A New War

Chapter 26

Tuck, Amanda and Danny arrived to the club a few minutes early. She thought it would be best if they showed up so Vince Sr. wouldn't send out a search party for them.

"Punctual," Vince Sr. said as he looked at the group of them. "I like that. And you don't look like a whore; good job," he said to Amanda.

"Gee, thanks," Amanda said sarcastically.

"You have a good time last night? You look exhausted as shit," he clapped Tuck on the shoulder.

"It was a good night," he smiled slyly.

"And you?" he turned to Danny

Danny hadn't slept a wink, but for a totally different reason. His very pregnant girlfriend was dealing with "all the time" sickness. Delinda was difficult normally and the pregnancy made it a thousand times worse.

"I'm good," Danny lied.

All three of them had discussed the plan on the ride over. Each one of them had a hidden panic button; Amanda was wearing three at Tuck's insistence.

They would land in Montana first. Pick up a bigger plane and then head to Canada. It would be the return to Montana when they all split into different vehicles with the women. That was when the CIA was going to bust them.

Tuck would be in charge of sending the encrypted messages during the flights. It would be too suspicious if Amanda was texting. Danny would be just trying not to fall asleep.

"I think we'd better get a move on, boys!" Vince Sr. said. "Has anyone seen my son?" he asked as he looked around.

"Wait? Vince isn't here?" Tuck said.

"No! That no good kid!" Vince Sr. shouted. "Lazy ass probably got wasted last night and overslept."

"He do that often?" Tuck asked.

"Wouldn't you, if you were him? Short, fat and balding. And no actual job skills. Basically useless. And I can't fire him 'cause he's my son," Vince Sr. said.

Tuck said nothing.

"Your pop must be real proud of you, kid. He tell you that?"

"He died when I was young. I don't know," Tuck replied.

His tone was sincere, but flat. Amanda knew he was telling the truth. Why hadn't they ever talked about that?

"I'm sorry to hear that, kid," Vince Sr. said.

"It's all right. I can tell my son how proud of him I am instead," Tuck replied.

"You got a kid, too? We got plenty to talk about on the plan ride out to Montana."

The plan ride from Las Vegas to Montana was an incredibly short ride. That was fantastic because the small plane made Amanda nauseous.

It took them about a minute and a half to de-plane and get on the larger plane. As soon as they were up in the air, Tuck fired off a text message.

"Who you messaging?" Vince Sr. asked as soon as he saw Tuck do it.

"My wife," Tuck replied quickly.

"Your wife?" Vince Sr. and Amanda asked together.

Amanda looked up from her nail-filing and stared at Tuck while Vince Sr. whore a confused expression.

"You're married?" Amanda shouted.

This woke Danny up and he was even more confused than everyone else.

"Well, yeah," he said. "You didn't think that you and I were…Oh, that's hilarious."

Amanda looked furious while Tuck shared a laugh with Vince Sr.

"How much longer until we're in Canada? I want off of this damn plane. I don't want anything to do with any of you people," she pouted.

Danny was enjoying the show. He was happy he'd woken up to see it, actually.

Truthfully, Amanda was legitimately surprised when Tuck launched into his tale about his wife. And she still wasn't happy with the shit his ex had caused her. So, in reality, Amanda Simons was actually pissed at the mention of Katie. It just wasn't entirely the real reason she was pissed.

"Honey, did you really think you would be able to marry up like that? You're a cheap wh…" Vince Sr. said.

A phone rang and all four of them jumped.

"Mine," Vince Sr. said.

The phone was up to his ear a mere millisecond later and he was in a whole different world from them. But Amanda continued to argue.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Amanda shouted. "Oh, you're texting her again?"

"You were there for a good time, baby," Tuck said. "But I'm going to go home and you won't be going with me, Mandy. You've been great, though," he offered in a smart ass tone.

"There are ten girls waiting for us and their big break here in the States. So if this one here is giving us too much trouble, we can even have a pick of the new ones," Vince Sr. said.

"Everything all right?" Danny asked when he saw the concerned look on his face.

"My guys back in Vegas can't find Vincent and now they think that there are Fed crawling around the club. I wish they'd all get their heads outta their asses or they'll find themselves wearing cement shoes," Vince Sr. explained.

