Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 47

Arwen flicked a glance at her watch and sighed. Deidre's newfound sense of adulthood was making her nervous. She wanted her to come and go as she pleased but it was after eight and she hadn't checked in. She had said she was coming home around eight, but she was late. Sitting in the safehouse with Zoya she checked her home security camera again to see if maybe the camera had glitched, but it appeared to be working fine.

"Everything okay, Arwen?" Zoya asked quietly flipping through a magazine one of the girls brought for her.

"Yeah, my kid said she'd be home by eight. It's eight-oh-three and she's not there. I'm being absurd." "She's three minutes late and you're worried?" Zoya laughed at her. "She could be stuck in traffic." "Yes, and Addy was arranging her drive home. His guys are fairly good. I'm sure it's nothing."

"You and Mr. Cavallaro are very close." Zoya spoke with a smile. "It is nice." "We are and it is."

"The day I ran away from our city, was the day I was supposed to be transferred over to Radomir. They had insisted I be cleaned up and given a white dress and my brother joked I would be a bride of the bratva My family, my brother, would not be worried for me like you are your child." "Ew," Arwen grimaced. "A bride?"

"Mm-hm," Zoya played with her hair absently, "no girl wants to find out her wedding day is the day she would be bought, raped, and turned into a s*x slave. My mother found a way to get me on a train out of the city to a nearby city. I almost got caught four times before I made it to Romania. In Romania, a kind alady got me to Greece, and she kept me hidden very well. In Greece I met one of the girls who said she was going to America to live the American dream." Her face grew sad, "her boyfriend worked on the ship and said he could get us both passage. He wasn't even her boyfriend. He used her. On the ship he beat her up right in front of all of us and told her how stupid she was."

Arwen closed her eyes, "oh my God."

"I would rather have still gone through all we have gone through, than to be Radomir's prisoner for the rest of my life."

"It won't be long, and you won't have to worry on it any longer. Radomir and his thugs will be a thing of the past. You'll be able to get your papers in order here with some help from Addy and our team and then you can go to school and be a doctor and help your mom like you wanted." She flicked a glance at her watch. Eight-fifteen. "Where the hell is she? She didn't even answer my text message."

"She is usually punctual?"

"Very much so." Arwen blinked.

They sat in quiet as Arwen continued to send texts to Deidre and they went unanswered. The only sound in the room was the flipping of the magazine pages. After twenty more minutes she called her and it went straight to voice mail, "Dee, I'm not sure what you, Miley and Portia are up to tonight, but can you just give me a call? It's not like you to not check in. Love you." She hung up and grimaced.

The screech of squealing tires coming down the street made her sit up straight. "Zoya, back room now." Car doors slamming just outside the house made her reach for her revolver.

She stood up and moved to the door and peered out the window. She caught Isabella, Jesse, and Cat racing up the footpath. A second car was coming in hot behind them. She yanked the door open, "what the hell is going on?" "Chyna and Lolita are going to stay with Zoya. Come, we need to go. You need to come with us."

"Why?" Arwen frowned. "Why are you all together? It's your night off."

"I couldn't focus so I was doing extra work at HQ with Jesse." Cat explained.

"I was at HQ because Torben is in the lab again." Jesse was pulling her out of the house as Chyna and Lolita were pushing past her into the house. "Isabella was at dinner with Cam when we called her, and we grabbed her on the way." "What is going on?"

"Radomir took Addy."

"What?" Arwen paused. "Why?"

"Get in the car, I'll explain on the way."

"Where are we going?" Arwen didn't understand and then noted the car to have dropped off Chyna and Lolita was waiting for them and contained Clara, Corry, Naomi, Bliss, and Josephine. "What the f**k is happening?"

"Delta, in the car now," Jesse spoke briskly. "Isabella will drive. I'll explain in the car. We're wasting time."

She slid into the backseat and Jesse slid in beside her. The door was barely closed when the tires pealed away from the curb. "Can someone tell me what the f**k is going on?"

