I'm hoping to get two chapters out today:
Pulling up in the underground parking lot Calleigh turned off the Hummer's lights and killed the engine. Slowly taking her seatbelt off, she looked around for a black sedan car with the number plate that Agent Collins had given her. Spotting the vehicle she quietly left hers and quickly assessed her surroundings, satisfied for the moment that she was not walking in to a trap she made her way across the parking lot.
As she reached his car the window came down, "Glad you could make it, Miss Duquesne. Get in." With that the window came back up.
Taking one final glance around she reluctantly got in the car, "This is all a bit cloak and dagger isn't it?"
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Considering what has happened over the last few days you would think it prudent to be careful, wouldn't you?"
His arrogant and dismissive attitude towards her was beginning to rile her. "Why have you agreed to meet with me? Why now?"
He sighed dramatically, "You've been ringing me day and night. My wife thinks I'm having an affair." She snorted in response. "Something amusing, Miss Duquesne?"
"Only the thought of an asshole like you being married. I pity the poor woman."
"Well it's a good thing we're not here to talk about my personal life. But speaking of that you do remind me of our old dog, Buster." He gave her an amused look.
She willed herself not to take the bait but couldn't stop herself. "Really? And why is that?"
He glanced out of the driver's window as he recalled his deceased canine companion. "He was a feisty little fella, a Terrier. Always sniffing around and sticking his nose in everywhere. Once he got the scent of something there was no stopping him, didn't matter what we did or how much we warned him that little bugger wouldn't come back until he was satisfied that he'd followed the trail as far as he could." He turned to look at Calleigh, "One day his nose led him to sniff out our new next door neighbours, he'd dug under the fence and made it in to their back yard. He came face to face with their Doberman who didn't take too kindly to Buster being on his turf. I'm sure you can work out the rest." He let his words hang.
She narrowed her eyes at him, "Is that some kind of threat?"
"No, Miss Duquesne. More of a cautionary tale, really."
"You're telling me to back off; you know that's not going to happen, right?"
"Yes, I get the picture. You're not going to give up; I'm merely warning you that you may have bitten off more than you can chew."
"I'll be the judge of that, tell me what you know."
"Where would you like me to start?"
"How about telling me who these Malucci people are. I need to know what we're up against."
He smiled at her, almost feeling sorry for her. "It's going to take a lot more than you and the Cuban boy to stand up to the Malucci's. They've been quietly gathering members for the last few years, enough for a small army. You'll be badly outnumbered."
"I don't care. Tell me about them." She was resolute and defiant, she would stand her ground until she had the information that she wanted.
"Fine. Back in the early 90's there were a number of turf wars between the local crime families in New York. You're lieutenant and his partner had already caused a stir with one of the major mob bosses, Angelo Marino. To cut a long story short, Marino was put out of the picture permanently." At her look he added, "You'll have to talk to his old partner at the NYPD about that."
"What happened next?"
"With Marino out of the picture it left a gap in the market, soon rival families were fighting over the spoils. After a few months of bloodshed the Malucci's finally gained control of Marino's estate, so to speak. Frankie and Benny Malucci became the strongest mob bosses in the tri-state area; they had control over more ground than any other organisation."
"What we're they involved in?" She had already seen what they were capable of, she could imagine the lengths they would have gone to protect what they claimed as their own.
"Extortion, drug running, stolen goods, prostitution. You name it; they had their hand in it. Whatever was illegal and made them money was fine by them."
Her heart sank, she had gathered from the little information that Horatio had remembered that he had been working undercover to infiltrate the organisation. What had he done in order to prove his loyalty to these monsters? "Why didn't you shut them down? You're the FBI." Her tone was almost condescending, trying to rile him.
"We had tried many times. It didn't matter how many members we arrested, five more would pop up to take their place. Frankie and Benny were too smart to get their hands dirty themselves, they always left it to the underlings to take the rap. With their dirty money they could hire the best lawyers money could buy, nothing ever stuck on those two. We knew we needed to get them bang to rights if we were going to take the whole organisation down."
"How did Horatio get involved in all of this, he was just an NYPD detective wasn't he?"
"He just happened to be in the right place at the right time, I'd had a team following anyone who left the Malucci headquarters, hoping that they would lead us to some of the places they were storing their drugs. It just so happened that night that a group of their thugs had an encounter with your colleague."
"What happened, you arrested them. Right?" She stared at him, waiting for his response.
"Your friend and his partner had been sticking their nose into Malucci business, causing them trouble. Frankie sent three of his finest to teach your man a lesson, warned him to keep away." He pinched his nose and let a deep breath out, "He never did know when to quit, always so stubborn. The thugs had a message from Frankie, asking him to consider working for them. They used his loved ones to threaten him, said they would finish off everyone he cared about if he didn't do what they said."
"If I know Horatio, he told them where to go." She mused out loud.
"Yes he did. That was when the heavies decided to teach him a lesson; they gave him a right pasting and left him for dead outside his apartment block."
He was so blasé about it, as if recalling the highlights of the latest college football game. "And your men just stood back and let it happen?!"
"It served a purpose, Miss Duquesne. When my team reported back I knew we had the perfect opportunity to have a man on the inside. Besides, my men called for a bus. He was alright, eventually."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing, how could this man be so callous about another man's life? Horatio had risked everything for him and yet Agent Collins seemed to lack any sense of remorse over her beloved red head's current situation. When the Malucci's had been dealt with she would have her own revenge on the FBI agent, she promised herself.
