Stormcrow: Book Two: Birds of a Feather

by N. C. Reed

  Roberto eyed the folder as if it were a viper, coiled to strike him.

  “No?” his mother's voice drew his eyes back to her. “Suddenly remembered the things you have done, Roberto? How convenient.”

  “It's just business,” he said weakly. “That's all.”

  “Business that your father has decreed this family will take no part in,” Antonia's voice was hard. “Business that he has fought since his rise to the chair in which he now sits to rid this family of, once and for all. Only to have his son and one-time heir go behind his back and return us to such ways.”

  “Such a disappointment you are, Roberto,” she said again, her voice sad. “Leave my sight, my son,” she was suddenly tired of looking at her oldest child. “Know that no one in this family will take your orders anymore. Know also that any power your once wielded over them is gone. And know, once and for all, that no matter what happens you will never rule this family, Roberto. Now get out,” her voice was suddenly a whip, cracking across the distance between them.

  “If you are wise, you will stay out of sight,” she added as Roberto jumped to his feet. “Your father's patience is at an end where you are concerned. And I have little left as well. Now go, and consider what could have been yours had you simply been a man.”

  Roberto Delgado fled his mother's office like the child he had once been, and still acted like.

  Behind him Antonia lifted her right hand from her lap and returned the small pistol she had been holding to her desk drawer.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  -

  Jamie Falcone spluttered and spit as he was doused with water for a second time. He shook his head and tried to wipe his eyes, but found he couldn't move his hands. Or his arms.

  Or his legs.

  Struggling, he managed to get his eyes open through the water streaming off of him to find himself strapped to the front end of a heavy truck. The kind they used in rock quarries to haul loads of stone to a crusher. In front of him was a pit mine, filled with water from recent rains and runoff.

  “What the-”

  “Wake up, shithead,” he heard a cold voice say and turned to see two men looking at him.

  “Who the hell are you?” he demanded. “And what is this?”

  “You take a man's family and don't even know who he is,” the better dressed one shook his head sadly. “What kind of world are we living in,” he lamented.

  “Wha-who-?” Jamie fought to get his equilibrium under him.

  “Name's Anthony,” Tony smiled. “Anthony Delgado. Got a sister named Lucia? You met her this morning, in the Gavanza. Coming back to you now?”

  “I don't know what you're talking about,” Jamie blustered. “Let me outta this!” he struggled against the chains holding him.

  “I might be persuaded to do that,” Tony nodded, his face thoughtful. “Of course, I'll need my sister back first.”

  “I don't know anything about your sister, you bastard!” Jamie yelled in defiance. “Now let me outta this!”

  “Hm,” Tony suddenly pulled his suppressed pistol from his jacket and shot Jamie in the foot.

  “AHHH!” the man screamed, pulling in vain against his bonds as he tried to instinctively to grab his injured foot.

  “Now,” Tony continued on as if he hadn't already killed one man today and just shot another. “Let's talk about my sister. Where is she, and how many people are with her?”

  “Fuck you!” Jamie screamed.

  “Well, that's just rude,” Tony looked aghast, promptly shooting Jamie again, this time in the left knee just above his already bleeding foot.

  “You son-of-a-bitch!” Jamie's voice was shrill this time as he screamed through the pain. “I'll kill you!”

  “No, you won't,” Tony shook his head. “You'll be lucky to leave here alive in fact,” he pointed out. “The only chance you have of that is if my sister is found, unharmed. You're going to tell me where she is, 'Jay'.”

  “The hell I am!” Jamie shouted. “Help! Somebody help!” he screamed toward the rim of the quarry.

  “No one around, Jamie,” Tony sighed, calmly shooting the struggling man in his right foot.

  The bound man screamed what Sean assumed were obscenities but they were in a language he couldn't speak. Maybe Italian. Clearly Tony could understand it since his face flushed.

  “What is it?” Sean asked.

  “He just told me that his brothers were probably 'enjoying' my sister's company about now,” Tony ground out. He raised the pistol again but Sean caught his arm.

  “Wait,” he said gently. Tony looked at him, surprise on his face.

  “This ain't working,” Sean pointed out. “Gimme a minute.”

