Chapter 135: Chapter 135: No Soul

Shaking her head, Desi admitted, “But they never will because you just aren’t important enough for them to see you in the first place.” She stood from the table and looked at Leon. “Well, he may think I’m not important enough to notice but I know who he is and I don’t think he’ll find me so easy to ignore again. When I face him, I will face him with the truth and that truth will choke the air from his lungs and I hope it sends him to hell.” She turned away from the group to walk down the hall to Click’s room. Opening the door, she closed it behind her with a quiet snick.

Leon shook his head. “Madre Dios.”

“Si, it is terrible.” Alfredo nodded. “My son has much to answer for.” He lowered his head and whispered, “His sins just keep piling up.”

Delaney just sat there and shook her head. “And here I thought he hated me growing up. At least he only ignored me but what he did to her? I might just help her end his life.”

Zeus looked angry. “Why can’t we find this prick? He’s sticking close to this place yet we can’t find him?” He turned to Alfredo and asked, “Any more secrets about this place that you’d like to share? The man has to be hiding close by.”

“Senor, if I knew any more of its secrets don’t you think I would have shared them with you?” Alfredo shook his head. “I want this to be over, maybe even more than you all do. Like I said before, every time we came here to spend time something had changed, then I got old enough to be interested in jobs and girls and I spent less and less time here with the old man. Then I got married and had my own family.” He paused and looked around the room they were in. “To tell you the truth, I always hated this place growing up. I knew we were only here because my dad was in trouble with someone. I stayed away from this place when I had my own family. I admit that I waited too long before I sold it to you and yours. I just felt like I had to wait until the rumors and innuendos died down about it. I was so glad when you signed the papers and I could close the book on this place. But here I am again. I am dealing with more than innuendos now. I’ve had to relive it all…My childhood, my father’s double dealings, and lies. Yet, it lives on in my own son and his sons. Like a god damned curse, it just keeps on going.”

“I understand how you feel Grandpa, you weren’t the only one who was glad this place belonged to someone else,” Delaney told him. “I was too.” She looked over at Zeus. “Even though we came here to brew grandpa’s whiskey, we never bothered you and you never knew we were here. That suited me just fine. Growing up, I watched my dad and my brothers. I saw the way they were and it had never gotten them anything but trouble. When Grandpa took us in, I thought I had the best life I could have with him. He always treated me like I had value, that was something my dad and brothers never did. I stayed with him because he was getting older and seemed to need me. No one ever needed me before. But mostly, I stayed with him because I love him. Now every day, I’m learning just how low my dad and brothers actually are. I knew they were bad, but rape and murder? Like they had no conscience, no souls? I never believed that about them, deep down. To have to face that your father is that sick? It's been an eye opener. I will tell you that much.” She looked truly upset as she stood and reached out to help Alfredo to his feet. Staring at Leon and Zeus, she added, “You guys have one job here. Bring that bastard to his knees and soon. He so deserves it.”

“Where are you goin’, babe?" Memphis asked.

Delaney turned her head and there were tears in her eyes. “I’m going to get to know my sister and let her know me. The truth is I always wanted a sister. It would have…” She swallowed heavily then continued, “…made growing up less lonely. I need to make up for that time, if it’s possible. I need to show her that not every Raggetti is worthless and out to hurt her. I just want her to know that.”

Delaney knocked on the door.

When Desi opened it, she asked them, “What do you want?”

“Well, I’d like to get to know you, we are related after all,” Delaney told her.

Alfredo stepped up and said, “And I would like to get to know you as well. You are my granddaughter, same as Delaney. She’s the only member of what little family I have left that I can stand, well other than you. I’m hoping the three of us can become a family of sorts.”

Desi stepped back and let them in the room. Then she shut the door softly.

Leon sat and watched them. He slowly shook his head. Then he turned to Zeus. “We need to find this asshole and find him soon. This has to end.”

Zeus nodded. “I agree. But before we find him, we have to find the fucking money.”

Click opened his laptop again and began searching the cameras for any heat signatures. When he finally looked at the nearby cameras, he found something. He looked up.

Zeus had been watching him so he asked, “What did you find?”

“There is someone in the still room. The cameras aren’t working there but there is a heat signature down there.”

Leon called his security men and told them to check the still rooms. The silence was overwhelming while they watched even more heat signatures move into the still room. Then suddenly the heat signatures disappeared. They were just gone.

Click looked up at Zeus and Leon. “I have no idea how they just did that.”

“What does that mean?” Leon wanted to know.

Click shrugged. “It could mean just about anything, could be he left the area or he went underground.”

“Marda Dios,” Leon swore.

Diesel and Memphis were already on their feet and grabbing their weapons as they ran down the hall.

Click was at his laptop, looking for everything or anything to happen but as time passed, he saw nothing new. Then he was flipping through the many camera sites they had been watching and suddenly he found another heat source. He looked up and told Zeus, “Now there’s someone in the tunnel under this room.”

“How can that be?” Zeus growled.

“I have no freaking clue,” Click growled back. “But the heat signature is now in the room below this one.”

Leon frowned.

“Do you suppose these tunnels are somehow linked?” Calderone suggested.

Leon merely shrugged. “That could be, I have no idea.”