Undercover Inferno

CHAPTER TWO

Armando was practically sprawled on the cushion with a glass of some sort of wine, he had lost count of how many of them he had in his huge wine cellar or how much he had consumed in the past few days consecutively, he had been on a trip for almost two months and he was pretty exhausted, “Boss, it’s good to have you back”, “Oh please Romero, the sarcasm is unnecessary, you and I both know that this trip was necessary, for our own good”, “It was supposed to be a day trip to Vegas ,Mando, not a personal red carpet show of some signora you wouldn’t even approach or let us bring her to you”. Armando scoffed while swirling the lilac content of his glass, “Well where’s the fun in that, the point of the whole issue is. enjoying the chase as long as it lasts before the pounce”.He gave his signature grin as he stood up, dropping the glass with it’s remaining contents on the little table besides the cushion, then with all traces of smile gone from his face, he turned over to his best friend and underboss, “How is the California investigations coming on?”, “There’s no much progress, all we know is that they are after our retired or settled members who were mostly working with your father during his regime, they all picked less eye catching jobs to make a living so definitely this is aimed at us”. “I need more than this to work with, ‘ fratello, qualcosa di solido’, but for now,about the FBI and other forze dell’ordine,keep throwing them off till we find out what’s going on, I do not want my business on their radar again”. “Got it”.As Romero turned to leave the room , Mando commented, “And Romero” , “Yes”, “Please tell them to prepare the private jet, we’re going back to Vegas”. Romero swallowed down his discontent and mumbled all the way out the lavish sitting room, leaving behind the laughter of his psychopathic friend and boss. His family had always served as the underboss to the Alonzo family for decades. They grew up together, ate together, schooled together, fought together and learnt the scope of the business together in hopes of running it even better than his predecessor did, but in his own case, he was adopted by the Alonzo’s after losing his parents in a war with another Mafia group, and so, in the process , they moved from a master-subordinate relationship to friends, then brothers. He knew, regardless of what happened, that Mando wouldn’t run the business on the ground. You could count on one finger, the number of people who really knew what the Boss of diavolo mafia looked like and even fewer knew that the mafia had not shut down completely. He knew Mando to be a really quiet, analytical type of person with a penchant for torturing in the most horrible way . He kept reminiscing on their good times as he started giving instructions to them and then went ahead to pack up for the journey . It was going to be a long one.

“Interesting”, “What is it this time?”, “apparently my object of interest is interesting indeed, she lodged outside of her hotel but is hiding it for some reason. She has someone impersonating her, with the same schedule”, “How did you know?, please don’t tell me you put a tracking device on her”. Silence. “Armando kept a 21st century man, sei pazzo fra ,questo `e sconsiderato, you are well aware that if an enemy gets hold of the fact that you are tracing or showing interest in a lady , that is an open call of challenge to them. He rolled his eyes and keep scrolling through his tablet, the topic was thus left unsettled between them. After a few more hours, the jet had arrived at Vegas, with his shades on, Armando looked like the perfect cold CEO. So much that Romero had to stifle a laugh. He was the only one in this entire universe who knew what Mando really was like; fight, flight, joy if he had any. But to outsiders, he was the cold tyrannical business man who invested in so many businesses worldwide, Mr. A. A, the business man who always wanted to sign a confidentiality agreement before cooperating with anyone, at the thought of that, Romero finally let loose strings of laughter, ignoring the confused and comical looks from all angles.

Back at the hotel, after settling in, Mando dressed up to the nines and went off back to the bar, where he picked seat 22,which was at the darkest corner of the room, where he could see but not be seen, while his underboss picked seat 18 like everyday other day they were in town, not ordering a single thing, he sat still to watch the ever busy club, bodies moving against each other, moans and groans and ear splitting music rang out, oh how he hated this place, he reclined on the sofa and began to remember the tiny fresh breath of air that made him visit ecstacy bar for two months just to look at her, maybe the dark air around her or the lone spirit she carried with her or the lithe well toned figure beneath the sexy wears that she always donned, dresses body hugging enough to drive a man crazy, or joggers that shaped her round ass in a mouth watering way, waist so thin he could fix ten of it in a hula hoop and boobs just the perfect size for his hand, not too small, not too big, just perfect, lips full he could watch sipping her tequila with a straw all day,who does that, she was weird but a good kind of weird, watching the straw go in and out of those luscious lips of hers made me want to put something else there. A sudden change below his waistline had him signaling his Underboss who, with the nod of a head and snap of his fingers , had a line of girls and skimpy dresses and make-up filed in with provocative smiles on their faces and curves swaying from side to side, some with drinks, some with glasses and some bearing nothing, but just as they were about to attend to him, his cell phone rang, he picked and barely seconds after, his brow furrowed with strong domineering aura radiating off him in waves, “Romero, prepare the jet, we’re going to California”. Once they were outside, he asked, “What’s wrong?”, “Big Ben is dead, brutally murdered,………..in California”.

