came from. My boss… he doesn’t forget a thing, and I can guarantee you that he knows who you are by now and he won’t stop until he tears you limb from limb for laying a hand on one of his men.”
“A boss that cares about his muscle,” said Mike, a smirk on his face, “how… touching.”
He made his way towards the door of the interrogation room. “Hey!” said Gunther. “Hey, where are you going? Untie me you cunt, let me out of here!”
Mike turned, the same smirk still on his face. “I told you before, Gunther. I told you that you would regret not taking the easy way out. Now that you are here, you must suffer the consequences of your actions.”
He exited the interrogation room and made his way to the observation room. Ted was standing there with a bunch of other police officers, all of whom looked very concerned.
“Did you have to beat him up that bad?” asked one of them, an older officer who looked like a career policeman that cared more about making rank than actually making a difference in the world.
“Did I have to?” said Mike, “No. But did I want to? Now that’s the question you should be asking.”
“You’re fucking psychotic!” said the old cop, but Ted cut him off.
“What do you think?” he said. “This guy’s boss… I don’t think the thug is exaggerating. It sounds like he works for someone on the younger side, someone that doesn’t follow the same rules as his elders.”
“I feel the same way,” said Mike. “I have no idea who this guy is, but based on what old Gunther is saying it sounds like he is at war with pretty much every other don out there. He sounds serious, if I’m being honest. He may not be all that smart, but that only makes him even more dangerous.”
“I agree,” said Ted. “We are going to need a name.”
“That is going to be impossible,” said Mike. “This guy is loyal. I have never seen loyalty like this. I feel like the guy we are after makes his men dependent on him. He becomes like an abusive father. No parental figure gets as much loyalty from his children as an abusive father.”
“That’s… disturbing,” said Ted. He looked at Gunther who had started to sing at the top of his voice. “If we can’t break him, we are going to have to trick him.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” said Mike. “Don’t worry, I have a few ideas about how we can go about doing that.”
“What do you have in mind?” asked Ted.
“Well, one thing I have noticed is that he reveres his boss,” said Mike. “He is always ready to show off and make his boss out to be some kind of insane thug that we should all be afraid of. This is the sort of thing we can take advantage of. Maybe if we make him talk enough…”
“He’ll end up giving us enough information to find out who this guy is!” said Ted. “That’s a great idea.”
“I’ll get right on it,” said Mike, exiting the observation room and entering the interrogation room once again. Gunther stopped singing at once. Mike was pleased to see that he was sweating quite a bit, he looked pretty nervous about the fact that Mike was back in the room.
Good, Mike thought, that’s how it should be. He should fear me. He thinks his boss is some kind of demon. Well he should know that I am the fucking devil.
Mike pulled up a chair and sat in front of Gunther, looking him right in the eye. “You want to know what I think?”
Gunther was silent but he was looking at Mike with an extremely wary eye.
“I think that you are full of shit.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” spat Gunther.
“I think that your boss is just some two bit con man who thinks he is all that but in reality is no better than a street hoodlu
m,” said Mike. He leaned in close and whispered, “I think your boss isn’t worth two seconds of my time.”
“Do you have any idea who you’re fucking talking about?” screamed Gunther, spit flying from his mouth as he spoke. “My boss once has stolen from the mob. He went to war with Alberto Bianchi and won!”
“Bianchi?” said Mike, “That was an intense war. You’re telling me that your boss is the guy that took over Bianchi’s territory two years ago?”
“Damn fucking right,” said Gunther.
Mike rubbed the stubble on his chin and said, “But everyone from the Bianchi mob family was…”
“Skinned alive,” said Gunther. “That’s what happens to people who don’t respect my boss.”
Suddenly, the intercom from the observation room crackled. “Mike,” said Ted from across the one way glass, “We got him. His boss is a guy name Donovan Fieri. He was small time until a few years ago when he went to war with some small timers. Two years ago he went to war with Bianchi and managed to win by seducing his wife.”
Gunther looked up at Mike, a terrified look upon his face. “No,” he said. “No!”
“You see Gunther,” said Mike, “you may think that you are the perfect muscle. You may think that you are loyal enough to be a good thug for your boss. But at the end of the day, you are just some street punk who thinks that he has it made because some small timer thought to give him the time of day. You are going to spend a long, long time in jail, and they are not going to be good to you in there, believe you me.”
“You motherfuck!” said Gunther, desperately struggling against his handcuffs, “I’ll fucking kill you!”
Mike got up and started to walk towards the door. “Remember what I said in the van, Gunther,” he said without turning around. “Always remember what I said. You had the chance to make this easier on yourself but you blew it. Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
And with that, Mike exited the interrogation room for the last time. He went into the observation room where Ted was looking at him with an excited look on his face.
“This guy is pretty fucking violent,” he said. “I have no idea why your cousin was involved with him, but I do know that he was scared for a reason. Anyone that owes him money is within an inch of death’s door. I’m amazed that your cousin managed to survive this long!”
“Well,” said Mike, “I think we have something to use against him now. All we need to do now is to draw him out somehow.”
“How are we going to do that?” asked Ted.
“I have a few ideas,” said Mike, “but for now I need to relax a little. It’s been a long fucking night, and I have two people in my life that need me right now.”
“Okay,” said Ted, “but I would really appreciate it if you helped us out with this. Donovan is a dangerous man, David’s not going to be safe until he’s put behind bars. Getting such a violent thug off the streets would be a huge win for us too.”
“Don’t worry, Ted,” said Mike. “I am not going to rest until this cunt is either dead or behind bars. If it’s the last thing I do, I will make sure that Donovan pays for what he has done to my family. You rest easy, friend. You have me by your side, and I think I have shown you just how terrible I can be when it comes to giving people what they deserve.”
