“Ancora!”
Another cold explosion hit his face, forcing him upward into a wide mouthed inhale. He shook the water away and opened his eyes in hard blinks.
A bright halogen light on a pole was set up in front of him, shining directly in his face. He squinted hard, turning his head back and forth hard, desperately trying to figure out what was happening. There was a guy sitting cross-legged against a wall to his immediate right. He lowered a bloody towel that was pressed against his nose, revealing a rueful grin.
Wolf nodded with furrowed brow. It was the guy he tackled in the garage earlier.
He looked to the right of the strange sitting man, recognizing the clipboards on the wall, and the door. He was back in the Albastru Pub garage.
The light shifted upwards towards the ceiling, allowing him to look straight ahead. Rossi was lounging on a chair with crossed legs, smoking a cigarette.
Wolf coughed lightly, lungs itching from the smoke. “Jesus, everyone’s always smoking in this country.”
Rossi took a long drag and smiled, but it was different than Wolf was accustomed to. His face had changed, a relaxed malicious look replacing the friendly disposition.
“You should have stayed home, Officer Wolf.” He didn’t blink.
Wolf did a double take to his left. A dead guy’s body lay on a sprawled out piece of clear plastic. Nose to chest, he was caked with dark maroon dried blood stains. There was a neat hole in his head, and he lay in a large pool of brighter red blood. A pool that, upon closer study, was still spreading slowly. Wolf recognized the man, but couldn’t place where he knew him from.
His head pounded. Wolf furrowed his brow and looked back at Rossi, a movement that sent a sharp pain through his head. “It’s Sergeant Wolf, dickhead.”
Rossi was still looking at Wolf, now with wide-eyed amusement. “Oh. I am sorry.” He pointed to the body on the floor. “The man you murdered tonight.”
Wolf looked again at the body, then back to Rossi.
“The man who also murdered you, I’m sorry to say.” He took another drag of his cigarette.
Wolf’s head pounded. Leaning forward to shake the cobwebs, a dizzy spell hit him hard, and he began to free fall forward. Subconsciously Wolf assumed he was somehow fastened to the chair, but there was just a pair of steel cuffs on his wrists.
Rossi caught him. “Whoa, attento, Officer Wolf!” He helped him back into the chair with a lift. “I guess I should not have hit you so hard, you are not doing so well.”
Wolf remembered the pistol in his face. The side street. Being escorted out at gunpoint by Cezar. The walk. Kicking Cezar in the balls.
Rossi sat back and returned the smile with a tilt of his head. “What is it…Sergeant Wolf?”
Wolf’s smile vanished. “I’m going to kill you, Rossi,” he said. “You were the one who killed my brother. I’m going to kill you.”
Rossi inhaled sharply and sat back, launching into a lazy overhead stretch with his arms. “I don’t think so, Officer Wolf. Just a few more minutes now, and you’ll be dead.” He smacked his lips and crossed his arms.
Bouncing light was coming from beyond Rossi, and Wolf realized the door to the garage was wide open.
“Well, you should have killed me earlier.”
Rossi got up slowly, turned around and poked his head out the garage, “Ah, here is your ride right now.”
A white truck emblazoned with a blue
Rossi slapped the back of the truck. It stopped, and he lifted the rear door.
Wolf noticed the metal patchwork on the door of the truck, covering the bullet holes from the night before.
Cezar stepped into view from the driver’s side of the truck, and the thick necked rhino of a guy stepped into view from the other side.
Rossi launched into a speech, gesturing to the guy on the floor, Wolf, and the other guy sitting against the wall. Cezar and Thick Neck were nodding their heads, and then sprung into action, laying out a fresh sheet of plastic, moving the dead guy onto it, then wrapping him up like a burrito. They carefully picked up the old blood soaked sheet of plastic from each corner.
Cezar and the bartender moved the body and plastic into the back of the open truck, and then unfurled a fresh piece. Rossi leaned against the wall and lit another cigarette, watching.
Wolf flexed his feet up and down. Blood was circulating poorly in his legs. Through the numb tingling, he suddenly realized he could still feel the pressure on his inner calf muscles in the tight socks.
Wolf eyed the plastic sheet with indifference. “So, don’t you want to know why you should have killed me earlier, Rossi?”
Rossi took the cigarette out of his mouth and narrowed his eyes at Wolf. He had his attention.
Wolf raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. “I know about your dad.”
His eyes rolled and head whipped back. “Please, Officer Wolf. Die with dignity, why don’t you. Your brother did, you know. I won’t lie to you. He died with dignity. Of course, he was unconscious when I strangled him, but…”
“In fact, I’ve already told other people about your dad,” Wolf said. “People in the Caribinieri. Your days are numbered. Hell, your
Panic flickered for a tiny moment in Rossi’s face, and Wolf knew he’d hit home.
Cezar saw it too, pausing while cutting the sheet of plastic, he looked imploringly at Rossi.
Rossi gave him a sideways glance and narrowed his eyes at Wolf.
“What exactly are you talking about, Officer Wolf? What do you
“It’s over Rossi. It’s just a matter of time before they tie you and your brother with the activities going on here. I’m sure there’s some good forensic accountants that you and your brother haven’t paid off.”
Rossi stared hard for ten full seconds, then shook his head laughing. “You don’t know what you are talking about, Officer Wolf.”
“You’re laughing, but you’re going down, and you know it. It’s over. Your life is over. I know that your father didn’t leave you an inheritance three years ago. And now other people, people in your force do too. Tomorrow your job isn’t waiting for you, Rossi. A jail cell is.”
Rossi nodded his head and turned quickly.
“And a pine box is waiting for you, Officer Wolf. Goodbye.” Detective Rossi walked out of the garage.
Chapter 46
Cezar and the bartender followed Rossi out the door and out of site.
Wolf didn’t take any time to consider what just happened. Instead, he looked to his right. The guy whose face he smashed into the floor earlier was just a few feet from him, still slumped against the wall, sitting cross legged. He was looking eagerly towards the garage door, gently patting the bloodied towel against his face.
As Wolf leaned forward, slid off the chair, twisted one hundred eighty degrees, and rolled along his back to his shoulders, he wondered what the guy was all about. Was he not in any better position than him right now? Was he going to be shot in the head like his buddy in the plastic wrapping? Why wasn’t he helping the others? Was he a captive?
The guy looked to Wolf with confusion as he brought the handcuffs over his feet in a swift soundless move.
Wolf never took his eyes off the guy for a second as he rolled back down his back, planted his feet, twisted left, straightened his legs, pulled up his pant legs and pulled out two three inch kitchen blades.
The guy dropped his towel and widened his eyes, hands spreading in the air next to his face. He paused a beat, then shut his gaping mouth.
