Cold Brew and Bullets (Part 1 of the Syndicate Series)

Chapter 1- Another Day, Another Bullet

He shook his head with a smile and began hobbling to his special window seat, "You're too good to me. Thank you."

"Let me know if you need anything," I called after him. I turned back to the next customer and put my normal welcoming grin back on my face. "Good morning, how can I help you?"

He looked up from his phone with a furrowed brow, which gave him a rather terrifying look. I almost stepped back, but a much softer look seemed to overtake his serious one when he noted who he was talking to. "Five black coffees, please."

I nodded, "Coming right up."

He moved next to the counter as I prepared his order, since there was no one behind him in line. I couldn't shake the feeling that even though every time I looked over he seemed glued to his phone, that I felt his eyes on my back every so often. He was very attractive I had to admit, with blonde hair and a thin face that made his jaw and cheekbones stand out, but I was still slightly scared. Something about him screamed danger, and it was sending off the warning bells deep in my gut.

I gave him the total and the carrier for his coffees, but he hesitated. There was a moment of vulnerability as he leaned forward and his stoic facade slipped away to reveal something more hopeful, "Did I hear you say something about lemon cake?"

I nodded, "I make it fresh every morning."

He seemed torn but after his eyes flicked back and forth, he seemed to give in, "Could I get a slice of that, too?"

The sudden childlike mischievousness was enough to break my fear and make me chuckle, "Of course."

I wrapped a piece for him and gave him the new total. As he shoved his wallet back into the pocket of his suit, he gave me a curt nod, but I could see a slight grin pull at his lips, "Thank you. You have a nice day," He squinted at my name tag. "Eliana."

I gave him my best customer service look as he headed back out onto the street. The front door was mostly glass and the windows of the wall started halfway up, but it was enough for me to notice that he got into an extremely nice car, even by the standard of all the business people who came through on their way through to work. We may not be based out of a nice neighborhood, but people came through from everywhere on their way to work to grab coffee. I told Ezrah that it was the coffee, he told me that it was my pastries and cakes. Every day I was having to make more and more, but they were still both popular.

I took the break in the line of customers to wipe my hands on my apron and step back into the stock room. While I was there I hard the back door open and I knew that Ezrah had probably come in to help me with the shift.

"Good morning, Ezrah," I called ove my shoulder.

"Back at you, Eliana," I heard him from the break room where he was probably putting up his jacket and keys. It had gotten cold out this week, and there was rain in the forecast. With his fragile health, I hoped that he would stay warm and layer up with a scarf.

He poked his head in the door as I reached for a bag of coffee grounds, "Did everything go alright when you opened?"

"Of course. Same old thing, nothing I couldn't handle." He held his hands out to take one of the bags, but I pulled them out of his reach, "I've got this, no worries."

He frowned at me, "I'm not that old, you know. I'm not going to drop dead because of a bag of coffee grounds."

Ezrah really wasn't old, he was about the age that my parents would have been, maybe slightly younger, and I was twenty two. His hair had a slight tinge of salt and pepper, but he was well built and he didn't look old at all. I gave him a look, "I know, they're just not that heavy. Are you going to forget the pneumonia last month? It made you cough so much that you bent over to pick up a receipt and you cracked a rib."

"You're too independent," He muttered, following me to the register. "When I get over this latest bug, I'll be back at this job full force."

"Until then, you've got to take it easy."

He rolled his eyes but I could see the grin that fell onto his face. Ezrah headed back to start up the grill for lunch, and I turned back to keep the register going.

Alessio:

The next time that one of my men got shot, I was going to kill someone in retribution.

This was the fifth time in the last three months that one of my men ended up in the hospital and I was getting very irritated. This one crossed a line not only because he was one of my best, but because it confirmed who I thought was behind all of this. There shouldn't have been any turf wars in our area, but some reason the Russians kept encroaching on our area, this time one of my guys had gotten a round off and they had a chance to get a good look at who it was.

I pushed myself off the wall and began to wander around the waiting room. One of the perks of money and reputation is that you can usually get special treatment without much effort. That meant private hospital rooms and top of the line treatment. It also meant that the surgeons and doctors knew better than to ask questions when we dragged in a man who was shot three times.

A doctor covered in blood came into the room. Normally they would probably try to change out of their scrubs, but the men in this hospital knew that we had no qualms with blood. He looked around the room at the men covered in blood and dirt, but when they all looked to me as their leader, he seemed to understand that I was in charge. The man seemed to hesitate at the prospect of directly addressing me, he must've known who I was.

"Your man is out of surgery. All of the bullets were removed but he flatlined twice in the process. He'll need some extensive recovery time and to be closely watched for a while, as well as some physical therapy, but in the long run we think that he will make a full recovery."

I nodded to show him that I understood, but my face remained stoic. My right hand man chose that moment to enter with coffee and his shock of blonde hair. He set the drinks down on the nearby table and spoke to the doctor, as he usually did when I remained silent. "Thank you. Any idea on when he'll wake up and we can speak to him?"

The doctor seemed to deliberate momentarily before speaking, "I would speculate at about a day."

I turned back to my men, giving each of them a job, "Angelo, call the others and let them know what's going on. Matteo and Gabrielle, reach out to to the insiders and work out a plan. Leonardo," I turned to my right hand who was still quietly talking to the doctor. They both fell silent as soon as I addressed him, "Keep everything under wraps and take care of everything here."

I headed for the exit, knowing that a car would be waiting downstairs for me. As I crossed the threshold, Leonardo caught up to me, "Boss, do you want one of us to accompany you?"

I glared, "If anyone tries anything right now, they'll be dead before they blink. I pity anyone who crosses me today."

"At least take a coffee." He held one out to me.

I took it with a curt nod and headed down the stairs towards the lobby. There were other syndicates in the United States beside us, most of the foreign ones vied for power on the same field, but the Russians were getting greedy. We had been working to expand our influence as well, but I had been careful not to step on anyone else's toes. We were the first ones to keep Niklov and his men in check, but now that they were fighting back so hard, I would have to reach out to the other bosses. We didn't work together often, but when we did, you didn't want to be on the receiving end.

The people in the hospital parted in front of me, I knew that I looked intimidating enough as it was, adding a blood soaked suit and vengeance wasn't going to make me look any less terrifying. As I climbed into the backseat of my car, I took a sip of the coffee. A quick glance at the cup told me that I didn't recognize the name, but I frowned in surprise, "Not bad."