Nightswan

NaNo - Day 1

- Alessio -

Alessio Milani flipped the phone closed, ending the call without saying goodbye to the person on the other end of the line. It had been a long day, and it still wasn't over. He slipped the device in his pocket and packed up his things before turning off the light in his office and heading to the elevator. Relieved to find himself without company, Alessio took the time to take apart the burner phone. He'd toss the varied parts into different trash cans as he walked around the block before going to his car. He never took the same route, though, occasionally traveling an extra mile or more to ensure he wasn't being followed. Not only was it a habit from the Army—too many real-life tangos, and too many pranks played in bored moments waiting at their posts—Alessio had to be especially careful now that he was the undisputed leader of The Flight.

He didn't know whether to praise or curse the circumstance which had brought him here.

One wrong turn. One wrong decision. One deal witnessed, and he suddenly found himself being tasered with a hood thrown over his head. He'd been thrown onto a cement floor, a threatening voice giving him two options for his future: Join or die.

It wasn't a hard choice.

Alessio had worked his way up from the bottom to where he was now, and he'd done it in an unheard-of three years. Three years since he left active duty, three years of trying to adjust to normal life again. Or as normal as his life could be, considering how he was living a double life. Businessman by day, criminal by night.

He was starting to think he made the wrong decision to get out of the Army. At least there, he had a relatively clear vision of what was right and wrong.

U.S.A.—right.

Terrorists—wrong.

There was none of this "blurred line" crap. Trying to work a "normal" job while simultaneously trying to keep a criminal organization in line. When he'd taken over, he'd changed the rules and established a system in which he was obeyed due to his members' trust of him rather than out of fear. He'd seen what loyalty from fear did to people. He'd had to shoot people because of it, and Alessio didn't want to do that ever again if he didn't have to.

Alessio was just tossing the final piece of the burner phone into a trashcan by a flashing crosswalk sign when his smartphone rang in his back pocket. He checked the caller ID before answering, then held the device against his shoulder as he shifted his bag to his other side.

"Thaddeus, what's going on?" His best friend so rarely called him that Alessio immediately knew something was wrong.

"I need to talk to you."

"About?"

"I need you to do me a favor."

Alessio stopped walking and moved his hand to hold the phone. "Care to explain?"

"Can you swing by? Liliana's over at the Montrans' place, so we'll have privacy."

"How big of a favor are we talking here?"

Thaddeus waited a few moments before responding. "A big one."

Alessio sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

The phone beeped, signaling that Thaddeus had ended the call. After so many years of friendship, Alessio was used to his personality. For a year of his life, Alessio had lived with the Andino family, right after his parents were killed in a drunk driving accident. He often wondered what his life would be like if the government had never found his aunt and uncle in Europe. They had agreed to become his legal guardian then sent him off to a military boarding school. He would've rather stayed with the Andinos, despite Charlotte and Estevan's strict natures and high expectations.