Chapter 11 - The Railyard at 14th Street|
The 14th Street railyard was a graveyard of rusted boxcars, rotting wooden ties, and yellow sodium lights swinging wildly in the freezing rain wind.
Four black SUVs sat idling in a semi-circle near an abandoned grain silo. Their high beams cut through the downpour, illuminating the muddy gravel in front of them.
Nico pulled his sedan to a stop fifty yards away. Dante sat in the passenger seat with a short-barreled shotgun resting across his knees. Three more Valenti vehicles pulled up behind them, their doors swinging open as twelve armed men stepped out into the dark.
In the center of the railyard, standing under the bright glare of the SUV headlights, stood Walter Brandt.
Beside him, two heavy-set enforcers held a man bound to a metal chair, a burlap sack pulled over his head.
Nico stepped out of his car, his long overcoat flapping in the wind, his hands tucked loosely into his pockets.
"You're late, Valenti!" Walter shouted over the sound of the rain. "Where are my grandchildren?"
Nico walked forward until he stood twenty feet from the old man.
"They're somewhere you'll never find them, Walter," Nico said, his voice carrying clearly over the storm.
Walter’s face twisted in rage. He gestured to his enforcers, and one of them yanked the burlap sack off the bound man's head.
Paulie Rizzo blinked painfully against the bright headlights, his mouth bloody, his eye swollen shut.
"Boss..." Paulie croaked, coughing up dark blood onto his shirt. "I'm sorry, Nico... I was trying to get Eleanor out..."
"Shut up, Paulie!" Walter spat, kicking the base of the chair. He looked back at Nico. "Hand over the hard drive and the nanny, or Paulie dies right here!"
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Nico didn't flinch. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the small black hard drive, holding it up in the bright light.
"You mean this hard drive?" Nico asked softly. "The one with the wire transfers to your hitmen?"