"You all do that?" Danny asked.

"It's more of an expression," he smiled back at Danny. "We aren't mob. We're just businessmen with a very specific set of job skills.

That didn't make Amanda feel better. She hoped that they weren't going to decide that she wasn't needed and fit her with a pair of cement shoes. Well, that's how she wanted to look. In reality, she had a gun hidden on her and would shoot this bastard if and when she had to.

Tuck rapid fired off another text message.

"How long you been married?" Vince Sr. asked.

"Almost ten years," Tuck lied. "Her name is Katie."

"Rebecca," Vince Sr. offered. "32 years."

"What's your secret to a long and what I assume a happy marriage?" Tuck asked.

"She's got her own place and a boy-toy up in the mountains. And I get along down here with a bevy of women."

"Does your wife know what you do?" Amanda asked.

"She used to be the bait before she retired. She's from Yugoslavia," Vince Sr. said with a look of actual admiration on his face. "I love her, you know. She's a great lady. Although, we have that good for nothin' son. But I can hardly blame that all on her."

"Sounds great…" Danny said flatly.

"Are you married?"

"Engaged," Danny said. "She's pregnant."

"Driving you crazy with cravings?" Vince Sr. said

"Driving me crazy period," Danny laughed.

This was all good. Vince Sr. was getting comfortable with them. His guard was coming down and who knew what kind of information he would divulge when his guard came down.

"Mr. Caputo!" a voice called over the loudspeaker. "We'll be landing in ten minutes."

"Thank you, Red," he said back into the intercom. "I always feel like I'm on the Enterprise when I fly on this jet. Now you," he said to Amanda.

"You're going to pretend that this is all good. These girls freak or run, it's your ass on the line, got it?"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Sheesh."

"No, you listen to me, Mandy," he said snidely.

"Your safety, as well as that of these ten girls, is all dependant on you. Your name is Rachel, okay? You came over two years ago and you're very successful. All of these girls are going to have success just like you."

Amanda listened to the story. This was the most ridiculous thing so far. More than the stripping, more than the idiotic fake mobster thing. But she needed to focus on maintaining the whole story. These women, their safety, it really did all ride on her. And she was going to make sure that she helped stop this human trafficking.

All of them put their seatbelts on and the jet began its descent.

Once they were on the ground and had come to a stop, Vince Sr. made Amanda go out and welcome the ladies.

Amanda disembarked from the plane and was more horrified than she thought it would be. These ten women were in various states of dress, well, they were all dressed for different seasons. And she felt epically bad for the ladies who had pre-dressed for desert and were made to stand out on the cold tarmac.

"Go ahead," he shoved her forward slightly with his elbow.

"Half of them are freezing. Get them into the plane," Amanda said. "Seriously, have a heart this time."

"Don't tell me what to do, bitch," he told her out of the corner of his mouth. "Get your ass in gear, put a smile on your face and go greet them. And then we can get them on the plane and get back to the States."

Amanda looked around. This airport was in the middle of nowhere. She knew that Customs hadn't found it yet, so they were almost totally off of the radar. But only for a few more hours.

"Fine," Amanda hissed. She flipped her hair and sashayed over to the women in a way that had all of the eyes on her.

"Welcome, ladies!" Amanda shouted.

She rambled and smiled and despite the language barrier, she had all of them excited. A few minutes later, they were all being led back into the plane.

Amanda was the last woman back up on the plane and Vince Sr. congratulated her while Tuck and Danny were making sure the other ladies were safely tucked in the other part of the airplane.

"You did good. Maybe you aren't such a dumb bitch after all. I could use you from now on…" Vince Sr. said.

Amanda sneered. "You're an asshole and I will never work for you or with you ever again. Please count on that," she replied.

She stomped past him and back into the private cabin. Vince Sr. joined her only a moment later. They stared at one another for a split second. The cabin was tense.

"Something's off about you. I can't figure you out and I can figure everyone out. You show up at my club for a job claiming you know Frankie. You strip okay and you put out, but only for the English guy. You've got a lousy attitude no matter what you're doing. And no matter how many times I run a background check on you, I don't find anything. You don't act like a stripper or a pro. I don't know where you come from or why you came to my club."

