Omerta (The DeLuca Family #1) (15 page)

Chapter 35

Carlo

There was something wrong with Mia. It’d been two days since her trip to Chicago and something felt off. She’d been on the phone with Mouse quite often in the past few days, saying she was finalizing plans for the transport but I wasn’t buying it. Angelo had said she’d snuck off to see Mouse alone. I knew with complete certainty that Mia would never cheat on me but she was definitely up to something. I just had to figure it out before she did something stupid like start a war.

“Yeah, boss?” Frankie’s raspy voice filtered through the phone line.

“I need you do look into someone for me.”

“Sure, name?” That was one of the things I liked most about Frankie. When it came to her job she didn’t waste time, she got straight to the point.

“Mitchell Keller, he goes by Mouse. He’s a hacker, lives in Chicago, originally from the Eugene area.”

“Okay, what do you want to know about him?”

“I want you to track his computer, find out what he’s up to.”

“Sure, it might take a couple of days, especially if he’s any good. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Good,” I said, and ended the call.

Sitting back in my chair I stared up at the ceiling. “What are you up to, Mia?” I wondered aloud but the empty room didn’t have a response.

Chapter 36

Mia

Tucking in the last few strands of brown hair into the wig I watched the woman in the reflection. Her face distorted in the cracked vanity mirror, detached brown eyes giving nothing away as she brushed yet another layer of gloss across her lips. This woman wasn’t me. She didn’t have a heart, she didn’t think about consequences, she didn’t know fear. She was vengeance incarnate.

Tearing my gaze from the woman in the mirror I methodically gathered my discarded clothes and makeup. Stuffing my belongings into a small backpack that I placed on the center of the still made bed. I inspected the room to make sure I’d wiped away any trace of my presence.

Beneath the bleach and pine scented cleaner the heavy stench of mildew lingered in the rundown motel room. The carpet was worn, walls yellowed from years of smoke, and the curtains were riddled with cigarette burns. It wasn’t pretty or even sanitary but it suited my needs just fine.

The attendant at the front desk hadn’t even batted an eye when I’d shoved a hundred dollar bill at him without saying a word after he’d asked for my name and ID. Instead he’d reached behind the desk and placed a key in my hand. His sweaty palm had lingered on mine, with the way he’d been licking his puffy lips since I’d walked in I could only imagine what was going through his mind. Before he could say anything I’d fisted the key and made a beeline for the front door.

The dingy white keychain marked with a black seven had led me to a door on the first floor of the two story horseshoe complex. I’d chosen the derelict motel right off the MAX line because it was the kind of place that hosted hookers and drug addicts on a regular basis. The common person wouldn’t look too closely, instead choosing to avert their eyes and pretend that seedy places like this didn’t exist in their town. Everyone else, the homeless, prostitutes, and meth addicts, were too busy with their own problems or too far out of their minds to pay any attention.

I pulled out my pre-paid burner phone and checked the time. It was 9 o’clock, right on schedule. I needed to catch the MAX downtown and it would take at least a half hour to get where I needed to go. Leaving all evidence of myself on the center of the bed, I headed out. It would seem suspicious to be carrying a backpack around where I was going, especially the way I was dressed. I’d just have to come back for it before going home.

Making my way across the street, I kept my eyes alert. Even though the bottom feeders that frequented this area wouldn’t think twice about a girl in a short dress walking out of a dirty motel they would definitely take notice of a seemingly unprotected girl walking the streets. I picked up my pace as I crossed the overpass and started to descend the stairs to the light rail platform. I could see my breath coming out in puffs in front of me, the frigid winter air causing goosebumps to breakout along my bare legs and arms.

Coming to a stop in front of the ticket booth, I slipped a few bills from my purse and fed them into the machine. I was careful not to pull out my wallet since there were a few people lurking in the shadows. I’d ridden the MAX enough times with Gina when we were teenagers to know without looking which line would take me into the heart of downtown Portland. I also knew from my experience that the platform was isolated and an optimal place for muggers to strike. I could handle a thug trying to shake me down on my own but I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, and a woman in five inch heels and a clubbing dress kicking a grown man’s ass would definitely draw attention.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for the train to pull up to the station. I opted to stand, holding onto a pole for support as the train started to move. My position at the front of the car gave me a prime view of the occupants. Stepping onto the MAX at night was like walking into a portable melting pot. There were people from all walks of life, gangsters, teenagers, tweakers, homeless people trying to keep warm, and a lot of drunk people. Arriving at my stop I stepped back out into the icy night air but this time I didn’t feel it. The only thing I felt as I walked the two blocks to my destination was the buzz of anticipation humming through my body.

