Captain – Brothers At Arms #6

Leon joined the others and found eight suitcases sitting on the floor. He looked over at his son.

Calderone shrugged. “They are bringing the suitcases and bags down. I’ve called for an armored car to pick us up in one hour and I told them to ready the plane for takeoff.”

Leon nodded at him. “Ottimo.” He walked over to where Alfredo was sitting and sat down beside him. “I spoke with your son.”

Alfredo nodded. “And what did he have to say for himself?”

Leon curled his lip and shook his head. “I told him you began the process of separation from him and that when his men heard what you had to say, they decided to leave, well all but two. He sneered and said, at least two stayed. Then I asked him if he knew why they stayed. He wasn’t even surprised to hear they were expecting to be paid. That those two men were still expecting to be paid, but they were paid with a bullet. I informed him that when I get back to Boston, I would begin closing doors for him and all his men.”

Alfredo nodded. “That is a good thing, no?”

Leon scoffed. “Good or not, it shall be so. I also told him and his sons were going to prison and that even inside those walls, he would be watched. And if the day ever came that he was free… the moment he stepped outside those walls would be his last moment on earth.”

Alfredo froze and he looked up at Leon. “What did the little ingrate say about that?”

“He dared to ask if that was a threat.” Leon shook his head, as he looked disgusted. “It was a promise and I intend to tell Calderone to make it happen if I am already dead at the time. He just stared at me and it seemed he was daring me to do my worst.” He leaned in a little closer. “He has no idea what my worst really is. But he’ll find out the hard way.”

Alfredo paled and whispered, “Lord have mercy.”

Leon sat back and growled. “The Lord may have mercy but I will not. That man will finally figure out there are limits to my generosity and he has none left.”

Alfredo nodded. “Si senor, he will.”

Gina stood back and watched as she saw Leon’s real power play out. She knew his reputation and now she was seeing it in play. But she did notice one thing about the man. He never overplayed his hand. He had the power and he knew it but he was also a fair man. Too many times in her line of work, she’d seen men with his kind of power wielding it recklessly, but from what she’d seen of Leon, he wasn’t one of those men.

Captain joined her and asked, “What are you thinking?”

Gina turned and looked at him. “Are you sure you want to know the answer to that question?”

Captain nodded. “Yeah, I think I do. This affects all of us here and it’s my job to protect this club.”

She reached out and patted his chest. “Back off, biker boy. Your club is in no danger from me. I told Leon that I would wait until he was gone before I called in the Marshals and I will. I don’t want him anywhere near this place when I call in my brothers.”

“But you know Barrett will talk,” Captain suggested.

Gina nodded. “But the Marshals aren’t stupid. They will take his rantings as being a sore loser and they will act accordingly. They may even call Leon and ask him if he was here. What he tells them is up to him isn’t it?”

“Are you asking me to lie to the Marshals?” Leon demanded.

Gina shook her head. “No sir, I’m not. You can tell them whatever you want, but if you admit to telling them you were here, they are going to ask you why. If you admit to taking something from here, they will want you to turn it over to them as evidence.” She shrugged. “You may or may not get it back but then you’ve dealt with the Marshals before I’m sure.”

Leon rolled his eyes. “I have indeed, and they have pissed me off on more than one occasion.”

Gina chuckled. “Yeah, and I can bet that they will do it again. Which is why I’m waiting for you to go home before I call them in. You are only here to collect what’s really yours and I’m not making you a target for the Marshals.”

“And if they ask you if I was here?” Leon wanted to know. “What will you tell them?”

“I can’t lie but it will depend on how they ask the question, won’t it?” Shrugging she said, “Did I see you here? Maybe. Did I see you take anything away from here? No I didn’t. What do I think you were doing here? I have no clue. You could have been visiting a friend when this all blew up. I can’t read your mind and I’m not going to speculate.”

Leon nodded. “I can live with that.”

“So can I,” she admitted.

 ”May I ask why you would do this?” Calderone asked curiously.

Gina looked at him and said, “I’m doing this to protect my girl. Not for your father or the club but to protect my friend. It is as simple as that.”

“I see.” Leon stared at her.

“No, I don’t think you do,” Gina corrected him. “When I met Desi, we clicked, you know? I think it was fate that we were supposed to be good friends. Nothing more than that… just good friends. I like men the same as most other women. Same as Desi but I would do anything to keep her safe and when she came here I knew she was looking for someone. She didn’t even have to say it out loud. I followed her here that’s true, but I came after her out of concern for her, not to get dragged into her mess. But I’m here now and I’m not leaving until I know she’s gonna be okay.”

“My apologies.” Leon tipped his head respectfully at her.

“You know something…” She stared at him. “Meeting you has been a surprise, Mr. Vincinti. A pleasant surprise. I have to admit that most men in your position could be and very often are unbearable men. Thinking they’re more important than they are in reality but that isn’t you is it? You know your own worth and you don’t have to make waves to get the respect you deserve.” She nodded. “That’s the earmark of a truly noble man sir. And I can say it has been a true pleasure meeting you but I think I’ll be even happier when you are gone.”

Leon threw back his head and laughed. “Well, that’s a unique way of giving me a compliment and telling me to get lost, I must admit. Mi piaci ma non troppo.”

Desi chuckled. “I like you but not too much,” she translated what he’d said.

“I would never be that rude sir.” Gina shook her head but she also had to smile.

“Touché.” Leon tipped his head again.

Calderone looked down at his phone and said, “The car is here, Dad.”

Leon nodded.

 ”They have brought down the rest of the cases so we can leave anytime,” Calderone informed him.