  “Okay,” his friend nodded, taking a step back and trying to get a grip on his anger. He needed information more than he needed revenge. Better to let Sean try than screw up.

  Sean walked slowly over to the blubbering and bleeding man, observing him with no pity whatsoever. Pulling his knife, he used the great blade to split the man's pant legs one after another, removing the material and leaving Jamie Falcone in his underwear.

  “What the hell!” Jamie stammered through his agony. “You some kinda perv?”

  “Something like that,” Sean nodded calmly as he next cut through Jamie's underwear, leaving him bare from the waist down.

  “Now,” he stood, knife still in hand, looking down at the Falcone man. “You just informed my friend that your brothers are probably raping his sister about now. You had any part in that yet?”

  “I ain't no rapist!” Jamie shot back.

  “So you ain't, then,” Sean nodded. “Well, you don't tell him what he wants to know, I'm going to fix you where you won't never be one. Understand what I'm saying?” Sean's voice was soft, yet menacing for all that. As he spoke he stepped forward and ran the blade of his knife just above Jamie's manhood, leaving a thin trickle of blood running toward his groin.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” Jamie screamed. “You're crazy!”

  “Been told that,” Sean nodded calmly. “I'm waiting,” he added, running the knife down the inside of Jamie's thigh and drawing another trickle of blood. “And I ain't got much patience.”

  “Fuck you!” Jamie managed to spit, a glob of spittle hitting Sean's shirt just below his face.

  “It won't be you,” Sean didn't even wipe the fluid away before he pressed the knife to Jamie's testicles.

  “WAIT!!” he screamed, struggling for all he was worth. “WAIT! I'LL TELL YOU!”

  “Don't believe you,” Sean shook his head. “You waited too long. I ain't convinced you won't lie.” He pressed the blade a little harder.

  “STOP I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL TELL YOU!” Jamie screamed as loud as he could. Sean hesitated a minute, then stepped back, looking at him.

  “Well?” he prompted.

  “Wh-who are you?” Jamie asked, looking up at the man who had threatened to emasculate him through tear dimmed eyes.

  “I'm the devil,” Sean said softly. “Come to collect. Pay now, or pay later?” he asked, moving the knife back down.

  “WAIT!” Jamie tried to move. “JESUS GOD I'LL TELL YOU JUST STOP!”

  “Already stopped once,” Sean told him. “Told you I ain't got much patience.”

  “SHE'S IN THE OLD FOUNDRY NEAR THE PORT!” Jamie screamed.

  “How many with her?” Sean asked.

  “No one!” Jamie shook his head. “We go and check on her every two hours or so! I swear!”

  “Who is we, and where are they?” Sean demanded. “How many are there?”

  “My ma and my brothers,” Jamie sobbed, broken. “Just us. Five of us. That's all.”

  “Liar,” Sean said at once and stuck the knife under Jamie's scrotum.

  “I SWEAR IT'S THE TRUTH!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

  “There were eight men this morning when she was taken,” Sean said easily. “Where are the other three?”

  “Paid off and gone, I swear!” Jamie told him.
>
  “Who were they?”

  “Just soldiers, that's all,” Jamie told him. “Nobodies.”

  “Don't believe you,” Sean shook his head and put pressure on the blade.

  “I SWEAR IT'S TRUE THEY'RE NOBODY!” Jamie yelled, his voice going raw from his screaming. “Just hired guns, that's all!”

  Sean stood and took a step back, looking at Tony.

  “He might be lying,” Tony mused. “Trying to save himself.”

  “Leave him here,” Sean shrugged. “More time we waste following a bad lead, more likely he is to bleed out. If he dies, it's his fault.”

  “I'm not lying,” Jamie sobbed. “Please, take me to a hospital,” he begged. “Please.”

  “Hell no,” Tony snorted. “We'll go and see if we can find my sister. If we do, we'll be back for you. If not, we'll still be back for you, but it'll be to finish you off. Got that?”

  “She's there, I swear,” Jamie bawled.

  “She better be,” Tony said softly before clubbing the Falcone son unconscious.

  “He'll probably bleed out anyway,” Sean mentioned, stowing his knife.

