Click – Brothers At Arms #5

Zeus finally cleared his throat and had to ask, “What did you mean when you said Barrett had his own money?”

Desi shrugged. “He was in New York City to rob a store in the jewelry business district. He hit the store the next day then escaped the city. The newspapers said he got away with over four million in jewels. He would have hidden them somewhere as it was too hot for him to fence the stones just then. Why not hide them here where no one was living?” She turned and looked at Leon. “Do you know what crime he went to prison for?”

Leon shook his head. “He went to prison for bank robbery. He and his partner Joe Grimes. Joe Grimes only spent three weeks in prison, despite getting a ten year sentence.”

“Why only three weeks?” Diabolus asked.

“He spent the rest of his time in a cemetery attached to the prison. He got shivved one day when he went to lunch. No one saw the attack and no one ever found out who did the deed.Una coincidenza? I doubt it very much. I think Joe was going to talk to the DA and try to get out on parole and Barrett shut him up before he could talk.”

“How did you find all this out?” Memphis asked her.

Desi shrugged but wouldn’t say anything.

“How much was the bank robbery worth?” Click asked.

“He hit the bank just before the armored car got there so he got about five million in cash and coin,” Leon informed them. “They killed one guard and wounded a second one. It came out in the trial that the second guard was in on it and that he shot the first guard. He went up for life and the other two got ten years each.”

“Of course, the only one to walk out was Barrett,” Leon scoffed, “So he got away with it all. The money was never recovered either, so it’s still out there somewhere.”

“And it could be here along with the jewels?” Memphis concluded.

“Now that sounds like something my father would do.” Delaney shook her head as she came into the room.

Desi snapped her head around to stare at the other woman. She knew about his three sons but she had no idea there was a sister too. “Barrett is your father?” She  looked stunned.

Delaney went to join  Memphis and she nodded. “Yeah, he is much to his shame. He doesn’t have much time for a useless girlchild.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me much?” Desi sighed. “Barrett is a monster, a selfish, rotten monster.”

Delaney snorted. “You got that right.” Then she looked thoughtful and asked, “But how would you know that? Do you know my dad?”

Desi shook her head. “Can’t say that I ever met the man in person.”

Leon growled under his breath at her words but he didn’t say anything. He looked angry though.

Delaney sat down at the table and looked at her. “So you think my dad stored his ill gotten gains in this house as well? Well, that wouldn’t surprise me either, especially if he knew he was going to prison soon.”

“You said something that maybe you knew where he was hiding?” Click reminded her. “Do you know where he’s holding up?”

She shrugged. “I saw him going toward a cave last night but I don’t know if he’s still there or not by this time. If he was smart he wouldn’t be but then I don’t think he’s all that far away either.” Shaking her head she said, “He hasn’t gotten what he came for has he? You captured two of his three sons already, he can’t do what he has to do alone. His men are in custody as well. Either in custody or dead.”

“Just how long have you been watching us anyway?” Captain, another member of the MC asked. “You seem to know a lot about what’s going on here.”

Desi shrugged but didn’t answer his question.

Leon growled again then asked her, ‘Where is this cave?”

Desi stared at him. “It’s like a half mile from here. After you get out of the woods, towards the north.”

Looking disgusted, Leon reached for his phone to call his security team. He told them to check out the cave Desi talked about.

While they waited, Zeus asked her, “Where have you been watching us from?”

Desi didn’t answer his question. Yet again.

Zeus growled, “I need to know so we can find your vehicle and make sure Barrett didn’t find it and drive off in it.”

Desi snorted. “Barrett wouldn’t be able to find his ass from a hole in the ground. He wouldn’t find my vehicle. I hid it well enough. He could walk right past it and never find it.”

Delaney stared at the other woman and then said, “You don’t think much of him do you?”

Desi stood up fast enough to tip over her chair. Her hands curled into fists as she glared at her. “No, I do not. I hate that fucking monster with every fiber of my being. Him and your brothers and if they were burning I wouldn’t piss on them to put out the fire. I would stand there and watch them burn.” Then she turned to stomp her way down the hall.

  Everyone heard a door slam.

Delaney closed her eyes at the sound of the door slamming. Then she looked at Memphis with tears in her eyes. “What did I do? What did I say that set her off?”

Memphis shook his head. “Your dad murdered her mother ten years ago and your brothers shot her grandfather in cold blood as well.”

“Oh, my God.” Delaney groaned as she hid her face in her hands. “Oh my God, she’s right, they are monsters. This is gonna break my grandfather’s heart. He knew my dad was a greedy man but I don’t think he ever expected him or my brothers to be such cut throat killers.”

“Oh, mia cara ragazza, my darling girl,” Alfredo’s voice came from the entry to the hall.

She looked over.

Alfredo stood there while leaning heavily on his cane. “I knew Barrett killed before. He murdered his own brother. Of that I have no doubt. He murdered Carlos. I think I always knew it in my heart but I just couldn’t face it before I found his box. Then I knew for sure.” He shook his head. “I didn’t raise that boy to take another life but he’s done it several times now. He’s lost to me and I can’t stop him anymore. I wouldn’t even know how to stop him. The son I raised died a long time ago and I don’t know the monster that’s taken over his body.”

