Vito

3 - Back Together

Me and Michael stepped out of our dodge challenger, taking in the fresh early morning air. It was a beautiful morning in St. Louis. Nothing like a blindingly bright sun to get the juices flowing. I had spent almost the entire night putting things in place and this was the result. Us standing in front of a nondescript, small house isolated behind some trees. It was a way's off from other civilization, smack in the middle of a forest-like area, complete with large trees and unkept underbrush. The house seemed almost as out of place as our car, a makeshift path led up to it, smack in the middle of nature's mercy.

I idly wondered if Michael would have to be shooting bears instead of humans today, the thought bringing out a chuckle that I masked into a cough. Michael looked at me quizzically sideways. Unlike me, he had gone to sleep right after the meeting last night (or well early morning). He seemed as ready as always, attired in the usual white polo with black jeans this time around, on full alert.

I shook my head, indicating it was nothing. We started down the path to the house, doing a brief look-around to make sure there wasn't a sniper pointed at us out of view. Yea, this was the type of guy you had to actually check for these types of things.

I sighed, preparing to knock on the door. We had gotten to the door without any confrontation, not a good sign. Just as I was about to make contact with the door, it swung open and I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun. I had looked death in the eyes so much, I barely even flinched.

"Jonah. It's me, Vito." I offered, not exactly raising my hands in surrender but taking on a reasoning tone.

Jonah scoffed. "That makes me want to pull the trigger more, fucker." He said, cocking the gun.

"Stop with the shit, Jonah!" Michael commanded, pulling out his own firearm and angling it at him.

I sighed heavily. "Jonah, we come in peace. We want to discuss something very important."

"Funny, because last time I saw you I told you if you enter my sights again I'll kill you." Jonah said slowly, pausing to motion at the gun with a chuckle before adding, "and you're very much in my sights right now."

"Are you really still holding a grudge? It was just a girl Jonah, you pass forty more on a walk downtown." I replied, genuinely concerned with this guy's priorities.

Jonah had been a childhood friend of ours, coming up through the same school as us we had gotten pretty close. We especially meshed well because he came from a mercenary family, making us relate a bit to each other. That had all amounted to shit however, when a girl he was talking to in the 11th grade, decided Vito Colt was a better "fit" than him. I mean, who could blame her? And I was a hormonal teen, of course I wasn't going to reject her advances. Now, even as the chief adminstrative officer's personal mercenary/bodyguard it seemed to still linger on his mind to this day.

"Just a girl? She was a once in a lifetime beauty, Vito. And you stole her, worked some magic on her even though you had so many other choices." He ranted on, waving his gun as he did. I half expected it to go off with all of the movement.

"What do you want me to say, Jonah? Sorry a girl years ago wanted me and not you?" 

He growled, clearly not liking the wording. He pressed the cold metal into my skull. Michael was starting to get real antsy to our left, likely ready to blow his head off. Shit was getting hectic.

"Jonah. I come with information on a threat to your boss. Put your personal feelings to the side and listen to what I have to say."

This gave him pause. If there was one thing that outweighed even his clearly messed up priorities, it was loyalty. The man was loyal to a fault. The type of loyal person you can send on a suicide mission with no real purpose and he'd go, tail wagging.