“Did you secure the perimeters like I asked?”, “Yes boss” .Armando swiftly walked past the guard dressed in plain clothes and towards the little cottage that looked homely but eerily quiet, reaching out, he took the gloves. His offered. He and with a deep frown on his face towards the cottage, gently opening it, his face was hit by humid air from the room. He slowly and carefully walked across the wooden floors so as not to leave any signs that would lead back to him while looking over every corner of the house. First, it was the kitchen, it was all scattered like someone had put up a fight or something in there. Then the dining room, where he found blood stains on the edges of the dining chairs and on the floor, then on the table an outlet of torture weapons spread on a leather cloth ,some still gleaming in the cold light with some blood stained and some bearing bits of flesh on them. He took in a deep breath with eyes closed and fist clenched and released it. Suddenly opening them, he continued toward the next space, the living room, and right in the middle of the room, hanging upside down from the ceiling entirely naked and bloodied. He was Big Ben, rigor mortis was already in process, it had been quite a while since he, but the stereo was playing Uptown funk and on the ground where his blood was spilled were bloodied foot marks, but they weren’t organized, rather it was like a drunkard’s disorganized footwork. Looking at the wall, he saw quite a colorful message and a tree drawn with Ben’s blood and a painting brush which was used for the artwork. It read , “10 PINTS FOR EVERY TEAR I CRY AND 2 MORE FOR THE NIGHTS I LAY AWAKE, LA MAFIA DEL DIAVOLO PAGHER`A”, and next to the words was a rank tree of Mafia Diavolo starting with the boss down to the soldier and associates, and to the soldier slot was three asterisks, same as the associate. After looking through the houses and finding nothing missing, he cut off the ropes binding Big Ben with a gleaming dagger handed over by one of his soldiers. After freeing him and laying him properly on the floor, he performed the last office rites, prayed, tied his hands and thumbs and everyone gave a minute's silence for him. Then they all left, leaving behind only Armando who kept staring at the dead body of his close buddy. Then he slowly walked towards the fridge where he took two glasses and a probably antique drink and then reclined on the dining table and, while looking at the corpse, he took sip after sip from his glass while the other glass was filled and kept next to the corpse. Sips turned to gulps the same way day turned to night, the cottage was dark and gloomy and the smell of death was thick in the air, the vibration of his phone took him out of his thoughts. He. He pinched the area of the glass he drank from and broke it off with a perfect cut. Take it with him. He left the rest of the glass close to the still. Then he saw police lights flashing both through the front and back doors, so he went up the stairs to the bedroom where he saw a drawer. He opened, out of curiosity. He opened it to find a safe locked with a code, nothing new. He picked it to reveal a Diavolo mafia soldier's tag and an old leather diary alongside it. He packed it up and left, opening the window to jump out, a foot caught him right on the jaw with such force that he almost suffered whiplash. The pain was definitely going to last for a while. Though caught by surprise, he easily held his balance and went on to attack, but saw a figure that had hunted his memory for quite a while now. Even with the mask on, he could recognize her anywhere. He almost let out a smile, but then like a click it hit him, what is she doing here? Who is she? With a kick that powerful, what else is she capable of? Then, to satisfy his curiosity, he went on to ask, but before he could make a full sentence, she had gone full on attack on him. Her techniques were neat, coordinated, quick and strong. It all made sense to him, the dark aura around her was that of one who had made lots of contact with blood and definitely not with intentions to save but that of assassination. Was she the one responsible for the deaths? No, then she still shouldn't be here, but the saying the most dangerous place is the safest kept ringing in his head. While he was still trying to gather his thoughts, she threw out a thin chord that whipped his hand, probably with the intention of cutting it off, but for him. But on time, he’ll be on the way to the hospital discussing installing a prosthetic. With that, his eyes grew cold and he fought back.. Not like someone enjoying his interesting prey, playing around ,or someone going easy on a female, but like someone out to take the life of his enemy and she retaliates in kind. That was when he realized that she was also holding back. Sparring with this little woman was almost. So, sparring with his underboss, he put in his effort twice. He was so busy trying not to get cut by her qin that he missed the senile smile that spread over her face, a grave mistake on his part as she used his focus against him by snapping the. He on his face, and with her powerful thighs around his neck, she somersaulted and pinned him to the ground, Mando, caught by surprise, let go of both the diary and the tag which she grabbed and fled the room through the window and into the woods just in time as the police came running up the stairs. Romero jumped down as soon as he could because of the injuries he sustained from his mystery lady. It would be easier to wipe out whatever DNA he must hv left lying around as a result of the fight even if it was collected by the police, but it was a different story if he was found at the crime scenes before the police were there. So, at picking himself up, he hobbled his way to where would men will pick him up, all the while still vigilant so as to easily deflect whatever surprise attack would be pulled at him. After some minutes, an inconspicuous black car pulled up and he got in, getting inside he told his best friend, “Drive as fast as you can , and properly get rid of the license, we have a tail, questo `e pi`u complicate di quanto pensassimo”. With that, he gradually welcomed the darkness that had been trying to swallow him and fell unconscious.

