The Mafia Trilogy (66 page)

Three holes formed on the front of the man’s dress shirt. Dark red blood seeped out. He looked down and then back up at Darwin, a scowl on his face. He hadn’t let go of Darwin’s arm yet. His grip tightened.

Darwin raised the weapon, aimed carefully, and fired. A hole formed under the Russian’s chin where the middle of his tongue would be. A small spray of liquid shot out of the top of the Russian’s head. His facial expression changed to a more subtle one of surprise. He tried to look at the man beside him for help, but his legs gave out and he dropped hard enough to shake the floor over the vibration of the music.

Darwin turned the gun to the other man who had watched everything in stunned immobility. He had stepped back at least two feet and now turned to run.

Darwin let him go, pocketed the gun, and moved through the alcove into the main part of the club. He was running out of time and needed to find Yuri before his bodyguards ushered him out of the building and whisked him away in his car.

Coming in with guns blazing hasn’t served me as well here.

He scanned the crowd as best he could in the dark but couldn’t see Yuri. Half-naked dancers paraded around the club looking for lap dance potentials. Others were already sitting on men’s laps, and two girls performed on stage, oblivious of the three dead men on the premises. Luckily, no one had picked up on the gun going off a moment ago.

He moved farther inside, squeezed past four businessmen in suits standing around drinking, and he walked briskly to the far back of the club where the lights were dimmer. He kept his hands in his pockets, gripping the butts of the two guns.

When he reached the back, a woman screamed from the area where the Hugo Boss guy had died. Another person screamed.

He ignored it and scanned the faces of all the men sitting along the back wall. He recognized no one.

Why would the bartender tell me Yuri is here if he isn’t? Unless he left already.

He made it to the other side and looked around the crowded club. This time he watched for Russian bodyguards sitting with Yuri. No one fit the description he expected.

Is this a trap? Are they waiting for me?

He didn’t believe so. The Russians at the door would’ve expected him. They would’ve been more aggressive.

The music stopped. The two girls on stage were kneeling down, their tops off. Both of them got up and covered their breasts. They gestured at the DJ booth.

“Ladies and gentlemen.” The DJ came over the speakers. “May I have your attention?”

The VIP sign sat lit up five feet away from Darwin beside a darkened door. He headed that way as the DJ began asking everyone to remain calm as there has been an incident reported to him and emergency services had been called.

Another dancer screamed as she saw the dead Russian.

Darwin entered the VIP section and turned a corner.

Fully nude dancers moved up and down on men in booths separated by partitions. Two dancers handled one man in a booth on Darwin’s left.

He pulled a gun and brought one of the scythes out of his hoodie. Then he stepped up to the first booth, bumped the naked girl aside and looked at the man.

A stranger.

It struck him as strange that none of the dancers stopped after the DJ’s announcement. No music played.

He went from booth to booth until he reached one where a man sat by himself, no dancer present. The man’s head was back, his eyes closed. Cyrillic letters were tattooed on each finger, telling Darwin this guy was part of the Russian Mafia. Yuri must be in the next booth.

Darwin stepped up close to the man and pushed the scythe up against the man’s neck. The man opened his eyes, saw Darwin and went to move, but all he did was fall on Darwin’s blade.

He sat on the man, locking his arms in and covered his mouth to mask any sounds he made as he died. The girl in the next booth kept dancing for her customer, unaware of the man dying beside her.

When the Russian stopped moving, Darwin got up and stepped behind the dancer. She faced her customer, blocking his view of Darwin.

After a quick look at the VIP door to make sure no one was coming, Darwin tapped the girl on the shoulder.

She turned her head around. “Can’t you see I’m busy here?”

“Fuck off,” Darwin said. “Now.” He showed her his gun.

She yelped like a little terrier and scuttled away, her arms over her breasts.

The man sitting in the booth wasn’t Yuri.

It was Arkady.

He wore a smile and a gun rested in his hand as if it came out of nowhere. Before either man said a word, they both aimed and fired their weapons.

Darwin felt a punch in his lower abdomen. He fired his weapon over and over but only two bullets came out as he’d already used the others. He frantically reached in for the gun on his right side. Arkady had dropped his and was slouched to one side.

The gun in his right hand, Darwin kicked Arkady’s weapon out of the way and moved in on him. He set the tip of the barrel at the base of Arkady’s mouth and held it firmly against the skin.

“Where’s my wife?”

“Fuck you, you shit. I die first.”

Darwin pulled out the scythe with his left hand and sliced along the top of Arkady’s legs. Arkady screamed and writhed under the blade.

“You will burn for this,” Arkady yelled. “I will have every Russian in the continent after you.”

“And I will kill all of them as well. Where’s Rosina?”

“I have no idea,” he shouted.

“Yes, you do.”

He kept cutting. In a matter of seconds, Arkady’s legs were unusable chunks of red meat. He made sure to stay away from major arteries and not to go too deep. Arkady bounced around in his seat in a vain attempt to get away from the blade of the scythe, but couldn’t.
 

“Where is she?” Darwin screamed at him, grabbing his hair and yanking Arkady’s face up to his.

“With Yuri,” Arkady panted, the color leaving his face. “That’s all I know.”

