Forty-Nine

Henry left the house, marching towards his place with the envelope burning between his fingers. Slamming the door opened, he entered his kitchen and threw the documents on top of the table, going straight to his liquor cabinet. He grabbed the whiskey bottle and gave a big gulp on it, feeling the amber liquid burn all the way down his throat.

The entire house was in the dark, all too quiet, and he hated it. The only time his place felt like home was when he had Melina and Eve over. He shook his head, falling into a laughing fit, but there was nothing funny about it. If he didn’t laugh, he’d explode. His life was chaotic, and he was losing it. He made everything worse with her. There was something different about Melina, and he had to put himself together so he could analyse it.

He never lost control of his life like now. Discipline and decisiveness were his mantra, or he wouldn’t have survived all the crap he had to endure in his life. He needed to regain his focus, stop thinking with his heart, and put his brain to function again, but Melina could dismantle him with one look of those chocolaty eyes.

It wasn’t his intention to marry her that way, no! But when he put his eyes on Melina, crying among all those scattered papers in her bed, and the mention of that phony Greek god, he lost it and didn’t stop to pay attention to her attitude towards him. She didn’t blame him for what was on those documents, not even once. She didn’t believe in them, and she was onto him. The only accusation against him was to push her away. Shit! He had screwed up big time.

He raked his fingers angrily through his sandy blond locks, gulped down a good amount of the liquor, swearing the harsh stinging in his throat and heading to the bathroom. Sleep was nowhere in sight. He needed to put his thoughts right again and a cold shower was in order to clear the cobwebs from his mind.

There was a mystery bugging him at the moment. He changed Melina’s number, phone. His guys went to the extent of making it untraceable. How did that miscreant have her number again? There would be two hypotheses. The son of a gun had hackers better than him, or he had someone on the island leaking info to him. Henry walked to his closet with a towel hanging around his narrow hips and covered in goosebumps, since he didn’t warm up the water. He needed the icy shock.

He grabbed some socks and his black combat boots after dressing in black faded jeans and a long sleeve cream t-shirt, leaving the closet and slumping on his bed. If he would not catch some zees, might as well work on finding this asshole threatening him. Once he was done, Henry snatched his leather jacket and left, not before retrieving the envelope from the table.

“What are you doing here this early?” Darryl asked him as soon as he entered the room. He was so absorbed in his thoughts, he didn’t stop to pay attention to what time it was.

“We have a problem.” Henry threw the brown envelope on the table. “Melina got this from her lawyer yesterday, and she’s getting messages on her phone again. Everything we did was for nothing.”

“That’s impossible, Hank. Her number is untraceable.”

“Don’t you think I know that, Darryl. Somehow he knows, and he’s closer than we can imagine. Please, get the team. We have to make a full sweep for fingerprints in these documents. Whatever our findings, we send it to Lieutenant Olsen to check all his records in New York, mostly Franco’s cartel members. I’m sure we’ll get a match.”

“Sure, I’ll get Bill to set up the table.” Darryl left to wake up the print genius and Henry got himself behind a computer.

They worked the entire morning. It was a little after noon when they sent everything to Olsen. Now they just needed to wait and see if he got a match. Henry felt too worked up to stay caged inside with his men dealing with a computer. Besides, there was nothing else he could do for the moment. He had to wait for Olsen to track all the fingerprints they found. Three of them didn’t count, since it would be Melina, the phony and him.

“Darryl, I’m going out for a beer. I can’t stay here or I’ll start to crawl up the walls.”

“I don’t think it’s wise, Hank. Go to the inn bar if you have to.” Darryl snitched his jacket and gun. He could see Hank’s resolve of going out, and he understood him to some point. It was the first time someone was aiming at him. “Fine, I’m coming with you.”

Hank nodded. He could use some friendly ear or advice, not that he was eager for one. They left the room together, heading downstairs to the wide reception in light colors. Big and beautiful canvas on the walls portraying the white and blue of Santorini, some of them, paintings of the island, giving a peaceful atmosphere. Large windows gifted the tourists a gorgeous view of the sea. On one side ratan sofas and armchairs, on the other geometric patterns poufs and stools in yellow, gray and blue. The reception desk opposite the front door. Whoever decorated the place did a great job. The inn wasn’t fancy, but cozy.

A sharp muffled sound rang once they crossed the gates leading to the street. Darryl snapped into action, but it was late. Another muffled sound echoed and when he looked, Hank was on the floor. He got into his combat mode, getting into the floor and dragging both of them from view, back in the inn’s front yard and behind the short wall. His keen eyes studied their surroundings, and he grasped his radio.

“Code red. Hank’s down.” He reported to the team, and he heard the guys moving. “Hank, Hank. Open your eyes.” He patted his face.

“Stop with the slapping!” He growled between his teeth. “I’m okay…” Then he hissed as he felt the sharp and excruciating pain in his right shoulder. He tried to move his arm and only got worse. What the hell? The back of his head also hurt, and he touched it with his left hand. It came out smeared with blood. Probably it opened a gash when he fell, hitting his head on the concrete..

“You were out for a few seconds, man! They are securing the place. The son of bitch targeted you, we need to take you to a hospital.”

“No, take me home. I don’t want the police involved.”

“Are you sure?” Darryl stared at him, dumbfounded. “Sure.” He agreed once he saw the disheartenment stamped in his eyes. “Bring the car.” Darryl ordered on the radio. “Sweep the entire area. Look for the smallest evidence. The hit came from somewhere to our left. I’m taking him back home. He’ll be fine.” A minute later, they got him in the car and drove off.

***

Melina stared at Eli with an impish look on her face, waiting for the big man to answer her. It was unnerving the suspense he made. It seemed he was enjoying seeing her squirm in front of him.

“I have an idea who your little birdie might be, and she’s right. Hank pulled me out of that life and gave me a new start, a chance to do good with my life.”

“But you didn’t answer my question. Please, if you care about him, help me out, because my hope is swirling down the drain, and I have no one to turn to.”

“What do you need from me?” He asked, amused.

“Info and support, but here is not the place for us to have this conversation. You can meet me after you’re done with your shift and we know Henry is nowhere around. After I tell you what I have in mind, you can decide if I’m worthy of your help.”

Melina didn’t know how much Henry confided in him his problems, or if they even had that kind of relationship, but she couldn’t blame him if he distrusted her. Maybe in his eyes she caused all his friend problems, not to mention being dragged from his home across the ocean into that mess.

“Do we have an agreement, Eli?” But before he answered her, the radio attached to his vest beeped, and he turned his attention to it. He pressed a button and Darryl’s voice sounded.

“Eli, code red…” He let go of the button and his semblance darkened with concern as he stared at her.

“If you excuse me. I have to answer this…” The amused man from earlier was nowhere to be found, and it signaled to her something grave had happened.

“No, I’m not excusing myself. If this code red has something to do with Henry, I’m not leaving. Go on, answer him!” She hissed, sudden chills ran down her body and a sour taste invaded her mouth. “He’s waiting!” She urged, flashing fire at him.

“Darryl, Melina is here.” He let him know as soon as he pressed that thing. Too much for an ally.

“Great! We just got to Hank's place. Bring her over ASAP!”