The Mafia's Boxer

The Meeting

Gio:

I put on my best navy suit and headed towards my truck. Mario and Lorenzo were behind me, and I had soldiers in the SUV that would be following us.

“Ready Boss?” Mario asked as we drove away from the gym.

“Yes, is the location secure?” I asked.

“All secured, we got word that each head will be bring 4 men.” Lorenzo replied from the backseat.

“Perfect, you two and my father will sit in this meeting. The soldiers will stay in the SUV unless we need them.”

Even though we were meeting on neutral territory and the men in black threatened all of us, you could never let your guard down. The Russian Crime family was intense and had no mercy while the Irish Mafia was cold. They were calculated and would kill anyone who stood in their way of success. Pulling up to the abandoned warehouse, I let out the breath I was holding. I usually had my brother at my side at these things, but he was still recovering. My father took his place beside me, and we all walked in.

Chairs were arranged around the glass circular table and among those chairs sat the Igor, the head of the Russian Crime Family and Jon, the boss of the Irish Mafia. Both their eyes were dead set on me. Each of us were checked for wires and were disarmed.

“You’re early.” I say trying to break the tension in the room.

“Or your late?” Jon said.

“Let’s get down to business gentleman.” I say as I put the expensive bottle of scotch on the glass table. Both men seemed pleased with my selection. I poured each of us a glass before proceeding.

“Rumor has it, your shipping ports were raided Igor, correct?” I asked.

“Yes, they stole my last shipment. My men described them as shadowed armed men that were heavily armed.” Igor replied.

“Were you hit Jon?”

“Ay, we were hit two days ago right after your call to summon me. They tried to take my weapons load, but we held our line.” Jon grunted.

“We were hit and they brough an army with them. We were able to secure ourselves, but Tony took a bullet meant for me.” I said.

“Who are they?” Jon asked.

“I have no idea. I had my enforcers investigate and all they could come up with was they are not tied to a family or crime organization but a bought army. They are paid to fight for some mysterious man. The ones we took hostage said they didn’t know who the head was but instead they received their gear and paychecks at their doorsteps every Wednesday morning.”

“Then we need to track who is delivering the checks. What if we put our soldiers’ eyes out on each territory to track movements?” Igor suggested.

“We can’t track everyone in the state of New York, to see if they get a Wednesday morning delivery.” Jon huffed.

“No but we can spy on the known men in the game. The guys who have been in prison, the ones who used to work as runners for us. Also, the homeless crackheads that buy from our sellers.” I proposed.

“That’s a good idea, we can send out soldiers and runners to see some people on the list. Let’s make the list of who can be bought to fight and start there.” Jon and Igor voiced.

After spending hours crafting an in-depth list of potential suspects in the men in black army, we decided to split the list into thirds. Each of us will cover 10 suspects and trace their movements and deliveries for a whole week. To go even further, our runners and sellers will let slip information of a potential shipment coming. Each of us will give them a different port number, that way we could narrow down who is feeding information to the men in black.

We all agreed on the plan and would meet in 5 days to talk about our findings. The false shipping information would start going out tomorrow and we would all be at the ports, all our men ready to fight the men in black if they come a week from now.

Shaking the men’s hands, we all leave the warehouse and head our ways. It was the easiest business meeting I had. Usually, a few guns would be pulled, and a life threatened but today we were all on the same page. We needed each other.

I asked my solider Lucas to sit in the truck with me to recap his findings on Doc.

“What have you found?” I asked him.

“He’s dead…” Lucas whispered.

“How?” I demanded my eyes staring straight into him.

“I checked his house and saw a trial of dried blood from his backdoor step. I followed it into the alley a few blocks down and found a dry puddle of it. His suit jacket was pushed behind the dumpster in the alley.”

“Did it look like he was taken?”

“No, there were no signs of a struggle. I don’t know where the blood was coming from but there was so much of it.” Lucas paled as he continued, “I called the hospital inquiring about my grandpa that had been missing, and they said they a 75-year-old Italian man had passed away after an attempted suicide. He had a heartache and died.”

“Are you sure it’s him?” I questioned.

“I’m going to the hospital morgue later to see for sure.”

“Let’s go now.” I said and Mario turned in the direction of the hospital.

Thankfully Lucas had the same last name of Doc and was escorted down to see if it was his “grandpa”. Sure, enough it was Doc and a piece of my heart broke seeing him like that. The man helped raise me and always gave me the best advice. When my father and I would argue he had always counseled me and guided me. We confirmed his identity and made arrangements for him.

“If you plan on a service, could I share the information with one of my doctors?” The helpful nurse asked.

“Why?” I growled a little harsher than I should.

“Dr. May was with him when he passed, and she tried her best to save him. It’s eating her alive, I think it might offer her closure.”

“Willow...” I whispered her name. “We are not having a funeral, but I’ll reach out to her.”

We said our thanks and headed towards the door. The double door sprang open, and another body was pushed in.

I heard the nurses talking behind me as we left.

“It was one of Willow’s again, we should check in on her. I know she takes it hard.”

All I could think about was my poor Willow, she deserved only goodness in this world.

I decided that once I took care of business, I would go check in on the girl of my dreams.