by Dave Daren
“I do when it involves the Febbos,” Slim answered with a glare toward Hank. “They’re nothing but a bunch of thugs. That goes for all of the Italian families. They just go around bullying everyone.”
“So you’ve had experience with the Febbos directly, then?” I asked and forced myself to take a more relaxed pose.
“Well,” the mustached man said with a sheepish look that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “I know people who have. And they went missing.”
“And what did these friends of yours do to the Febbos?” Hank asked in a surprisingly calm voice despite the rage in his narrowed eyes.
“Nothin’,” Slim huffed. “Nothin’ that would get them whacked.”
“I’m sure,” I said. “Maybe you misunderstood the situation. The Febbos have done nothing like that as long as I’ve known them.”
At least, not while I was present. I was pretty sure that one of the clients that I’d represented was a cleaner, but that hadn’t come up, and I hadn’t asked. The family was trying to go legit, though, and that meant that fewer people would disappear for small slights.
“Yeah, a misunderstanding,” one of the other guards snorted. “We all know how these mafia families run. You do one thing wrong, and you’re out to the wolves.”
“If I remember correctly, Silas,” Hank said and turned to the dark-haired security guard. “You ripped off your uncle’s shop. Three times. And then you were asked to leave the family.”
“I barely took more than ten grand!” the kevlar-wearing Italian huffed. “It’s not like he didn’t have more than enough. And I was going to pay him back once my investments paid off.”
“And did they?” I asked.
“That’s not the point!” Silas screamed and threw his hands in the air.
“Silas,” Ricky said as he came around the corner. “There’s no need for you to yell. Gentleman, I expect you to keep an eye on the hallway. There may be other uninvited guests on their way, and they won’t be nearly as hospitable as Mr. Morgan.”
The other guards grumbled their assent and then filed into a small room right off of the hallway that had desks and a wall of TVs that showed every entrance to the building. Gabriele had been right about the extra security measures, and it was clear no one was getting into the building without being seen. I wondered if they knew about the guy that we’d left in Tommaso’s care, and if Ricky and the rest of the guards had been waiting for him to step off the elevator when we’d intervened.
“There’s one of those guests in the stairwell one floor down,” I said, mostly just to see how Ricky would react. “My paralegal is watching him now. But Hank can bring you down to him and help take the trash out.”
“Hunter,” my bodyguard said in a low warning.
“I’ll be fine,” I said with a smile. “Ricky runs a top-notch security team, and this is practically Fort Knox, remember?”
“I’ll send Silas down with you,” the mountain of a man said without acknowledging whether they’d seen the Serbian or not. “He’s not as hot-headed as Slim, and I think it’ll do him good to talk to someone from the Febbo family.”
“Fine,” Hank said. “But I’m taking my weapons with me.”
“Of course,” the head of the security team said. “I’ll bring you back here as soon as the introductions are made.”
The giant led us down the hallway and into a living room that looked out over the city below. The giant glass windows led out to a balcony where a table was set up, and to the right was another hallway that I assumed led to the bedrooms and bathrooms. To the left was the door to what looked like a massive kitchen, but I was ushered past it and the two blue sectionals that were arranged so that fifteen people could easily sit and watch the wall-length flat screen TV.
“Are we meeting on the balcony?” I asked when Ricky opened one of the glass doors and stepped outside.
“Yes,” the mountain of a man said with a roll of his eyes. “Mr. Stevenson insists on fresh air for this conversation.”
“Is he going to throw me over the ledge?” I half-joked and looked at the waist-high railing that ran along the sweeping balcony.
“No,” another voice answered from the shadows where a table for four was set up.
The man that stepped forward was exactly like what I’d seen online. His dirty-blond hair was a shaggy mop on the top of his head, and his honey-brown eyes looked out from behind thick-rimmed glasses. He reminded me of Thilo Hatch from Atlantis: the Lost Empire with his bony frame and pale shirt over khaki cargo pants.
“Mr. Stevenson,” I greeted with a smile.
“Oh, please,” the younger man said and pushed up his glasses. “You can call me Drew. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Morgan. Ricky has told me a lot about you.”
“Nothing too bad, I hope,” I said and offered him my hand to shake.
“No,” the paranoid genius said and shook my hand before he shoved his own hands into his pockets. “Though some of it I’m not entirely sure I believe. There’s a rumor that you took out one of the Serbian guards outside of Vlado’s house?”
“I cannot confirm or deny the validity of that statement,” I said.
“Spoken like a true lawyer,” Drew said and gestured to the table where he’d been sitting. “I hope you don’t mind sitting in the dark. I need the fresh air, but I don’t want to make myself an easy target for snipers.”
I followed him over and sat down without a comment about how high we were and the unlikelihood of a sniper actually managing to shoot him at this height. No one that I’d heard about in the NYPD could make that shot, and I doubted that any of the Serbians had that skill. Still, I didn’t know how many enemies Stevenson had made for himself, or if he had any other businesses outside of his car theft ring that would make him a target.
“This is a nice place you have here,” I said when the two bodyguards went back inside.
