Chapter 8 - The Decoy And The Meatpacking Plant
I stared at the small, black USB drive in my trembling palm.
What did he take with him to trade Carlo for my son?
The horrifying realization slammed into me with the force of a physical blow. Luca hadn't forgotten the ledger. He had deliberately left it behind. He had taken a fake drive—a decoy—to the meatpacking plant.
He wasn't going to trade his empire for my son. He was going to surrender himself, knowing Carlo would execute him the moment he handed over the fake drive, hoping the distraction would give his sniper teams enough time to extract Daniel.
Luca was walking into a suicide mission to buy my son's life with his own.
“No,” I gasped, clutching the tiny drive tightly in my fist. “No, Luca, you can't do this.”
I ran back to the living room doors and pounded fiercely on the heavy wood. “Let me out! You have to let me out! Luca left the ledger!”
The door opened slightly. The taller guard looked at me, a flicker of genuine panic crossing his stoic face. “What do you mean he left it?”
I held up the black USB drive. “He left it in his jacket! He took a decoy to Carlo! If Carlo plugs that fake drive into a laptop and sees it’s empty, he’ll kill Luca and Daniel instantly! You have to call Marco! Tell him to stop Luca before he gets to the plant!”
The guard’s face went pale. He immediately reached for his radio. “Marco, do you copy? Boss left the package at the safe house. Repeat, Boss has a decoy.”
Static hissed through the radio.
“Marco, come in!” the guard shouted, urgency bleeding into his voice.
Nothing. The line was completely dead.
“They’re using jammers,” the second guard realized, pulling his weapon. “Carlo’s men must have perimeter scramblers up around the meatpacking plant. We have no radio contact with the strike team.”
“Then drive me there!” I demanded, shoving past him into the hallway. “I have the real ledger! If we don't get there before noon, they’re both going to die!”
The guards hesitated. Their orders from Luca were absolute: do not let Sarah Collins out of the safe house. But their loyalty to their Boss was fighting a terrifying battle against their duty. If they stayed, Luca died.
“Get the armored SUV,” the tall guard snapped to his partner, making the decision. “Mrs. Collins, stay behind me. We’re going to Halsted Street.”
The ride to the meatpacking district was a blur of screeching tires and blaring horns. The guard, whose name was Leo, drove the heavy SUV with reckless, terrifying skill, weaving through the late-morning Chicago traffic like a madman. I sat in the backseat, clutching the tiny USB drive so hard my fingernails bit into my palm, praying we weren't too late.
We pulled into the desolate, industrial district of Halsted Street at 11:55 AM.
The old meatpacking plant loomed like a rusted fortress at the end of the block. It was surrounded by a high chain-link fence topped with razor wire. Dozens of Carlo Bellini’s men, heavily armed and wearing tactical gear, patrolled the perimeter.
“We can't just drive up to the front,” Leo said, slamming on the brakes two blocks away, hiding the SUV behind an abandoned brick warehouse. “They have sniper overwatch on the roof. They’ll shred this car before we hit the gate.”
“Then how do we get the ledger to Luca?” I asked, panic rising as I checked my watch. 11:58 AM. Two minutes.
Leo pulled a heavy sniper rifle from the trunk of the SUV and chambered a round. “I can provide cover fire from here, try to draw their attention. But you have to get inside, Mrs. Collins. There’s an old service tunnel that runs beneath the slaughterhouse floor. It dumps out near the main loading bay.”
He pointed toward a rusted, graffiti-covered grate half-hidden behind a dumpster.
“Go,” Leo urged. “I’ll keep them busy.”
I didn't hesitate. I slipped out of the SUV, keeping my head low, and ran toward the dumpster. I grabbed the heavy iron grate, my hands slipping on the freezing metal, and hauled it open. A dark, foul-smelling tunnel gaped beneath me.
I climbed down the rusted ladder, plunging into total darkness. The tunnel smelled of old blood and stagnant water. I turned on my cell phone flashlight, the weak beam illuminating the narrow concrete walls, and ran.
I ran until my lungs burned and my legs felt like lead. Above me, I could hear the muffled thuds of heavy footsteps on the concrete floor of the plant.
Suddenly, the sound of a heavy, rolling metal door grinding open echoed through the ceiling grating just ahead of me.
I stopped, killing my flashlight, and crept silently toward the grating.
I peered up through the rusted metal slats.
I was directly beneath the main loading bay of the meatpacking plant. The space was massive, filled with hanging meat hooks and rusted industrial machinery.
Standing in the center of the room, completely surrounded by Carlo Bellini’s heavily armed men, was Luca. He was alone. No guards. No weapons. His hands were raised in a gesture of parley.
And standing twenty feet away from him, holding a terrifyingly calm demeanor, was Carlo Bellini.
But my eyes didn't focus on Carlo.
They focused on my son.
Daniel was kneeling on the concrete floor beside Carlo. His hands were zip-tied behind his back, his face bruised and bleeding from a severe beating. A massive Bellini guard stood directly behind him, pressing the barrel of a suppressed pistol against the back of Daniel’s head.
“Mom…” Daniel whimpered, tears streaming down his face, completely broken by the reality of the monsters he had mistakenly sought out for justice.
“Don't speak, boy,” Carlo snapped, casually adjusting his expensive silk tie. He looked at Luca with a victorious, cruel smile. “You’re right on time, Luca. I appreciate punctuality. Do you have the ledger?”
