Missy Makes Mayhem (Missy the Werecat Book 5) (14 page)

Troy was not yet fully convinced and still wondered if Missy could really do all the things Mike and John seemed so confident about, but when Mike announced Missy had arrived he noticed he indeed was able to experience the presence of another witch nearby.  Even so, he asked if Missy was able to see what he was doing.  When Mike assured him she could, Troy had Mike turn around and he then asked, “How many fingers am I holding up in front of John?”

Mike laughed and said, “Missy says you’re holding up two fingers on your right hand and three on your left hand.”  After pausing a moment, he added, “See that beer bottle lying over there?  Right where the street light is reflecting off it?”

Troy looked around to see what Mike was referring to and, spotting the beer bottle, he nodded his head and said, “Yeah.”  The bottle then slowly began rising up and moving towards him.  When Mike told him to hold out his right hand, which he did, the bottle was dropped gently onto his palm.  He laughed and said, “Okay, that’s amazing … I’m satisfied.  She’s here!  Have her go across the street and see if Sandy is over there or not.”

Oct 27, 2019

Alessandra had been keeping track of the days.  It was now day eight and still she was being held prisoner in this same room with nothing to do but watch TV.  The news had been really depressing since the top story continued being all about how the mob families were having this big war, killing each other and leaving bodies everywhere.  She had really cried when she’d learned about her Uncle Tommy.

Tommy Muccio hadn’t really been her uncle, of course, but that’s what she’d been calling him all her life.  He had always made a big deal about what a special girl she was whenever he’d come to the house, giving her lots of attention and usually treating her to some candy or bringing her some little gift.  As she’d grown older and had become more aware of what her father’s businesses really involved, she’d realized Uncle Tommy wasn’t really a blood relative but instead was one of her father’s capos.  One of his gangsters.

Even so, she had only seen him as this warm, friendly, jovial person she’d always thought looked and acted like Santa Claus, only bald and without any beard.  He’d had a similar roly-poly shape and when he smiled, she could actually see the warmth in his eyes.  This was quite unlike how most of her father’s other business associates stared at her.  They only gave her fake smiles and had eyes which were cold and calculating.  Or, as she’d noticed in recent years now that her body had matured, many looked at her in ways which were definitely creepy and made her feel exposed and naked.

That was how she’d managed to recognize Buck, one of her captors.  He was one of the many “soldiers” who would come along whenever her father would gather everyone for one of his big meetings.  Buck had not been all that important in the organization but had merely been someone whom the important guys would bring with them.  She didn’t know his real name but whenever he’d come to her home, Buck was the nickname all the others had called him by.  He always wore fancy cowboy boots and, supposedly, he was originally from Texas.  And, he was always checking her out, clearly undressing her with his dark brown eyes in ways that made her shiver with revulsion.

She had recognized him by those eyes of his, even though he hadn’t been wearing his cowboy boots and had worn a mask.  This hadn’t been right away, since she’d been much too flustered to see things at first or notice anything in particular about any of them.  But, by the third day, after she’d stopped making such a huge fuss every time anyone had come into her room to film her or bring her food or otherwise check on her, she’d known one of them was Buck.  There were at least four different guys who would come and go but she’d noticed Buck, all right.  He’d been practically drooling over her with obvious lust, his eyes always focused on her boobs or her ass, undressing her just the way she’d noticed he’d do whenever he’d come around before.

Alessandra was not stupid.  She realized this crew was only keeping her alive so they could keep sending their demands to her father.  She hoped they might eventually return her back home but she knew that was only if they believed she was completely ignorant about just who they were.  If they thought she could identify any of them, then everything would change.  They’d never risk having her tell her father.  No, they’d kill her and make certain her body was never found.  There’d be no trace.  Nothing that would provide any clue whatsoever.  She’d grown up as the daughter of one of the most powerful mob leaders in the country and had managed to learn a thing or two about how things were and how things would be.

So, as she heard on the news how there was this big war going on, with all the mob families attacking one another … she knew.  Her captors were blackmailing her father and making him cause this war.  She didn’t understand why or how that benefitted them, but she didn’t need to.  She simply knew it was because of her.  That was the only explanation for why she was still there and hadn’t yet been killed or released.  And, for why the war was still going on.  Her father was obviously doing whatever they demanded but, until this war went the way they wanted, she was not going to be sent back home.