And with that Mike left the observation room and made his way to the hospital. Jennifer was waiting for him, but he needed answers first. He needed to talk to David.
Chapter Fourteen
Liam scanned the parking lot for clues but so far he could find nothing at all. This guy had just come out of nowhere and he had brought an entire army down on them, there must be something he could find here!
After some searching he found the remains of a cell phone. He picked it up and noticed that it was an expensive set, definitely something that had once belonged to the rich guy that had fucked things up for everyone.
The phone was damaged beyond repair but the memory card was still intact. Maybe Liam could use this to get some information about the guy.
He needed some more clues before he headed back so he walked around and asked people if they had seen anything. Most people in this neighborhood knew that he was part of Donovan’s gang and so avoided him like the plague. This irked Liam a little. He was a criminal, part of one of the most violent gangs this city had ever seen, but he was not himself a violent man. He was a man of action, someone that handled the accounting aspect of the organization. He had become an important man because he handled the money and this often meant that he lead projects that often ended in violence, but he always tried to avoid it when he good. He did not like the fact that people were afraid of him, which was rather odd considering the career he had chosen for himself.
After some searching, he found a guy that had seen something.
“Yeah, there was some rich guy on a motorbike that was driving around here,” said the man, smoking a cigarette as he did so. He seemed unafraid of Liam, and for some reason this annoyed him too. He didn’t want to be feared, but at the same time he was the right hand man of Donovan Fieri! He felt like this man was disrespecting him by not being afraid of him.
“I don’t know why he was here,” said the man, exhaling a puff of smoke. “He was showing us pictures of some guy with long, blonde hair and blue eyes. I told him I didn’t know anything about anything.”
“That’s good,” said Liam. “That’s very good indeed. Did he say why he was looking for him?”
“He said something about him being a relative or something,” said the man. “I think he referred to him as his cousin but I can’t be sure. Is this guy in trouble or something?”
“Oh you have no idea,” said Liam, his lips curving into a sinister smile.
He walked back to the parking lot for one last look. The plot was thickening. This punk that Donovan had a grudge with had some pretty rich relatives. This was important, as it would dictate how the rest of the events would unfold. Liam hoped that everything would turn out okay. He didn’t want anything else to be thrown at him lest he ended up getting seriously injured this time.
Liam called Donovan.
“Boss,” he said after receiving a curt greeting. “I found some stuff out. It turns out that this rich cunt is related to the punk you want dead. He’s his cousin. No, I don’t know his name yet. But… I thought that you would want to know what I had found out. Yes, I know that a name is important, I am working on it boss. Yes boss, I’ll find out what I can. No, that’s not all, I found something else too! I’m guessing Rat busted the guy’s phone after he knocked him out. The phone is totally busted but the memory card was intact. We have the guy’s information in there, I am sure of it. If nothing else we are going to find his contacts and this will help us find out more about him and we’ll be able to catch him some time soon. Don’t you worry about a thing boss, you have your best guy on this, I am going to make sure that this guy bleeds for disrespecting you like this! Yes boss, of course boss. I will boss!”
Liam cut the call, quite satisfied with how the evening had turned out. He headed back to the gang headquarters, eager to delve into this memory card and find out everything he could from it. Whoever this guy was, Liam was going to unleash a world of hurt onto him.
And so, the pieces were set, and the war between Michael Sinclair and Donovan Fieri began. Neither of them knew in that moment what had just happened, neither of them knew of what terrible carnage was to follow, but the future was hurtling towards them like an unstoppable train.
*****
Mike was surprised to find David not just conscious but lucid when he visited. His cousin was laying down, and he greeted Mike with a weak wave when he entered.
Mike sat down next to his cousin and looked at him. “David,” he said, “what the fuck have you gotten yourself into?”
‘I’m sorry man,” said David. “I really didn’t want to get you mixed up in all of this. I mean, I know that taking money from you put you in harm’s way but I was hoping… well, if
I hadn’t been such a fucking idiot then I wouldn’t have been caught and you wouldn’t have to come and save me like the fucking idiot that I am.”
“David,” said Mike, “shut the fuck up. I know about Donovan. I know how dangerous he is. I know that you are in way over your head here. This ends now. Things have gone way too far. You have to tell me what’s been going on now, because whether you like it or not I am now a part of this and that’s just the way it’s going to be.”
David took a deep breath and said, “Okay, you’re right. I am going to tell you everything.”
“It started about eighteen months ago,” said David. “I met this girl. She… she was pretty amazing. She was everything I had ever wanted. After college I had drifted around a lot, hadn’t really been able to hold down a job. When I met this girl it was like everything made sense again. I felt like I was finally doing something worthwhile, you know? Well this girl was bad news. She was a dangerous person to be around. She was addicted to heroin, you see, and while I was with her I got hooked too. Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that I probably owe Donovan money for drugs, but the thing is that this is not the case at all. Donovan came into my story in a completely different way. I was getting high with the girl, her name was Lilly, when suddenly these thugs burst in grabbed both of us. They took us to their boss, and this is when I met Donovan. You see, Lilly was Donovan’s wife, but she had ran away from him because he was abusive. It also turned out that Lilly was HIV positive, and since I had been sharing needles with her I was too. I obviously got it from her, but Donovan wouldn’t believe it. He assumed that I had given it to her and he tried to kill me. I got away, and that’s when I came to you. I needed money for my treatment, and I had to keep a low profile so that Donovan wouldn’t find me. I… I was so ashamed. I had been so stupid about the whole thing. I had gotten hooked on heroin, I had shared needles with someone I didn’t even know, and through it all I just ended up making one mistake after another. I thought that I was doing something for myself for once rather than living someone else’s life, but I guess I fucked things up pretty badly just by existing.”