"Santino called me from Addy's phone. At first, I declined the call because I was following a mission in Sydney, but he called eight more times in a thirty second span. Santino said Radomir was," Jesse paused as the car slung sideways and tore down a side street. She grabbed the headrest in front of her to keep from sliding all over the place. "Radomir was smug and cocky during the meeting and kept bringing up Zoya. Said she was his wife or wife-to-be, and he knew she'd arrived in a crate. He told Addy he knew he had her. Addy didn't lie. He said he didn't, and he didn't know where she was but clearly, he didn't believe him. Then Radomir started talking about the Mancusos. He was the mole in Addy's organization and Addy dealt with him last night, but it seems Mancuso Jr. told Radomir how Addy had been shirking his responsibilities lately over a girl. He gave them your name. They realized the last place Zoya was seen as reported by Pavel to Oleg, who probably reported to Radomir, was in your clinic." "f**k," Arwen rubbed her head. "So, this guy knows I helped Zoya."

"He thinks you delivered her to Addy and he's hiding her from Radomir."

"Jesus Christ." Arwen wondered if her head would explode. "It doesn't explain why he just went with him."

"He told Addy Joey also mentioned you had a kid."

Arwen felt her stomach plumet to her toes. "No."

"Yeah. Santino said Joey was present for one conversation at the tail end of it, when Addy made a comment to Santino and Enrico about how, you and the little one, were important to him." "Piccola," Arwen whispered, "he calls her piccola."

"It just means little, that's weird," Jessa grunted, "anyway, somehow he figured you had a kid and Addy was attached to her."

"It's why I can't reach her, isn't it?"

"Addy's car picked the girls up at seven-fifteen to take them back to your place. Another car knocked them over an embankment at seven-thirty-ish."

"Oh god, Dee. Is she okay? Did they take her to the hospital?" She looked frantically at Isabella in the rear-view mirror. "If she's in the hospital drive f*****g faster Ruiz!" She yelled at her.

"She's not in the hospital." Jesse whispered, "they took her."

"What do you mean they took her?"

"Addy's car was made dropping the girls off at Dylan's. They waited for the girls to come out and when the road was narrow the car was pushed over a small bridge and embankment. Santino said Radomir bragged how they took Deidre kicking and screaming from the car and knocked her out with ketamine." "Oh my god," Arwen felt all the blood rush to her head.

"They want to trade girls." Jesse's voice was low as she gripped Arwen's hands tightly. "Santino said the jackoff told Addy he wanted him to come without any back-up and no phone or anything. They were going to have a discussion about taking what doesn't belong to him and then when he was through with the discussion, Addy could call his men who should have been able to locate Zoya by then to arrange a trade off."

"This isn't happening," Arwen leaned forward and put her head between her knees as Jesse rubbed her back.

"Addy said he would go but only if he took him straight to Dee so he could see for himself she was unharmed."

"She was in a f*****g car wreck! She has a bad leg and was in a car wreck." Arwen had a thought, "Miley?"

Jesse swallowed and Arwen gave a loud scream at the woman's pause. "I'm so sorry Arwen. They said they killed her and the driver. Artemis was trying to locate the car and we're hoping it was a bluff. We won't know until we get more central." "Where are we going?" Arwen wiped angry tears off her cheeks. "I want my girl."

"Addy told Santino to call me. He knew Artemis would pull out all the stops to find her. It's a two-and-a-half-hour drive from here to Atlantic City and they were driving. Santino confirmed it."

"How long has it been?"

"They've had her since roughly seven-thirty, so just over an hour. They've had Addy since roughly seven-forty-five. He went alone. He didn't even hesitate, I guess."

A phone ringing in the front seat made them both look expectantly as Cat took the call and the covered her eyes, "okay, I'll let them know."

"What?" Arwen said trying to channel her fear and rage.

"They located the car pushed off the road. Two occupants inside. Both deceased. They're fairly sure one of them is Miley."

