Final Call for Mercy

29

The bar went quiet as the doors slammed behind us. I could barely acknowledge the customers as they gawked at us entering the place. Nicolas stayed at my left, slightly behind me. Gabriel marched on my other side, the tension between us invisible to anybody else. Veronica walked behind them both with Mateo by her side. I told him to stay and rest, but once they all argued we'd look stronger together, I couldn't keep insisting.

Ash raised his eyebrows at us. He threw a rag over his shoulder and leaned into the bar, following me with his eyes until I stopped directly in front of him, on the other side of the bar. "Am I in trouble?" he half-laughed, in a way that sounded like he feared it might be true.

I couldn't manage a smile as I said, "put up the close sign and stay behind the bar." 

His face immediately went serious and he nodded, "on it."

I nodded to Elijah who stood in a walkway between tables. He clapped his hands once to command attention, "gente, ora siamo chiusi! Si prega di uscire. Le tue bollette sono sulla casa."
(People, we're closed now! Please go out. Your bills are on the house.)

I sat down on a stool and gestured for Mateo to do the same. "Quispe will be arriving any minute now. The moment he is gone, you're going to tell what the hell happened during that attack."

"Sure thing," Mateo grimaced as he held onto his side. He must still be in pain. Sedatives might have worked to ease it, but then he wouldn't be able to be here.

As the customers began to file out and Ash picked up any dishes left on the tables, Gabriel and Nicolas moved a table to the center and Veronica grabbed two shot glasses and a bottle of whiskey from the bar.

"Stay behind the bar with Ash," I told Elijah. "Have your gun ready. I'll have my palm out on the table like this," I lay my palm flat on the bar top. "If at any point I form a fist with it, you shoot him right through the head. If he brings people, start with them."

Elijah moved behind the bar as Veronica walked out and placed the glasses on the table Gabriel and Nicolas moved. They then went to move the couch from the back of the bar and settled it a few feet left of the table, against the wall. 

I checked my phone for the time. "Where the hell is—"

The doors burst open. Elijah, Gabriel and I reacted quick enough to hold out guns out. Jonathan stood with his hands above his head at the entrance. "I'm here."

"About damn time." He glared at me. "I want you here with me. Don't say a word unless I want you to answer."

Jonathan sat down on a chair from the table. "I feel like I should let you know that Quispe hates my guts."

"I figured he did."

Mateo frowned at Jonathan. "Why?"

"Because of my father's gang," Jonathan answered. "It allied with Martin instead of him, obviously. It was part of the reason Quispe wasn't strong enough to take Martin or more of South America to be on his side. His hatred became stronger when I took over because I blocked him and his allies from a lot of business on my side. He became trapped in his end because he barely had associations with the eastern side of the world and he needed to pass through my turf to do business with the Americans. It kind of makes you wonder why I'm here."

I rolled my eyes as his pointed look my way. "You are a reminder that he isn't more powerful than any of us."

"La Dinastía fell, in case you forgot."

"Exactly. It fell even being the strongest of the lone gangs in all of South America. And even so, you being here gives the hint you survived because you stayed by our side. I want him to keep that in mind when he tries to challenge me."