From Manhattan with Revenge (The Fourth Book in the Fifth Avenue Series) (24 page)

Spocatti turned to her in surprise. She
could feel him looking at her. Reassessing her. Now he knew why she used her
cell phone earlier. Now he knew, just as Katzev knew, that her information was
true. Better yet, if he didn’t know it before, there could be no question now
that she was a force to be taken seriously.

“I need your guards to leave, Iver. And I
mean to get the hell out of here and not to wait for us outside. I need for
them to get in their cars and leave. When I’m certain they’re gone, then you
release Chloe, as agreed upon. Someone is outside to pick her up. Then Spocatti
and I walk out of here. You will never contact me again. I will forget
everything I know about you and the syndicate. That’s my promise to you. As for
Vincent, if you want to stay together, that’s between you two. I really could
give a shit. But if you ever come after me again, my contact is sitting on one
million dollars, the key to which he’ll only receive from an unknown source
should the syndicate act upon me at any point going forward.”

“And how will he know that it was us,
Carmen? So many would like to see you dead. It could be us. It could be someone
else who kills you. How will he know?”

She hadn’t anticipated this question and
thought quickly. “Iver, I know your hand. You show it so well. I always will
know when I’m being followed by you. At that point, I’ll alert my contact.
Should anything happen to me, he’ll know it’s you, the keys and the money will
be his—as will all the information on the syndicate, which should net him
that fat promotion and publicity that have eluded him for years.”

She lifted her arm to check her watch, the
mere action of which caused several of the men surrounding her to lean into
position with their guns and rifles. “Oh, please,” she said to them. “Stand
down. Did you not hear what I just said?”

Katzev lowered his hand and they relaxed.

“Your mother dies in twenty minutes unless
my man hears from me. You’ve seen the video. You know he’s there. None of this
is bullshit, Iver. We’re going to have a clean break from one another.”

“But you’ve already said you’re seeking
revenge,” Katzev said. “So, where is your revenge?”

“Are you blind? Have you not heard me? If
you come after me at any point, the syndicate will be revealed and investigated
at the highest levels. Including you.
That’s
my revenge. It will
continue when they bring all of you publicly to trial and then to prison. It
will be a media circus. Your reputation will be destroyed.
That’s
my
revenge. But it doesn’t end there. My revenge also is cheating you out of
killing me. Should you be stupid enough to do so, face the law. Now, get your
men out of here. Tell them to drive far and away. You need to move fast and
take this seriously. We find Chloe and let her go. Then Vincent and I walk out.
I don’t know about him, but I’ll be out of your life forever.”

“About Spocatti,” Katzev said. “He
probably has that same contact at the NYPD. Or I’m sure he can find out who it
is and offer him more money to just walk away from this and leave it alone when
you die. When it comes to the man who you’ve hired to kill my family, I’m also
fairly sure that Spocatti knows who it is and can make a phone call that will
stop him. We’ll pay him handsomely to do so.”

He started to walk toward her. “You’re so
ignorant, Carmen. So assuming. Because what you don’t know is this. Spocatti
here? Your good friend, Spocatti. He has no conscience. It’s what I love about
him. It’s why I will continue to work with him for as long as I’m alive.
Without you or the love of your life, Alex, here to hire, it appears that he’ll
be terribly busy for many years.”

He paused as Spocatti turned and drew his
gun on her. She looked at him in bewilderment. She took a step back as the
laser attached to his Glock 19 flashed out and wavered just beneath her right
eye.

“What are you doing?” she said to him. Her
voiced was laced with confusion. Was this a joke?

“What does it look like, Carmen?” Spocatti
said. “I’ve been hired to kill you tonight. Nothing personal, so stop looking
as if it is. It’s what people like us do. Well, at least it’s what people like
me do. I take the job, I take the money, I follow through. I don’t have your conscience.
I kill children. I’m not interested in doing good. I’m only interested in me.
Now turn around. Drop your gun. It’s not ending the way you wanted it to.”

