An Offer You Can't Refuse by Sal Bianchi (best beach reads .txt) 📕

I don’t know any of the details. He doesn’t trust me enough to divulge any of that to me. Heh, I guess he was right not to, in the end. Anyway, he’s the one who sent me to take you out. He told me you’d probably be stopping by the old bar again soon and to wait there until you showed up. I was surprised when you came back the next night.”

“How d'you spot us?” I asked purely out of curiosity. We’d made sure to park far away and in the shadows.

“Seriously?” Russo chuckled. “Unmarked black sedan with tinted windows. Older model but without a speck of dust or damage. I could spot a cop car from a hundred miles away.”

I frowned in response. I’d have to speak to Flint later about updating the company cars to keep a lower profile.

“I’ll make sure your family is safe,” I promised as I looked directly into Russo’s eyes. “Before I do anything else, I’ll keep my word on that.”

Russo looked like he was about to cry again and reached across the table to grab my hand. I realized what he was about to do a split second before he did it and yanked my hand away before he could kiss it.

My chair scraped loudly across the floor as I stood abruptly. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hell I was about to let that happen. It was a common sign of respect to give to the boss of a mafia family, but I was here as a consultant for the SDCT, not as a mafioso.

“Just tell me where they are right now,” I demanded, perturbed by the unexpected action. As soon as he was finished telling me the address, I turned and strode to the door. Someone on the other side pushed the button to unlock it as I did, and I stepped back outside of the room without another word.

Flint, Stein, and Jase were all watching me with unreadable expressions.

“What did you say to get him to react like that?” Jase broke the silence. “We couldn’t hear you when you leaned in to whisper to him.

“Good,” I thought. Threatening suspects was very much illegal, so the less they knew, the better.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to,” I grumbled in response. “You heard what he said about his family, right? That needs to take priority.”

“Of course.” Flint nodded, his expression still grave.

“Let’s go then,” I declared before turning to leave the police station. I intended to keep my word. Russo had committed a cardinal sin by snitching on the mafia to the feds. I needed to hurry and get his family to safety before anyone in the Family realized what he’d done.

34

Jase

The atmosphere in the car was tense. Even as I drove, I kept going over what had happened in the interrogation room after Nick had asked me to leave to get the suspect something to drink. I knew right away that it was just a ploy to get me to leave the room, so as soon as I was outside, I’d turned to watch the pair through the two-way glass.

Nick had leaned in low to mutter something to Russo so quietly that I couldn’t really make anything out aside from a single word here and there. I’d wondered if Nick’s actions would upset Flint, but he’d just stoically watched him work with the same stony expression he always wore.

All three of us had been surprised when, just a minute into speaking with him, Russo had suddenly burst into tears and begged Nick not to do whatever it was he’d threatened him with. In the end, Russo had admitted to knowing who the culprit was and given us the information we sorely needed, but my mind was still reeling. What could Nick have said to get him to react like that?

“Are you paying attention to the road?” Nick suddenly asked me.

“Huh?” I answered dumbly before I could fully register what he’d just said.

“Stop spacing out,” he snapped. “One near-death experience is enough for one night.”

“Sorry,” I apologized awkwardly. He was usually so nonchalant and easygoing about things, and it was weird to see him get so irritated.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m just worried. The Family’s probably already preparing to move. They saw us outside of the bar, right? His family is running out of time.”

I frowned grimly at his words and stepped on the gas. I was going above the speed limit, but I was willing to take the risk in this case.

The house was located on a quiet residential street. All the lights were off, so it was difficult to see anything as we pulled in. There weren’t any other cars in the driveway, though, and there didn’t seem to be any other suspicious vehicles parked nearby either.

“Let’s go,” Nick grumbled impatiently as he threw the door open and ran up to the front door without bothering to close it behind him. He was already rapping on the door by the time I caught up to him.

After about a minute of incessant knocking, a light finally came on by the window closest to the door. There was a sound of shuffling steps and then the click of a lock being unlatched before the door finally creaked open.

A woman with pale skin and dark, curly hair peeked cautiously out at us through the small gap.

“What do you want?” she asked nervously, her voice faltering as she spoke.

“You need to get your kids and leave right now,” Nick replied urgently.

Her eyes went wide at his words, and she pushed the door forward to close it. Before she could get it shut all the way, though, Nick shoved against it hard. She screamed as the door swung open with a bang.

“Get out!” she screeched. “I’m calling the police!”

“Samuel’s been made,” Nick hissed.

She stopped screaming immediately, and her face drained of color. She squinted at Nick and then gasped a moment later as a look of realization dawned over