Chapter 10
Roque
Vince Lanetti.
He’s about as useful as a fly on shit, and about as easy to catch, too, but we found him. He holed up in his apartment like an idiot, and it only took Ricky one phone call to pinpoint exactly where he was. By the time we pulled into his driveway, he didn’t have had any time to really prepare.
I led the five of us. It was only right, since the hit had been taken out on me and could have easily killed my girl. Listen to me. My girl, like she’s more than just a quick fuck. There’s a nagging thought in the back of my mind that she could easily be more than just a quick fuck, but I push it away.
I can’t let my cock have any control of what’s going on right now. I need to make sure that I’m thinking clearly or this smarmy little asshole may very well try to escape.
The lock on the front door isn’t nearly as strong as it should have been, and I kick it down with just one try. The wood splinters inward, shards of it flying into the room and sliding across the floor. Other than that, though, it’s silent.
He has all of the lights off in the house, which is smart. It’s morning by now, but still so early that it’s impossible to see much of anything. My eyes burn from being so tired, but I blink away the pain.
I can’t rest until this problem is handled.
Slowly we walk into the house, all five of us in formation, me still in the front. I’ve never been here before, but it’s like all of the other houses built in this neighborhood. A large living room leads to a kitchen, and off of that there’s a hall to the bedrooms and bathrooms.
Chances are good that he’s turned one of those bedrooms into a safe room. That’s what I’d do, anyway, but then again, I wouldn’t be accepting a hit on my family. Fucking stupid, that’s what Vince is.
Valentino showed us a picture of him in the car on the way over. He’s skinnier than I would have thought, and has long black hair that he pulls back into a low ponytail. I can’t wait to wrap that hair around my fist and throw him to the ground. My finger twitches on the trigger of my gun and I take a deep breath to slow my pulse.
It’s not time to be rash.
We work our way through the living room and kitchen, fanning out to cover all the spots in the house before I lead us down the hall. The door at the end is the only one closed, but we check each room, looking in closets, behind doors, and under beds before we clear them.
This is not the time to take chances, and we can’t have him coming at us from behind us. Even though we’re fucking quiet as we walk, I’m sure that he can hear us. The floorboards squeak in the middle of the hall even though there’s a rug over them.
Finally, we’re at the last door. I try the knob, fully expecting it to be locked, but the door swings open with ease. Holding my flashlight out from my body, I shine it around the room, looking for where he’s hiding. He’s in here.
He has to be.
But the room is almost completely empty.
“What the fuck?” I turn on the light switch and walk into the room, quickly scanning the perimeter as I do. There’s a folding table with a few chairs set up around it and a TV mounted on the wall, but other than that, the place is dead quiet.
“Any thoughts?” Arlo’s right next to me and he keeps his voice low. Vince has to be in here somewhere. We have good intel, and we trust it, so that just means that we need to look harder.
Thinking fast, I retrace our steps through the house. There wasn’t anything out of place in the living room or the kitchen. Everything had been quiet until we started down the hall and found the squeaky board on the way to the bedrooms.
I pause. The squeaky board. There’s not another thing in this house that makes a sound. Normally, I wouldn’t give it a second thought – houses settle and make noises all the time. We all know that, and it’s nothing new, but there’s something about just one squeaky spot in a house that makes my skin crawl.
Gesturing to get all of my guys around me, I point back out into the hall and motion to the floor. Arlo frowns at me like he doesn’t understand, but Matty starts nodding right away. He gets it. The floor.
After another moment, everyone is nodding. We all know where Vince is hiding. I feel my heart start to beat harder, my blood coursing through my veins as we prepare ourselves to go find him. Vince may have thought that he had the best hiding place in the house, but now that we have him cornered, there’s really no way that he can possibly escape.
This time when we walk down the hall, we don’t worry about our steps being loud. I kick the rug out of the way and kneel, searching the floor for a crack that will giveaway his location.
There it is. Without a handle in the floor, I know that there has to be another way to open the door. Glancing behind me, I see that there are four guns pointed at the place where the floor will open. No matter what Vince has going on down there, there’s no way he’s getting out of this until we get the information we need.
Pushing down, I lean on the floor until I hear a click, then I release the pressure. The lip of a hidden door lifts up and I grab it, standing as I twist to the side and pull it open with me.
Four guns are