CHAPT
ER
THIRTY-ONE

“Clear your men out,” Spocatti said to
Katzev when Carmen’s gun hit the cement floor. “Nothing happens in front of
this many people. It’s not how I work, especially when all of your men are
armed. If you plan on saving your mother, we’re running out of time, Katzev.
So, get them out.”

“Why? They work for me. They’re not going
to say anything about this.”

“You thought the same thing about Alex and
Carmen before you murdered him and targeted her. Somebody in this room will be
the next Alex and Carmen. Do you all hear that? I hope so. I hope you take it
to heart, because it will happen. I also know that you know that, Katzev. If
you want this done, get them out.”

Facing death and deceit, Carmen tried to
keep herself calm, but she couldn’t. She had been betrayed by Spocatti. Used by
him. She was angry and afraid, especially for Chloe, who had yet to reveal
herself. “Why are you doing this, Vincent?” she said.

“Shut up, Carmen.”

“Tell me why you’re doing this.”

“For the same reason you’d do it if you
were offered twenty million dollars. You’re nothing but a mark to me. If you
thought differently about our relationship, you should have known better. There
are no friends in this business. You of all people should know better. There’s
only the mark and the money.”

“Bullshit. I’d never sell you out.”

“Then you’re an idiot.” He pressed the
barrel of his gun so hard against the back of her head that he scraped her
scalp to the point that he drew blood. “I can make this quick and painless for
you, or I can make it so you bleed out on the floor. Your choice. Run your
mouth again and you’ll get the latter.” Then, to Katzev, he said, “I won’t ask
again. Get them out.”

“One guard stays,” Katzev said. “That’s
what we agreed upon. Me and another guard.”

“Fine. The rest move. Thanks for your
confidence in me, Katzev.” Spocatti’s voice reeked with sarcasm.

Katzev knew he had no choice and Carmen
saw him wave his hand in the air. “Put your guns and rifles beneath your cars.
When you leave, I expect you to get out of here. We’ll finish this alone
tonight.”

All around her, she could hear the sounds
of his men doing as they were told. Did she know any of them? Of course, she
did. She’d probably worked with several of them, which deepened the betrayal.

What could she do to stall this? The
answer was obvious, even though she knew Spocatti had the resources to crush
it. Still, she had to try. “I told you that if anything happened to me, my
contact will investigate the syndicate, Iver. Chloe and I walk out of here now.
If we don’t, the consequences will be swift. You’ll regret it.”

“He won’t regret anything,” Spocatti said.
“Do you seriously believe I don’t know who your contact is at the NYPD?
Probably the same as mine. If it isn’t, I can find out in ten minutes. Sorry it
has to be this way, Carmen, but business is business. Katzev here has been generous.
Looks like I’ll be getting that villa in Capri sooner than I thought.”

She was about to speak again, but this
time he took his gun and whacked it so hard against the back of her head, the
blow sent her to the gray edges of unconsciousness. She doubled over in pain.
She felt faint and dizzy. The floor started to spin. Her knees buckled and she
began to fall.

Spocatti stopped it from happening. He put
his arm around her waist and lifted her up, holding her still until she was
aware of one of the garage doors opening, men leaving, the door closing shut
with a clatter and a bang, the sound of her own breathing, the world coming
back into focus. She blinked hard. Her mind was a haze of fog and confusion.
How had it come to this?

What was more painful to her is that she
wouldn’t have her revenge. She was being cheated out of taking out Katzev for
what he’d done to Alex and to Chloe. The idea of failing as spectacularly as
she had was like death itself. She’d let both down. She always knew she would
die because of her work, but she never thought it would be at the hands of one
of the few people she considered a friend.

