Captain – Brothers At Arms #6

“Si, the chips will fall where they may. La sua fine è vicina.” Alfredo nodded. He grabbed the tablet someone had put on the table and a pen. Everyone watched as he wrote page after page and finally after five pages, Alfredo put the pen down carefully. He pushed the tablet away from him.

Turning to look at Delaney, he reached his hand out to her and she took it. Desi offered her hand as well and Alfredo looked at her then grasped her hand as well as he stated, “It is done. May God have mercy on us all.”

Gina reached for the tablet and began reading what the old man wrote. Her eyes widened at some of the things he wrote and when she reached the end, she carefully put the tablet down on the table and looked at Alfredo. “This ought to do just what you thought it would.”

“Will it ruin Barrett and the boys?” Alfredo wanted to know.

Gina nodded. “Yes, it will do. It will also expose everyone they have been in business with.”

Alfredo shrugged. “Then so be it. They should have known better.”

Gina nodded, then asked, “Do you want me to send it to the papers?”

“Si, I do. Just as I have written it, please.”

“Very well.” Gina went to her pack and dug out her laptop and after setting it up, she began to type. Twenty minutes later, she finished and printed off a copy. When she got it off the printer she walked over to Alfredo and asked him, “Please read this and make any changes. Then I’ll start sending it out.”

Alfredo nodded and read the pages she typed. He knew this would end his son and grandsons. They would finally face the justice system and that was something he felt they had to do. “Si, this is what I want.”

“Can I read it, Grandpa?” Delaney asked.

Alfredo nodded at her.

She took the paper from Gina and read it.

 Memphis came over to her to place his hands on her shoulders and he read it over her shoulder.

Alfredo had listed every sin and every law broken by his son and grandsons. He even listed times and dates. Then the facts that all the money he’d taken had gone back to the rightful owners. He proclaimed his son was no longer his son and he was washing his hands of all of them.

He left enough evidence that if the Marshals were to investigate these crimes, they could find the truth. Delaney wiped the tear from her cheek and pushed the paper toward Gina. She looked up at her and said, “I hope they can prove everything on that paper and so much more.”

 Gina nodded. “We can and this will nail his hide to the wall. There is enough extra evidence in this report that will open up several more investigations. The one on Emily’s father’s homicide for instance, along with Desi’s mom and grandpa.”

Emily got up and disappeared for a moment and when she came back, she handed Gina a DVD. “Then you’ll need this.”

Gina looked down at the DVD. “What is this?”

“That is the security tapes from the night the Raggetti brothers broke into my dad’s bar. I kept it all this time because I didn’t know who to give it to.” Shaking her head she told her, “I didn’t know who I could trust but I think I can trust you. There is enough on that disk to hang the Raggetti brothers for the murder of my father.”

Gina nodded. “I’ll use it when the time is right and they won’t be able to talk their way out of anything.”

Just then, they all heard a beep-beep from the front gate.

Diabolus got up to check it out. When he saw who was there, he turned to Zeus and said, “Bricks are here.”

Glancing over at Marty, Zeus saw her nod, then he turned back to Diabolus. “Let them in and have some of the men start hauling them in here.”

Just then, Lindy headed over to Marty and handed her a slip of paper. Marty looked it over and then made a few changes and handed it back to Lindy. Lindy checked the revisions and nodded. Then they both went over to the wall to take some measurements.

While the guys hauled in stacks and stacks of bricks and bags of mortar Marty and Lindy were carefully drawing out the new fireplace and hearth. Memphis and Diabolus were busy making the first batch of mortar and pouring out a thin layer of base coat. Marty began buttering the bricks and laying them out for the hearth. Marty began on one side while Lindy began on the other and it wasn’t long before they met in the middle. Layer after layer went up and one by one, everyone else went to bed.

Marty, Zeus, Memphis, Lindy, and Diabolus were still at it when the sun came up the next morning. Finally, when the dawn broke, Marty had laid the last brick. They had managed to rebuild the fireplace in one night. They used lumber to prop it all up until the mortar dried but it was done. The base was already drying and since they’d used quikrete, they knew it wouldn’t be long before everything dried.

Marty took a tired step back and announced, “Well, you can’t actually use it as a fireplace but it’s up.”

Zeus snorted. “We couldn’t use it before as a fireplace but you girls did the impossible. It looks like it was never missing.”

Memphis nodded. “As soon as it dries, we can call the Marshals in and turn the Raggetti’s over to them. Thank God. I’m gonna sleep for a week when this is finally over.”

Marty looked over at Zeus and said, “Now it’s up to Gina and her Marshals. Alfredo wrote the letter, so it’s up to her to get it into the hands of the right people. Then the whole world will know what kind of men Barrett and his sons are.”

A door opened up down the hall and Gina walked over to join them in the main room. Looking over at the fireplace, she smiled. “Great job people.”