Delaney went over to her grandfather and helped him to come over and sit down at the table. His arm was still in the sling and his shoulders seemed to have a huge weight on them now.

Delaney looked worried about him.

Leon looked worried too. Just then, his  phone pinged with an incoming message. He read what his team reported and then he looked at Alfredo. “They found the cave and they found signs of blood on the dirt floor. So, Barrett or Alijala were in there at some point last night. If you’ll remember when they brought Alijala in, he had a wound in his leg. But they didn’t find Barrett, so they are looking for him now.”

Alfredo nodded. “Si, I understand. I hope they find him soon. This nightmare needs to be over.”

Zeus looked over at Click. “See if you can find her vehicle. It’s got to be out there somewhere close by.”

Click nodded then sat down at his laptop. He clicked on the outside cameras and began searching for her car. He spent the next few hours looking.

They all had lunch and the room was fairly quiet. No one had much to say. The mess that the Ragettis had made was well in now. All they could do was wait.

Zeus stepped over to click and growled, “Did you find it yet?”

“No,” Click replied in frustration. “Wherever she hid it, she hid it damned good.”

“Well shit,” Zeus swore. “It’s got to be out here somewhere. Find it.”

Leon joined them and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Zeus ran his hands over the back of his head and said, “We can’t find her car.”

Leon nodded his head. “Well, if her grandfather taught her anything he taught her how to hide something in plain sight. Giromodo was always very good at that.” He gave a rueful smile “In fact, he was so good at that particular feat he earned the nickname, Hips for his efforts.”

“Hips?” Zeus frowned “What the hell kind of nickname is that?”

Leon shrugged. “It’s short for Hiding in plain sight, Hips.”

Zeus groaned and raised his hand to his face. Rubbing his forehead as if he suddenly had a headache he asked, “Ok, so if you were to hide a vehicle out in the brush, then where would you hide it? Or rather where would he hide it?”

Leon searched the cameras for a few minutes then he began to smile. He raised his amused eyes to Zeus.

Zeus knew right away that he found the car. “You see it don’t you?”

“Si, I see it but I doubt Barrett ever would.” Leon nodded. “You see, I have prior knowledge of her grandfather’s little tricks. He does not.”

“Can you just show us where the vehicle is?” Zeus asked while looking more than exasperated. “I am tired of all the Where’s Waldo shit around here.”

Leon paused and looked puzzled. “The what?”

Zeus shook his head like he was too damn disgusted to even explain.

“Where’s Waldo,” Click replied for him. “It is this game where you have to look at a picture and find the man in the red and white striped shirt. Only the background is all red and white.”

Leon chuckled. “I do admit that we have been reduced to playing child games, are we?” His smile disappeared as he got a hard steely look in his eyes. “So be it. I always win the game.”

Zeus let out a sigh. “I just want to quit playing. Man, we never asked for all of this fucking insane mousetrap, sink my battle ship, ring around the fucking rosie crap!” His voice got louder as finished. At the raised brow from Leon, he then asked quietly, “Ok, please show me this car.”

Leon nodded then showed him right where the vehicle in question was hidden. He pointed at the spot.

 Zeus growled. “I don’t see anything.”

“Of course you don’t, but her vehicle is there all right,” Leon assured him. “My friend Giromodo did the same trick when we were being chased by the police one time. He hid the car and we saw the police cars drive right past us and disappear into the night. We didn’t move for about fifteen minutes then he started the car and drove away. The police never did catch up to us.”

“What did you do to get the police on your case?” Click asked.

Leon shrugged and said, “I was just a kid but we might or might not have been running numbers for the local bosses that night. We think the police got a tip and they were lying in wait for us. We got away with nothing more than the fright of being caught. When I told my father what happened, he got mad at me and we packed up and went to Boston where he became one of the bosses. But before we left New York, my father took me to the bosses I was working for and he raised hell with them for having a kid doing a man’s job. Running numbers was a man’s gig not some half grown kid. When we got to Boston, he taught me the proper way to run numbers and believe me… I learned the difference fairly soon.”

“I still don’t see her vehicle there,” Click spoke up.

Leon leaned closer and pointed out what he saw.

After a moment or so Click finally saw it too. “Well, I’ll be damned. It is sitting there, out in plain sight.”

“Son of a bitch.” Zeus shook his head as he finally saw the vehicle as well. “If that don’t beat all.” He smiled and said, “She’s gonna have to show us that little trick.”

Leon smiled sadly. “I don’t know if she’ll stay once this is all done.”

“Why do you think that?” Click asked.

Leon shook his head. “That girl has more secrets to share or not share and I have a feeling the next one will rock someone’s world. And not for the better I fear.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” Zeus again looked disgusted at these constant puzzles that he had no fucking pieces for.

“Well, that is not a game at all,” Leon told him. “It is a life changing event, so she may or may not want to share it with everyone.”