…

I scanned the VIP booths for Boris or Ivan but came up empty. Looked like I was going to have to wait a bit longer for one of them to make an appearance. I had done my homework, I knew both of them frequented this club. One of them was bound to show up eventually. Two ginger ales later I finally saw Boris sit down on one of the couches in the raised VIP section to the right of the dance floor.

Now to just get his attention. I set my glass on the bar and made my way onto the dance floor. I slowly shimmied and swayed my way through the throng of people until I was right in front of his section. I began to dance alone letting my body roll and dip to the hypnotic beat. I peeked up at him through my hair as I continued putting on a show. He was sitting on this throne watching me.

Good.

A hand came down on my shoulder and I jumped, spinning around to find a large eastern European man in a black suit directly behind me.

“Come,” he said in a thick Russian accent, “Boss want you.”

“I’m sorry what?” I played along as the dumb club girl.

He pointed to the dais where Boris was sitting and glaring at me, looking almost mad. As if he was impatient that I was making him wait.

“Oh, um I don’t know him, I think you might have me confused with someone else,” I said trying to sound innocent.

“No confused, you come now,” he said with finality, grabbing my arm and none too gently hauling me up the stairs to Boris. He pushed me forward as if to present me to Boris and turned on his heel to resume his post at the far end of the stage, keeping watch over the crowd.

I stood there awkwardly looking around as if lost, “Umm, hi.” I said to Boris with a coy smile. I had to give it to the guy, he was definitely not ugly. He was a large man, and from the information I gleaned from Carlo and the men, he wasn’t all that smart. He was the brawn to Ivan’s brains.

“Hello,” he responded with a nod. When I didn’t say anything he continued, “I saw you dancing, what is your name?”

I cocked an eyebrow, game on, time to bring on the flirt. “I don’t make a habit of telling strange men that demand my presence my name when I still don’t know theirs,” I replied with a slight attitude and hand on my hip.

He laughed, loudly, “My name is Boris, yeah?”

I smiled and flipped my hair, extending my hand I replied, “Janelle.”

His large hand engulfed my own much smaller one and then he pulled, causing me to fall next to him. I giggled as I plopped down on the loveseat and curled up to his left side. A brush of my breast against his side revealed a pistol holster under his arm, a rub of his leg with my left foot revealed another small gun and finally a graze of my hand down his chest proved a second holster on the right side. In a matter of seconds I had effectively identified his personal weapons and cataloged them in my mind, I would need the knowledge later.

I spent the next hour flirting my ass off and dancing for him. I apparently did a good job because he was up and guiding me out of the club and into his car before midnight. He had shrugged off his security. Opting to drive his Lamborghini in an effort to impress me, I’m sure. Foolish move, but he didn’t know that yet, he just thought I was some young girl that he picked up at a club. Little did he know that he was my prey, I had stalked him and soon I would go in for the kill.

The drive to the hotel was short but it gave me enough time to flash some leg and complement him profusely on his car. We pulled up to the hotel and two valets came running out. The first stopped at my door and helped me out of the car, the second made a beeline for Boris and the keys. I made sure to let my hair cover my face so the valet wouldn’t be able to ID me later. Didn’t matter much though since the two young men seemed to only have eyes for Boris’ pretentious, over compensating car. Keeping my head down so onlookers couldn’t catch my face, I let Boris guide me into the hotel and up to the 32
nd
floor where he led me into a hugely extravagant suite.

Of course I had done my recon work and knew where he was staying. I had studied the layout of the hotel marking out my exit strategy and memorizing possible alternatives in the event that things didn’t go as planned. The one thing I didn’t have was backup. I was on my own here, and no one knew where I was, or what I was doing. If any of Carlo’s men had any inclination of what I had planned they would have never let me leave the house.