"f**k!" Arwen punched the seat furiously. "She's just a kid! What do I tell her parents?" Tears streamed down her face, "she was just at my house."

"We'll sort it out," Jesse whispered reaching to touch Arwen's shoulder.

Arwen slapped her hand off, "no, don't comfort me. I need this. I need the anger and I need the rage. I'm going to kill this motherfucker."

"He came with a small army," Cat spoke up from the front seat. "He literally arrived this morning with close to forty men. Artemis was able to find surveillance from where he landed in his private jet. He said he was going to war with a Sicilian if he didn't get his girl back." "Un-f*****g believable. How did he get into the country with forty guys?"

"I want to know what Zoya didn't tell us. I get she's feisty and she's stunning, but nobody starts a war with Sicilian over a girl." Cat grimaced, "I get his pride is hurt because she bailed but this is next level shit."

Isabella lifted a hand, "I can help. I was reading the reports today on the raid our team did on the brothel in the early hours this morning. I read the interview they did with Zoya's mother. She is a local favorite. She is as beautiful as Zoya and has been turning tricks since she was a teenager, so she knows a thing or two. Allegedly Radomir's father was quite taken with her. Radomir's father introduced him to her and when he tried to pay for time with Zoya's mother, it didn't go well. Apparently with his father in the next room cracking jokes he had performance issues. The woman's statement included the phrase, 'the little engine that could, really couldn't' and he beat her for laughing at him. His revenge on her is to have Zoya."

"I really hate this guy," Arwen hissed angrily.

"We all do and we're going to take him and his entire f*****g team down. He wanted to bring them all on our turf, we'll take them all out on our turf. We just need him to lead us to Deidre and we'll get her out and we'll get her home."

"They used ketamine on her?" Arwen could barely get the question out. The stuff could take out a horse in the right dose.

"Yeah," Jesse looked away.

"What do you know?" Arwen saw the facial expression on her friend.

"You know when Addy told you yesterday, he didn't want you to kill Radomir because he needed information from him? He's trying to find out who is supplying Radomir, and God only knows who else, with the ketamine. When Addy went on a tear through the shipping containers to find the girls he may have missed, he found several cases of ketamine. It was bearing the stamp of Torben's company. He confronted Torben about it and Torben admitted they were having issues with production matching numbers in their warehouse, and he was able to trace it back to Roel but in doing his research the stuff is still going missing. Meaning someone picked up after Roel died. Addy wanted to find out the name so Torben could deal with the fact his drugs are being used to subdue women in shipping crates. Addy was doing Torben a favor, as a friend in agreeing to meet with Radomir tonight."

"This day just keeps getting better and better," Arwen rubbed her head.

"Basically, Torben asked Addy last week to see if he could find out how boxes of his ketamine ended up in Addy's shipping containers. Many of the girls reported being injected on the boat so he knew Luca had to be involved somehow. He agreed. When Radomir asked for the meeting today, he figured he was going to ask about Radomir's second in command who was in Italy and went missing. It never dawned on him he connected Zoya to him. He was thinking only of his number two." She gave a lopsided grin, "Santino said he squealed more secrets to cousin Pauly and was not a very brave bratva agent."

"Pauly?" Arwen recalled a conversation she'd had with Addy and looked to Jesse with her nose shrivelled up in disgust, "the guy who does water torture?"

"Water torture?" Cat asked, "like water boarding?"

"No, like enemas, catheters, colon cleanses."

"What the f**k?" Jesse gasped, "who does that?"

"Your cousin Pauly I guess." Arwen blinked away tears, "why is Artemis not calling us with an update? What is taking so long? They could be doing anything to her."

"No," Jesse shook her head, "they can't."

The tone of Jesse's voice told Arwen they had left out a pertinent detail. "What didn't you tell me?" Jesse looked to the front of the car and both Isabella and Cat shook their heads warningly. "Tell me!" she shrieked it. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Radomir told Addy if he didn't deliver Zoya then he would take Deidre as his virgin bride. He said even with her face all scarred she would still make good looking babies for him. Santino was certain his men were told to keep her alive as a replacement for Zoya. Alive and untouched."