"Frankie owed me a favor. And I needed to get out from where I was."

"An escape?" he narrowed his eyes.

"Let's just say I've got some daddy issues."

"I just want to know what the hell your deal is."

"It doesn't matter. It didn't matter when you traded me for a goddamned money clip. You don't give a flying fuck about anyone but yourself. You promise girls from all over the world a better life and sell them into slavery. They do all the work, you don't do shit. I did what you told me to do, now leave me the hell alone," she hissed back at him.

The door to the private cabin opened and they were joined by Danny and Tuck. And it looked like the both of them could tell something had just happened between Vince and Amanda.

"Everything good here?" Danny asked.

Amanda put on a fake smile. "Of course."

Once up in the air again, Amanda began her countdown until they landed. Showtime would be in a mere 45 minutes and things would be moving quickly at that point. She was certain that there would be more than a few fireworks.

"I love picking up souvenirs from Canada," Vince Sr. grinned.

Amanda grimaced and stared down at her shoes.

Out of habit, Tuck reached over and tucked some hair out of her eyes.

"Don't touch me!" Amanda snapped. Tuck drew his hand back so quickly it was as if he'd been electrocuted. And he wore a hurt expression on his face for a split second.

"Oooh, trouble in paradise," Vince grinned.

"Bite me," Amanda hissed.

"Where and how hard, sweetheart?" Vince Sr. challenged her.

"I swear…" Amanda started.

Vince Sr. was out of his seat and got in her face. "Remember what I told you? You don't play nice and all of these ladies, yourself included, will meet an untimely demise," he said. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Amanda nodded slowly so he'd back off. He did and moved to the intercom.

"Rex, how long until we land in Montana?"

There was a brief pause while they waited for a response from Red, the pilot.

"Mr. Caputo, we have exactly 20 more minutes until we land. I would advise that you all buckle up," Red said.

"Thanks, Red!" he replied before clicking off. "Good, I have 20 more minutes to decide to push you outta the plane. Then I don't gotta worry about clean up," he said to Amanda.

"Well…" Danny began. "Someone will end up with bits and pieces."

All the other faces turned to him.

"I knew a guy, he was dying of cancer. He and I went skydiving with another friend. Last minute, he took off his parachute and jumped," Danny explained.

"Really?" Amanda asked. She'd been skydiving before and didn't particularly care for it.

"He smiled all the way down. Well, probably," Danny said. "He was a good guy."

Amanda nodded and looked back to her shoes. She should have worn better shoes.

Tuck finished sending one last text message and put his phone away. Things were in a place in the airfield in Montana.

It was going to be an ambush as soon as the plane landed. Agents were already in place as the henchmen drivers Caputo had no idea that he'd been infiltrated to this degree.

All of them were armed and ready to take down one of the most offensive and disgusting human traffickers alive.

"What's the final plan when we land? What do you want us to do?" Danny asked.

"Seven black Lincoln SUVs will be waiting for us on the ground. The girls will be split into pairs and put in a different vehicle. Each will be heading to a specific location. You three can have the sixth SUV and I will have my own ride back to Vegas."

"What do you want me to do with her?" Tuck asked. "She's not exactly the anniversary gift my wife asked for."

"Unless your wife is into stuff like that, and in that case…" Danny laughed.

"Do whatever you want with her. I don't give a shit. But I don't want her back at my club," Vince Sr. said.

"Oh, please continue to talk about me as if I'm not here," Amanda said. "And you, you asshole, you just offered me a job being your bait, but I can't take my clothes off in your club anymore?" Amanda ranted.

"You need to shut the hell up!" Vince Sr. shouted. "I thought we'd already discussed this!"

Both were up, face to face, screaming at one another.

"No, you need to shut up!"

"You both need to calm down!" Tuck said, pulling on her arm. He was worried she'd finally snapped.

"No! This guy is an asshole and you two are assholes for helping him. Go home to your wife and girlfriend. This man…"

Vince Sr. snapped, too, and slapped her hard across the face. Amanda's hand flew to her cheek and she clutched it in pain. She and Vince stared at each other while a stray tear rolled down her cheek.

Tuck was ready to pull his gun and shoot the man, but it wasn't the time to out themselves as CIA yet. And despite the tears coming down her face, he saw that she was actually fine. He had to remember she could cry on command.

