Page 4 of Fixate
While Dante worked on his persona as The Monster all those years, I put my head to ground to find something useful to do with my time. I got certified in a number of computer programs, while also busting my ass to keep up with anything I could find in the not-so-public parts of the internet.
As I made my way down the list of names, I wondered who the culprit might be. Which then led to me wondering what in the world they wanted Dante for.
Did they know he was the heir to the Cosa Nostra? Or was this something lucky?
Either way, I’d find him and bring him home. There was no way I’d let anything happen to my friend since he was the key to fixing everything.
With Domenico in power, I’d never be free. At least, not in the sense I wanted to be. I didn’t mind being part of the mafia life. It was good work, with damn good pay. People respected me, either because of fear or because they knew my character. I wasn’t picky as to which.
But I didn’t like the current boss’s need to treat me like a pet. I was, in his mind, an errand boy who watched over his precious heir.
An heir he had no intention of handing things over to anytime soon. I didn’t care what he said about bringing Dante home. He was no more ready to step down than he had been years ago.
The first two names on the list proved to be dead ends. One, literally, since they’d been shot in a mugging two days ago.
On the third, my gut told me I might have found the answers I was looking for.
Memphis Braxton
NightShade Security
Not only was he local, but he worked for a massive security firm I’d heard stood a little left of the right side of the law. If that intel was right, then he’d likely be the person who sent the video of Dante.
I mapped out the location of the NightShade offices, then called for a car. If I got lucky enough, I’d be able to get information on where Dante was. If I didn’t, then I’d have to fight my way out of a (likely) heavily secured building.
No biggie.
Mostly.
It was mostly no big deal.
So long as bullets didn’t go flying, I’d be fine. Hand to hand was a specialty of mine thanks to all the frustrations Dante had when we first left — before I got into the computer stuff, and he became a pseudo-Batman.
I met the car two streets over from the house since I wasn’t sure who was and wasn’t watching the place. It took climbing a few fences to get there, but if it gave me some lead time, it would be worth it.
The driver took me to the NightShade offices deeper into the city. I stared up at the massive skyscraper with a sense of dread.
I didn’t know what had changed in the last twenty-four hours, only that I knew in my bones things were different. Maybe I should have listened when Dante said he felt like someone was watching him.
Clearly they had been.
And said person got the jump on us both enough to sneak in and steal my charge without making a sound. What a great fucking protector I was.
Inside the building, a burly guard stopped me before I could get to the elevator. “Everyone gets a badge,” he demanded.
Nodding, I followed his pointing finger to the reception desk. Or was it a security desk? I couldn’t tell since they’d made theplace look like every other business office I’d ever been in. You wouldn’t know one of the largest security firms in the world operated out of this HGTV office edition of a building.
“Good morning, sir. Are you here for an appointment?” an older gentleman asked as I approached.
I shook my head. “I’m here to meet with Memphis Braxton and his boss. They sent me a message earlier today that I needed to follow up on in person.”
“I see,” the man said slowly. “Let me just call to confirm. Please wait here.”
Ignoring his whispers into the phone on his desk, I turned to examine the room. It was bustling with people moving around from place to place. I noticed it was large enough to have what looked like a deli on the first floor, which seemed to be where most people went.
The glass walls gave a natural glow to the space. It was welcoming, despite being very heavily guarded in subtle ways.
I easily spotted where the obvious cameras were as I waited. The harder task was locating the ones hidden from plain view. Those were what told the true story of the business. They’d be focused on whatever the company thought was a true threat.
