ASCENSION (21 page)

S
h
e
car
essed
the boy’s
shiny
ringlets
as he lay sleeping on her lap
, “Two years.”

Nico looked around, “
The
house
looks good, h
ow’s
security?”

She adjusted the boys head and leaned an arm against an oversized throw pillow.
“
That you’ll need to ask my husband
, all I know is we have one
.
”

“Let me take the boy upstairs for you.”

“Okay, his room’s the third door on the left.”

“Gotcha.”
He said then gingerly removed
Sal from her lap
and carried him upstairs.

He returned and sat beside her, “Tell me about Franky.”

Of course
he
heard
about
Franky!

“What is there to tell
?
I’m sure you heard what happened.
”

“There’s always another side.” He took her hand. Selange was like a
little sister
, although she might think uncle or laughingly, father
.
But, Nico
wasn’t that much older, maybe give or take ten years
. It didn’t matter because
the nature of their friendship was a special one
and
if something
was
going on he
preferred
to hear it
directly
from her
and no
body
else
.
“You can trust me
, kid
.”

She sighed, “
Alfonzo’s
wrong. There’s nothing going on,
I swear Nico.
Franky’s a body guard
but he’s
also a friend
to me and my son. He’s done nothing except be nice to us. If Alfonzo can’t trust me then what do we have?
”

“That’s it
?”

“I guess I should have told
Alfonzo
I was leaving for the club
but t
ruthfully, I
was mad
as hell at him and
needed
a break
.” She took another breath, “I’m n
ot justifying what I did but Alfonzo can be hot-tempered. He sees what he sees and there’s no middle ground sometimes.”

“Selange,
men are
territorial. He
wouldn’t be a man if he didn’t want to
protect the people he love
s
.” He chuckled, “He’s got a lot to protect.
A beautiful stubborn wife and a great kid.
He doesn’t want
any
one stealin
g it away.” He pulled her close and she nestled against him.
He considered himself a surrogate father
at the moment
. “Look, listen to the advice of an old
er
man,
don’t let pride get in the way of what’s important
, o
kay?”

She nodded, “Okay.”
Then she asked, “What happened to your neck, you get burned?”

He touched the fresh blister self-consciously, “Had a minor cooking mishap, nothing major.” He
tugged
up his collar to avoid any further questions about his injury
“I’m going to check out the security around here, I’ll see you in a bit
.”

He got up and walked away
and Selange frowned
.
What cooking mishap would cause a burn like that?
Maybe Nico should stay out of the kitchen.

***

F
ranky walked along the perimeter of the property as instructed. He was surprised to hear from Alfonzo after the other night. He thought for sure he’d been canned. But then this morning he got a call to come to work, that is if he wanted to accept the new conditions which consisted of a twelve hour shift securing the grounds from trespassers at the same rate of pay.
The one catch, he wouldn’t be driving Mrs. Diaz anymore or handling her personal security.
This suited him fine, especially since he’d grown too attached to her and the kid. Atleast now he could concentrate on work.

He
circled the outskirts of the property
as other guards
checked
t
he
surrounding area
for intruders. He was told to give a status update every
fifteen minutes to the
head of security
.
Sixteen minutes passed.

The walkie-talkie sounded, “Sleeping?”

Franky pressed
a button and put the device to his mouth, “Good here.”

The head of security was a prick.

L
ights were on in the living
-
room
.
Franky walked around
the side of the house to the
rear patio
.
Through the glass doors he could see Selange
sitting there. He hadn’t seen her since the incident. She looked good, radiant as always and he frowned. Seeing her stirred an emotional response he didn’t need or want right now. He couldn’t act on his feelings or make her leave. She was a grown woman and if she couldn’t see the truth about her husband than what was he to do?

He continued moving, wav
ed
at a guard a short distance away
and
headed toward
the greenhouse.
He checked his watch,
six
forty-six, in fourteen minutes his shift ended.
After this he had a meeting with
Sinesi
. The
agency became impatient and threatened to pull him out. They wanted hard evidence of Alfonzo’s involvement in the syndicate.
Accounts, a list of his associates, anything incriminating to build their case.

