Cursed

18

The hotel doors burst open and a man around maybe 30 walks in followed by a few dozen people. They don't look like they're going to attack, and all stick to the walls. Zack holds up a hand as to tell our mafia not to make any moves yet.

He walks up to the other mafia leader and they talk quietly. I can't hear what they're saying but Zack nods and points to the doors on his right. I think it's just an old conference room. The white dragon leader goes into the room followed by two of his members.

Zack walks back to me and snaps his fingers at Ryder before pointing to the room. Ryder nods and walks into the room.

Zack says, "You can come with me if you want."

I nod and follow him into the room. The white dragon leader is sitting at one side of the long conference table. A man a few years younger than him sits to his left and another man around the same age sits to his right. Zack sits directly across from the other leader and Ryder and I sit on his sides.

They just stare at each other for a moment before Zack says, "What is it you want Yuri? Why are you here?"

He smiles slightly and nods to me, "Letting girls in your inner circle now Weller? I'd say you're getting weak."

He snarls, "She's not weak, and neither am I. I trust her and it's not your business why she's here."

I hide my smile and try to act serious like Ryder is. Yuri shrugs, "Alright then. I came here to propose an alliance. I'm not in the mood for a fight, but I need your help."

Zack scoffs, "Yeah right. Like I'd ever help you. We've been at each others necks for years."

"I know, and I want that to stop. It'll be so much easier for us to live here if we can stop worrying about each other trying to attack, eh?"

Zack hesitates and sighs, "Yeah, it'd be nice. Tell me what it is you want and I'll see what I want to offer you."

Yuri's eyes fill with anger but his voice remains hard, "My daughter. She was taken from me. It was the Italians, we had a...disagreement about how much we were supposed to have paid them for a drug order. They think we shorted them 10 million, I know we agreed on 20. The next morning my daughter was gone. I know it was them. The Italians have numbers, numbers I don't have. But, numbers that I could have if we worked together."

Zack inhales sharply, "How old is she?"

He hesitates, "Five. She's special, different. She won't react well to being in a new place, I'm afraid she'll hurt herself."

Zack raises a cautious eyebrow, "Different how? She autistic or something?"

Yuri purses his lips, "Not quite," he says but doesn't elaborate.

I bite my lip. This is supposed to be Zack's enemies, but I can't help feeling bad for him. She's only five years old, she must be terrified.

"What will we get in return?" Zack asks. I'm surprised that he asks that. It's a little kid, he should just want to help. I guess that's just business in a mafia, never something for nothing.

"An alliance, a merge. Whatever you want to call it. No more fighting. Whenever either of our mafia's need help, we help each other, no one will dare challenge either of us again if they know we're allied together."

Zack seems to think this over, "Do you at least know where they took her? I'm not going to risk my men and women, my fighters, if you don't even know where I'm sending them."

Yuri nods quickly, "Yes. Well, I'm pretty sure they have her in their hideout, their holding cells. I have a few members undercover in their mafia. They told me if they had her, that's where she'd be. They can help us get in, but we have to bring them back with us, the Italians will kill them if they find out they helped us. We need to send 4 of my best men and 4 of yours, we can't have too many or we'll get caught."

"If you only want 8 people to go, why do you need my numbers?"

"Retaliation, Zackary Weller. When they see she's gone, they'll retaliate, we need to be allied so that they won't try anything. If it's just me, they'll take us over. If we're allied, we'll outnumber them. It's just logic."

Zack nods, "Fine, you have yourself a deal. On one condition. Give me the name of the spy you have in my mafia."