The plane was losing altitude and they felt the landing gear come out. After taxiing down the world's shortest runway, the plane finally slowed to a stop.

Red finally emerged from the cockpit and took in the red face on Amanda and gleeful look on his boss' face.

"Everything okay?" Red asked.

"Sure, swell," Vince Sr. replied. "Go get Frank and get the girls loaded up in the SUVs."

"You're sure everything is okay?"

"Peachy," Danny replied.

"Yup. This one wont' cause any more trouble. She just had to be brought down a couple pegs so she remembered what she really is," he said as she looked into his eyes.

Red nodded and headed into the other cabin to meet with Frank and put the girls into the different cars.

"You boys go, too. Leave us alone for a bit," Vince Sr. said.

"Yeah, why don't we go see if we can speed this all along?" Danny said to Tuck.

Tuck reluctantly stood and followed Danny into the other cabin. Leaving Amanda alone again was not what Tuck had planned on, but he didn't want to have Vince become suspicious.

Amanda's heart was pounding in her ears when the door to the other cabin closed. She needed to hide her nervousness or he would have the upper hand.

"I'm trying to decide what to really do with you. Part of me really wants to know how good you are, and you know which part of me that is," he grinned maniacally. "The other part of me wants to shoot you and leave you in Montana. No one will miss you. You ran away from home, right?"

Amanda said nothing.

In the silence, they heard the door to the airplane open and people could be heard filing out.

"See, no one cares about you, you know it," Vince Sr. said.

"You're disgusting," Amanda spat. "No wonder your wife has her own fun without you."

Vince Sr. had his gun out and was pointing it at her.

"You don't dare bring my wife into this! I love your feisty attitude, Mandy, but it's that same big mouth that is going to get you in trouble. In fact, you're already in trouble. Lucky for you, I'm fond of the bad girls."

Amanda was horrified at what he was eluding to. But she would never let him do anything to her; she wouldn't.

Just as Vince Sr. was approaching her, he heard a shout from outside the plane. He moved, gun still pointed at Amanda, to look out one of the jet's small windows.

His pilot and the other man were pinned down by people dressed in all black. There were no SUVs in sight and Tuck and Danny were talking with more people dressed in all black SWAT gear.

"What the fuck?" he asked out loud.

"It's the end of the road, Mr. Caputo," Amanda said, her calm voice was almost off-putting and he stared at her with a confused expression.

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Agent Amanda Simons. And I work for the CIA," she said. "And you, you're going to prison for a very long time."

"I could shoot you and…"

"And leave? Do you know how to fly a plane?"

He was silent.

"I didn't think so."

"I'll bet you thought you were pretty damn smart. But my guys got away…the SUVs are gone."

"Newsflash jackass, your guys are actually our guys. Your little operation is caput, Mr. Caputo," Amanda smiled. "So, you can shoot me if you want, but those guys out there won't let you leave on your own accord."

"Get up!" Vince shouted. He pulled her roughly and she didn't fight because she wanted to remain bullet-less for as long as was available. "Your little boyfriend out there, how's he gonna like it if you're a hostage?"

"It's all an act. He's just a coworker," Amanda said.

"Move towards the door. Any funny business and I'm putting one or more bullets in your skull. Are you packing, too?"

Amanda didn't respond.

"Where is it?"

Amanda slowly moved one hand and drew out the gun. He snatched it from her and put it in his belt.

"How come you all didn't kill me before?" he asked.

"We want you."

"What if I kill myself?" he asked as they approached the door.

"You won't," Amanda said smugly.

"What makes you say that?"

"You're too vain. And you're a spineless asshole."

"An asshole can kill himself," he pointed out.

"True. But you're too scared to do that."

"Shut up!" he hissed in her ear.

He had the gun placed to the base of her skull as they made their appearance in the open doorway of the jet.

Immediately, all of the agents in black, along with Tuck and Danny, had their weapons trained on Vince and Amanda.

"Hold your fire!" Tuck shouted. "Do not shoot until I say so!"

…

…to be continued…

…

Author's note: Hello all, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in sooooooo long. But here was a very long chapter. Hopefully, you're all still with me. Leave me some reviews? Please?