On their way to a private airstrip outside Reno, Dante hung up the phone with Giancarlo. "What does he want me to do?" Vincenzo asked. Bringing Enzo back to New York was only part of cleaning up the mess the young Italian created. There were more pieces at play.
"Eliminate the members of the Lords of Hades, but leave Alan Stewart alone for now," Dante confirmed, "I'll take care of the leaders here in Reno, while you deal with the others in Sacramento."
Giancarlo wanted to purge any connection that led back to Enzo or the family. They were already dealing with Salvatore Lucchese; fallout from anything his son had done was a challenge he couldn't afford to have. Therefore, getting rid of all the players was the next step. However, he had other plans for Mr. Stewart.
The mafia don had Dante do some recon on the situation before deciding on what to do, especially once they took Enzo. Giancarlo was close with Carmine and knew his friend didn't want any harm to his son, Angelo. So, as a sentiment to their long-time friendship, Giancarlo would take care of the LOH.
"What about the guy they call Beast?" Vincenzo asked. "He said to leave that for the skulls since he was part of their club." "I'm sure they want to deal with him themselves," Dante answered.
Once they arrived, some men helped get Enzo onto the plane. He was still unconscious from the severe beating Axle gave him. Dante got out of the car, leaving Vincenzo still seated. He lit up a cigarette before focusing on the Italian hitman.
"Do this quick." "Giancarlo will need you in New York once this is all done," Dante informed him.
Vincenzo nodded, then tapped the front seat. "Let's go."
Dante climbed up the stairs onto the plane. "Are we ready for take-off, Mr. Calabrese?" The pilot asked. "Yes, but there's been a change in plans on our destination."
*******
Charlie's parents arrived a couple of hours ago. Viper and Irish explained the plan to get the money out of the bank to them. Axle still was uneasy about letting his ol'lady do this.
"I don't like the idea of you doing this." Axle griped, pulling on his hair. "Why not?" "It will be easy...just walk in and then walk out." Charlie countered. Axle chuckled at the simplicity her mind formulated about this plan. But he could feel anything dealing with Enzo wasn't simple.
"We're talking about Enzo here." "Do you think he would make it that easy – just walk in and then walk out?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, not easy like a fifth-grader could do it, but not like breaking into the Federal Reserves or Ft. Knox." Charlie elaborated. Axle wasn't convinced. He knew there had to be more to it than just her walking in there with fake credentials.
Axle had to follow his gut. And deep down, he knew it wasn't that simple.
Spook chimed in on their conversation. "Axle, I got something, and you're not going to like it."
And there it was, the reality of the hurdles it would take to get that money out of the bank.
They followed Spook back to the common area where the others were waiting. "You got some news, Spook?" Priest asked.
"It's going to take a lot more than an I.D. to get access to that account." Spook began explaining.
"I don't understand; what more would you need?" Charlie asked, confused.
Spook flipped his laptop around so everyone could see the security footage from the bank. "The bank backs up all their security tapes on an in-house server." "I hacked into it and went back several months, right before Menace was killed."
"What are we looking at?" Axle asked, squinting his eyes on the screen. "There...you're looking there." Spook pointed on the screen.
Priest and the others leaned in closer. "That's Enzo with Beast." Capone pointed out. "Wait...what is that?" Priest mumbled.
"What are they doing?" Viper asked. "Is that what I think it is?" Axle asked Spook for confirmation. The tech genius nodded. "Bio-metrics, finger and palm prints – both hands."
"Fuck!" Axle shouted. "Just walk in and get out, huh?" He repeated Charlie's words to her. She stood there stunned.
"Who's the woman with them?" Irish asked, tapping on the screen. Spook scoffed, then held his index finger, indicating they would have their answer in 3....2...1
"Is that...?" Ice began, but Axle cut him off. "Stacy." Axle buried his face in his hands and collapsed onto the chair.
Spook closed the laptop. "Enzo used Stacy's hand and fingerprints." "You're going to need that to access that account."
"Jesus Christ, could this get any more complicated." Ink stated in disbelief.
"How are you going get her prints?" Charlie asked with a hint of sadness in her voice. She had a gut feeling what the answer would be, but she was praying it was wrong.
Everyone looked at Axle. Charlie shook her head. "No, absolutely not." Then she looked at him. "Eric, please tell me you're not contemplating what I think you are."
Axle got up from the chair and walked over to the bar to pour himself a drink. He gulped a glass of bourbon, then another. He honestly didn't know what to think. He understood the plan his men had in mind, but the effect it would have on Charlie was making this decision difficult.
"Damn it!" Axle screamed, throwing the glass into the mirror behind the bar. He turned around. "Let's do this."
