The Rule of Silence

Chapter 6: Family Ties

It’s 7pm, Jordan and I  made to the airport and decided to take a private plan with vance brand. while on the Jordan asked me somethings about home. “ You remember when we were kids and we used to play tag with him and afterwards he’d make us work together to find him?” she said as we laughed. “ We would spend hours trying to find.” I say shaking at the memories we share. “He hid on the roof and waited for us to quit.”  she says to me as we lightly laugh  thinking of those days until we landed. We looked out the to see a limo parked  with a man in all black waiting for us to get off. “ well, I see things haven’t changed since I left.” I said nonchalantly as Jordan with a funny face, then thinks about it a little. “ Nah not really, but you know how traditional our family can be.” We exit the plane and on our way to the car the man in black grabs our bags and welcomes us back. “ Welcome home Mr. and Ms. Roberts. Hope you had an easy flight on the way here.” I take a deep breath to absorb the fact of being back in Boulder and begin to about how long it been since since I heard that name, makes me realize how long I’ve been away. Jordan holds me by the shoulder to lean in and kiss my cheek. “ Good to see you back home D’Angelo, I missed my brother.” She says as another man in all black gets out the driver side to open the door for us to get in. “ I put what you asked in the cooler for you Ms. Amelia.” He says as she thanks him before getting in the car. Once we’re both in, she goes in the cooler and cracks open two beers for us as we make our way out of the airport. “ Before we get home, I have to stop at the police department and get my side arm registered. Makes it easier to carry, you know?” she say as we drink the cans empty as a toast to being home, which is a tradition the two of us share when being home together. “ This is gonna be a temporary stay since we still don’t know who Antonio was before going rogue, so that leave this half finished.” I said after finishing my beer. “ He’s been a few steps ahead of us in these past few months, I’ll admit the guys smart. I’ve collected all the info I could on him, but he did pretty well to cover his tracks on who he was when he was with the brotherhood. I even have the infamous Spada Cupa leading the mission and all leads have either decided to keep quiet, sacrifice themselves, or fight back. This is quite the pickle.” She says agitated by the fact that we aren’t any closer to our target and grabs two more beers for us to guzzle down to prepare ourselves for the celebration of our fathers ascension to elder within the brotherhood.

We arrive at the police department and I start to think about how long it's been since I’ve been around Amelia before we started this mission, she’s really grown up since I last saw her. I remember picking her up from here with our father after being arrested for putting people in the hospital and now she's working here because she wants to and not cause of an order. This is our mission together, we’ve only had these positions in the for 3 years and were so anxious to get started that I didn’t even notice how long it's been for her on her own. Staring at her, I started to think out loud saying her name. It’s been so long since she’s heard her name from my voice, it's threw her off guard and smiled at me before getting out the car. While I wait in the limo, my phone rings. I pull it out to take a look and it happens to be my little brother, Rolando calling. “ Saluti piccolo uno( Greetings little one ).” I said answering the phone as he chuckles a little before replying. “ It's been a long time since you’ve called me that after becoming the Spada Cupa.” I avoid speaking on about my position since that's one of the main topics the brotherhood loves to speak about within their social circle these day, and put the spotlight on him about his position in becoming the family’s new Reclutatore for the next generation. “ Yea, well since the old man’s promotion, I want to give kids the same chance he gave us.” He explained with his ego still intact as from when we last met. “ That great, glad to see you stuck it out and followed in his footsteps. Will be some big shoes to fill, and will say lots about your ambitions within the brotherhood.” I said to him as Amelia gets back in the car. “ Aye, we’ll see you at home and can continue all this later.” I said to him as I hung up the phone. “ Who was that?” Amelia asked as a deputy walks outside to the car to Amelia. “ Aye Chief, here's the keys to your car ma’am.” He said as she took the keys and thanked him while getting into the car, as I stare at her with a small grin to the surprise of how far she’s come. “ Not one word D’Angelo Dillan Roberts.” She says smiling as she stares at me Embarrassed by her own success, and laugh the rest of the way home having a few more toast before going inside for the festivities.