Her head pounded. A wave of dizziness
overcame her and she felt as if she was going to be sick. Her knees went again.
Spocatti hoisted her up with a brutal jerk and she struggled to focus. Had to
focus. Did she have a concussion? What a fool she’d been. How naive she’d been.
Her thoughts turned to Chloe, who had listened to all this and who now knew
things about her that she never should have known. Carmen knew they were going
to kill her, but whatever part of her that believed she could still save Chloe
came to the forefront. If she played her hand right, perhaps she could save
Chloe, wherever she was.

“Iver,” she said.

“What, Carmen?”

He was off to her right. She could hear
him start to walk toward her. And then he stopped.

“Iver. Listen to me.”

“You have her fully restrained?” he asked
Spocatti.

“She’s not going anywhere. Except maybe to
hell in five minutes.”

“What do you want, Carmen?”

“I want to see you before I die. I’ve
never laid eyes you. I want to see what a monster looks like.”

“You see one every day, Carmen. You see
yourself. I’ll never give you the pleasure of seeing me.”

“The pleasure? Please. You don’t have the
balls to look me in the eye, Iver. It’s that pussy Scot you have in you. If you
were a real Russian, you’d come over here and probably slap me across the face.
Or kill me yourself. But you don’t have that big set of Russian balls you think
you have, do you? From what I’ve heard, you actually have pebbles down there.
And a little cock. It’s why you hire people like me and Spocatti to do your
dirty work. You’ve got a small one. I’ve heard all about it. I was told it was
like a berry resting in a nest.”

At the far end of the warehouse, the
remaining guard stifled a laugh. It wasn’t loud, but if she heard it, they all
heard it and she could only imagine the fallout that person would endure
because of it.

“Who said that?” Katzev said.

“I’ll never give you the pleasure of
knowing, Iver.”

She heard him start to walk toward her. He
was moving fast, determined to save face in front of his guard, who likely
would mention this moment to the others. She knew he was carrying. She knew
this was it for her. Loudly, to the room, she said, “Chloe, I’m sorry. I never
meant for any of this to happen. Please forgive me.”

Spocatti tightened his grip on her waist.
He was strong and held her arms firmly at her sides. She struggled against him,
tried to get to her phone to hit a button that would alert Liam to take out
Katzev’s family, but it was no use. She reached back to kick Spocatti, but he
side-stepped her. “You can go to hell, Vincent.”

“I’ll let you check it out for me, first.”

And then Iver Kester, whom she’d known for
years only as the faceless, mysterious Katzev, stood in front of her. He was
somewhere in his late forties, not yet fifty, which surprised her because in
her mind’s eye, she always expected him to be older than that, probably due to
the power and money he had amassed.

His hair was dark and cut stylishly short.
His eyes were blue, his complexion pale. He was fit. Probably just under six
feet. He wore a black suit with a red tie and, if she was to be fair to him,
she understood why Babe McAdoo was physically drawn to him all those years ago.
In his youth, Iver Kester must have been something to behold.

“Iver,” she said. “So, here you are. The
last thing I’ll see. What a vision you are.”

He pulled back his hand and slapped her
hard across the face. The force was so great and the slap so loud that Carmen
rocked back against Spocatti, who held her firm. She used the distraction of
the violence to press down and to the left on her right shoe, which silently
released a blade that was two inches long. The blade was tainted with
tetrodotoxin, the poison of the puffer fish, which essentially was a sodium
channel blocker that paralyzed its victim’s muscles while they remained fully
conscious as they went through the death throes. With the poison in their
system, the victim would quickly be rendered unable to breathe. Death from
asphyxiation would ensue within twelve seconds.

She lifted her eyes to Katzev.

“You’re going to kill me now. We both know
that, so understand that what I’m going to tell you isn’t a lie because there’s
no reason for me to lie. I’m finished. I’m off to check out hell for both of
you and the rest of the syndicate. But here’s what you need to know, Iver. Alex
never betrayed you. Whatever you thought he knew about you or the syndicate
died with him—if he knew anything at all. And I doubt that he did because
he would have told me. The tragedy of his death comes down to why he really
died—your own paranoia.”