Whisper My Name

Chapter 10

February 4, 1992

Pier 14

And I can't forget tomorrow when I think

Of all your sorrow - when I had you there

And then let you go...

~ Without You ~ Heart ~

It was just after midnight. The fog on the pier was dense when Raffi Torres stepped out into the lamplight to meet his enforcer, Enzo. He was hoping that Marlena Evans had been picked up. He could care less about her brats. Looking at Enzo he wasn't so sure. "So? Did you get them or not?" he asked.

"They're gone, Boss," the man said nervously. "We sent men to the house but they're gone." Honestly, Enzo was relieved that they were gone. He didn't like the idea of scaring kids.

"What do you mean gone?" Raffi asked. Enzo had one fucking job, and he'd screwed it up. "How?"

"Not sure, but it was fast. Within an hour of your call the whole family disappeared. I looked through the house. I mean, it's obvious they left in a hurry, but they ain't there," Enzo told him.

"Fucking Brady must have had some sort of contingency plan regarding his family," Raffi said in frustration. There was no other way they could have disappeared so quickly.

"I don't think so. The house looks like they left in a hurry. The kitchen lights were on. The washing machine was in the fucking spin cycle for G-d's sake! It didn't seem organized at all. Like they just up, and disappeared, but truthfully, Boss, I didn't feel right about threatening kids anyway, you know?" Enzo told him.

Raffi stared at Enzo. The man was supposed to be his enforcer, but he had a conscience when it came to kids? "I wasn't actually going to hurt the kids!" Raffi yelled. "I don't target kids. Now the wife? She was the one I really wanted. In order to get my hands on Brady, I need the wife! Can you try, and track them down?"

"We did try, boss, but once they left the Brady Fish Market, the trail went cold. Nothing after that," Enzo told him.

"So Marlena Brady is on the run, by herself, with three kids? C'mon, Enzo, it shouldn't be that hard to track her," Raffi mused. A mom on the run with three kids? She'd slip up at some point.

Enzo knew the next part was going to enrage Raffi, "Well, see...that's just it, Boss, she ain't alone."

"Then who the fuck is with her?" Raffi screamed, wondering why Enzo didn't tell him that to begin with.

Working up his courage, Enzo said, "John Black."

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! John-fucking-Black! We'll never get near her now! Shit!" Raffi said in rage. John Black, previously known as Roman Brady, was the only reason Raffi Torres had been unable to get a foothold in Salem. Once Black was off the force, it was easy enough for the Torres family to slide in. If Brady's wife was with John Black, that just made things a whole lot more complicated. "Okay. Okay...new plan. Look at the rest of Brady's family...check out Roman's parents. We need leverage, and we need it now. Something to get Roman Brady back to Salem, because I swear to G-d, I will get that shipment when the boat arrives."

Enzo hesitated, "Is it that important I go after his parents? We got Bo Brady. Roman's on the run—"

"—what? You got a problem with threatening the elderly now too? Enzo, you either do the job, or I find someone else! I should kill Bo Brady myself! I should kill the bastard for this disappearing act Roman's pulled," Raffi said, before turning, and walking back into the shadows, away from the pier.