Chapter 10 - The Traitor's Scent
At 10:00 AM, I used an encrypted satellite uplink to convene an emergency audio conference with my three high lieutenants: Marco, Dante, and Uncle Silvio.
The line clicked open.
"Alejandro?!" Marco’s panicked voice boomed through the speaker. "Jesus Christ, Boss! Where are you? The estate... it’s completely destroyed! We recovered eight bodies from the foyer, two of ours, six hostiles. We thought they took you!"
"I am alive," I said smoothly, keeping my tone completely devoid of emotion.
"Thank God," Silvio’s wheezing, elderly voice chimed in. "Nephew, we were preparing a full mobilization across the South Side. The Valentis have crossed an unforgivable line. We thought you were dead!"
"I was indisposed, Uncle," I said, swirling a glass of dark scotch in my hand. "The assault was coordinated. They breached using private gatehouse codes. Codes that only the four of us possess."
A heavy, suffocating silence fell across the conference call.
"Alejandro," Dante spoke, his voice low and calculating. "Are you implying one of us compromised the estate?"
"I am stating a fact, Dante. Someone sold out my home."
"Where are you now, Boss?" Silvio asked, his voice dripping with false concern. "Let us send an extraction convoy. We have the armored Mercedes fleet at the downtown warehouse. Let us bring you in."
"I am secure," I replied. "And I have something Carmine Valenti wants very badly."
"What could Valenti possibly want from your ruins?" Silvio pressed, his voice tightening ever so slightly.
"My wife's legacy," I said coldly.
A sharp intake of breath hissed through the receiver. It wasn't Marco, and it wasn't Dante.
It was Silvio.
"Sofia?" Silvio stammered. "Sofia has been dead for five years, Alejandro. What nonsense is this?"
"We will discuss it tonight," I said. "The Old Boardroom at the Chicago River docks. Midnight. All captains present. If anyone fails to show, I will consider them a marked enemy of the Moretti family."
I severed the connection immediately.
"He took the bait," Julian said from behind me, crossing his arms.
"He did," I whispered. "Silvio thinks he's coming to finish what he started five years ago. He will bring Valenti’s remaining muscle to ensure I don't leave that warehouse alive."
"And what will you do with the boys while you're slaughtering your uncle?"
May you like
"They stay here with you and Elena," I said, checking the magazine of my Kimber. "And if anyone comes down that driveway who isn't me... burn the cabin and execute Protocol Omega."
***