Page 13 of No Mistakes (No Mercy #2)

ANT

The interrogation went on for hours, switching between Carter and Gunnar doing the questioning.

I stay in the corner, arms folded, leaning against the concrete wall as our guy struggled to get through another round of answers.

We knew it was time to stop with the instruments when he started passing out at the sight of them. We aren’t going to get anywhere with his head swinging like a carousel ride.

It didn’t take long for him to break down when we pulled the photo out of his wallet, and I was able to find the name and address of the woman in the photo. Once we mentioned we found his daughter, it was like his mouth was a loose cannon, firing everything he had inside.

The door at the top of the stairs opens, flooding the corridor behind us with natural light.

Axel rounds the corner, his jaw clenched as he takes the scene in, but he doesn’t flinch at the sight of the blood; instead, he owns it, like this is the only life he’s ever known.

He moves around the room slowly, stopping to stand behind the chair.

Resting his hands on the back, he leans forward, whispering something in the man's ear, but not loud enough for us to make out what is said.

Axel turns his gaze to us, his eyes lingering on us one by one as he examines the room, his look cold and calculated, like the leader he was born to be.

I look across from me to see Carter standing to attention, his arms linked behind his back, legs slightly apart, with his head held high. Blood streaks his face, with some of it drying into the roots of his blond hair, tinting strands a dull pink.

Gunnar stands next to him, looking less put together as he slouches against the wall, his hands on his knees. His skin’s pale, sweat lining his forehead, breathing heavy. Mr Bonetti’s blood coats his hands and shirt, evidence of the initiation process we’ve all had to pass at some point.

Axel’s silence stretches through the room, making the walls feel as if they’re closing in on us while we wait for his next move. No one speaks until he finally lifts his hand and gestures with two fingers towards Carter.

“Talk.”

Carter nods once, taking a step forward. “Marco arranged the job. He’s the one who instructed Eva’s company to follow me, to see what we were into. Our movements, who we met with…. everything.”

I shift against the wall, feeling the broken chunks of concrete scratch my skin beneath the shirt.

Axel doesn’t move, not even a flinch as he hears the update. “So he planted her?” He questions.

“Not exactly,” Carter says. “He wanted them to believe it was just a PI gig. Keep it clean, off-grid. They didn’t know it was Marco when they sent her. Turns out he wasn’t as stupid as we thought. He used an alias to book the job.”

I feel the air shift around us, and I see a flicker of anger flash behind Axel’s eyes. Gunnar clears his throat, pushing himself off the wall before stepping forward to stand in line with Carter. “It gets worse. Marco wasn’t acting alone.”

Axel’s gaze slices over. “Name?”

“He didn’t give one,” Carter says. “But he said it was someone close. Someone on the inside was feeding him information for a while, long before Eva came along.”

My stomach turns. I know for a fact we cleaned house twice, making sure we knew everyone’s background. And if anyone new entered, they were swiftly checked and cleared. If there is still a snake among us, they’re smart enough to play dumb.

Carter shifts, dragging my attention back to him.

“Chicago is now split between three families. One is running guns out of the West Loop and Little Italy. Another family is in control of the drug routes up north. And Marco’s family?

” He takes a moment to pause, like it physically pains him to say it.

“He’s running girls. Full-blown sex trafficking ring based out of the South Side. ”

Axel’s head drops, as if what he’s hearing can’t be true.

“It doesn’t stop there,” Carter says. “He’s scheduled to have a meeting in Vegas, meeting buyers and distributors in the next week.”

“It’s big. It might be our shot to cut them off at the source. Start taking back control." Gunnar adds.

A low hum fills the back of my head, while something crawls under my skin like static. I know this feeling all too well. I press my spine deeper into the wall, but it doesn’t ground me, not enough, as my vision starts to blur.

The words replay over and over in my head, mixing together.

Betrayal, Vegas, Chicago… Trafficking.

All of a sudden, it’s like all the air in the room has been sucked out, and my body goes cold. My fingers twitch against my bicep, the old urge to dig my nails into my palm creeping up, but I can’t do that here, not now.

I rest my head against the wall, closing my eyes while I focus on my breathing.

In. Out…One. Two. Three.

I feel a faint buzz against my leg as my phone informs me of a message, but I ignore it. The noise of people talking around me slowly comes back into focus, just as I feel it again.

Another short vibration pulses against my leg as if it’s telling me to snap out of this spiral. I reach down, slowly pulling the phone out with shaky fingers.

I stare at the name flashing on my screen as it yanks me out of the concrete haze I was just in.

It shouldn’t affect me this much, but it does. She always does.

Mandy.

I take a deep breath, opening the message.

Mandy: I need your help, can I meet you?

I place my phone back into my pocket, making a mental note to reply to her as soon as we’re done here.

Carter paces the room, tossing out ideas like his life depends on it.

“If we move on Marco’s Vegas meet, we can cut off his supply, and put pressure on whoever is running the routes in Chicago.

The only issue is, we don’t know who his inside source is.

We can’t risk showing our hand too early; we need surveillance. ”

Control edges through Axel’s tone as his gaze sharpens, “You’re right, we can’t go into this blind. We need to know every little detail. Who the other families are, who is working on the inside, where the meeting is taking place, and what time.”

“I’ll get in touch with some of my guys,” Carter says. “There are still a few who owe me.”

Axel gives a small nod of approval. “Fine, but no one outside of this room hears about the Vegas meeting. If anyone from Marco’s side smells us coming, they’ll vanish. They would have heard about his death by now, and we can’t risk it.”

Axel turns towards me. “Ant, you’re with me.”

I give him a small nod, acknowledging his instructions.

He quickly wraps up the meeting, ordering Gunnar and Carter to clean up, and to get rid of Mr Bonetti quickly and quietly.

He leaves the room, and I use the opportunity to pull my phone out, replying to Mandy.

Me: Name a time and place.

I don’t even have time to close my phone before she responds.

Mandy: XtremeCraze - Foxboro @ 8pm tonight.

I check the time to see it’s now eleven thirty in the morning. We’ve been at this all night and I’m relieved the interrogation has finally come to an end.

I slide the phone back into my pocket for the final time, unsure if I’m walking into another interrogation, or something worse.