  “Couldn't care less,” Tony shrugged. “Let's go. Leave his car,” he ordered.

  “Know this foundry, I take it?” Sean asked, getting into the car.

  “Old Falcone place,” Tony nodded. “Went outta business years ago. 'fore I was even born, in fact. The brother that ran the place went missing and they closed it a few months later.”

  “Hm,” Sean noted.

  “Yeah.”

  -

  “Jamie should have been back by now,” Terase Falcone noted, looking at the chrono on the wall. She and her sons were in a small office building not far from her family's old foundry grounds. The Delgado girl was being kept there, alone, for the time being. Terase didn't want any of her sons around the little tramp, just in case.

  “Probably flirting with that waitress, what's her name?” Sonny looked at his next youngest brother.

  “Amelia, I think,” Santino 'Sandy' Falcone said after a minute of thought. “Yeah, pretty sure that's it.”

  “He ain't got time to be messing with no dame right now,” Terase said harshly. “Get him on the line!”

  “Yes ma,” Sonny agreed, hiding a sigh. He punched in the connection and waited but there was no answer.

  “Probably left it in the car,” Sonny said as his mother glowered.

  “I'm surrounded by morons,” she shook her head. “Worse, you're my own brood. Haven't I taught you boys anything at all?” she demanded.

  “Ma, he just went after the food,” Sonny objected. “Look, I'll call the restaurant, okay? He may still be waiting, that's all.” He began to punch in a new number.

  “He better be,” she said darkly. “If he's wasting time trying to hook up with some floozy while we're doing a job, I'll whale his skin off.”

  “She ain't a floozy, ma,” Terrance, or Terry as he preferred to be called, defended. “She's a good girl from a good family that's been soldiers for us a long time. Smart, too.”

  “I don't care what her pedigree is, you idiot,” his mother snarled back. “He can chase tail some other time. We got work to do right now!”

  “Yes ma,” Terry sighed. He and Jamie were less than a year apart, and the only two of the boys who shared a father. They were closer than any of the others were to each other, or to their mother for that matter.

  “How long?” Sonny was saying. “Okay then. Thanks.” He cut the call and looked at his mother.

  “He left nearly twenty minutes ago, ma,” Sonny told her. “Should be here any time.”

  “If he ain't here in another fifteen minutes, call them back and get someone looking for him. And see if that floo-that girl is around or if she's missing too.”

  -

  “Well, this is pretty good,” Linc noted as the foursome from the ship dug in.

  “Sure is,” Faulks agreed. “Not as good as Doc, but ain't bad. Ain't bad.”

  “Delicious,” Jess agreed, slurping a spaghetti noodle into her mouth. “Thanks 'sis',” she grinned.

  “You're welcome,” Meredith shook her head in amusement. “And yeah, it is good. I agree it's not as good as-” she broke off as the restaurant was suddenly a beehive.

  “What's going on?” she wondered aloud even as the waitress came to their table. She looked rattled.

  “I'm sorry folks, but we'll have to ask you to leave,” she told them without preamble. “We appear to have a gas leak in the kitchen. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please, take the food with our compliments,” she handed them take-out trays. “I'll have to ask that you hurry,” she added before walking to the next table.

  “I don't smell no gas,” Faulks frowned. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “We should take our food and go,” Jessica said suddenly, packing her food away quickly. “Something's wrong and it's got nothing to do with a gas leak.”

  “How can you know that?” Meredith demanded, though she took a tray for herself.

  “I can't tell you because I don't know,” Jess admitted. “But I'm telling you, the faster we're out of here, the better off we are. And we need to make a call to our wayward cook and mechanic since they were supposed to meet us here. Make sure they get the word,” she had raised her voice slightly, ensuring she would be heard. At the same time she looked pointedly at each of the others, urging them to follow her lead and not argue.

  “Almost forgot that,” Faulks agreed, not quite as loud but still loud enough to be heard. “Anyway, we was going to the holo after eating, so we can just finish on the way and still see the vid,” she closed her own tray and stood. “I ain't seen a movie in a long time. Looking forward to it!” she sounded excited. Give Faulks her due, she caught on quickly to things like this.

