Angelo
* * *
It’s a simple plan. The only question is whether it will work or not.
I sit in my car, sipping my coffee, waiting for the bank to open.
The official story is that I’m here to hand over the box to Flavio. He goes into the vault with me and the two of us collect up whatever is in there and carry it back to Chicago.
I know what’s going to happen if I walk in there. I’ll hand over the box and in the nice soundproofed vault, I’ll get shot. If I’m lucky.
If I’m unlucky Flavio will lock me inside to wait for the time seal to kick in. Then, in the darkness with the air running out, the flames will start up and I’ll burn to death.
I look down at the box in my hand. This should open the vault. Natalie wasn’t able to work out how but I figured it out when I was buying her those clothes. Standing at the register, it came to me in an instant. That’s why she can keep the original and I’ve got this one.
Ever since we went clothes shopping, I’ve had the upper hand. I’ve arranged things so this final day of action does not go the way Flavio plans.
I know what he wants to do. Shoot or burn me and then marry Andrea, take over the empire, become the Don.
Not going to happen. He’s always been a weasel and will always be a weasel. I’ll be taking over, but I’ll be running things very differently from now on.
The priority in life is supposed to be family. That’s what my father always told me. Only do things if they benefit the family.
That’s exactly what I intend to do. Only not the family he thinks is important. My new family. Natalie and Jasmine.
I could still die, but if I do, they’ll be safe. No one kills when there’s nothing to gain, at least not in my world.
I climb out of the car at bang on nine in the morning. I cross the street and push open the door. One teller on duty. Bobby Sandwell. He looks up, sees me, and then gets suddenly interested in tidying up the papers in front of him, his brow furrowed.
I walk straight past. The door to the vault is open. I step through it and down the stairs to a small white room lit by four recessed bulbs in the ceiling. At the back of the room, another door. Through that and I’m in an even smaller room.
Flavio is standing next to a solid steel door that’s tightly shut. Around him are the bank deposits on metal shelves. Cash, bullion, polished steel boxes. Bags zipped up tight, bulging with God knows what.
“You bring it?” he asks.
I hold up the box. He grins at me. “Hand it over.”
I pass him the box and he grins at me. “This better work or I’ve got orders you aren’t going to like.”
“Get it over with.”
He turns from me, waving the box in front of a blank section of wall. He waves it again before spinning to face me. “This isn’t the right box.”
It’s my turn to smile. “No, it’s not.”
“Where is it?”
“Somewhere you’ll never find it.”
He whips a gun out, but I’m ready for him. I grab his wrist as he aims it at me, wrenching it out of his grip. I empty the magazine, pop the one in the chamber, and then disassemble it, tossing the pieces onto the ground. “Nice try,” I tell him. “How long until the vault burns up?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he replies, crushing the box in his hand and tossing it to the ground. “I thought you might betray the family. I had a back-up plan. Coming down any minute now.”
I hear a voice yelling and I turn around in time to see Natalie being shoved down the stairs. Behind her, Andrea has got a gun pointed at her head. The two of them come into the room. Natalie’s looking at me. “I had no choice,” she says as Andrea tosses what I’m guessing is the real box across to Flavio. “They kidnapped Jasmine.”
“Can’t believe she fell for that,” Flavio says. “She is as dumb as she looks.”
Andrea snorts. “She’s still at preschool. I just told you we’d got her to make you come with me. Too stupid to think I might be lying. Honestly, Angelo, I don’t know what you see in this moron.”