Chapter 32: Progress Is Progress-1

▪ D O M I N I C▪

"Sallaku! So glad you could make it on such short notice!" I said with a smile, the cold air of the night causing my breath to appear as vapour.

The Albanian mafia leader, Kadri Sallaku, approached while casually looking around the warehouse, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. It was mostly dark, except for the centre circle where the vehicles' headlights were focused.

"What's with the new meeting spot? I must admit, I was surprised when you called, seeing as our shipment isn't due for another two months. Not that I'm complaining!" Sallaku ended with a smirk.

Running a hand through my silvery white hair, I simply said, "Change of plans, but hey, it's like you said, you're not complaining."

"So, where's the shipment?" the stocky man asked as he looked around the warehouse again, noticing the absence of the usual crates.

"Yea, about that..." my words trailed off as a sound came from the shadows.

Out of the dark corners of the warehouse, James and Da'mon appeared.

Their men were pointing guns at the fourteen Albanians who were now surrounded and forced to drop their weapons on the ground.

Noticing that Kadri was trying to sneakily reach for his gun, I threatened, "I wouldn't do that if I were you," I made a clicking sound with my mouth as I wagged a finger while continuing to circle the large Albanian.

"Why are you doing this? If I don't return to Somer's Point by a certain time, the rest of my men will come looking for me," Kadri stated, his hand dropping to his side.

"Heh!" I cackled as I stopped to face him once more, "I'm sure they will, but by now, Tolstoy and Ms. Dixon would have killed them all..." The sound of my mobile phone ringing caused me to pause, "Ah! That must be them now!"

Taking out my phone, I held it to my ear while my other hand went into my pants pocket. My blue eyes darkened slightly as my pupils dilated while listening to the person on the other end.

Ending the call, I asked, "Sallaku, why did you think you could go into business with the Cartel and double-cross me?"

Realisation dawned on the man's face, his eyes widening, "Shit! Listen, it's not what it looks like. We had no choice! I swear. It was out of my hands!"

"No... There's always a choice. When García threatened to kill your family, you should have come to me. I would've helped you. Instead, you chose to mule his poison into my city when you came to collect your guns from me.

Now your children are going to have to grow up without a father," I said regrettably.

For the last eight months, I had given the Cartel boss a chance to do business within my city.

The tequila and women they had been providing us seemed to be very popular among certain populations of the city. So much that I had been considering making some sort of permanent deal with them. However, in light of recent events, all bets were now off.

If it was one thing that pissed me off, it was dishonesty.

With a click of my tongue, I slowly walked closer to Sallaku, then demanded, "Give me your gun."

The Albanian's beefy hands were visibly shaking as he slowly retrieved his Walther PK380 and handed it over. My gloved hand accepted the grey and black gun and my eyes narrowed as I inspected the compact weapon.

"Not what I was expecting a man of your stature to carry," I commented, before placing some distance between Sallaku and myself once more.

"Let's talk this out, please Mr. Calvetti! I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement; I know that you're a man of reason!" Kadri begged.

"I didn't know that your palette expanded into kissing ass," I snidely remarked before I went on to say, "but don't worry, we'll definitely work out something."

The Albanian's face seemed to relax momentarily; his body seeming to slump slightly. However, his relief was short-lived as he heard my next words, his eyes widening with uncertainty.

Turning to face James and Da'mon, my index finger twirled in the air as I said, "Line 'em up boys, and don't forget the barrels!"

The unarmed men were pushed forward and made to assemble in front of Kadri. They were then forced onto their knees against the cold concrete floor, their shadows lengthening with the light from the cars.

"I want you to look at their face's, Sallaku. As leaders, we're in charge of our men, and you, my friend, have let them down!" I said, my voice edgy as I walked back up to the stocky man and handed his gun back to him, "You have nine rounds, there are fourteen of your men here, you can choose which nine will die here and now."

Holding the pistol in his hand, Kadri looked up at me, his expression silently asking if I was joking.

From my position, I knew that the lights from the cars created an eerie shadow across my ashen face. In this lighting, my silver-haired presence looked anything but comical. Rather, my appearance was very sinister, almost demonic as I was often reminded. My icy blue eyes were devoid of emotion and would seem as though they were glowing.

"We don't have all night, Sallaku, do your men this one last favour, give them a quick and painless death..." I urged, as I walked to stand behind the stunned man, whispering in his ear, "Don't keep them waiting."

The Albanian leader tried pleading one last time, "Let me prove my loyalty to you!"

"Someone who was a traitor once could never be loyal again, Sallaku," I replied simply, dusting imaginary lint off my coat, before adding, "I'm sorry, but you can't be trusted. Now hurry up and choose!"