  Linc nodded in silence as he stood, tray in hand. Meredith frowned at how this was happening, accustomed to being in command. But she had learned to follow Jessica's 'feelings', and did so now. Faulks was also rarely wrong and her meter seemed to be pegging.

  “Well, let's go then,” she announced. She tossed a few coins on the table for the waitress and the foursome moved. As soon as they were out of the door Jessica looked at Faulks.

  “I need your com.”

  Faulks handed the unit over without a word and then moved to take the point.

  “Where to, Cap'n?” she asked softly.

  “Back to the ship,” Meredith ordered just as quietly. “We're out of our element here and this is not the best place for us. Let's get back to familiar ground.”

  “Right,” Faulks nodded and cut a hole through the pedestrian traffic as they made their way back to the Celia's berth.

  Behind them, Jessica was talking softly into the com unit.

  -

  “What?” Tony answered abruptly as his com buzzed.

  “Well that ain't no way to be,” Jessica's voice came back to him. “What the hell are you two into?”

  “Nothing that concerns the rest of you,” Tony told her. “Keep it that way.”

  “It concerns us now,” Jess told him flatly. “Five minutes ago we were run outta that restaurant along with everyone else. Waitress gave us a cock and bull story about a gas leak in the kitchen. But there wasn't a gas leak and the whole place looked crazy.”

  “Is that right?” Tony asked. “Tell Sean that, I'm driving.” He handed the com to a startled Sean, who took it and raised it to his ear.

  “Hello?”

  “Sean, it's Jess,” he heard, as the girl launched into a repeat of what she'd told Tony.

  “Is that right?” he asked the same thing Tony had without thinking about it.

  “You two share a brain,” Jess muttered. “We're on our way back to the ship.”

  “Good,” Sean told her. “When you get there, stay there until morning. Safer. Anyone asks about us, we abandoned you at the test and you haven't seen us since.”

  “What the hell are you two doing?” she demanded. “Captain want
s to know,” she added.

  “Better she doesn't,” Sean said simply. “Don't call back unless it's an emergency. It's best for all of you. Anything else?”

  “I passed my test,” she said suddenly.

  “Good to hear,” Sean replied. “Talk to you later.” He killed the connection. “Girl passed her test,” he told Sean.

  “She tell you about the restaurant?” Tony asked.

  “Yep,” Sean nodded. “Captain wants to know what we're doing. Probably get fired,” he added.

  “I'll take care of it,” Tony promised. “Probably time I came home anyway from the looks of things. Always a place with us for you, amico,” he added.

  “Thanks,” Sean was non-committal. He didn't know about being around Antonia Delgado too much as yet.

  Tony was driving as fast as safety allowed, but it was a long way to the foundry.

  “Should have got a air car,” he told Sean. “We could be above the traffic.”

  “Gotta file a flight plan with those?” Sean asked.

  “Well, yeah,” Tony frowned. “It's automatic, inside the city,” he added.

  “Better we do it this way then, so long as we're in time.”

  Tony went faster, safety forgotten.

  -

  Roberto Delgado was still reeling from his conversation with his mother. How had she found out about his 'business' dealings? He had been so very careful. Then a thought crossed his mind that made him blanch; if she knew that, what else did she know?

  It would be just like his mother and father to allow him enough rope to hang himself. In their minds he had all but made himself an enemy, and neither had anything other than a direct and dim view of how to deal with enemies. If they knew everything he'd done. . . .

  He didn't allow the thought to finish. Instead he grabbed a small bag from his closet and began to toss items of importance into it. He needed to be somewhere else before the two of them realized what all he had done. Anywhere else, so long as he could hide. There was no point is saying 'out of their reach' because he knew full well that nowhere was far enough to be out of their reach.

  Ten minutes later, his bag stuffed with three changes of clothes and all the money and other valuables he had on hand, he took the private elevator to the garage. Two minutes after that he was leaving through the back gate in his private vehicle, heading for the port. He'd lay low a day, find a ship going somewhere and be gone. He had plenty of resources socked away to allow him to get away cleanly and live in relative comfort somewhere else.