“Are you about ready to send out that letter?” Diabolus growled. “I’m getting real tired of hearing that man yell and rant. I just want this done.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I have my list all made out, including the Marshals and as soon as I can, I’ll send it out and they will be investigating.”

Diabolus nodded. “Good. You know his sons don’t even speak, but he refuses to shut the hell up. Like he really doesn’t believe he did wrong. It just amazes me that someone can fool themselves to that degree. His sons look like they are facing it and they look miserable.”

“What can I say? “ Gina replied.” He is more than likely insane. Just downright crazy. He would have to be that or inhuman not to see all that he did that broke laws and all kinds of moral boundaries. I’ve seen his kind before and too many times to count. Oh and I’m also sending a copy to Leon,” she added. “So he knows what Alfredo said and then he’ll know what to do with it.”

Zeus shook his head. “You can’t send Leon’s copy with everyone else’s. That would tip off the Marshals of his involvement in this mess.”

Gina smirked at him. “Gee Zeus, this isn’t my first ballgame, ya know? That’s why I’m having your man Click send it out to him. If the Marshals even see it on my laptop, let’s just say they will not understand, but I feel like Leon needs to see this.”

Zeus gave her a nod. “Just checking.”

Gina sighed hard. “Look guys, I’m not here to bust your chops, I only came to make sure Desi was okay and not in trouble. Like I told you before, my office got a file that gave us what we needed to arrest Barrett for that jewelry bust years ago. And with what Emily gave me yesterday, we’ll get them all on murder one. That is what will put them in for life sentences. And you know what? Alfredo is the only one of them that even cares. He sees the stain on his last name while Barrett and his sons don’t.”

Delaney carried a tray of mugs with a huge carafe of coffee as she joined them. “That’s because Grandpa is a man that still has family honor,” she said as she set the tray down. “Something his own father never had. Something his son and grandsons are missing as well. Yes, my dad has a smooth tongue but he used it to lie and cheat people his whole life. Now he’ll finally face the consequences of all those lies. And people like my grandfather will face the fall out. Something he doesn’t deserve but he will face them.”

“But he will face them with dignity only a select few still have in today’s society,” Desi told her as she poured some coffee and joined the group. Your grandfather knows the pain of living from paycheck to paycheck and still holding on to his dignity. So many people nowadays live from paycheck to paycheck but somewhere along the line they have forgotten to be proud of the fact that they are still able to provide for their families honestly.”

Delaney turned and looked at Desi. Reaching over, she took Desi’s hand, “Alfredo is our grandfather, yours and mine. We may have grown up in different homes but you are still my sister. For good or bad, you are my sister.”

Desi smiled and nodded. “Ok, I get it. Just letting you know that when this case goes to trial, I will be testifying against Barrett.”

Delaney nodded. “Between that and what Gina is going to do today, Barrett is going to spend the rest of his life behind bars. And that’s a lot less than he really deserves. But that was always his choice wasn’t it?”

Click came out of his room and handed Zeus a message. “I sent the letter from Alfredo to him early this morning and this was his reply.”

Zeus read the message then passed it around the room. He looked at Gina and nodded. “Leon has already spoken to the Council and they are closing doors as we speak. They are really cleaning house and now, we have to as well. Or rather, you have to. Let’s get the word out and close even more doors.”

Gina grabbed a cup of coffee from the tray as she nodded then she walked over to the table where her laptop was set up. She had everything ready so that all she would have to do is hit send. She gave Desi a wink and hit send. Then she watched carefully as her message was sent to every leading newspaper both online and offline. She watched as newspaper after newspaper was notified of the submission and some of them even responded to the message.

She noticed that her message hit the offices of the Marshals and they acknowledged it as well. She sat back in her chair and waited until someone messaged her back. She didn’t have to wait long. Within fifteen minutes, she heard back from her office in Kansas City.

It was from her boss, Garret Morris. “Gina, where the hell did you get this statement and where the hell are you?”

Gina typed out her response. “I’m at the clubhouse of the Brothers at Arms MC. They have Barrett Raggetti and his two oldest sons in their custody. They are holding them for the Marshals to pick them up and that’s because the Raggetti’s attacked them and they had to fight to hold them off until they were able to get their hands on them. Come to Fergus and take custody of the Raggetti’s.”

“There will be someone there in a few hours,” Gary wrote her back.

Gina looked up at Zeus and the others. “Marshalls are on their way.”

Zeus nodded. “Good, then this nightmare is almost over.”

Gina nodded. “They’ll want to question everyone here and see the tunnels and where you found the money.”

“And the bodies?” Diabolus asked. “We still have two bodies in the room below this floor.”

Gina nodded. “And the bodies, but unless you want to include the money and the gold Leon’s already taken out of here, you’ll have to discuss just how much you want the Marshals to know about. I can’t be included in that discussion but you better make sure of your story before they get here.”

Marty looked over at Zeus. “She’s got a point. What do we have left that didn’t belong to the Family?”