Page 51 of Scarred Ruin

“Where?”

“The neutral zone.” He waited until I realized the importance of what he’d just disclosed.

The neutral zone was several blocks in a section near King Street, the trendiest area of Charleston full of bars and restaurants. It had been established within a couple of years of my father’s powerful influence, a way to appease both the Italian Cosa Nostra that had roots going back over a hundred years to the Dixie mafia, a loose coalition of traveling criminals, con artists, and local syndicates across the South.

They were even more dangerous than the fucking Italians, but they were loyal as fuck and very creative in eliminating their enemies. Given their lack of structure, I had doubts they were behind the recent attacks.

But that didn’t mean they weren’t working with others.

Including the cartels that were sliding their way north from places like Miami and New Orleans, hellbent on challenging crime syndicates established generations before.

With a few other criminal elements sprinkled in, my father had been involved in establishing an association for lack of a better word. An agreement had been reached and several blocks of historic downtown were sacred, meant to remain devoid of violence and even minor disturbances for the dozens of businesses.

There were reasons Andrey had been photographed outside one of the local bars. He’d been known to frequent a few clubs as we all had done over the years. What was the killing blow in this case was the man he’d been caught speaking with.

A bald man.

Not just any bald man, but one dressed as any of my captains would be for formal meetings, in a suit fit for a king. The conversation was both lively and friendly. Easy to tell by how Andrey was smiling.

Was the man standing in the shadows anyone of importance? Maybe not, but both the timing of his dismissal, the events surrounding the attack on my family, and the coincidence of being involved with a bald man was something I couldn’t dismiss.

I glanced at the man as he continued to struggle. He obviously knew the air in the warehouse had changed, my arrival putting an icy chill into the space. I could almost see him sweating from where I stood.

“Any comments?” I asked in return.

Mario snorted. “Other than he doesn’t even remember the meet and greet.”

“Of course he doesn’t.” I debated the possibility he’d been used until Mario slipped a piece of paper in front of my nose.

“I knew you’d want additional proof, so I had his house ransacked. This was found in the pocket of the leather jacket he’s wearing in the picture. A hidden pocket so it wasn’t planted there.”

There wasn’t much to the note other than a location, the bar and a time, early evening. “I assume the date stamp corroborates it.”

“Yes, Pakhan. It does. No money exchanged, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

Certainly not with internet banking. It was now a breeze to open an account, including in a false name, which would hinder my discovery for a few days. But no one could run and hide. No one.

Right now, given over a week had passed since the assassination attempt, my soldiers were getting restless. Even worse, the people responsible were grinning from ear to ear in planning their next attack.

Fuck them.

It was time to send a message.

When I started to move closer, Mario stopped me. I could tell by his expression whatever he was about to tell me pained him. “There’s one more thing and you’re not going to like it.”

With a slight turn of my head, I remained silent.

He took a deep breath. “Andrey has been spending some time with Sara Brighten.”

“And who is this woman?” I recognized the name, but not from where or when in my past.

“She’s Mina’s teacher.”

The news hit me hard as he knew it would. Roman had grilled the school administrator who’d been on duty, the principal who hadn’t, and even Mina’s teacher and they’d all had the same excuse.

They’d thought Mina had been picked up. Someone had made a mistake on the sign-out sheet, which was used when the children were safely in vehicles, and were no longer working for the school. There’d been no reason to challenge them, other than my instincts had told me there’d been more to the story.

Now I knew what.