“Mariano, how far away are you?” I rubbed my head and glared at the piece of shit who was tied to a chair in front of me. The wind whipped at my jacket, and the birds dipped and soared around us as if curious as to who our guest was today. I could feel the heat of the sun on my shoulders, and I took a moment to look down and watch as it sent sparkles through the salty spray on the ocean below. Waves crashed into the rocks and sent a jolt of cold water up into the sky, perfectly matching my present mood.
“Fifteen minutes. I just need to get my present company set up.” He spoke quietly, as though someone was close to him. I rolled my eyes at my best friend. He always seemed to have some woman on the go, and once he got tired of them, he moved on to the next. Money, power, and an easy woman were all Mariano cared about, and I was getting annoyed with him lately. The day he ever settled down would be the day I owed him a hundred grand, and I knew that money was as good as mine.
I knew I didn’t really need to wait for him. I held the power here through all the oil that was shipped in and out of our ports, but this was his find, and I wanted him to get his own hands dirty on this one.
“You have ten, or he’s gone. Drop the legs off and meet me here.”
He chuckled as though my comment entertained him, and friend or not, I felt the need to remind him who he was dealing with.
“I’m not asking.”
He cleared his throat. It wasn’t often that I needed to pull rank, but lately, he seemed to be preoccupied with his personal life while I handled everything.
“I’ll be there,” he growled quietly.
I hung up and took note of the time. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a pair of brass knuckles, slipped them over my fingers, made a fist, and moved closer to the man who sniveled in front of me.
My reputation was known across Italy, and my family was everything, but I wouldn’t hesitate to kill during our dinner prayer if it was warranted. Life had led me to this.
“One minute.” I flexed my fingers growing more and more annoyed with Mariano.
I ripped the tape off the man’s mouth and pressed my weight down onto the arms of the chair to stare into his terrified eyes.
“Mariano said you were at the docks after hours.”
“It must have been someone else, sir.” His eyes lied, and I realized my brass knuckles weren’t going to be intimating enough, so I tossed them aside.
I pulled out a tin and made a show of emptying the long construction nails into my free hand. Reaching into the bag at my feet I pulled out a hammer and waited for him to talk.
“What, exactly, were you doing at the docks after the shipment left?”
“Nothing.” He shook violently.
“The boat left, and yet you hung around and took a call.” I reached into my back pocket and showed him a photo on my phone. “Doesn’t look like nothing to me.”
“I-I was calling my ride.” His eyes widened and bounced around.
“I see.” I gently pressed one of the long nails into the top of his hand then suddenly slammed the hammer onto the nail head. It shot down through his veins between the finger bones and into the wood of the chair, holding the hand in place.
“Ah!” His scream was muffled by the waves of the sea. “Son of a bitch!” He tried to catch his breath while his brain processed the level of pain he experienced.
I ripped his pocket and removed his phone then pressed his free thumb against the button to open it. I quickly changed the setting so it wouldn’t lock again then pulled up his call log. Three times, that same person called him that night, so I clicked the number and held it to my head.
“Don’t,” he heaved, “please don’t.” His voice quivered, his tears flowed harder, and the terror on his face made me aware of just how deeply rooted his fear really was.
“Tell me.” I held a nail to his other hand and raised the hammer.
“I can’t!” he wailed.
“Why not?” I held up the phone to show him it was still connected. “Ring three.”
“Because!” His bloodshot eyes rolled back in his head from the pain. “He wants you all dead!”
“Who?” I yelled into the wild wind.
“I don’t know,” he screamed and cried as I slammed the hammer down.
“Ahh!” He bucked and turned bright red.