“There’s always something,” Niccola reminded him. “We’re just missing it.”
I stood in front of the window and looked over the dockyard and watched the workers unload today’s shipment. I had my guys combing through every nook and cranny of the ship. If there was something there, they’d find it.
“All right.” Niccola sighed loudly behind me. “If I was going to smuggle a girl or girls from Siberia through Italy, why go through the States? Are they just stopping there or going farther? How much does a girl go for?”
“It really depends on a lot of factors,” I muttered, “virgins, body type, eye color. There are about four million victims around the world every year. America is one of the top three places to pick up girls. I know they’re easily snatched from foster care, so maybe that’s where they found her. They rarely look very hard for them.” I shrugged, disgusted with the thought of it all.
A stretch of silence fell over us as we took a moment to think about what could be happening in our dockyard. I had no problem taking someone’s life, but women and children needed to be left out of it.
“The boss of a major syndicate chooses to traffic girls through our dockyard. Why?” Vinni pondered out loud.
Niccola joined in. “If he gets the operation moving through here, he could easy call the Feds and have us all taken down.”
“It just doesn’t seem like Stefano. He’s vindictive, but to set all this up just to have the Feds take us down… Sounds, I don’t know, off somehow. He’d want more of a show,” Vinni countered.
“Maybe it’s nothing at all. Maybe it’s just a distraction?” I thought out loud. “Nothing leads to anything.” I pointed to the paperwork. “We’re here chasing our tails and killing off our own men for what? What do we really have except the word of one girl?”
Niccola stood and gave me a thoughtful look as his train of thought linked with mine. “Maybe we should question that girl again. See if she remembers anything else.”
I sent a text off to my translator giving him a date and time to meet the next day so we could question her further.
“Boss?” One of my soldiers stood in the doorway. I gave him a nod to report his findings. “We scoured every inch of the ship, twice, and we came up empty.”
I tossed the glass across the room, sending it into a billion pieces. What the hell was happening?
“Stop everything. Gather everyone below,” I barked at him.
“I think you may have been right, cousin.” Niccola joined my side. “Either it’s a distraction, or we caught the whole thing early and screwed up his plans. Either way, there are no girls, money, or evidence here.”
I fumed with anger, knowing what I needed to do. I headed outside to the steps and looked over the sixty-some employees who gathered with interest.
“We have a problem,” I called down to them. “So, hear me now, as I will not repeat myself.” My voice boomed over the quiet yard. “Anyone who has seen anything unusual or hears anything at all of Stefano Coppola or any of his men needs to come forward. There’ll be no repercussions if you speak up immediately. As of today, the dockyard will be shut down, except for a few remaining ships that are on their way to us. You will not lose pay. Consider it a small vacation.” A dull whisper could be heard. “If you know anything, come forward. I will keep a small number of you on to search the returning ships.” I turned and addressed my cousins. “Anyone who might have something to say, bring them to the warehouse. All ships returning to the dock will be searched and held until I say otherwise.”
Niccola nodded. “Understood.”
“Understood, bo…” Vinni trailed off as his phone rang in his hand. “Yeah?” His eyes jumped to mine, and suddenly my phone rang as well.
“What?” I snapped, not reading the caller ID.
“Elio,” my mother’s voice broke, “you need to come home.”
“Not a good ti—”
“It’s Sienna…”
I went cold as my hearing became super acute. “What’s happened?”
“There was a hit.” I hung up and raced out the door, down the stairs, past the sea of stunned bodies, to my car. As I peeled out of the gates, I swung onto the road and nearly clipped another car. He gave me the finger as I slammed the gears and shot off, leaving him to shrink in my rearview mirror.
Niccola’s name popped up on my dash screen, and I tapped the button.
“What do you know?”
“Someone planted a bomb under Vinni’s car. When Jimmy unlocked it, luckily from a few yards away, it triggered it.”
Anger raged through my veins, and I had to clamp my jaw tight to bring it under control.
“How bad is she?”