Chapter 22: D A R I O
I woke up to the sound of someone pounding on my door. I picked up my phone from the nightstand next to my bed; it’s 1:00 pm. The hammering on the door continued which only pissed me off. I got out of bed and shrugged on the first shirt I found on the floor. I staggered through my apartment to the front door and looked through the peephole.
A wave of fear rushed over me and I clenched my fist. I opened the door and let the man into my home. He had a wide smile like he was happy to see me and we shared a hug like old friends. When the man released me I asked,
“Vasiliás Ambrósio. Ti ofeílo tin efcharístisi?”
*“King Ambrosio. What do I owe the pleasure?”*
Ambrosio was silent and looked around the dark room. He finally asked,
“Dario, pòs eínai óla edó?”
*“Dario, how is everything here?”*
He made me nervous. What was the leader of the family doing in my living room?
“Ola einai kalá,”
*“Everything is fine,”*
I lied, I didn’t want to bother him with the details of the orders I was dealing with late last night. Ambrosio studied me and I kept a poker face. He finally spoke,
“I need your help.”
My body tensed and I nodded. Anything for the Nton. Ambrosio continued,
“My sister is starting to complicate things for the family. I need you to keep her distracted, in America.”
“Fysiká, Nton Ambrósio, otidípote gia tin oikogéneia.”
*“Of course, Nton Ambrosio, anything for the family.”*
Ambrosio appreciated my obedience and I asked,
“How exactly am I supposed to distract her?”
He shrugged his shoulders and said,
“I don’t know, kidnap her, pretend to be her boyfriend. I don’t really care. But keep her in America.”
I nodded my head again and Ambrosio said,
“Get packed. We take off in an hour.”
I turned and went into my room and quickly gathered clothes and started the shower. The water was boiling hot, I wanted to burn last night off of my skin.
The images of the early morning flashed before me; the five bodies I was responsible for were on the floor, blood everywhere. I was with my soldiers, we were collecting on a debt for another captain and things got out of hand. The last time I do a favor for a fellow captain. I got out of the shower and got dressed.
I had no idea what to pack, or how long to pack for so I threw a few shirts and jeans into a suitcase. I wanted to be quick, so as not to keep Nton waiting. When I was all ready I met Ambrosio, suitcase in tow, back in my living room. He was sitting on my couch staring into his phone. He rose out of his seat when he saw me and asked,
“Do you have any weed?”
I couldn’t help but smile and I beckoned Ambrosio to follow me into my room. I opened the top drawer of my dresser and grabbed out a ziplock bag with two joints in it. I grabbed them both and handed one to Ambrosio and put the other one behind my ear. He looked at me and said,
“Den boró na sas po póte tha epistrépsete edó kai gi 'aftó lypámai. Allá ektimó pragmatiká óti to kánete aftó gia tin oikogéneia.”
*“I cannot tell you when you will return, and for that I am sorry. But I really appreciate you doing this.”*
I nodded my head and without a word we left my apartment. We silently took the elevator down to the lobby, and out to the black SUV outside. The second the SUV pulled out onto the street, Ambrosio cracked the window and lit up and he motioned for me to do the same,
“It’s a really long flight.”
I took the joint from my ear and Ambrosio passed me his lighter. I lit the joint in my mouth as I cracked my own window. As I exhaled, my worries melted. No soldiers to keep tabs on, no worrying about other captains trying to take over for the indefinite future. This was an immense favor; I wouldn’t be surprised if this was my audition for underboss. We pulled up to the airport and we boarded the private family plane. I took a seat and buckled in.
I was in a deep fog when my thoughts drifted to my new assignment in America. I didn’t know Ambrosio even had a sister; and how could she be interfering with the family from halfway around the world? The airplane took off and after a half hour of blasting through the sky, I fell asleep in my seat.
I woke up lying down on the couch and for a moment I was confused. My vision cleared and I saw Ambrosio sitting in a seat drinking champagne. He read my mind when he said,
“At some point you got up and moved to the couch.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Ambrosio looked at his watch then chuckled and said,
“You slept for 12 hours.”
My eyes widened. 12 hours? I haven’t had a real night’s sleep in years. I guess I just caught up. I excused myself and rose out of my seat and went to the bathroom. I turned on the sink and splashed some water on my face. There was a bottle of mouthwash on the sink and I was grateful. I opened the bottle and poured some into my mouth. I swished until my tongue burned and spat it out. I went back out and joined Ambrosio in the seat across from him. I asked,
“How much longer?”
