Snake in the Grass - Rewrite

Chapter 8

I should have known that the bad feeling in my gut the next day meant something, but I just put it down to too much spicy Chinese food the night before.

I had been working in my office all day, thinking about the impending bust, when John D'Angelo came in.

"Mr Callipari wants to see you. Now." he said in his usual curt voice.

"He say what he wanted me for?" I asked as I put on my jacket.

"Nope. Now come on, I haven't got all day and neither does he."

Jeez, touchy, I thought as he led me out of the room and to the car. But then again, his brother was just killed yesterday.

As he drove me towards the docks, I told him I was sorry about Sal.

"Nothin' to be sorry about. He was a dog, dogs deserve to die. End of story."

"Fair enough," I said uneasily.

We walked towards the warehouse that housed the old man's shipping office. As we approached the door, the bad feeling in my gut seemed to intensify.

Suddenly, just as we were inside, John grabbed me by the arm and shoved me against the wall, bending my arm behind my back as he did so.

"John, what the hell....." I said, but I shut up quick as he took my gun. He twisted me back around so I was facing him and put the barrel against my temple.

"Shut the fuck up or I'll blow your brains out" he whispered.

Next thing, a figure appeared from the shadows.

"Search him, John. And I mean everywhere" Callipari said as he walked towards me.

D'Angelo began to frisk me, taking out my wallet and phone and checking every part of them. Soon enough, he stopped at my watch; ripping it apart, he found the wire.

"You were right, Don Callipari, it was him. How'd you know he had this?" John said, throwing the watch on the ground.

"Oh, a simple matter of having a federal cop on the payroll, John. It's amazing what you can do with the right friends."

I was stuffed. I knew then there was no hope of surviving.

"John, beat the shit out of this piece of scum. Then call one of our button men, someone who will do a good job with the gun." Callipari gave this order as casually as if he was ordering a pizza.

................................................................................................................................

So this is where we left off - I was on my knees, ready to die, with Callipari walking to the door.

I felt something wet run down my leg, and I realised I had pissed my pants with fear.

The gun clicked as the button man cocked it....then something weird happened.

"Salvatore Callipari, you're under arrest for multiple counts of state and federal crime, most recently the murder of Sal D'Angelo and the attempted murder of a police officer"

The man who just a second ago had a gun to my head now had it pointed at Callipari and D'Angelo and was reading them their rights.

The man helped me to my feet and introduced himself as federal agent Jock Murphy.

"I've been undercover in the family for two years," Murphy said.

"I was assigned to help you if anything went wrong, but I only just got the word about the arrest today when Kelly contacted me. The rest of the guys will be here in two minutes."

"You'll be dead by then, you bastardos!" Callipari yelled in rage. Both he and D'Angelo pulled their guns, with D'Angelo holding both his and mine, and began shooting.

Murphy and I ducked for cover behind some oil drums and he threw me his spare gun. We began shooting as well, knowing that this was now life or death.

As we were both putting a new clip in our guns, the doors burst open and all the other cops on the operation crammed in, led by Red Kelly and Jack McKenna, with 10 yells of "POLICE! DON'T MOVE!" echoing throughout the place.

D'Angelo tried to take a shot, but McKenna took him out with a shot to the head.

Callipari took two quick shots of his own, which hit Kelly in the arm and one of the feds in the gut. While the others gathered around to help them, Callipari made a run for it, with me following.

I caught up with him in the alley between two of the warehouses, which ended in a dead-end.

"Well, Callipari. It's all come down to this, hasn't it?" I said, slowly approaching him.

"You bastard! You might arrest me, but you'll never be rid of me!" he said, his voice a threatening whisper.

"I will personally make sure someone takes out your whole family! Your bitch of a mother, your stupid sister, her husband, her kids and even your wife!"

I walked up closer to him until I was a couple of meters away, putting my hand to my belt.

"Oh, but see, that's the thing Salvatore...." I slowly said, as I pulled my gun from my belt and pointing it at his face.

"I have no intention of arresting you."

The old man's eyes popped in his head as he registered these words.

"You're not gonna kill me! You don't have the balls to......"

Before he could finish, I fired, putting a bullet in his leg. He collapsed to the ground, yelling in pain.

"I think they're this way!" I heard a voice yell, as running footsteps soon began heading our way.

I walked a little closer, but still not right up close, pointing my gun at Callipari's chest.

"Remember my name, and my father's, Callipari - Giuseppe Calabrese. Remember it all the way to hell, you son of a bitch," I whispered in Italian as I fired the fatal shot.