The Woman in Red (The Stone Chronicles: Book 3)

Chapter 6

New York City. August 18th, 2015. 1600 Hours.

Root

The Meatball Shop was a quaint little place off of Amsterdam, with locations across New York City and famous for... you guessed it: meatballs. Anna and Taylor took a seat in the far back, away from the crowd and protected on as many sides as possible: a strategic, professional choice.

Harold and I sat towards the front, using the cloned phone to listen in on the conversation. After ordering fairly quickly, Taylor looked up grimly and whispered, "Why are you here?"

Anna blinked a few times, then sighed. "I'm assuming you have a theory?"

"Ella's out of town for another couple of weeks, and I know you never fell out of contact, so it's not a social visit. You must be here on assignment."

"You could say that."

"Why are you getting in contact with me? How am I supposed to help you?"

She gritted her teeth. "You're not, but I don't have many friends left, and the ones that I do have deserve a warning about what's coming."

"And what would that be?"

"Something very, very bad."

"Is that why you're here?" He asked. "To stop the bad... whatever?"

She bit her lip nervously before shrugging slightly. "You could say that."

"Would you stop it with the 'you could say thats'? Honestly, Emily; when did you get so cryptic?"

"Emily," I whispered. "That must be Markham's real name."

"Yes, because one of the most popular names in England really narrows everything down," Harold grumbled. "Thanks for that."

"Better than nothing, Harry."

"Look, a lot is going on right now," Markham-or Emily-said. "Not only is my territory all at sixes and sevens, but now I get back to the city and find out your streets are in bloody shambles?"

"How'd you find out about the streets?"

"Old friend," She answered quietly. "Have you got any gen on it?"

"Not a ton. I've heard that a major player's jumped into the gang. The Italians and the Brotherhood have all but disappeared. I've heard a lot of theories about it, but everything seems to do with their bosses-"

"Elias and Dominick; yeah, I've heard. Anything else?"

"It seems Ms. Emily knows a bit about our little Samaritan situation," Harold whispered.

"You think it's Samaritan who's after her?"

"Wouldn't put it past them."

"Only that the violence increased," Taylor said. "I haven't gone back down to Brooklyn for a while 'cause... well, ya know. We moved to Manhattan for a reason."

"Yeah, I can't blame you there."

"Anyway, from what I've heard, some of the worst stuff has been down there. Your assignment got something to do with that?"

"Not really," Emily answered. "But I may be here for a while, so I guess it's in my best interest to know what's happening around me."

"Then why are you here?"

"Honestly, you're probably better off not knowing."

"Bullshit. You just said I needed a warning. What are you warning me of?"