Draft version - Russian Roulette - Family secrets

Ch. 8: I've sent for The Extractor

The room began filling.

Already close to 25 of his best men were there and by the sounds of the cars in the driveway and the footsteps outside the giant common room, more were arriving.

It took about 20 minutes before he felt like the people who were going to show up, were present. It did not matter, they had all been there within the hour.

"I'm sorry to call a meeting at this hour," Gareth said to quiet the room down, while he glanced at the big clock on the mantle telling him it was 3.38 in the morning.

He had left the warehouse and went straight to The Mansion.

It was a huge estate he owned, and he used it for his mafia business. Many of his men had rooms there, as well as him, there were a full staff to keep things running. They had everything they needed there including a full medical ward, it was not exactly safe what they did at times.

It was called The Mansion commonly, but many just referred to it as the club house.

"You all know what's going on. We've been targeted and we need to be on top of this."

There was a bit of mumbling, but nobody said anything, there was not really much to say. Targeted meant one thing and one thing only.

Problems.

Gareth let his eyes float around the room, he liked what he saw. Not one man there was ready to back down and they all looked to him for leadership. They had done it before, successfully, they knew he would never walk away from a fight, any threat needed to be neutralized as fast as possible.

"So, here's what going to happen," he continued. "I need every weapons cache gone through and protected, and I need shipments with more."

The people in charge of weapons and security made nods at each other mentally noting they had to get together to plan.

"Send for reinforcements from every city, but nothing too obvious, we don't want to leave anything open and vulnerable."

Again, the people responsible for liaising with the other cities confirmed with each other.

"I demand women and children in safe houses or sent out of town. And I'm sorry I can't give you a time estimate for when they can return." That statement was meant for all of them. He did not want to see anybody's families hurt or in a position to be used against them.

Gareth knew it was his job to think of everything and execute a plan to keep as many people safe as possible, all the while having to ask his people to put themselves in harm's way.

It was not uncommon, they knew the risks, it was their way of life.

The room was quiet.

It was like a dark cloud hung over their heads and they could only wait for the storm to come rumbling.

"Do we know why that scumbag decided to come after us again?" somebody asked.
"Yeah, we buried his attempt in Ireland," another chimed in.

Gareth was thinking hard.

His mind was racing.

They had the gun trades and the drugs in their full control. He had his eye on the sex trafficking and prostitution, though it was not something he profited from directly. He had strip clubs, but sex for money had not been something he ever wanted as part of his business. He hated the exploitation of women. If they chose to strip, he made sure they had protection at the clubs and were never asked to do anything but strip. And he paid them well in hopes they would not need to do any side work.

He was not one of the good guys, he knew that, that did not mean he had to be all bad. Gareth had done a lot of shit in his life, came with the territory, it was simply the way things worked.

The way he had been brought up.

It was all he knew.

It was his family's legacy to him.

Yes, he had killed people, a lot frankly. He made profit on guns and drugs, an obscene profit. Money laundering and gambling too. Gareth had all the connections to get away with it, which he intended to continue doing.

But...

He did give back. He sponsored halfway houses, safe houses for battered women, children's abuse helplines and many more charities. He ran rehab centers too. Hypocritical, absolutely, considering he also did the drug profiting.

Gareth did what he could to be able to sleep at night.

"I have no idea. Grychenko is not exactly known for his rational decisions."

It was the truth; he had no idea.

Grychenko had tried to move in on him a few times before, it had seemed half-assed, he had tried, nonetheless. Something this time felt different, the break ins had not been random to catch attention alone, they had been targeting his weapons storages.

In a few days he would hopefully get some answers from the man they had captured.

Gareth rubbed the ridge of his nose; he felt a migraine coming on.

And he did not do migraines well.

"We caught one of his men earlier. I've sent for The Extractor. He and I will handle the interrogation."

A collective gasp rose in the room.

The Extractor was death.

Slow and agonizing death. But not before every bit of information had been pulled from the unfortunate soul having to endure his torturous methods. The Extractor was a sociopath with no remorse and no other purpose than getting information.

Nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of his care.

"Guys, it's a waiting game for now. We have to wait for information and then Grychenko's move, I want us to be prepared for the worst, just in case. I don't want this wanker to get us with our knickers around our ankles."
"Do we double security?" Cracker was the one speaking this time. He was the one who had pointed out that it was the weapons that had been targeted.
"Keep it as it is. I think the break ins will stop now."
"Says who?" somebody asked.

It was an annoying question, but totally fair. His men were searching for answers as well as Gareth was, and they looked to him for some of them.

"It's a hunch. He's made break ins for a while now and though we've noticed we haven't caught them in the act. This time we did, and those men won't be returning to Grychenko. My bet is he wanted to know how long it took us to catch on."

The agreeing mumbles rose.

"Stay alert though, and report anything suspicious."

Hi y'all.

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