DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

Carlo

We had just gotten the call from Eddie. The warehouse we were headed to was about fifteen minutes outside of Downtown Portland, in a long since forgotten industrial district. There were ten of us total in three separate SUVs, each taking a different route after exiting the interstate in an effort to minimize any suspicion. We didn’t know what kind, if any, surveillance Ivan had on the place so we needed to take every precaution to arrive without detection.

I twisted around from my place in the passenger’s seat to address Angelo, “So we’ll park on this service road here,” I said indicating to the place on the map where we would leave the vehicles and walk the rest of the half mile to where the abandoned warehouse was located. Pulling up the blueprints of the building Frankie had sent me on my tablet I continued, “Antonio will take his men in first and set up on the platform connected to the catwalk. Enzo and his team will be hidden on the far side by the shipping docks, and you and I will be in an alcove closest to the entrance. As soon as they shake hands you throw the flash-bangs and Enzo and Antonio’s teams will quickly take out Ivan’s men and Eddie’s leader.”

“Got it, Boss.”

“You and I will then move in and grab Ivan. The welding goggles and earplugs will give us maybe a thirty second lead on recovery since we know that they’re coming. It’s not much time but if all goes as planned he’ll still be out of it when we get to him,” I said, sitting back in my seat. Our plan was to take Ivan out of there alive. I needed him to tell us where his father was, only then would I kill him. I wasn’t going to risk the blowback this time, I wanted them all gone before I went back to Mia.

Mia

“They’re in place,” Mouse said without taking his eyes off the screen, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

“I’ve got a visual on Kashnikov’s convoy, they’re ten minutes out,” Frankie called out, pulling up a satellite feed on one of her multiple screens. I could see three dark SUVs making their way down the road to the warehouse where the meet would be. Enzo’s cousin Eddie and his men were just pulling up to the location and Carlo’s team was already in place inside the warehouse.

I watched as Kashnikov’s crew got closer. My stomach was in knots and I couldn’t shake the thought that something wasn’t right. I couldn’t place why or where it was coming from, but worry niggled at the back of my mind. By the time Ivan’s convoy pulled up to the warehouse I was practically on top of Frankie watching the screen with the satellite feed.

“Here,” she said, pulling out the monitor that was mounted on an adjustable arm and moving it off to the side. “Now you can get as close as you want without squishing me.”

“Thanks,” I responded distractedly. I could hear Mouse in the background radioing in what we knew to our men in the warehouse, but my eyes were still glued to the screen.

After a few minutes when they still didn’t make a move to go inside the warehouse I called out to Sal. “Why aren’t they going inside?”

“I don’t know,” His voice sounded far away and I could feel myself starting to panic.

We needed them inside the warehouse for our plan to work. All of a sudden there was movement, but only one set of men moved towards the warehouse. The others stayed by the vehicles.

“Can you get closer?” I asked Frankie, my tone urgent and strained. The knot in my stomach grew heavier, this was not good.

“I’m trying,” she said as she typed wildly. “This is as close as I can get with a clear picture.”

The view was close enough to see the figures moving towards the building but not close enough to see what they were doing or identify them. My heart was pounding in my chest as the three figures approached the entrance of the building. I could hear the blood whooshing in my ears as the same three figures started running away from the warehouse.

“No!” I shouted when an explosion echoed through our live audio feed.

“What the fuck?” Frankie shouted, “Shit! Mouse, tell them there’s another blast coming! This one’s going to be bigger.”

“What?” I asked snapping my gaze to her.

She pointed at the satellite feed, “Grenade launcher.”

“Fuck!” Sal exclaimed.

I zeroed in on the screen where a figure standing next to one of the SUVs with a long tube like devise on his shoulder. I watched in horror seconds later when the entire warehouse went up in flames.

Carlo

I could hear Mouse’s voice in my ear, giving us a play by play of what was going on outside. The fact that it had been more than five minutes since Kashnikov had arrived and they still hadn’t made their way into the warehouse was concerning. I exchanged a dubious glance with Angelo and I knew he felt it too. Something wasn’t right.

“They’re approaching the warehouse,” Mouse relayed. I crouched back down into position as the door to the warehouse opened. We didn’t have a visual on the door from our position but Antonio did up on the catwalk. I heard Mouse in my ear shout “Shit, they’re running, get the fuck out of there!” At the same time Antonio screamed “Grenade!”

Several blasts ripped through the warehouse, the noise enough to cause my ears to ring. Angelo and I hadn’t gotten a chance to put in our earplugs since we needed to hear Kashnikov enter the building. Dust and debris were everywhere. I rolled to my stomach since I had been knocked back by the force of the blast, coughing and blinking through the smoke and whatever else was in the air after the explosion. I looked to my right and found Angelo in the same condition, only he had a small cut above his eye that was seeping blood.

“You good?” I asked.

“Yeah, you?”

“Fine,” I groaned as I stood up, “let’s get the fuck out of here.” As soon as the words left my lips I heard Mouse’s warning over my radio. I had enough time to make eye contact with Angelo before an even bigger explosion rocked the building.

…

I heard faint screaming and gunfire in the distance, everything was muffled. I had been thrown back against a cement wall, about eight feet from where I had been before the blast. My body protested when I tried to move, and from what I could tell, at least one of my ribs was broken. Taking stock of my body I realized aside from the ribs and probably a concussion I didn’t seem to be injured anywhere else. Although from the looks of the smoke filling the large warehouse if I didn’t get out of here soon I wasn’t going to stay that way.

“Angelo,” I called out, which threw me into a coughing fit. The smoke was getting thicker by the second, making it more difficult to see what was going on around me. I gritted through the pain and pushed up onto my hands and knees, the movement making my head start to pound. I could see Angelo passed out a few feet away from me. Crawling over to him I checked his pulse, breathing a sigh of relief. It was strong so he was likely just knocked unconscious.

The shooting and shouting had stopped so I stood up to get a good look at my surroundings. The pallets that were hiding us from the main section just minutes ago had fallen over nearly blocking us into the alcove. There was a small space to the far right that was still clear, slowly making my way over I took a cursory glance around. No one, nothing but smoke. I creeped around further, coming to a stop just inside the main part of the warehouse. I couldn’t make out much with the smoke but what I did see made my stomach sink.

Orange flames licked up the walls on the far side of the warehouse where a giant hole took up the space that had been Enzo’s hiding spot before the attack. I couldn’t tell where the gunfire I had heard before had come from since I didn’t see anything but rubble and fire in front of me now.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

We’ve got to get the fuck out of here before the entire place goes up in flames.

I turned back around to grab Angelo and get the fuck out of this place and immediately backed up again when I came face to face with the barrel of Ivan Kashnikov’s gun. I saw an evil smirk cross his face and a glimmer of victory in his arctic eyes before everything went black.