Opening his eyes, he caught sight of Romero pacing the length of the room with worry visible on his face, and the mafia doctor checking the fluid connected to his hands and doing whatever other things doctors do, “A future mafia boss shouldn’t let his emotions get the best of him, no matter the situation,,, that was the first lesson pap`a taught us but you don’t seem too keen to follow up on that teaching”. The relief on Romero’ s face was open to all eyes as he practically flew to the bed, then , like he was just hearing what was said , grimaced and said, “My generation and I are fine with being just underbosses, we don’t want to rule.” “You might as well become my consigliere” , Mando retorted with a scoff, “ That’s ok with me, I’d prefer that”, “That’s enough, we’ll discuss this after we sort this case”. After a brief moment of silence, Romero finally asked through clenched teeth, “Who did this to you, Armando”.A variety of emotions played across Mando’s face like that of a rainbow in the sky before he muttered, “A girl”. Silence, and then a high pitched, full-blown laughter burst out from Romero’s mouth. It didn’t stop, or rather, he couldn’t stop no matter how he tried. The dude was close to breaking the world record for the longest laughter, Mando’s face turned gloomy , he reached out to the side table, picking up the little jack knife. He went in for the kill, the laughter seized like a movie on pause and the much desired silence returned to the room. The two remained absorbed in their own thought for a long while before Mando left the comfort of his bed to stroll from one end of his glass window to the other,eyes glued to the world outside the fancy glass, brows furrowed in concentration, “Who was this girl?, Where is she from?, What do you have on her?.” Romero asked, all smiles gone, turning to look at him, Mando resumed strolling but this time all over the room, “That’s the problem”, “how do you mean?, how is it a problem?”, “She’s pretty, she’s cold, she’s something different, wears sweats to a club when she feels like it, a sexy drop dead gorgeous dress when she feels like it, sips tequila like she,s out for my life, lips shaped just for my c**k, ass looking like they were meant for just my hands and a bosom that does so much while inside her clothes that you wonder what would happen if they were to be outside.Lips always set in a downturn, you’ll wonder if her smile is the regal kind or the one that sets the room alight, her smell like lavender with a high dose of aphrodisiac, she is out of this world”. “Now I see why you got beaten, I think she left you in a very good shape, you are telling me right now that you, Armando Nicholas Alonzo, was beat up by a girl because he couldn’t get a hold of his freaking b***r?, who is she?”. “Natasha Wells”, “Natasha?, you mean the Vegas Natasha?” “Yes, that Natasha,” “That’s messed up, fratell…., wait a minute, did you say Wells?”. His tone caught Mando's attention, “Yes, Wells”, “f**k me”.