310

310
Scorched Earth

The war room — as Lucas’s men had taken to calling it — was in fact a formal dining room of the unit’s “home.” The tasteful dining table where dinner parties were once served now creaked under laptops, surveillance photos printed out on five-cent printers from office supply stores, maps and weapons.

Val was sitting at the head of the table with her hand covering her meager baby bump. She had rejected Lucas’s advice to take a break, had in fact laughed bitterly at him.

"Rest?" she'd said. "Although I have a person threatening my daughter and in possession of all of my medical records? I don't think so."

And now, six hours after the meeting in the cemetery, every significant power Lucas had ever made an alliance with sat crowded in this room. Men who normally wouldn’t be caught dead in the same room sat literally shoulder to shoulder, bound together by a shared purpose.

For even in the world of the mafia, there were lines. And threatening an unborn child violated all of them.

“Gentlemen,” Lucas said, rising and putting down his wine glass to silence the muted chatter. “Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

An elderly gentleman with silver hair and keen eyes, Don Salvatore, waved a dismissive hand. ”You didn’t leave us much option, Caruso. But when we learned about the threat...” He looked at Val, softened a little bit. "No child should be targeted. Ever."

Sounds of approval ran through the room.

Lucas projected picture files onto the big screen at the end of the room. “These are the four council members who still remain. Judge Romano, Chief Greco, Senator Vitelli and Dr Russo”

Val scrutinized the faces on the screen. They looked so ordinary. That is what terrified her — they could be anybody. They were also upstanding citizens, community pillars. And underneath, they were monsters.

“It’s simple, really,” Lucas went on. "We hit all four simultaneously. Tomorrow night, 2200 hours. We take there every piece of evidence, every piece of document, every asset. And we ensure that they never come close to harming another child again.”

“You mean we kill them,” Don Salvatore replied bluntly.

“I am mean we terminate this,” Lucas fired back, no getting out of it. "Permanently."
Val cleared her throat. All eyes in the room.

“I want them alive,” she said, firmly. “I want them charged, arrested and their crimes exposed to the world. I hope they rot in jail, not become martyrs.”

“Let’s face it, Mrs. Caruso,” one of the younger men began, “dead men can’t do anything.”

“Men in supermax prisons can’t do it either,” Val shot back. "We do this right. We have the proof—" she waved at the piles of papers, "—from my mother and from Matteo and from our raids. We have federal agents who are not corrupt. We can actually stop this the proper way.’ ”

Lucas regarded her, his expression complicated. Pride, maybe. Or concern. Possibly both.

"She's right," he said finally. "We do this clean. We are not just taking down a trafficking ring — we’re dismantling the whole system that enabled this to happen. That requires evidence, testimony, trials."

Don Salvatore shrugged. "Your operation, your rules. But if they come after your family again, all bets are off.”

"Agreed," Lucas said coldly.

For two hours in the name of spit and polish. Four trusted captain-led sides. Coordinated assault times. Extraction plans. Legal teams standing by. Federal officers prepared to take him into custody.

Val watched all that go on, adding her money where she could and giving background from what documents of her mother’s version helped fill in the gaps. She felt oddly disconnected, as if she were watching herself from outside her body.

This was her life now. Rightly By Anticipating raids on trafficking rings while pregnant. We were sitting with the mafia bosses. Attempting to take down an operation that had ruined her mother.

"Val."

She looked up. Kennedy and Liv were behind her, standing in the doorway. They were sequestered into rooms at the temporary safe house, guards stationed in front of every door.

"Can we talk?" Alecia asked quietly.

Val said excuse me, and followed her sister into the sitting room. Kennedy and Liv hung back in the doorway, giving them room but keeping near.

"Are you okay?" Alecia inquired, and Val wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of questioning that.

"No," she said honestly. "I'm not okay. Someone threatened my baby. My grandfather tried — God knows what he tried to inject in me. And tomorrow we're hitting four different places at once: An' if there's so much as one glitch—"

"Hey." Alecia grabbed her hands. "Look at me."

Val locked eyes with her sister’s—so similar to her own, but not. Hazel instead of green. But their fear, that determination — it was the same.

“You’re the strongest person I know,” Alecia said fiercely. "You survived me. You survived Roberto. You lived through Father and what he planned against you. You made it through Bianca and Matteo, you even survived a real warehouse fire. You’re going to make it through this as well.”

"What if I don't?" Val's voice cracked. “And then in a time like now, where you say, ‘What if something happens to me and my daughter —”

“Your daughter’s not gonna end up being sick or anything,” Alecia interjected. "Because you have me. And Kennedy. And Liv. And Lucas and his small army. And half the mafias in Naples, as far as I could tell. Your daughter will be the most protected baby in Italy.”

Val found herself smiling, despite it all. “When did you become so hopeful?”

“Then I knew I didn’t want to lose my sister again,” Alecia said quietly. "We just started fixing things. “I’m not going to let some trafficking ring dipshits ruin that.”

