Signor Adriano turned his head to look at the branches. The day seemed to eventually become quite a hot one, as he could see the first yellow bright rays filtering between the sea of leaves that were carpeting the ground.
A few animals could be seen from the spot where he stood as he leaned against the kitchen counter. Still hearing it all as if it were all far away. And how the coffee machine loudly boiled and simmered with the last few drops of water into the brown powder that was turning slowly into his coffee.
The smell of fresh coffee floating around the room…
Spades meowed some more and looked at him, before turning to slowly walk back to his hiding place on one of the seat cushions under his dining table. And, with all that, the memory, clear as day, still played inside his head, even if his eyes were open and looking attentively – sort of – at all his surroundings.
+++
Antonio saw his surrogate son walk towards the front doorway until his figure was blocked from his view by his bedroom’s closed door. And then heard the main suite’s door open.
And close softly…
He turned once more to walk towards the end of his suite and looked behind him to be sure that his future killer was still following him. The Signore then faced the young assassin bravely and squarely in the face with a resolute glint in his gaze. Both he and his appointed slayer looked at each other in perceptible, absolute but meaningful silence.
Aaron gingerly stepped nearer to the salt-and-pepper-haired former Argerlich leader as he tamely sat on his bed. The tall, muscular and auburn-haired youth then closed the door and looked around.
Suddenly, he took his gun from its holster and with no preparation, shot the bullet that went through Antonio’s shoulder which made the older man cry out with a pained groan.
Aaron immediately covered Senyor Antonio’s mouth and gestured for him to try and stay quiet by putting a finger on his lips.
The younger assassin took a deep breath, let the air slowly out and inhaled deeply once more, his eyes closed, as if deeply focusing. Then started walking around the room as if looking for something.
“Aaron, what…” the older man mouthed. But soon enough was stopped by the younger man, who now looked more like a dog trained to sniff drugs, by raising his hand with his index finger upward towards the front of his comely face. It was clearly a gesture meant to ask his ‘host’ to wait for him just for a minute.
When Aaron stood up in front of Antonio again, and he was no longer sniffing the air in the room at that point… He offered the content of his hands to the older man which consisted of a few small black plastic and metal pieces along with a number of corded copper wires.
“Bugs…” Antonio said. “I kinda knew, but never cared about them… After all, it was worse to remove them than to keep them… I was always alone, at least here in my room. Now I wonder if the rest of the house had any. Hope they didn’t hear that Hero left this job to you instead of him finally completing it.”
“Don’t worry, before you arrived, I checked the living room, kitchen and the other areas. Especially since I didn’t want us to be heard, Senyor Antonio…”
“Okay, I appreciate you being careful. Now, can you please tell me why am I not dead? Is Hero aware of what you’re doing right now?”
“No, he doesn’t… And he can’t know… There are things that… maybe I’m still too soft to do. Besides Sir, my childhood friend has lost enough Dads already…”
“So, you don’t plan to kill me?” the aged senior asked in a bewildered and wondering tone.
“No, Senyor Antonio, but I must make it look like I have. I called in a favor and, as soon as Hero is no longer around, a small extraction team will come and take you to one of the safe houses that belong to the pack. And then, I’ll take your katana, as a memento for my bro… to end with finally blowing up your apartment. It’s actually favorable that you live on the top floor since we can take advantage of that. Also, enough remains will be left so they can find something if they come searching for you.”
“Explosions are not his style…”
“No, but even if they didn’t understand our talk, they heard both our voices already. He can say I was the ‘cleaning’ team… And the explosion is my way of removing any signs of your ‘murder’. Our boss will find that explanation extremely believable enough to convince him of your death by your ‘son’ and protege’s hand.”
“You seem to have thought of everything, young man. Very well, since you put in so much effort in this then I guess I have no other option but to live,” Senyor Antonio firmly decided with a grateful smile that would swiftly contract due to the pain that was still gripping his shoulder.
“I hope you don’t refuse it, because my friends are here already. They’re part of the pack, so the Governor has no influence over them… They are loyal only to my brother, and I understand that you’ve met each other before.”
“We did, it has been quite a long time ago. I hope we can have longer instances in the future to talk again so I can actually tell you that story. I also hope that you guys can converse with me once more, you know? I kind of know how much your older brother cares for you, Aaron.”