Actually, Franky
had in his possession copies of
Alfonzo’s
b
usiness
a
ctivit
ies
.
He downloaded
them
weeks ago when he was away on business but was
reluctant to turn
them
over
to his superiors
.
Selange’s charity event neared and he knew how much it meant to her. She was doing an altruistic thing by helping those kids but once the documents were
handed
in she’
d
get
caught in the middle of her husband’s legal battle
and cancel the ceremony.
He
planned to stall
as long as he could.
Selange deserved that much.
He wished there was some way to
warn her…but…
it would only jeopardize the legal case…
and…

He heard footsteps close behind him and turned around.
He stared into the eyes of a tall blonde man with penetrating dark eyes. The face was familiar
; this must be
Vincent’s twin except this twin was well conditioned. His skin was tanned from time spent outdoors and there was little doubt he was the
most
menacing of the two. In the confidential files, Nico Serano was considered the most lethal of the mafia enforcers attributed with eighty murders in the last decade. The
most frightening part about it is law enforcement could not prove it.

“
You’re Franky?”

“
Yeah.”

“You can take off now.”

“Sure.”
He turned to leave.

“Hey!” Nico called to the retreating figure.

Franky spun around
feeling a hint of trepidation
, “Yeah?”

“Where you from
Franky
?”

“Texas originally.”

“Yeah, what city?”

“Houston.”

“
Have you p
layed
football,
you look like the jock type
?
”

“Nah.”

Nico closed the gap between them, “How
did
you come about this gi
g?”

“
Through the security agency I work for. W
hy is there a problem?”

Years of experience and mistrust served
Nico
well. He’d seen Franky hovering outside
the patio
earlier a
nd found
his actions
suspicious
.
Up close he saw the bruises to his face undoubtedly suffered at the hands of Alfonzo.

Franky broke eye contact
too quickly un
der
Nico
’s scrutiny
.
Nico surmised the burly man
with the long ponytail was playing a
part
. He
wasn’t
natural,
more
like
an actor who
’d taken on
too big of a
role
.
Most guys that
size were
jocks in High School, a big dude like that not being active in any sports seemed incredulous. Nico
rubbed his chin contemplatively. There
was
definitely more to Franky
. He was hiding some
thing or was
it his
guilty conscience for being in love with
his boss’ wife
?

“No, it’s
just that I couldn’t identify your
accent.”

“Oh
,
a
ll right
. I’m
leaving then
.”

“Yeah
, you do that
.
” Nico said flatly.

Franky’s
boots made a squishing sound
over the moist
ened
grass
from last night’s
rainstorm.
He could feel Nico’s eyes on his back and frowned.
This Nico guy was intimidating. Shit, he wasn’t dumb either. Franky realized he was running out of time
and fast!

Emilio sat in the car at the
private air strip
waiting
for the passengers to disembark. Vincent emerged
f
irst
from the jet
,
followed by Alfonzo
and a fierce looking man Emilio did not know.
The trio descended the steep st
airs
and
walked briskly to the car.
Emilio
popped the trunk
before getting
out
to
retrieve
their luggage
.

“
Hola
Mr. Diaz,” Emilio greeted.

Alfonzo grunted, “
Hola
, Franky back
?
”

“
Si.”

“And
Nico
?”

“Yes.”

The fierce man got in
the backseat next to Alfonzo.
Vincent rode shotgun. There were no introductions as Emilio
reclaimed the driver’s position then
drove off.

Alfonzo watched the scenery as the
y
drove away from Isla Grande Private Airport in Old San Juan. His cousin Giuseppe also watched the terrain not for the scenery but potential
dangers.
He was sent to America as extra protection
.

Alfonzo asked his cousin,
“
Come
sta
il
tuo
inglese
?”

Giuseppe grinned, “
II
mio
inglese
e
migliore
del
tuo
italiano
.
My English is much better than your Italian!
”
Then he removed the Glock semi-automatic from his waist and
checked the safety.

Alfonzo chuckled then relaxed. Giuseppe was right, his Italian sucked.

***

H
eadlights
illuminated the beautiful landscaped lawn as
their
car
snaked
its way
a
long
the driveway t
oward
the
house. Selange
noticed
the lights from
her
bedroom window and
quickly
donned
a
robe
.
S
he reached t
he top
stair
and was met by a c
acophony of
male
voices
in the
foyer
.
She
continued downstairs and saw
Alfonzo
brought a
long an
unexpected guest.