*******
Members of the LOH are staying at the Atlantis Casino Resort – penthouse floor. Venom showed the others a layout of Cathedral – indicating entrance and exit points.
"How many skulls inside?" Ghost asked. "At least twenty, give or take." "I mean, you got the Reno charter plus Viper's crew and any nomads who came through," Sniper answered.
It can be hard to discern the number of skull members, especially with nomads. The numbers fluctuate.
"We're currently outnumbered, Venom." Whistle reminded him. Venom smirked, realizing that. "The rest of the charter is on their way as we speak."
Unbeknownst to Venom, the backup he was expecting wasn't coming.
*******
[Flashback]
The LOH Sacramento charter was ready to link up with Venom in Reno. Members were saddling up their bikes for the long haul to Nevada. Their leader called a few hours earlier requesting backup with their takedown of the Skulls.
The members mounted their bikes when a row of black SUVs came to a screeching halt in front of their club house. A group of black suits stepped out of the cars with semi-automatic rifles in their hands.
Before the bikers could take cover, a hail of bullets flooded the scene, hitting everyone and everything. All that could be heard were screams from the hang-arounds and shouting from the members.
The mystery men were unwavering and continued their assault on the LOH. The members didn't even get a chance to reach for their weapons as the onslaught of bullets came down like rain.
LOH members took hits to the chest, legs, arms, back, head, and other body parts. The contract hit on the LOH was not limited to just patched members; anyone who was at the club at this moment was going to be killed, too.
Dante made sure no one was left standing...not even the clubhouse itself.
Just as quick as the assault started, it abruptly stopped. Once the smoke cleared, the ground was littered with bodies lying in pools of blood. The crimson river flowed down the side of the street.
The hit squad moved all the dead bodies inside the clubhouse, then lit everything on fire, including the bikes.
"Yeah," Dante answered on the phone. "It's done." Vincenzo confirmed.
[Flashback end]
*******
"Rueger will cover the back-exit and...."
"Wait...where is Rueger?" Asked Sniper before Venom continued. "Probably still with Beast at St. Dominic's taking care of Maddox." He answered and then focused back on the blueprints.
"Shouldn't they have been back by now?" Sniper followed up, sensing something might be wrong. They all looked at each other. "I'll call him." Whistle offered, taking out his phone to ring up Rueger.
The phone continued ringing. "Yo, this is Alex; you know what to do."
Whistle tried the number again but kept getting Rueger's voicemail. Then a knock on the door shifted their attention.
"Room service!" Yelled a mystery voice on the other side of the door.
"Who the fuck ordered room service?" Venom griped. "I did." Smiled Undertaker, who happily strolled towards the door.
Venom shook his head. "I swear that motherfucker eats 24/7." He mumbled underneath his breath.
Right as Undertaker opened the door, a black canister was thrown inside the room. Upon impact with the floor, it exploded, illuminating a bright light, blinding everyone in the room.
LOH was scrambling around the room. Moving like a well-oiled machine, Dante's men rushed inside, shooting each member of the LOH with a precision aim – right in the middle of the head.
Venom was the last member left as he crawled to find his gun. Dante stepped on his hand, earning a yelp from the biker. He kicked Venom over onto his back, then placed his foot onto his chest.
Dante took out his weapon and twisted a silencer on the end. He then crouched down a little closer to Venom's face.
"You're that motherfucker from the casino, the guy Enzo recognized." Venom grunted as Dante pressed harder on his body.
"I'm sure this isn't exactly how you'd imagine this ending," Dante smirked and then sighed. He tapped the end of his gun against Venom's forehead. "Before I kill you, I need a bit of information."
"Fuck you!" Venom shouted defiantly. "Tsk...tsk...wrong answer." Dante hit Venom with the handle of his gun. The biker groaned in pain. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."
"Fuck you!" "Enzo will kill all of you!" He chuckled.
Dante gave a fake frown. "I don't think so." "At this very moment, your pal Enzo is unconscious and on his way to Italy." "Barely alive, might I add, because your buddy, Axle got a little heavy-handed." Dante laughed.
Venom's eyes widen in shock.
"Now, I think you understand the gravity of the situation." "Tell me what I want, and I'll make it quick." "Lie to me, and I'll make it hurt worse than you can imagine." He growls, his voice deepening to a baritone sound.
Dante Calabrese was more than a capo in Giancarlo's army. He was a savage when it came to extracting information, especially from their enemies and snitches. He might have the exterior of the handsome man next door, but he was anything but that. Dante was as cold-blooded as they came in the mafia.
Dante pressed harder on Venom's chest. "Let's try this again, shall we?"
"Where's Beast?"
Word count: 1,836
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