I had the backseat to myself as the two thugs took the front.
I figured we were going out to an open dessert. That’s where Aldo liked to do it. He’d take someone out to the middle of nowhere and kill them. Then bury them.
How did he not get caught?
Between him and the guys above him, they fucking owned everything. Buildings, land, people, power.
I was shocked when the car took a turn and we got closer to the beach. The ride was still another twenty minutes, passing by all the commercial stuff for the beach. We were going up into the hills, near the cliffs. That’s where the expensive beach houses were.
That’s where Aldo’s beach house was.
I couldn’t believe that’s where we stopped.
The two thugs pointed the direction for me where to go. I pictured me getting to the door and then having bullets rip through my back and kill me.
It didn’t happen.
I found Aldo standing outside, in a full suit. Sweat collected at his black hairline as he turned and looked at me.
It was just me and him.
The air was comfortable, breezy, the water down the cliff crashing into the rocks. The sight was serene. Way too beautiful for the darkness that was my life.
“You look like shit,” Aldo said.
“I feel it. How’s Endo?”
“Coma. The bullet was close to hitting his heart. Whoever pulled the trigger must have been nervous. They hesitated just enough for Endo to move.”
“Is he going to make it?”
“Don’t know yet. Doesn’t look good.”
“Jesus Christ, Aldo. I am…”
“Save it,” Aldo said, lifting a hand. “You yelled for him. That made him move. That saved him, for now.”
I nodded. “Any idea who did it?”
“That’s my business. Not yours.”
“Of course.” I looked around. So this was it. Not wanting to be a fucking pussy and take this like a man, I put my arms out. “Do it.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” Aldo asked.
“I lost the fight. I know what happens next.”
Aldo grinned. “You cost me a good paycheck, Tripp.”
“I shouldn’t have been distracted.”
“It was my son who was shot. I’ve been replaying it over and over for days. I could have squeezed the books and had the fight again, but that would have caused problems. There’s a lot of unhappy people with the outcome. But we have the reason.”
“Okay.”
Aldo stepped forward. He was at least six inches shorter than me. He had no muscle, no tone, nothing. But his power was greater than mine.
He reached up and touched my shoulders. His hands slid down to my arms and he put my arms at my sides.
“I’m not going to fucking shoot you, Tripp. You’re not going to die right now.”
The feeling was hard to explain. I thought about smiling. I was going to survive. Then again, Aldo didn’t do favors. Aldo didn’t give a fuck about loyalty. Everything and everyone had a price. There was always a payment.
In other words, the bullet to the head might have been better.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “I lost the fight. I know the rules. No matter what.”
“I’ll get that money back,” Aldo said. “I thought about killing you, Tripp. I considered all my options. I tended to my son and found out you survived. Toughest guy I’ve ever met, Tripp. That’s you.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“I have another job for you.”
There it was… the price of my survival. The cost to not have a bullet tear through my skull and splatter my brains all over the back deck to his beach house.
I didn’t speak. I didn’t want to show thanks, need, regret, anything to Aldo. Because he collected emotions like a kid would collect toy cars. And then he’d pair them up, crush them, and enjoy it.
So I had to stand like a chunk of stone.
“You hear, Tripp?” Aldo asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s a protection job.”
“Protection? I’m a fighter, Aldo. I fight.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll have to fight,” Aldo said. He stepped even closer to me. I could smell his expensive cologne pouring from his sweaty pores. “This is your only chance. You fuck this up and you will die.”
“Okay,” I said.
“You’re protecting a woman. She’s recently a widow and there’s belief she’s the next to be killed. Your job is to make sure that doesn’t happen. She cannot die. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” I said.
“You will protect her with your life. Because your life is on the line, Tripp. I know you’ve never done a protection job for me before, but it’s always good to learn something new. How many times can you get smacked in the head before your brain turns to mush, right?”
“I haven’t thought that far out in life.”
“Maybe you should,” Aldo said, his lip curling. “Now if you don’t mind I have to visit my son in the hospital. You’ll be taken to your apartment. You’ll be given an address. That’s where you’ll go.”
Aldo backed away. He turned and grabbed the railing, looking out to the ocean.
“Can I at least have her name?” I asked.
“Winter,” Aldo said.
Winter.
A woman named Winter.
And I have to protect her. I have to keep her alive.
~