Leon looked over at Gina and said, “You make sure Barrett gets into Marshal Custody and goes back to prison. If for some reason, he doesn’t actually make it back to the prison, call me and I’ll hunt that little bastard down and take care of him myself.”

Gina stared at him and shook her head. “I’m not sure I can do that, but I’ll try.”

“If she can’t, one of us will.” Captain growled.

Leon nodded at him. “I will wait for your call then.”

Calderone now stood while watching his men carry out the cases and putting them in the back of the car. Then Calderone picked up their suitcases and walked out of the clubhouse with two guards by his side.

Leon’s bodyguards waited for him.

He turned to smile at Alfredo. “Well, I’m going home. You call me when your statement goes in the papers, and I will let the council know of this development. They will stand behind you. I intend to make sure of that myself. Then you need to take care and watch your back, Barrett’s enemies will come looking for you I’m sure as well. He made them promises that he had no intention of ever keeping. When you declare that he is no longer your son, they will come looking for you for payments. When I get home, I will make some calls as well and try to stop them but I may not be able to do that.”

Alfredo shrugged. “I am an old man now, not long for this world.” Shaking his head he said, “All my life I have done the right thing, I worked hard to provide for my family when my own sons were growing up, then when Barrett went to prison and his wife walked away, I took in his sons and daughter. Again, I tried but the only one that seemed to care was Delaney. The boys wanted nothing to do with hard work and the satisfaction that a man gets from working for what they want. They followed their father into a life of crime and look where that got them.” Shaking his head he said, “I don’t worry about my life and I’m pretty sure the girls will be protected. Let them come and I will tell them the same thing, there is no money left. Everything was returned to those it belonged to this whole time. I set the record right at long last.”

Leon nodded. “With your permission, I will assign two men to protect you for a while. You won’t see them but they will be there. At least, until I feel this is over.”

Alfredo studied him and then nodded his head.

“I wish you well, mio vecchio amico.” Leon offered his hand.

Alfredo took it and they shook. “Bless you, Leon.”

Leon stood gracefully and straightened his immaculate suit as he even flicked the lapel to get rid of perhaps imaginary lint. He then looked over at the women. He gave them all a wink and bowed gracefully in respect.

Going through the front doors, Leon headed over to Zeus and Memphis. “Well, Brothers at Arms, this has been an adventure I will surely never forget anytime soon.” He grinned at them. “You have to have the most interesting house in the entire United States, I must admit. You should sell tickets and collect big on the tours.”

Zeus scoffed. “I don’t think so. We never expected to have so many ‘visitors’ as it is.” He shook Leon’s hand. “We are glad you are taking all that crap out of here.”

Leon raised a brow at him. “Crap, eh? You never even considered keeping a dime, why is that?”

Zeus’ eyes looked like steel as he replied coldly, “I would rather take a trip to hell than take what isn’t mine and thank fuck none of it was mine.”

“I second that,” Memphis said as he too, shook Leon’s hand. “We are what you might call humble men.” He gave him a huge grin.

Leon laughed. “Hardly. Soldiers like you may be humble but you stand for yourselves and protect your own. I only admire men such as yourselves in my life. I have met a few such men. The Sinners of Boston and The Sin’s Bastards of New York. They are much like your MC. I can say that I now admire your club as well.” Then he turned and waved at Gina, Delaney, Desi, Marty, Lindy, and Emily as he blew them a kiss and called out, “Arrivederci, Donne di potere.” He got into the limo and the car pulled away from the parking lot.

Lindy looked over at Delaney and asked, “What did he just say?”

The rest of the women all looked over at Delaney as well.

“Goodbye, women of power.” She beamed at them.

Zeus shut the gate and just stared at the road for a moment. He headed back inside with Memphis at his side. Shutting the front doors, he turned and stared at his men. “Well Brothers, we’ve got a lot of work to do before we invite the Marshals here to take their prisoners away. We have to make the main room look like the fireplace was never there.”

Everyone looked over at the gaping hole in the wall and some shook their heads.

 ”Or we can rebuild it with real bricks this time,” Diabolus suggested. He motioned at the hole in the wall and said, “You can’t hide that.”

“Anybody here know how to build a fireplace?” Zeus asked.

Marty and Lindy raised their hands.

Zeus stared at them. “You sure?”

They both nodded.

“I can help too,” Delaney said.

Shaking his head, he said, “Ladies, this will be heavy work. Bricks aren’t like bathroom tiles.”

They all glared back at him.

Delaney braced her hands on her hips and said, “Did you not hear what Leon said to us before he left?”

Zeus swung his gaze over to her and cocked his head.

“He said, goodbye women of power,” she stated.

Memphis stared at her then at Zeus and laughed. “She’s got you there, brother. They are all that very thing.”

Diabolus then did something rare and admitted, “Leon is right. All of them are.”

Lindy laughed and said, “Well, look at you, being all agreeing and shit. You’ve come a long way, baby!”

Her and Marty laughed.

Zeus kept shaking his head, then he looked over at Diabolus and Captain. “We can try to use the bricks that weren’t damaged. So this afternoon, you two can see how many we got.”

They nodded.

Zeus then looked around. “Damn, this is almost over. Finally.”

Gina spoke up, “Almost. I’m just hoping when our Marshalls come, it will all be explainable.”

Zeus stared at her. “I have no faith in that.”

Gina tilted her head at him, as she looked perplexed.

He let out a sigh and said, “This whole thing was a god damned shitstorm. A clusterfuck of a mess that only the devil could devise.”