Ambrosio picked up his phone out of the cup holder and glanced at it and replied,
“Four and a half.”
“More hours?”
Ambrosio nodded his head then said,
“But now that you are finally awake, we can play cards.”
He swiveled his arm rest around so that it was between us, it already had a deck of cards on it. Ambrosio started shuffling and passing out the cards. He handed each of us four cards then flipped one from the deck and I realized we were playing poker. As we were switching cards out I asked,
“So, what is your sister like?”
Ambrosio laughed and we both showed our hands. He won and collected the cards. As he shuffled the deck, he replied,
“What do you want to know?”
“Her name, I guess, for starters.”
Ambrosio chuckled as he passed the cards out and took a gulp of his champagne. He said,
“Her name is Hera.”
I nodded my head as I looked over my cards and asked,
“How old is Hera?”
Ambrosio exchanged our cards as he said,
“She’s 28.”
We both showed our hands and this time I won. We kept playing poker as we discussed Hera. I learned she has a doctorates degree from some expensive school. Ambrosio complained about her constant shopping, laughed about times that she has been a smart ass, and adored the way she took care of their aunt. He did explain if anyone asked why I was there, I was to say I was to help their Aunt Sophie.
I was beginning to relax about my assignment, this Hera sounded like she’d be pretty cool. We played cards for a few hours, and Ambrosio and I got along great. We joked and laughed like we had been friends our whole lives. When we got bored of cards we decided to watch a movie to kill the rest of the time.
We landed at the airport in America at 7:00 am. Ambrosio and I got into a black SUV and he looked at me and asked,
“Do you want some breakfast?”
I nodded my head and Ambrosio turned his head towards the driver and yelled,
“OY! Breakfast!”
Ambrosio rose the partition and we bursted out laughing. The SUV drove through the palm tree lined streets. I’ve been to America before but only on the East side, to visit my cousins in New York. California was much different than the colder and darker American counterpart I was used to.
We pulled up to a Denny’s and our driver let us out. We went inside and were ushered to a table right away. We looked over the menus but Ambrosio ordered us both a traditional American breakfast. The waitress took our menus and headed back to the kitchen. Ambrosio looked at me and said,
“Ok, this is the plan. Tonight, my theía is holding her annual New Year’s Eve bash. After we get you introduced to your new life here, we will go get Hera, then get ready to go to the party. My theía runs a crew here; you will assist her with anything that she needs while you’re here in America, katalavaíneis?”
I nodded my head in agreement. Keep track of the sister, help the aunt; got it. The waitress returned to our table with a pot of coffee and poured us each a cup then scattered off. Ambrosio took a sip of his coffee then asked,
“Do you have a girl back home that’s going to be mad that I took you away?”
I chuckled and shook my head and said,
“Who can keep a girl in our industry?”
Ambrosio raised his eyebrows and exhaled, he knew exactly what I was talking about. I asked,
“You got any girls back home.”
He cringed his face and replied,
“I have some acquaintances, I guess. There’s one girl, but I don’t deserve her.”
I was amused and asked who it was.
“She’s actually here, Hera’s best friend, Keegan.”
Ambrosio sat back in his seat and looked out the window as he continued,
“She’s not like the girls back home, I don’t know how to describe it. I want her more than anything, but I couldn’t bring her into this life.”
Ambrosio looked down ashamed. I knew what he meant. The waitress approached our table again, this time with our food. She set the plates in front of us, made sure we had all the proper condiments, then disappeared.
I looked down at my food; the portions were huge and the meal took up the whole plate. Three sunny side up eggs, a heaping helping of hashbrowns, two pieces of ham steak, two pieces of bacon, and two pieces of toasted bread. I wasn’t sure I was going to finish it all. I looked over at Ambrosio who was covering his entire breakfast in ketchup. I figured, when in Rome, and covered mine in ketchup as well.
I ate until I was full and it barely made a dent, my plate was still covered in food. I glanced over at Ambrosio’s plate and he was raking up the last of his hashbrowns in his mouth. He swallowed the food in his mouth then asked me if I was done. I nodded and Ambrosio took out his wallet, retrieved a 100 dollar bill and set it on the table and rose out of his seat. I followed him out of the restaurant back into the SUV.