“I don’t know, Carlo. I don’t know.”
“You meet somebody?”
Luca swiveled at the waist to gape at Carlo. “What? No! Why’d you ask that?”
Carlo smirked. “Two things I know can make any man rethink his life. Death or a woman. Somehow, I don’t think imminent death would have you so inside out.”
“Forget about it, Carlo. You’re an arrogant ass. You don’t know shit.”
“Whatever you say, bro.”
oOo
On most Sunday nights, the shipping division of Pagano Brothers Shipping ran a skeleton third shift, so the lot was nearly empty. At some distance from the building, three big, black Lincoln Navigators and a black Corvette were parked in a row—the Navigators would be Uncle Ben, Uncle Lorrie, and Nick. The ‘Vette was Fred’s. They parked away from the building to guard the structure against damage from potential car bombs.
Luca liked the harbor at night. All the fishing boats and the tourist cruisers, the sailboats and speedboats of the locals and summer people—everything was docked, and the sound of all those boats floating quietly in their moorings was among the most peaceful Luca knew.
He even liked the smell, strongly fishy but somehow still homey. And the lights, the way they shimmered on the water.
The whole vista gave him a sense of peace. He straddled his Duc, on the edge of the lot, and took it in, taking what peace he could before he went in to meet with the Uncles.
The door to the administrative part of the building was locked, but Uncle Ben’s driver opened it and held it for him.
“Hey, Luca. You can go on in.”
“Thanks, Bobbo.”
He knocked on the burled walnut double doors anyway, and Uncle Lorrie opened it. He shook Luca’s hand. “Come on in, nephew. Have a seat.”
Uncle Ben was behind his expansive desk. Fred and Nick sat on a red leather sofa just to the side of the room.
Yeah, this was going to suck. Whatever it was, it was going to suck.
Luca nodded at Fred and Nick, shook Uncle Ben’s hand, and took a seat in a red leather armchair facing the desk, and Uncle Lorrie sat in a similar chair at his side.
“Thank you, Luca, for joining us. We won’t keep you long. It’s Sunday, and your Aunt Angie doesn’t like me working on Sunday. It’s time to pay your debt.”
“I assumed as much. Sir.”
Uncle Ben considered him over his folded hands. His gold wedding band had a diamond inlay, and it glinted in the light from his shaded desk lamp. “I think you met Fred’s nephew today. Anthony.”
“The kid who wants to learn to fight? Yeah.” He turned and looked at Fred. “He introduced himself at the Corner. I told him I’d see what he’s got and try to hook him up with a trainer.”
“You’ll train him, Luca.”
He swiveled back to his Uncle. “All respect, Uncle, but I don’t have that kind of time. It’s not something you can do a couple hours a couple nights a week.”
“You’ll make the time. This is not a request.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t understand. When did the Paganos get involved in the fights? Why is this kid so important?” He turned back to Fred. “No disrespect.”
“None taken,” Fred replied and nodded toward Uncle Ben. Luca sat straight in his seat again.
“Fred speaks for himself. I’m feeling disrespected.” Luca swallowed at that and dropped his eyes. Disrespecting the Uncles was a good way to lose a body part. “You know the way of this, Luca. And we decide what answers you need. But because we need your investment in this arrangement, and I don’t want to dick around here, I’ll give you some answers. Through some business dealings you don’t need to concern yourself with, we are now involved in the fights. This mixed martial arts fighting that you were part of. We sponsor a light heavyweight, Timmy Dolan, and a featherweight, Darron Gentry. It’s been brought to our attention that fights are being fixed. You know how we feel about cheats. So we want it stopped. We need someone we can trust, someone with family ties and interests as well as experience and expertise, in the thick. That, nephew, is you.”
Christ. That shit would get him killed for sure. There was huge bank in fixed fights, and the guys fixing them didn’t take kindly to rats. “You want me undercover? Uncle, I’m not a detective. I don’t know shit about how that works.”
“You’re going to train Anthony and get in there, keep your eyes and ears open. If we want you to do more than that, we’ll let you know. We’ll get him some fights. You just get him ready. This is serious for him, so train him straight. Train him to win.”