By now they probably knew I wasn’t where I said I was going to be and were bound to have started figuring out my plan. Carlo wasn’t stupid. As soon as he found out I wasn’t in Seattle he would know that I went after the Kashnikov’s. The only person that knew was Mouse, but that was only because I needed him to get me the layout of the hotel and the intel on Boris. I hadn’t clued him into the timeline since I didn’t want him involved any more than absolutely necessary.

“Drink?” Boris asked, motioning to the wet bar and interrupting my rapid-fire thoughts. My heart rate had picked up and I could feel the adrenaline pulsing through my body. This was it.

“Please,” I said sweetly, “let me, go sit down.”

Boris smirked and loosened his tie as he made his way over to the couch.

“What would you like to drink?”

He gave me a weird look as if to say
what the fuck do you think?
“Vodka.”

I smiled as I turned to grab an old fashioned glass and rolled my eyes, seriously this man was a walking, talking stereo type. If I had to smile at this guy for one more goddamn minute I was going to fucking scream. With my back still turned I poured his vodka into the glass and set down the carafe. With my right hand I grabbed for a napkin as my left hand unscrewed the pendant on my necklace. Before I turned around I poured the clear liquid into his drink. The drug was nearly untraceable on its own but mixed with straight vodka on ice there was no way Boris would be able to detect that I slipped him something before it was too late. Sauntering from around the wet bar I put an extra sway in my hips, handing him his drink and sitting beside him.

He sipped his drink and surveyed me, “Why you so far away?” he asked in his harsh accent.

I grinned at him and straddled his lap, “Well, when you finish your drink, we can get much, much closer,” I purred the words as I wrapped my arms around his neck, and it made me want to vomit. This man was responsible for Gina’s death and here I was seducing him.

Fucking disgusting pig.

He downed his drink in one gulp and set it on the table immediately grabbing for me on his lap.
The drugs hadn’t kicked in yet, and given his size I didn’t know how long it would take. I could flirt with this guy, touch him, sit on his lap but I could not kiss him let alone fuck him, I had to stall.

Shit, I did not think this through

I went for his throat, kissing him there, it was better than having to kiss his lips and it gave me time to think. I mentally calculated the dosage in my necklace and his weight, thinking he was about two fifty and the vial on my necklace held about two doses for a normal person. I had given him the entire thing, it was only a matter of a few minutes before he should start to feel the effects. I started to push at his suit jacket, I might as well shoot two birds with one stone and disarm him now.

Next I unbuttoned his shirt, making sure to take my time and slide my hands all over his chest. The coarse hair abraded my cheeks as I kissed down his neck and ventured south.

This shit had better start fucking working because like hell was I sucking this bastard’s cock.

With his size I wasn’t confident that I could overpower him or even get the upper hand. While I was contemplating going for his ankle holster since he had removed his side arms and was running out of torso, a heavy hand landed on my head.

“Da, good baby, so good,” he slurred, and that was my cue. I moved quickly grabbing the gun holstered to his ankle and rolling out of reach. I stood above him, his own gun aimed at his head.

“What? What you do to me?” he could barely get the words out, his tongue was thick and by the way he smacked his lips together I assumed his mouth was dry.

“Just something to make things a little fuzzy. Don’t worry, you will still feel everything I plan to do to you,” I took my wig off and pulled the handcuffs from my purse. Walking over I secured his wrists behind his back and retrieved his two side arms making sure they were plenty far away. Next I lifted my skirt and unsheathed my push dagger. Kicking off my shoes I stalked back across the room, fury heating my blood.

“You murdered my best friend, you beat her, and you raped her!” I yelled in his face. I was so close, we were breathing the same air and it made me sick.

Boris was looking at me with far away eyes, not even trying to defend himself. I don’t think he even knew I was talking to him, but when I straightened and brought my blade down across his chest he let out a pained grunt letting me know he felt it. I brought my blade up this time, making a long line up his side. The cuts were shallow not reaching the muscle, just the flesh. I kept slicing him at a manic pace. I wanted him to
feel it.
I was going to mutilate his body just like he had done to Gina.

Once his neck and torso were covered in shallow slices, I walked back over to the fully stocked wet bar. Grabbing the container of limes along with the salt I made my way back over to where Boris was feebly trying to fight against his restraints. I set my haul on the side table and approached Boris again.