A bitter smile drew on the muscled assassin’s face…
“That still needs to be seen, Senyor. For now, let’s get you moving out of here. I need to produce a controlled fire that will explode and kill you, so…”
Then, on cue, four tall, muscular and very grim-looking men walked inside the house, all the way to Antonio’s extensive sleeping quarters and stood right behind Aaron.
“If you have anything important to bring with you, this is the right time for you to get it, but please, be quick.”
“Oh yes. Give me just one second… And let me borrow one of your friends because I don’t think my shoulder will let me do this.”
“I’ll do it,” a voice was heard from behind Aaron, and right at that moment, one of the four broke formation and stood near Antonio.
“Thanks, Roth. Senyor Antonio may I introduce to you one of the best warriors in my pack… His name is Roth. Then you can see Lev, Onyx and Lynx here. Ask whatever you need from them. I’ll be sorting a few things in the kitchen and will be back in a minute. Hope you’re ready by then. The longer we stay here, the more suspicious our boss will get.”
Antonio nodded and got up from the bed as Aaron left the room.
“Roth, please punch the wall right here…” the house owner pointed to a spot on the bedroom’s south wall which happened to be the closest partition to both of them.
The brawny young man by his side followed his instructions and punched a hole through the wall with ease. Then, pulling the piece of wood that was loosened upon impact, The Senyor pointed to a large army bag stuffed inside the wall, which the werewolf pulled out.
“Excellent. With that, we’re ready to go. Thank you for your help,” the Senyor said, trying to walk out of the room without showing the pain that the bleeding wound on his shoulder was giving him.
The four men walked behind him, all towards where Eron was standing. They all acted as if the then-Right Hand knew that they were all finally ready. The smirking assassin also had a large samurai sword hanging from his sturdy and thick leather belt.
“You made sure that Hero wasn’t around anymore, didn’t you guys?”
“We did, don’t worry,” Onyx swiftly answered. “He looked a bit reluctant to go at the beginning but in the end, he still did so but not very happily,”
“Great! Thank you very much, bros. Now, please take the Signore to the pack doctor before you bring him to the safe house. We don’t want him to bleed out and pass away after all the effort we made to save him and make him look like he died, right?”
“Sure, don’t worry. Hope to see you again, Eron. You’re sorely missed in the packhouse,” Lyon assured. He was the second-in-command to Roth. As he offered his hand to Eron, who from the assassin, has now suddenly shifted to the son of the Alpha and the old friend that they originally knew.
“Yes, especially when we’re sparring. I miss kicking his ass!” Lynx guffawed heartily.
“What did you say? That you miss my ass? Sorry my dear friend, I don’t remember that ever happening,” Eron joked and all smiled and laughed as they went out, calm but quickly. “And it never will, hehehe…”
“Thank you, boy… Whatever your reasons, quite literally, I owe you my life,” Senyor Antonio said from the door as he was silently escorted out of his former home, identity and life.
+++
“Yes… the last thing I saw that day was that massive explosion… I thought I wouldn’t see you again, Eron. But my finding you here… There must be someone that really loves me up there and keeps giving me these chances.”
The coffee machine lightly beeped a couple of times, reminding him of what he was doing before that long memory and flashback scene.
“To think that I got to see you just because I was checking for my cake delivery…” he smiled to himself, finally opening the box and cutting a slice of the cake. “What an interesting surprise it was,”
Spades took this chance to emerge from his chosen hiding spot to loudly beg for scraps by meowing quite clamorously. Adriano then picks up a few pieces of tuna-flavored cat food pellets and offers these to the continuously meowing black cat and feeds him by hand.
“Funny that it was the last meal we shared, as well. I wonder if you have eaten that same cake since then, especially now that you live with our skilled baker… I suppose that you are dead too, aren’t you? And I suppose you ended up here for the same reason I did. But do you know the whole story of why the Governor would never set foot in here ever again?”
Senyor Antonio took a spoonful of cake, letting out a pleased moan.
“I think it’s time we talk about a few things, Eron… I think destiny put us together again so that I can tell you what I know. I’ll have to pay you a small visit soon…”