“It is,” the paranoid genius said. “I rented it a while ago and made some modifications. I’m sure that I’ll have to have them fixed if I ever leave, but that’s the price of peace of mind.”
“And do you have peace of mind?” I asked with a glance toward the hallway where armed men waited for intruders.
“It comes and goes,” the ringleader said. “Honestly, it’s been gone a lot more lately. I think I may need to close one of my business ventures.”
“The one with Dian?” I suggested.
“Yes,” Stevenson said with a nod. “Ricky told me that you’ve visited my business associate. Something about one of the cars that was picked up. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.”
“I appreciate that,” I said and tried to keep my calm so that I could better negotiate with the man rather than yelling at the flippant way he talked about the theft of a two million dollar car.
“You know,” Drew said and took a sip out of the water bottle that he had on the table next to him. “I didn’t think this was going to be such a hassle. I just wanted to make a little cash. And Dian was already established. I thought that we could combine our ventures and make easy money.”
“No money is easy when it comes to stolen products,” I said. “Especially when you’re dealing with high-end luxury cars. Surely you must have known that something like this was bound to happen.”
“I didn’t,” the brilliant man said. “At least, I didn’t at first. I made a miscalculation. I thought that I could appease the Chinese buyers with a few nice cars and be done with it. But then they wanted more and more, and they kept asking for rarer cars.”
“Why did you start this in the first place?” I asked. “It’s not like you needed the money.”
“No,” the frail man admitted. “I just thought that it would be fun. Like playing a video game. I got to move people around, and it was a fun puzzle trying to get the cars to the buyers without being caught. But, it’s just too much. And I told my Chinese friends that I wanted out, but they didn’t take that well.”
“Is that who ordered the hit on you?�
�� I asked and sat back in my chair.
“Yes,” the younger man said while he studied me for any signs that I might be about to kill him. “I just got in over my head, you know?”
“Yes,” I said. “You know, the Febbos have a lot of connections. They might be able to help you out of your current situation.”
“Really?” Stevenson asked with a hopeful expression like he was a puppy who was about to be given a treat.
I couldn’t understand how the young man in front of me was behind the car theft ring, though he had said he thought of it as a video game. He probably thought that he could play around and then quit whenever he wanted. I almost felt bad for the naive young man, but his actions had led to Anthony’s car being stolen, and that was a problem that I couldn’t overlook.
“Yes,” I said and nodded. “But, you’ll need to help me first.”
“You want the car back,” Drew sighed. “I can’t do that. It’s already on its way to China. And from there it’ll go to its new owner.”
I bit back my rage at the obstinate answer. He had hitmen and corrupt cops on the way to kill him, and he was turning down the one man who was willing to help him get out alive. I took a deep breath to center myself, and then realized that he may not know that Dian had been arrested. It had happened only a couple of hours ago, and Ricky may not have been updated yet.
“I understand,” I said and made to get up while I prepared myself for my next approach. “Well, I hope that you have a wonderful evening. Do you plan to see Dian when he’s transferred to the county lock-up? It should be happening any minute now.”
“The county lock-up?” the young genius asked with wide eyes behind his thick glasses. “What do you mean?”
“So you haven’t heard?” I asked and sat back down in my chair like I was about to give him the juiciest gossip I’d ever heard. “I’m friends with the Brooklyn DA, Alessia, and she called to tell me that Dian was picked up early this evening. He’s been in their interrogation room talking their ears off all night.”
I didn’t need to tell him that the Vietnamese businessman was talking about shipping crabs, and he didn’t need to know. The only thing he had to be sure of was that his business partner was in police custody, and he was being extremely chatty.
“He’s talking?” Drew asked, and a dark look washed over his face that made him lose the boyish worry that had been there a moment before. “Do you know what he’s been saying?”
“There’s been a lot of chatter about the shipping aspects of his business,” I said with a shrug and sat back in my chair. “Apparently he’s a bit incessant. Won’t stop talking now that he’s started.”
The look Stevenson had when he started to drum his fingers on the table made me wonder if his innocent routine was nothing but a facade, but then he pulled his glasses off to run his hands down his face, and I saw the fear that mixed with his fury. He wasn’t a cold-blooded killer, even if he was angry, but that didn’t mean that his associates weren’t.
I still wasn’t convinced that Alessia would be able to keep the talkative businessman safe, even if he only spat nonsense that wouldn’t help them nail the car theft ring. My friend would need to put him in protective custody, and she’d need to watch her own back if the corrupt cops decided to put a target on her back. I intended to call her as soon as I was free, though I wasn’t sure she’d even answer if she was still busy.
“I can’t believe that he’d betray me like that,” the young genius said as he put his glasses back on his face. “I want to punch him straight in the face. But that would probably tell the cops that I’m involved.”
“I think some of them already know,” I said. “You are aware that Dian had a few of them on his payroll, right?”
“Yeah,” the younger man said with a nod. “Of course. They would take the calls in the neighborhoods where we were boosting cars. Wait, do you think they’ll do something to Dian?”