Something banged to his left. Darwin looked up at the door and saw a crowd of men watching him. The dancer he’d told off was with them. He raised his gun to scare them and fired wild into the ceiling tiles.

He turned his attention back on Arkady.

“I told you I would be back. After you die, I will go and get my wife and live a nice life in Europe. You fucked with the wrong man, Arkady. After what I did to the Fuccini Family and the Gambinos, how did you think you were above that?”

“Wait,” Arkady shouted. “I will tell you where Yuri has her. But you walk away. No more cutting.”

“Of course.” Darwin smiled wide. “No problem. That’s all I want.”

“He’s got her at the Park Road Hotel. It’s about ten blocks from here. Room 456.”

His side began to ache where Arkady had shot him.

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Darwin asked.

“Because I want to live.”

“Fair enough. I hope to never see you again.”

Amid the pain, Darwin detected a look of relief pass over Arkady’s face.

Darwin leaned in and, before Arkady knew what was happening, pulled the scythe across Arkady’s neck as hard and as deep as he could go. He wiped the bloody blade on Arkady’s silk shirt and stepped away as Arkady grasped at his neck, trying to keep the flow of blood in and not finding success.

The VIP room had emptied. The people at the entrance had disappeared. There were no windows or back doors to escape. The door he had entered through was the only way out.

Should he go out guns blazing, hitting anything in his way and hope he made it? Or should he negotiate his way out? The police would be here any minute. He needed out of the building and he needed out fast.

Pain crept into his heightened consciousness. He looked down and saw a red stain forming on the lower part of his hoodie jacket.

“Shit.”

He lifted the hoodie and looked. A bullet had gone in just at the edge of his side and exited clean on the other side. It probably missed his kidney as it was so close to the edge of his side.

He lowered the jacket and moved to the door.

“I’m coming out,” he shouted.

No one answered him. It was absolutely quiet outside the VIP room.

What happened to everybody?

He looked around the corner. The lights of the club had been raised enough to see everything. It was nearly empty except for five men standing around in random places. They were all watching the VIP door. None of them had weapons in view.

“What’s going on?” Darwin asked.

No one answered.

“Where is everybody?”

Through the speakers, someone cleared their throat and said, “The dancers and customers have exited the building for their own safety.”

“Who are all of you?” Darwin asked. “Why haven’t you left?”

“Are you here because of the Mafia war?”

Darwin wondered what the right answer was. Then he decided on the truth since it was his personal war against the Mafia.

“Yes. This is a war.”

“Please leave before the police get here.”

What the hell? A free pass?

“You’re just going to let me walk out?” Darwin asked.

“Is Arkady alive?”

“No.”

“Then yes. Just leave.”

“How can I trust you? I could walk out and get gunned down.”

“Arkady has been coming here for a year causing all the girls trouble. We’ve had three dancers disappear in that time. The Mafia has ruined the reputation of this club. When you walked in tonight and killed only the Russians who have been causing us trouble, we figured it out and want you to leave now. This is between you and them.”

“Why wasn’t there more security?” Darwin asked, still not sure if he was being told the truth, even though it sounded right.

“Some big boss was here earlier meeting with Arkady. When he left, they left with him. When Arkady is around, we just have normal bouncers and Arkady has his one bodyguard with him, who I assume is also dead, right?”

“Yeah.”

Silence fell between them while Darwin debated what to do. The five men scattered around the club retreated in a non-threatening gesture. Two of them put their hands on the bar.

“Please leave. The cops will be here shortly.”

The pain in his side throbbed, intensifying. If he stayed, it was over. He could seek medical attention, but Rosina would still be at the Park Road Hotel, room 456. Yuri would still use her at the meeting and the FBI wouldn’t be able to save her.

If he left, he could get to her.

Darwin stepped out, a scythe in one hand, a gun in his other. He moved the gun around, waiting to see if he needed to use it. He kept his hoodie over his head and stayed close to the back wall, making his way to an exit door.

“When the police ask who did this, you tell them The Scythe did it.”

“The Scythe?”

“Yeah, The Scythe. That’s my name.”

He reached the exit and hesitated. None of the men had moved. He heard scuffling behind the door but thought that was just the people who had exited the club minutes before.

Using his good side, he bumped open the door’s bar handle and stepped outside. As he did, he lowered the gun out of sight and slid the scythe back inside his hoodie jacket.

Dancers stood around with suit jackets over their shoulders, borrowed from caring customers. The parking lot had half emptied. The people milling about gave a wide berth to the back door where the two men lay bleeding or dead.

No one seemed to notice him as he slinked along the building in the shadows and crossed the street.

He slipped the gun in his pocket and continued moving up the street fast, blood seeping from his wound with each step.

Chapter 14

Darwin had to rest on a park bench after three blocks. He didn’t want to look, but knew he had to.

The lower hem of his hoodie jacket had a large, dark red stain. He lifted it gingerly and examined the wound. The blood had slowed but it still seeped. He had no idea how to help it stop other than to apply pressure. He could be bleeding internally, too.

I could be dying right now and not know it.

He lowered the jacket and held his hand over the wound, adding as much pressure as he could without causing too much pain. He didn’t want to pass out. His wife was seven blocks away. All he left to do was go get her. Then he could go to the hospital.

No one would take her again. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight. And he would stay armed at all times.