Her frustration had gradually turned into despair and, as each day had passed and the news had only gotten worse, she’d become more and more depressed and fearful.  She tried to
not
think about knowing who Buck was but that had only made her think about him all the more.  Each time he came into her room, she avoided looking at him; she was afraid he’d sense that she now knew who he was.  It was easy to act frightened because she was.  While that helped her avoid any of the traumatic bonding with her captors which she’d read about, something known as Stockholm syndrome for victims like herself being imprisoned, she was completely miserable.

And, her memory kept feeding her with little bits and pieces until she managed to finally realize just which of her father’s capos had always brought Buck along: it had been Vinnie Cappiello and his sidekick Stan somebody-or-other.  Yeah, she knew who Vinnie and Stan were.  She’d overheard her father and Ben Marchitto talking about them, whenever they’d thought she wasn’t listening or paying attention.  They didn’t like Vinnie much but considered him necessary for their organization.  At the time, she couldn’t have cared less.

Now, however, she was overly sensitized.  She was living in constant fear of being discovered and, ultimately, that was her undoing.  They noticed.  And, when three of them suddenly confronted her, it didn’t take them long.  She was not skilled at interrogation techniques but they were.  She didn’t tell them about recognizing who Buck was but instead, while being super careful to
not
say anything about him, she’d slipped up and mentioned Vinnie.  She’d been flustered and scared and, before she even knew it, his name had just come out.  She’d been horrified, of course, but it had then been too late.

-----

Stan voiced his concern to Vinnie after hearing their guy Buck report in over the phone.  “Our golden goose knows who we are now.  Nobody did anything to give it away but even so, she knows.”  With the cameras they had arranged and having one of their guys constantly watching Alessandra on the monitors, her behavior had been obvious.  “The kid has been jumpy all the time lately and it’s been looking very suspicious.  Since it sure looked as though she’d figured out
something,
the guys talked to her.”

Vinnie said, “Well, I know we agreed they should do that, if it appeared necessary.  She guessed, huh?  That was always the risk, of course.”

“Yeah, she named
you
, Vinnie.  That was all the guys needed to hear … it doesn’t really matter now
how
she figured things out.  She’s a smart kid, of course.  And, now she knows.”

Vinnie nodded and said, “Okay.  Too bad but at least
we
know she knows.  We can still send that last video we made of her earlier, right?  There’s nothing on that which Sal can use is there?”  He’d been having Stan carefully screen every video, making certain none of them contained any possible messages which might be incriminating, prior to their sending them on to D’Amato with their demands.

“We can send it.  But, that’ll have to be the last one.  Like I said, she’s smart and now that she knows we’re on to her, she’s desperate and might find a way to signal something.  We’d better not chance that.  And, like you were saying earlier, we’ve pretty much accomplished everything you wanted.”  Stan was very happy with the added money Vinnie had shared with him and especially pleased with his own status, as Vinnie’s number two, now that Vinnie had been advanced so much higher in the D’Amato organization.

Vinnie grimaced, saying, “Too bad about Alessandra but we probably wouldn’t have been able to do this again, anyway.  Go ahead and have Buck get rid of her … he’s been really hoping he could get his hands on her and now he can.  Spoils of war, right?”

-----

When Missy entered the house, she knew right away it was the right location.  There were several guys watching TV in the living room and more guys were playing cards and drinking in the large dining room.  They weren’t hanging out there as any group of friends but were merely passing the time, waiting for their next assignment.  The fact they all had weapons was the real clue.  They were obviously part of some mob organization and, since there indeed was a mob war going on, that explained why all the weapons.  In addition to what the men were carrying on them, she noticed several revolvers, rifles, and shotguns which had been strategically placed at a few locations near both exits.

She assumed there were early warning sensors placed outside but, in her spirit form, she hadn’t needed to worry about those.  She went on up to the second floor, where she found one man watching a couple monitors and reading a magazine.  Sure enough, the girl being spied on was Alessandra and Missy went right into the bedroom where Sandy was being confined to check on her.