Luca didn't look at Carlo. He looked at Daniel, his dark eyes filled with immense sorrow and fierce protection.
“Let the boy go, Carlo,” Luca demanded, his voice echoing powerfully through the cavernous room. “He has nothing to do with us. I am here. You have me. Let him walk out that door.”
“Oh, he’ll walk out,” Carlo smirked. “Right after I verify the contents of the drive.”
Carlo snapped his fingers. A guard carried a sleek silver laptop over to a metal prep table and opened it.
“The drive, Luca,” Carlo ordered, holding his hand out.
From my hiding spot beneath the grating, I watched in absolute horror as Luca reached into his pocket. He pulled out the fake, identical black USB drive.
He didn't hesitate. He tossed it across the concrete floor.
It slid to a stop right at Carlo’s feet.
“Excellent,” Carlo smiled, picking it up. He handed it to the guard with the laptop. “Plug it in. Let’s see just how wealthy I am today.”
The guard inserted the fake drive into the laptop.
I squeezed my eyes shut, my heart hammering so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest.
Click.
The guard frowned, staring at the screen. He clicked the mouse again.
“Boss,” the guard said, his voice laced with confusion. “There’s nothing here.”
Carlo’s triumphant smile vanished instantly. He turned toward the laptop. “What do you mean there’s nothing there? Open the hidden partition!”
“I did,” the guard panicked, hitting keys rapidly. “It’s completely empty, Boss. It’s a dummy drive.”
Carlo’s face flushed a deep, violent purple. He spun around, pulling a heavy silver revolver from his coat, and aimed it directly at Luca’s chest.
“You arrogant son of a bitch!” Carlo roared, the sheer fury echoing off the metal walls. “You think you can play games with me?! Where is the real ledger?!”
Luca didn't flinch. He stood perfectly still, looking Carlo dead in the eye, ready to die to buy his snipers the three seconds they needed to take Carlo down.
“The ledger is gone, Carlo,” Luca said coldly.
“Then so are you,” Carlo snarled, cocking the hammer of the revolver. “Kill the boy first! Make him watch!”
The guard behind Daniel raised his pistol, aiming directly at my son’s head.
“NO!”
The scream ripped from my throat before I could stop it.
I shoved my hands against the heavy iron grating above me and heaved upward with every ounce of strength I possessed. The rusted metal gave way, clattering loudly onto the concrete floor of the slaughterhouse.
I pulled myself up out of the tunnel, covered in dirt and grime, holding the real black USB drive high above my head.
“I have it!” I screamed, standing between Luca and Carlo, gasping for air. “I have the real ledger! Don't shoot him!”
The entire warehouse froze.
Luca stared at me in absolute, horrified shock. “Sarah! What are you doing here?!”
Carlo Bellini slowly lowered his revolver, a slow, malicious grin spreading across his face as he looked at me holding the tiny black drive.
“Well, well,” Carlo chuckled, the tension instantly shifting into terrifying amusement. “It seems the maid has decided to join the party. Bring it here, Sarah. And perhaps I’ll let your son live.”
I took a step toward Carlo, my hands shaking violently.
“Sarah, don't!” Luca yelled, lunging forward.
Two Bellini guards instantly slammed the butts of their rifles into Luca’s stomach, dropping the powerful Boss to his knees on the concrete, coughing up blood.
“Mom, please just run!” Daniel sobbed from the floor, struggling against his zip-ties.
I didn't run. I walked straight up to Carlo Bellini, holding the small black drive out to him.
“Let my son go,” I demanded, my voice trembling but fierce.
Carlo smirked, reaching out and snatching the drive from my fingers. He handed it to the guard at the laptop.
“Verify it,” Carlo ordered.
The guard plugged it in. A few seconds passed. Then, his eyes widened.
“It’s here, Boss,” the guard confirmed, excitement bleeding into his voice. “Routing numbers, offshore accounts, Swiss bank codes. It’s all here. It’s the real deal.”
Carlo laughed, a triumphant, ugly sound. He looked at me, then down at Luca kneeling on the floor.
“You see, Luca,” Carlo taunted, tucking his silver revolver back into his coat. “This is why your father failed. He let sentimentality ruin his judgment. He kept the widow around because he felt guilty, and in the end, the widow handed me the keys to the kingdom.”
Carlo turned to his guards.
“Kill them all,” Carlo ordered casually, turning to walk toward the exit. “Burn the bodies with the plant.”
The guards raised their weapons, aiming directly at me, Daniel, and Luca.
I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the gunfire. I had failed. I had handed over the money, and we were still going to die.
But the gunfire didn't come from the guards in front of me.
It came from the massive rolling metal door of the loading bay.
The doors suddenly exploded violently inward, torn off their hinges by the sheer force of a massive, armored dump truck crashing through the steel.
The truck slammed into the center of the warehouse, throwing Bellini guards like ragdolls.
Standing in the bed of the truck, holding a massive tactical machine gun, was Marco. And flanking him were twenty heavily armed men wearing the Moretti family crest on their tactical vests.
“Get down!” Marco roared over the deafening sound of the engine.
I dove to the concrete, throwing myself entirely over Daniel to shield him from the chaos.
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Luca didn't dive for cover.
Using the distraction of the exploding door, Luca lunged forward, grabbed a discarded rifle from a stunned Bellini guard, and turned directly toward Carlo Bellini.
