“And who is he?”
“Spook. Shadow. Liquidator.” Nelson licked his lips. “That’s what they… called him. A Liquidator. Secret Service is the… trigger. He’s the bullet.”
The air in the warehouse thickened with tension. Hands strayed toward concealed weapons as the trouble boys reassessed me with apprehensive glances and uneasy mutters. Flacco cut them off with a gesture. He leaned in closer to Nelson.
“Continue.”
Sweat slid down Nelson’s defeated face. “He’s top-ranked. Above… my pay grade. I’m just… an observer. They pay me to watch and… report.” His voice lowered to a mumble. “I’m just an observer. I provide intel, that’s all. Just an observer… ”
“You’re a mole.” Moe seized Nelson by the jaw. “Just a low-down, dirty little rat. How many of you vermin are there? How many, you sonovabitch?”
Nelson winced. “Hundreds. We were stationed… all around New Haven. Service can only manage to smuggle in a couple of agents at a time, who recruit volunteers from the inside.” His good eye swiveled my direction. The expression of dread intensified, as though my presence was more terrifying than his current predicament. “He was one of them. He was the key to everything. Most of us were recruited by an agent named Frankie Newman. We were stationed in all parts of the Haven, ready to seize control of its most vulnerable assets when the time came… ” Nelson’s eyelids drooped as he tilted on his precarious perch.
Moe snapped his fingers under Nelson’s nose. “What time? What the hell was supposed to happen?”
Nelson gave a dizzy shake of his head. “The end. The Liquidator was supposed to help Frankie access the Command Hub. Open up a way for the Service to enter the Haven in force. It was all set up. Only the Liquidator didn’t follow the directives. Word is he turned on Newman and took him out. Everything fell apart. Everybody’s spooked. No one is in charge anymore. The rest of the observers have gone to ground.” His head dropped. “It didn’t help. We’re being picked off, one by one.”
“Hold on.” Until then I had silently observed, but I took a step closer. “You saying all the moles are being rooted out? By who?”
“Don’t know.” Nelson flinched when he met my gaze. “Thought it was you.”
More mutters rippled through Moe’s crew. They weren’t as cool as when I first entered the warehouse. The whole lot of them looked at me as if I’d just grown horns and breathed fire while twirling a pitchfork. Even Electra eyed me as if she saw a new person, although her look was more appraising than nervous.
I stepped closer, allowing the reputation of my former self to quell Nelson even further. “Tell us about Natalie. Don’t skip any details, or what you’ve been through will be a cool dip in the pool compared to what I’ll do.”
Nelson’s lips quivered. “Look, all I know is she’s supposed to bring you in. What you did, how you defied the SS — it’s never been done before. The talk is already spreading. They’re desperate to contain the situation. You’re a dead man, you know that? You can’t just walk away from these guys.”
I gave him my best mirthless grin. “Let me be the judge of that. You just tell me what I wanna know. Natalie — where is she? Who’s she working with? How many of them are there?”
Nelson cringed and practically blubbered when I leaned over him. “It’s a standard five-man crew. Everyone recruited from the inside except the agent. A techie, a sniper, and some muscle. I don’t know where they are, I swear. I’m just an observer. Just an observer… ”
“Yeah, you keep saying that.” I squinted at him as I took a last drag of my gasper.
Moe gave me a calculating glance. “I heard some chatter about what went down at Beck’s mansion a while back. Heard the place blew up. Same night something weird went down in the Beehive. Command tried to cover it up, but people talk. Something about an attempted takeover. That’s what this gink is gabbing about?”
“Yeah. I kinda stumbled into that gonzo plan to shut the Haven down.”
“And you stopped it?”
“Yeah. I stopped it.”
Moe’s face was unreadable. “You’ve proved to be an enigma so far, but now everything I’ve heard about you is starting to come together. So you’re a deserter from the Secret Service. I don’t know if that makes you the most dangerous man I’ve ever met, or the biggest target I’ve ever seen.”
I shrugged. “Trying to figure it out myself.”
His eyes grew hard. “So then. Sophia’s murder — that wasn’t aimed at me at all. It was aimed at you.”
“Yeah. The killer’s name is Natalie, my old partner from the Service. Seems she used killing my lovers as a way of controlling me in the past. I never meant to get Sophia involved in this. I’m sorry, Flacco.”
He sighed and shook his head. “I told you before — I don’t blame you for her death. I blame the person who did the killing. This… Natalie. I want her dead.” His jaw tightened. “I want blood for blood. Her and anyone else involved.”
“You might not want this, Flacco. You tangle with the Service, you lose.”
“Maybe that’s true outside of New Haven. Not inside. This is my city, Mick. And Sophia was my blood. I’m not afraid of taking on those Service thugs. I’d like to think you feel the same.”
“You’d be right. Sophia wasn’t the only one killed on account of this grudge match. I’m not out ‘till it’s finished. I owe a lot to the SS right now, and I’m gonna pay them back with interest.”
Moe nodded. “I’ll be working things out on my end. You follow whatever leads you got. We’ll stay in touch. Just remember: when it goes down, I wanna be there for the fall. I want my pound of flesh for Sophia.”
“I understand. What I’ll do is—”
“Hey Moe.” No-Nose Nate approached, dragging a very frightened and familiar figure with him. “Looky what I got. Caught her snooping around the door.”
I tilted my Bogart back and sighed. “Let her go, Nate. She’s with me.”
“You got time to skate on the job?” Nate grinned. “Not that I blame you. A piece of ass like this is hard to find.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re talking about a lady, Nate. Get that through your head, or I’ll put something else through it.”
Nate’s smile slipped. His face reddened as he caught the amused glances of the crew. He opened his mouth for a retort, but fortunately was spared the embarrassment when Moe cut him off with a wave of his hand.
“A friend of Mick’s is a friend of ours.” Removing his Bogart, he took Natasha’s hand and kissed it. “I apologize for your rough treatment. Merely a precaution.”
I stepped closer to Natasha. “I told you we’d be right back. You should have stayed with Maxine.”
Natasha looked at the collective crew of Borgata. “I just wanted to see what was taking you—” Her hand drifted to her mouth when she noticed Nelson in all of his unspectacular glory. “Oh.”
Moe followed her gaze. “You don’t need to see this, young lady. An unfortunate side of the business, I’m afraid. Benny, why don’t you escort her back to the car?”
“Sure thing, Uncle.” He gently placed a hand on Natasha’s shoulder.
Her eyes were wide as she was led away. I averted my gaze, surprised at the guilt I felt. I couldn’t help but think she saw me in a different light since observing me in my element. For the first time she saw the other side of my world. A world much uglier than the one she was used to.
Moe watched them leave. “The girl. She looks familiar.”
“Her name’s Natasha Luzzatti.”
“Ah, yes. Luzzatti’s daughter. All grown up now. I met Luzzatti once.”