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” I said and tried to ignore the unnerving excitement that had overcome the genius at the idea of his partner being murdered.
“If they can get to him before he tells them who I am,” the calculating man said. “Then I don’t have to worry about being arrested, too.”
“I wouldn’t worry about being arrested,” I said while I crossed one leg over the other and made myself comfortable in my chair. “I don’t think that they’d take that chance. For all they know, you have just as much information about them as Dian has. He’s a sitting duck, but you, you’re a wild card that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible.”
“So you think they’re coming after me?” Stevenson asked as the danger sank in. “I’ll have hitmen and cops after me? I can’t deal with that. I’m just a nerd! How am I supposed to survive this? I just wanted a little fun. I was so bored up here without anyone to talk to. How did it come to this?”
The panicked inventor put his head between his legs as he tried to keep from hyperventilating. His breaths came out in ragged gasps, and I recognized the first signs of a panic attack.
“Things like this happen when you’re conducting illegal business,” I said. “But, luckily for you, I have friends in high places.”
“I can’t believe Dian would do this to me,” Drew said as he sat up, and there were tears streaming down his face, rage in his eyes, and his lips were pressed together in a straight line. “We were supposed to be friends. And now my entire life is ruined because of him! How could he have been stupid enough to get caught? Didn’t I tell him to be careful?”
“Mistakes were made,” I agreed. “But they can be fixed. If you can help me, then I can help you.”
“And how will you do that?” the genius asked and threw his hands out to gesture around. “How are we even going to get out of this building? They could be here any minute, flashing their badges and bullying their way up here. I’m a dead man. I should just throw myself over the balcony and be done with it.”
I stopped him before he could move to stand, and put myself between him and the balcony railing. He was hysterical, but that was playing into my hands, and I didn’t want to waste more time than I had to because he was right, the corrupt officers could be there at any moment.
“I can help you,” I repeated. “My friend is in the DA’s office, and she’s more than willing to help take down corrupt cops. Do you have a list of the ones that Dian worked with?”
“Of course,” the genius muttered into his hands. “I have records of every transaction from buyers to payoffs. I should’ve known that Dian would betray me like this. He lied about everything. You know that he didn’t come to the US until he was an adult? That whole website is just full of lies. Like him.”
I shook my head at the overly dramatic man and watched him for a few seconds before I took my seat. He couldn’t decide if he was scared or furious, and it was like being on the teacup ride at Disney World. I was dizzy from the swirl of his emotions, but he’d at least confirmed that he had the name of the Enzo’s new owner somewhere.
“I did know that,” I said. “He’s a very sneaky man. But, you have the records of every cop that he paid off. We can give that to my friend Alessia, anonymously, of course, and then she can have them arrested. They won’t be a problem for you after that, and your name won’t come up in her investigation.”
“What about my Chinese partners?” Drew asked. “They put a hit out on my head!”
“That’s just because they think that they’re losing business,” I said. “I can help them find a new partner, that way they’ll be happy, and much more likely to take the bounty off of your head.”
“Hunter,” Hank’s voice came from over at the door to the balcony. “Are you okay out here?”
“I am,” I said with a grin over at the beefy man. “How did getting rid of that hitman go?”
“Fine,” the Italian said and looked over at the hysterical genius. “I’m right inside if you need me.”
“Sure,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Is that your bodyguard?” Stevenson asked as he looked up.
“He is,” I said. “A very good one. Together we stopped one of the Serbians that was here to take your life.”
“They’re already here?” the genius shouted and stood up to look around like they would rappel down the walls.
“At least one of them is,” I said in my most soothing voice. “But, since we’re going to be friends, I made sure that he didn’t reach you.”
I didn’t have the time to be coddling the paranoid man since the rest of the hitmen could be there at any minute, and that didn’t even include the cops that had probably found someone to give them the address by now. Things were about to get rough in the high-rise building unless I could get the kid to give me the information that I needed.
“I don’t know what to do,” the frail man said as he began to pace the balcony like a caged animal. “Anywhere I go, the Chinese will find me. And if there are cops after me, then they'll be able to figure out where I am. I don’t have enough shell corporations to hide me for that long.”
“Like I said,” I repeated in a patient tone. “I am here to be your friend. All you have to do is help me, and I can help you.”
The Milo Thatch twin stopped mid-pace like my words had finally sunk in. His mop of hair was stuck to the sweat on his forehead, and he had a wild look in his light-brown eyes. He shifted from foot to foot as he weighed my words and then nodded when he came to a decision.
“Okay,” he said. “I can try to help you. Where should we start?”
“First,” I stood and pulled at the cuffs of my sleeves. “I need you to tell me about the Enzo.”
“I can’t get it back for you,” the genius said with a pleading look. “It’s going to be in China by tomorrow morning. There’s no way that I can bring it back.”
I gritted my teeth and held back my frustration, though all I wanted to do was scream and shake the oblivious young man. He’d gotten in way over his head, and now my employer’s two million dollar car would be across the world by the morning. I forced a smile on my face and nodded.