Sandy was distraught, clearly upset and very worried about something.  The TV was on but Sandy wasn’t paying any attention to that.  Instead, her eyes kept glancing at the door, looking to see if anyone might be entering and then she would look away, staring off into nowhere … she was terrified.

Although Missy was in her spirit form, she was able to
sense
things with even greater ability than when able to see, smell, hear, touch and taste.  And, her senses were telling her Sandy had recently experienced something bad, something traumatic, which was now causing her great anguish and dread.  Unfortunately, Missy wasn’t able to determine what might be the problem but, thankfully, she was there now and would watch over Sandy.

Mike, I’m here with Sandy and I think we found her not a moment too soon.  She’s very troubled about something.  Other than being really scared about whatever it is that’s bothering her, she’s physically okay.  Let Sal know and have him send his crew out here right away.  I counted at least eleven men downstairs and one upstairs but I’m going to double check all that … there may be more.  This is definitely some sort of safe house.  I’ll keep giving you updates you can pass along so there won’t be any surprises when Sal’s men get here.

Mike acknowledged all this to Missy, using his emotional signal for
yes
which he knew she would feel, and then he smiled and looked at Troy.  “You did it!  Sandy is there, just like you thought.  Good job!  Missy tells me Sandy’s okay but really scared about something.  I’ll send Sal a text now.”  He took out the special burner phone and began entering a detailed message, explaining they’d confirmed Sandy was alive and providing the address.

After sending that, Mike got a quick text message right back, asking if he was certain.  He sent a reply, saying
yes
, and then he began entering a more detailed description of the house, the surroundings, and what Missy had told him so far.

Troy waited until Mike finished sending his message and then said, “I really can’t believe we’re doing this.  You never actually told me how it was you and Missy were able to meet with this Salvatore D’Amato and then … why would he tell you about his daughter being missing?  I’ve heard a lot about him, of course … they say he runs one of the mob families here in New York.”  During their conversations while searching, he’d been too focused on following Sandy’s energy signal and hadn’t bothered trying to understand what relationship his new friends might possibly have with such a notorious gangster.

Mike laughed and said, “Missy was grabbed by two of Sal’s guys three years ago.  He’d sent them up to Salem as a favor to his buddy Frank McCarthy, who was running the organization in East Boston.  Maybe you’ve heard of him?  He’s in prison now, thanks to info Missy gave the FBI.  At any rate, Frank had this friend Tony who laundered all his money for him and Tony wanted Missy.  It’s a long story.  Tony’s dead now and Missy was actually monitoring Sal’s guys, using some FBI surveillance equipment which Robert Ulrey provided.  She needed to protect herself after allowing those guys to return home.  She had evidence they had not only grabbed her but had killed Tony’s wife and daughter.”

Troy was trying to follow all this but was getting overwhelmed by all the details.  “Wait, Robert Ulrey was helping?  Couldn’t the FBI protect Missy?”

“Oh, back then, she wasn’t trusting the government and Robert didn’t know she was a supernatural.  That all came later.  I’m trying to give you the Reader’s Digest version here, Troy.”  He laughed and then continued.  “Missy learned from the surveillance equipment how Sal’s organization was planning to ship a bunch of young girls over to Brunei … he was selling them as sex slaves.  Long story short, she paid him a visit after revealing she was a witch.  This was about a year ago.  She had Tracy send down lightning bolts, hitting his estate again and again …”

Troy said, “Oh, wait …
that
I heard about!  The media made a big deal about lightning striking not just twice but more than a dozen times out there; so did all the comedians on late night, saying it was retributive justice which the heavens had decided to reign down on the mob.”

“Yep, that was my girlfriend.  Sal still thinks Missy did all that by herself and never learned about Tracy.  But, he then did everything she asked, sending all the girls back home and creating this Roseanne Fund which pays for their education and social services and whatever else Missy wants for them.  Sal isn’t about to let anyone know he believes in witches, of course.  He wouldn’t survive letting word of that get out.”

Troy nodded his head.  “I guess I can see why he wouldn’t risk admitting to that.  What we witches can do is pretty incredible and can’t be proved, so he’d never get anyone to believe him.  Most people won’t even believe in our cover story about being psychics; they usually just insist we’re all fakes.  His mob buddies would never let him stay in power and would get rid of him pretty fast.  He’d be sleeping with the fishes, right?”