The Gambler(21)

     



 

She got her toy and pulled up the shit with the codes that she'd shown  him before. Then she pointed from her screen to his and back again, as  if willing him to get what she was saying.

"What you got there little Jenna?" Gramps came and stood over her. The  others weren't saying anything, just staring at her. He guessed they too  had been blown away by her typing skills. He wondered if anyone else  knew about that?

Probably not, some sick fuck somewhere would've had her sequestered in a  lab by now if they had. There's no way that shit was the norm, he'd  have to look it up in the Guinness book of records, but he was pretty  sure she had whoever was at the top beat by a couple hundred miles.





Gramps was munching away on his sandwich and looking from one screen to the next.

"That where she live Jenna?" Andros guessed it was, because she smiled and nodded her head at the old man.

"And what's this here Jenna?"

He pointed at the code of numbers and letters that Andros had been  trying to figure out. She got up from his lap and walked over to the  calendar he kept on the wall. Walking back to the desk, she found a pen  and walked back over. She found a date on the page and circled it before  once again drawing a target.

He finally got it; the senator was going to be killed on that date. The  question now was, with the Bonatas gone was the hit still open? And how  the fuck did Jenna know about this shit?

He should've cut off Bonata's balls.

She crawled back into his lap and after tapping the cage to make her  butterflies take flight, picked up her toy and went back to her game.





Chapter 18





He nodded at Garrett to go see what date she'd chosen. His answer was  just a few days away. He still didn't know who this woman was and what  part she played in Jenna's life, or why she'd been targeted. Then he  remembered that they'd brought all of Bonata's shit from the hotel back  with them.

He ordered the guys to haul it all in to see what they would find, if  anything, so he could put this shit behind him and move on with his  life. He needed to go have a quick word with the mother without his  little flower knowing too, but he was a bit reticent to leave her with  gramps; who knows what the fuck he'd teach her next.

In the end, he decided to risk it after a strict warning, which the old man ignored.

"Gramps no more of your crap, I don't want to spend the next three months trying to teach my future wife not to say that shit."

The old man waved him off and asked Jenna to teach him how to play her  game. He had one more stop to make, before going to face the woman that  he was giving more and more thought of late, to strangling. How was it  that her daughter knew about hits and shit?

He went to the kitchen first to hunt down Willie before he forgot what  it was he wanted taken care of in all the fuckery that had become his  life. "Willie, I need someone to put a mesh covering under the glass in  the conservatory. Then I need you to find me the best place to buy  butterflies."

"Uh how many were you thinking sir?"

"A thousand ought to do it for now."

"Uh, I think that might be a bit much sir, why don't we … ? A thousand it is sir, anything else?"

"Yeah, make sure they're the best and make sure whoever you find can have the mesh up no later than two days from now."

He knew the man would do what he asked so he didn't hang around after giving his orders.





The conservatory. He hadn't been back there since he bought the place,  though it was the reason he'd bought it in the first place. He'd grown  up not too far from here, and Alice had been obsessed with the place.  Something about the old world charm in the architecture had drawn her  in.

She'd make him drive out here most evenings and sit in the car just  gazing at it. He could see the dreams forming in her eyes as she told  him what she would do with it if it were hers.

He always knew that one day he'd get it for her, no matter what it took.  Then one day they'd taken a tour and she'd seen the conservatory and  fallen madly in love. She loved anything to do with nature. Gardens and  butterflies, those had been her favorites.         

     



 

He'd drawn up plans for the day he could buy the place, sometime after  college maybe. He'd known even then that his sister would always be a  part of his life. That no matter what road he took, she'd be there with  him.

Unless she got married and had a family of her own, but even then he  knew he would've been a part her life always, since he didn't trust  anyone else to care for her.

Now he had someone else for whom to build a habitat for butterflies,  because he had no doubt that they'd now become a part of his future  wife's life.

He switched gears as he approached the door where the mother was being  held under lock and key. He's already replaced Vito with someone else,  since he'd been on her for the last twenty-four hours. He nodded to the  new guy and opened the door.





She was having her breakfast and watching TV it looked like; and not  looking too worried about her kid if you asked him. She looked a little  wary at his presence, as he walked into the room and closed the door. He  didn't trust himself around her too long, so he got right to it.

"How much time did she spend around Bonata and his men?"

"I already told you since she was a teenager."

"That's not what I meant, you said she did jobs for them, how often and where were these jobs done?"

"Well, I'm not sure how often, I didn't keep track; a couple days a  week, sometimes more. My husband told me they took her to a room in  Alphonso's place and set her up, and then usually left her to it until  she was done and they had what they wanted."

"So she was left alone in a strange room for hours."

"It wasn't like that, the men were … they were a little afraid of her I  think. She had the sight." She crossed herself and he almost shot her  then and there.

"What do you mean?"

"I told you; they thought she could see things and so they spent as  little time with her as possible. I thought that was for the best, since  she did better when she was alone."

She looked at him as if he were a snake about to strike; he figured she  could feel the hate coming off of him. He didn't even want to think  about the young girl being left in a room all alone for hours, doing who  knows what the fuck.

"Did she ever not want to do the things they asked of her?"

"Well yes, sometimes."

"And?"

"Well, we figured she was just having an off day, she always came around  in the end." That was his fucking limit. He had her by the throat  before she even saw him move.

"You greedy conniving bitch, you sold your daughter out to the highest  bidder for a few pennies. The only reason you're still breathing is  because of her. But guess what, she hasn't asked for you once today and  if two more days go by with no mention of you, I'm gonna bury you in the  fucking backyard."

"It wasn't like that … "

He threw her back on the chair and walked out, pissed way the fuck off.  He thought it best not to pay her another one of those visits unless it  was to end her; because each time he saw her, he hated her guts more. Of  everyone involved, he held her most responsible. She was her mother, it  was her duty to shield and protect. Instead it seemed all she did was  exploit and abuse. It burned a hole in his gut that he couldn't just end  the bitch.





By the time he made it back to the home office, his men had started  setting up the computers and shit. There were boxes of files scattered  all over the floor. Gramps and Jenna were bent over her toy doing who  knows what. At least she didn't seem to have learned any new words.

"Fuck, I lost." Well shit. Of course gramps high fived her for getting  her new word right, and he could just see his sweet little flower going  out the window with too much exposure to the old coot.



"Gramps, I'll send you home and let the chips fall where they may. If  there're any loose ends out there from the Bonata hit and they come  looking for you, oh well." The old man knew he was full of shit and just  ignored him.

He decided to ignore the two of them and see what he could find in the  mountain of shit they had to go through. The files were full of  information on Bonata's holdings and his dealings. He wasn't much  interested in those, because he was pretty sure the other families were  already picking over that carcass.         

     



 

He was looking for anything that had to do with Jenna, any link that  could tie back to her in anyway. He didn't want any of the new fucks  coming after her to use as a guinea pig, he'd shed enough blood for the  fucking year.

When he didn't find anything on her, or the senator, he next tried to  tackle the computer. They had it set up and hooked up to the net, but  that was as far as they could go. The shit was locked, and there was no  way to get in.

"Boss maybe your Jenna knows." She picked her head up at the mention of  her name and her eyes landed on the monstrosity that the men had set up  on the little table. He'd wanted to keep her out of it as much as  possible, but that seemed like a pipe dream now.