Chapter 2 - The Shadow over Brooklyn
The black sedan disappeared into the blinding snowstorm down 5th Avenue, but the tire tracks remained etched into the slush like a fresh trail left by a predator.
Marco brought Emma a warm turkey club sandwich and a cup of hot chocolate. She sat at my corner booth, her small hands wrapped tightly around the porcelain mug, her knuckles white from the cold and fear.
She ate in desperate, quiet bites, tears silently tracking through the dried salt on her cheeks.
"Where did you last see your mother, Emma?" I asked, setting my leather gloved hands flat on the table, keeping my voice as gentle as a man who traded in blood and iron could manage.
"At the train station," she whispered, swallowing hard. "A man with a dragon tattoo on his neck pushed Mommy into a black van. Mommy shoved me into the crowd and yelled at me to run to the place with the red awnings. She gave me her last four dollars."
A dragon tattoo on the neck.
I felt a cold rage settle into my bones, sharper and more dangerous than the November frost outside.
"Victor Vance," Marco muttered beside me, his hand dropping naturally to the sidearm concealed under his wool coat. "The Russian syndicate's lead fixer in Queens."
"The Vance syndicate operates out of the dockyards in Red Hook," I said quietly, my dark eyes locked on Emma's small face. "They've been trying to push their fentanyl shipments through my shipping lanes for six months. They knew who her mother was."
"Why her mother, Boss?" Marco asked.
I reached out, gently touching the faded blue hat on Emma's head. "Because her mother works at the maritime customs office. I recognize the emblem on the lapel pin tucked into Emma's gray coat pocket."
Emma looked up at me, her big hazel eyes wide with a combination of hope and sheer terror. "Are you a good man?"
May you like
I looked down at the blood-stained hands that had built the Moretti empire from the ashes of New York's underworld.
"No, little one," I said softly, standing up and pulling my long black coat tight around my shoulders. "I am not a good man. But the men who took your mother are far worse... and they just committed a fatal mistake in my city."