"He wants to do what?" Arwen's fists clenched furiously on her lap.

"Arwen, Artemis is concerned you'll be too volatile in the field and part of the reason the other car is behind us with the full crew is one of us will drive you back to HQ if you're unable to hold it together," Cat spoke warningly. "I know you're scared, and I know you're pissed but the minute they have information, they will be in our ears and in our faces. If you blink the wrong way once, she's pulling you. She has already ordered Bliss to drive you straight to HQ if you f**k up. Channel it. Your girl and your man are both in danger and we get it. I'd be losing my s**t if it as Tuva, but we need you to control yourself. You can cry when you get them both home but for now, you need to decide whether you are fit to do this."

"I'm fit." She looked out the window. "Where are we going, exactly?"

As if on cue, Jesse's phone rang, "Hey Clara, you're on speaker. What's up?"

"Intel is telling us the family who runs the bar where Oleg and his buddies were mysteriously murdered last night owns multiple warehouses in Jersey City and in the Bronx. Radomir was quite pissed about the murders. We hypothesized as a gesture of good will the bar owners allowed for Radomir to utilize on of the locations to conduct his investigation. We know he was asked not to come back to the bar, but these guys would not simply turn their back on him completely unless he does something stupid to them first. Of the warehouses we've checked four have activity going on, even now."

"So, we're supposed to sort through four warehouses?" Arwen griped furiously. "This could take all night!"

"HQ is running schematics and satellite imagery to figure out which is most likely to be used. One of them is more out of the way than the others. We're guessing but it makes the most sense from a privacy perspective. It's a more rundown location with far less traffic. One point of entry through security gates."

"One way in, one way out," Jesse nodded. "Makes sense they would use this. If they're holding Addy and Dee hostage, it's how they would create a barricade."

"Arwen," Clara spoke quietly, "Miley's body was recovered. We used a decoy for Deidre and one of our ambulance teams was on-site. Miley's parents will never know it wasn't an accident. Deidre's decoy was brought to our clinic and is being worked on. It's the best cover we could come up with short notice. I'm so sorry."

"I want this guy, Clara. I want him dead."

"Are you going to be good? If we get there and Deidre is in bad shape, I can't have you falling apart. We have a mission. We need to take out a squad of forty guys and leave no survivors. We'll get them out, but the rest have to be dealt with. We can't be worried about being shot or killed because we got careless or because you're freaked out. We all vouched for you. Every single one of us. By the books. Got it?"

"I got it. I can handle it."

"Good. The other thing is, we know this guy is a loose cannon. He made it clear to Addy he was going to play with him, toy with him. I don't think he's intending to call for the trade anytime soon. He has something to prove to the big bad Cavallaro family. He's pissed about losing the use of their ships and about Addy's refusal to adhere to an agreement his father made and he's really mad about the girl. He's going to punish him."

Arwen felt bile rising up in her throat. "He could just f*****g kill them both." She bit back a sob, "Jesus Christ. Deidre lost one of her crushes today because I made him shoot himself, then her best friend is dead and I don't even know how I'm going to tell her but if I have to make it a trifecta and Addy dies," her voice trailed off.

"Hey, we'll get him. We'll get them both." Jesse offered reassuringly.

Clara gave an excited shriek, "update from Artemis. They have a confirmed sighting of the King via satellite imaging of the warehouse. Let's roll ladies."

"How did he get there so fast?" Arwen questioned curiously. "It's two and a half hours of driving time. We're an hour and thirty in at most."

"Chopper," Clara cut in, "Artemis is confirming a chopper was in the air twenty minutes after he left his resort, and it landed twenty minutes ago in a field near the warehouse. He must be throwing his money around like he has it to burn." "He's spending it like it's his last day on earth," Arwen commented dryly. "Let's make sure it is."