Val slid Maria into an embrace and gripped her close. Alecia squeezed back with equal force.

“I’m frightened, Flick” Val confessed into her sister’s shoulder.

"I know," Alecia whispered. "Me too. But we're De Luca women. We don't break. We bend, we break, but we don’t snap.”

They drew back, and Val wiped at her eyes. Kennedy came in with tissues, and Liv managed to find tea somewhere.

"How are you two doing?" Val asked them.

Kennedy and Liv exchanged glances.

"We've been better," Kennedy admitted. "But we're okay. Shaken, but okay."

“I’m just glad I didn’t have to use the dumb self-defense moves I saw on YouTube.” Liv added, laughing halfheartedly.

They all laughed — not quite hysterically, but for sure it was real laughter.

Lucas appeared in the doorway. "Val? We need you for something."

She gave Alecia’s hand one last squeeze and then make her way back into the war room with Lucas.

Now on the screen was a grainy security photo of a man in medical scrubs.

“We tracked down who looked at your medicals,” Lucas stated in a controlled fury. "A clerk at the hospital. He got fifty grand for taking a pic of your file and faxing it to an encrypted number.”

"Have you found him?" Val asked.

"He's in custody. My custody," Lucas clarified. “He has provided us with the telephone number. We're tracing it now."

Sure enough, one of the tech specialists glanced up from his laptops. "Got it. The number is a burner phone, but we traced the purchase. It was purchased three days ago at an electronics store in the city. Security footage shows..." He pulled up a video.

Val leaned in, squinted at the grainy image of a man in a baseball cap buying a phone.

"Can you enhance that?" Luca asked.

The tech functioned for a few minutes, after which the image abruptly sharpened.

Val's blood ran cold.

She knew that profile. That walk.

"That's Dr. Russo," she said. "The pediatrician on the council."

Lucas's jaw clenched. “And so that’s where we start tomorrow. With him."

\--

Val awoke to find Luca awake and staring at the ceiling.
"Couldn't sleep?" she asked, her voice rough.

“Too much to contemplate,” he conceded.

She rolled on her side, contemplated his face in the faint dawn light. "Having second thoughts?"

"About the raids? No." He glanced at her. "About bringing you here. About what it's cost you. Around how much the remaining cost might be.”

Val reached out, stroking his face. “Luca Caruso, You didn’t bring me into this world. My father did when he cut his deal with you. You just … you made it tolerable. More than bearable."

“I’m going to finish this today,” Lucas said, voice harsh with the threat. "Whatever it takes. They threatened our daughter. They don’t just get to walk away from that.”

“Today we end this,” Val corrected. "Together."

They paused there one more moment, stealing peace before the storm.

Then Luca's phone buzzed. A message from his head of security: ‘All teams ready. Ready when you are.’

Lucas showed Val the message. She nodded.

“Let’s go finish this,” she said.

\---

There was pandemonium in the safe house. Men with weapons checking the inventory, inspecting blueprints, coordinating with each team.

Val was seated in their command center, a room crowded with monitors featuring feeds from each of the raid locations. Lucas had made one last attempt to persuade her to stay behind, and she'd glared at him as if her stare alone could melt steel.

"I'm coordinating," she said firmly. “I’m not battling, I’m not going out there in the field. But I'm seeing this through."

He had granted the request, but placed at her side his most reliable guard with instructions to shield her with his own life.

Alecia walked in, wearing dark jeans and a sensible sweater. "I want to help."

“No way,” Val and Lucas murmured at the same time.

“I’m not requesting to go in the field,” Alecia corrected. "But I can help here. I can track feeds, share out information. Please. Let me do something."

Val glanced at Lucas, who sighed. "Fine. But you stay in this room. You are not leaving, you are not opening the door for anyone but me or Val. Understood?"

"Understood," Alecia agreed.

Now Kennedy and Liv were being evacuated to Elena’s life across town—her safehouse, a place the rest of the organization didn’t know about.

"Don't worry, I'll look out for them," said Elena, with a careful squeeze for Val. “Take care of yourself and that baby.”

"I will," Val promised.

Afternoon turned to evening and the teams began to leave. I am talking four separate convoys, going to four locations in Naples.

Lucas stuck around until the final hours, obsessing over everything.

Finally, he came to Val. She rose and he drew her into his arms, embracing her as though she might slip between his fingers like water.

“I love you,” he murmured into her hair. "You and our daughter. Everything I do, it’s for you.”

"I know," Val whispered back. "Come back to me."

"Always," he promised.

He kissed her, long and fervent, then drew away.

"Alecia," he called. "Keep her safe."

“With all my life,” said Alecia solemnly.

Now Lucas was down and Val stood alone, his eyes on the monitors as four groups began to slide into position.

Her phone buzzed. A message from Luca: ‘First target is in team Alpha’s sights. Judge Romano's residence.’

Val took a deep breath, sitting in the chair. Alecia sat by her, and they put their hands together.
"Here we go," Val murmured.

And then the raids launched on the screens.