Dark Horse (A Mafia Story)

5. Picking Sides

When we are given the opportunity to cheat for personal benefit, we more often than not pause at that cliff that divides our ethics from the demands of the external world. With one last glance at all that we hold sacred, we lean away from that precipice, refusing the temptation, or take the jump after bending our ethical code, should it interfere with the opportunity at hand.
To those who hesitate, teetering at the edge of that precipice on the edge of vice and virtue, temptation comes in gloved hands – hands that gently prise them off that safe spot on the cliff till they take the plunge with one deceitful act.

Those hands of temptation came to Elena Moretti when she least expected or desired it. And they had come in the form of a secretary from Los Caballos.

The woman had just entered the dark apartment, and she had barely tossed her keys down in the crystal holder when her phone rang. She retrieved the device from the depths of her coat pocket. It was the same number as the one that had interrupted her meeting with a lawyer at Takumi Incorporated. She had already ignored it once, but if the person had cared enough to call back, Elena guessed it wouldn’t hurt to see what they wanted.

“Hello?”

“¿Estoy hablando con Elena Moretti? The businesslike voice enquired over the phone. Elena frowned, shifting the mobile phone to her other ear as she shut the door and walked up to the desk in the corner.

“Si, yo soy Elena.”
She paused briefly before continuing, “Who am I speaking to?”

“Miss Moretti, I represent the office of Angelo Ruiz. I was asked to inform you that as a former employee, we found some of your items while shifting offices. Mr Ruiz has invited you to collect them if you wish, before the building is renovated.”

Elena raised an eyebrow as she listened intently. The last time she had set foot in that office had been countless years ago. To re-enter that building led to the possibility of evoking some strong memories in her, and the very thought of it placed Elena at mild unease. But her response was quick.

“I… yes, of course. When do I come by?”

“Anytime in the next week is fine, between 9 am and 6 pm,” the smooth female voice on the other side replied.

“I’ll come by. Thank you.” Elena nodded.

“Have a good day.” With that, the call ended with a prompt click.

Elena leaned back in the swivelling chair after tossing her phone onto the desk and allowing a frown of doubt to crease her forehead. The last time she had been in the office of Don Ruiz had been when in the time of the previous don. The building had remained the same, but had been subject to minor renovations with the newer generation of mafia members.
The accounting and legal book or two sitting in her office, a folder with old financial statements, and a couple of stationery items in the drawers of the trusted sturdy desk…

All those things that Elena had deserted on her quick resignation apparently still lay waiting for her to claim them. And as she sat recalling that brisk female voice on the other side of the line, the words of the yakuza queen haunted her.

The directive had come for Moretti to infiltrate her own former office building. And conveniently enough, the opportunity to do so had dropped into her lap hardly a couple of days after that directive.

How did that sly woman know? How could she have possibly known I’d be invited to go back there? Elena pondered as she stood up briskly and paced the spacious living room.

Takumi wouldn’t have the resources to know they’d call me after all these years…

It just wasn’t possible for the timing of it all to fall into place as precisely as jigsaw pieces.

Unless the woman had planted that call after a nudge to someone high up in the Caballos clan itself.

But that would mean an infiltration at the highest level, which the Spanish mafia security system was simply vigilant about. Then again, Akira Takumi had placed moles in almost every prominent mafia clan across the country and the dons had suspected nothing until their businesses had crumbled right before their eyes. There was no reason to believe that she hadn’t done the same with Los Caballos.

A brief glance at the calendar on the wall above the dining table told her that the next week began in two days. With a pause of reflection, Elena strode across the hall and held up the handbag that had unceremoniously been thrown on the sofa. The item lay in the deep confines of the bag, but her fingers had secured it in a minute before she fished out the pendrive. Regarding the device, which she recalled having a 16GB storage, Moretti held it up for a minute before dropping it back in the bag and securing it shut.

She had two days to figure out how to go about the instructions from her Japanese employer. Two days to decide if she was going to accept her directive, and to gauge which army she represented.
Two days to pick her side for the final time, and more crucially, to prevent this precarious situation from spilling onto her familial domain.

Lifting the bag off the sofa, Elena hauled it onto her desk and dropped it on the large table. She swiftly ripped a page from a notepad that lay beside her laptop, and proceeded to hastily scribble a few words on  the paper. She left the sheet on her handbag and didn’t care to look at it again as she tossed the chair aside and headed to the kitchen to fix herself a drink. She needed one after the long day she had had.

The paper lay on the desk until she retrieved it two days later.
Monday, 10.30 am. 2336789. Desktop 8.

*****

Zipping open the handbag lying on the sofa beside her, Elena reached into it and gripped the pendrive as she fished it out. Its purpose served, she held it out as Hector regarded it cautiously, his eyes narrowing as he comprehended what she had done with it.

“I chose a side, Hector,” the lady remarked with a small smile which was almost rueful.

“Mine.”