“I don’t care about that,” I said. “I am not going to just leave Josie there to die. You can’t ethically do that, either.”
“This meeting was off the record,” Roger said, standing up. “We can do whatever is necessary.”
“God damn it,” I shouted, bangin
g my hands on the desk and catching his attention. “I don’t think you get it, Roger. I am going to the place, with or without you. If you know what’s good for your investigation, you will go with me. Otherwise, when I walk in there, I am going to tell every motherfucking mobster in the joint about your little operation. I’ll use it as leverage to get Josie back. Either way, I’m going there now. It’s your choice.”
Roger stopped and turned around to look at me, studying my face. He took a deep breath and sat back down in front of me. He tapped his pen on the table before speaking.
“You know this is an arrestable offense,” he said. “Telling the mob about an official FBI investigation. You could get our inside men killed.”
“And you know I don’t give two fucks, as long as Josie gets out of there alive,” I said quietly but sternly.
“You’ll have to sign some paperwork,” he said.
“I’ll sign any waiver you put in front of me if you want, but I am doing this,” I said.
Roger sat there for several moments staring at me, thoughts obviously running through his head. He motioned for the guy behind him to step forward and then whispered into his ear. Turning back to me, he put his hands on the table and laced his fingers together.
“Fine,” he said. “But you are going to do this our way, and we are not liable for your safety in any way. This is not an official bust until we have the mob in our grasp, so if you die, no one will ever know the real reason. You understand?”
“Perfect,” I said.
“You can’t just walk in there blind, so go across the hall,” he said. “We will brief you on the building and set up a plan for your entrance. And good luck. These guys are the real thing.”
I nodded my head and shook Roger’s hand. He walked out of the office. I looked over at Anderson, who had wide eyes. He’d never seen me assert myself like this. He chuckled as we stood up and were escorted across the hall where they were already busy at work, getting prepared for the operation. I didn’t want it to take all day, so I jumped right in, letting them know what my intentions were. Despite Roger’s resistance to the idea, the other guys were more than happy to help me save Josie’s life. Many of the young guys had seen more death than most elderly people, and a chance to save someone’s life was really exciting to them.
As we prepared, I thought about Josie and wondered what she was going through. I was going to get her out of there. There was no question in my mind, even if I had to kill every single one of those bastards on my way. I was tired of laying down and letting them walk all over us. Their time was now.
30
Josie
I rolled my neck, trying to get the cramps to go away. Being tied to a chair was not a comfortable situation at all, and that was exactly what had happened to me when I got there. The car had been pulled around the back of a deli of some sort, and Harry had grabbed me out of the trunk, dragging me inside with her hand over my mouth. They took me through the meat lockers and into a small room off of the office where they tied me to a chair and tied my arms around my back. The place smelled terrible, like rotting meat and old food, which was making my stomach turn. It didn’t help that my arms and legs had gone numb, and the ropes were tied especially tight. There was literally no way that I was going to get out of that chair, and even if I did, with the way my legs were feeling, I would hit the ground before I could take two steps. The panic in my chest was gone for the moment, but I knew that eventually, it would return.
They had all ignored me so far, walking past me without even so much as a glance. Harry had come in and given me some water, but before I could swallow, she shoved my chair hard, sending me toppling over. She picked me back up and laughed before leaving the room again. I knew it was only a matter of time before they came back in. They were waiting for someone, and I could only assume it was Paulie. I hated that guy with a passion, and I spent the long hours thinking about what I would do to him if I had the chance. He had taken everything from me, and now, he had me right where he wanted me.
By now, I assumed that Blaine had caught on to the fact that I wasn’t home. I knew that he would come looking for me, going to any lengths necessary to find me, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I left to keep him safe, and the last thing I wanted was for him to walk straight into the fire. I figured it was going to be difficult to find me, but being who he was, he had a lot of contacts. But I loved him so much, and I didn’t want to see anything happen to him, even if it meant that I met my end at the hands of the mob. He was stubborn, though, and I knew that eventually he would track me down. I just hoped he didn’t come alone. No one could take on the mob on their own, especially not the kind-hearted man that Blaine was. I was sure his partner, Anderson, would let him know that, but that didn’t mean Blaine would actually listen to him.
I sat there for a bit longer before hearing voices out in the front. I recognized the new one immediately as Paulie, and I shifted in my chair as much as I could, knowing he was coming for me. As the door to the room flung open, I squinted my eyes, the light blinding me after sitting in the dark space for so long. Standing in the doorway was Paulie, wearing an extremely evil grin and rubbing his hands together in front of himself. He was dressed just like I thought a sleazy gangster would, with a nice suit and slicked back, black hair. Harry was standing behind him, a grin covering her face. There was that fear again, creeping slowly back into my chest.
“I don’t appreciate your little stunt earlier, trying to escape,” he said, walking into the room. “What? You think because Daddy is dead, that gets you off the hook? No, we collect debts whether the guy is dead or alive. And you, my dear, are the next in line. We set this all up pretty and perfect, and you are making it very difficult for us. We don’t like that and neither does my father.”
I shook the chair, pulling hard on my arms as Paulie watched and laughed. I gritted my teeth and took in a deep breath, trying to be careful of what I was going to say next. I needed him to get pissed, but not so pissed he put a bullet in my head.
“I was going to turn myself in,” I said. “But you stopped me.”
“Yeah, right,” Paulie said, laughing and looking back at Harry. “You were gonna go in there and sing like a canary. I am not as stupid as you think I am, little lady.”
I watched as he began to move toward me, his shiny leather shoes tapping on the concrete floor. I looked around the room for the first time since I had gotten there and realized this wasn’t some stock room. By the looks of the stains on the floors and the fact that I was sitting right on top of a drain, this room had a less savory purpose that I really didn’t want to find out about. He stopped and smiled as I continued to smile.
“You should calm down,” he said, laughing. “I’ve got plans for you.”
I wriggled a bit more in the chair and watched as he waited for me to stop. I wasn’t going to go down like that. It wasn’t in my plans. I had a lot of goals, but being murdered by a gangster was not one of them. He stepped forward a bit more so the light was shining on his face. He reached his foot up and slammed it in my lap. I groaned and stopped moving, looking up at him in anger.
“You’re going to kill yourself,” he said. “Too distraught over the life that you took, you felt so ashamed and terrible that you just couldn’t go on anymore.”
“I’ll never write a letter like that,” I yelled out defiantly.