Chapter 6 - The Man Who Carried Leo’s Gun
Rayburn chose an abandoned ambulance depot on the West Side.
Norah hated the symbolism.
Of course he did.
A place where emergency vehicles once waited to save people.
Now stripped.
Dark.
Rusting doors.
Perfect for a man who had spent his career turning institutions backward.
The plan was simple.
Which meant it would fail.
Norah entered through the front with no visible weapon.
Leo remained outside with Matteo.
Bianca monitored from a van with Damon Pierce and a federal contact Marco had trusted.
That part had taken arguing.
Leo did not like federal agents.
The federal agents did not like Leo.
Norah considered this one of the healthiest relationships in the group.
Inside, one hanging light burned.
Elias sat tied to a chair.
Rayburn stood behind him.
Gun in hand.
Norah stopped twenty feet away.
“You look tired.”
Rayburn smiled.
“You look alive.”
“Still bothers you.”
“More than you know.”
Elias looked at her.
“Norah, leave.”
Rayburn hit him once with the gun.
Norah’s body went cold.
“Do that again and I walk.”
Rayburn laughed.
“You came for him.”
“I came because you asked.”
“You always were curious.”
“No. I’m angry.”
“Same thing in smart women.”
Norah hated him so completely it became calm.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
“For what?”
“Clean ending.”
“You had two years.”
“I thought you ran farther.”
“Disappointed?”
“Yes.”
He looked toward the darkness.
“Where’s Castiglione?”
“Not here.”
Rayburn smiled.
“You expect me to believe he let his wife walk in alone.”
“Fake wife.”
“Legal enough.”
“Apparently you read gossip sites.”
“I read everything.”
Norah took one step.
“Why Mahoney?”
Rayburn’s face changed.
“Not important.”
“To me.”
“Mahoney was garbage.”
“Maybe.”
“He carried heroin.”
“Maybe.”
“He would have killed Marco.”
There.
Rayburn knew Marco was alive.
Norah caught it.
“So Marco shot him.”
Silence.
“You covered it.”
Rayburn laughed.
“You think you solved something?”
“Marco used Leo’s gun.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he stole it.”
“Why?”
“To make it look like Leo ordered the hit.”
Norah stopped.
That was new.
“Marco was building a federal case against Leo.”
“Yes.”
“So why shoot Mahoney with Leo’s gun?”
Rayburn smiled.
“Ask him.”
A voice came from above.
“I did.”
Everyone looked up.
Marco Castiglione stood on the metal catwalk.
Alive.
Lean.
Scar along one side of his face.
Gun pointed down.
Rayburn moved behind Elias.
Marco descended slowly.
Leo had not known he was coming.
Nobody had.
Of course.
“Marco,” Rayburn said.
“Tom.”
Familiar.
Too familiar.
Norah stared.
“You know each other.”
Marco looked at her.
“Dr. Collins.”
No one had called her that with respect in years.
“Sorry about your career.”
“Not a useful apology.”
“No.”
He stepped down.
Rayburn’s gun pressed against Elias’s neck.
“Tell her,” Rayburn said.
Marco’s expression hardened.
“Tell her what?”
“Why you shot Mahoney.”
Marco looked at Norah.
“Because he was going to kill me.”
“Self-defense.”
“Yes.”
“Then why frame the weapon as Leo’s?”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t.”
Silence.
Rayburn smiled.
“Here we go.”
Marco continued.
“I stole Leo’s gun to plant it in Vescari’s warehouse.”
Norah stared.
“That is not better.”
“No.”
“I was working with a federal task force.”
“Yes.”
“Planting evidence?”
“No. The gun had a tracker inside the grip.”
Leo’s security weapon.
Hidden tracker.
Marco intended to place it where agents could locate a warehouse.
“Mahoney caught me.”
“So you shot him with it.”
“Yes.”
“Then left it?”
“No. Rayburn took it.”
Everyone looked at him.
Rayburn’s smile vanished.
Marco continued.
“Tom arrived first.”
“He was your contact.”
“Yes.”
The corrupt cop had also been attached to the federal operation.
Two masters.
Maybe three.
Marco looked at Norah.
“I trusted him.”
Rayburn laughed.
“Bad habit in your family.”
Marco ignored him.
“I told Rayburn what happened. He said he would secure Mahoney and the weapon.”
“But instead he changed the shooting scene.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Mahoney had proof Rayburn was already taking money from Vescari.”
There.
The center.
Mahoney survived long enough to become danger.
Rayburn needed his injuries explained.
Needed the bullet hidden.
Needed Norah silent.
“What happened to Mahoney later?”
Marco’s face hardened.
“Rayburn killed him.”
Elias closed his eyes.
Norah felt sick.
“Overdose.”
“Yes.”
Rayburn’s voice sharpened.
“You cannot prove that.”
Marco looked toward a shadowed doorway.
“Actually.”
A woman stepped out.
Federal agent.
Badge visible.
“Now we can.”
Rayburn moved.
Everything happened fast.
His gun left Elias.
Turned toward Marco.
Norah kicked the metal tray beside her.
It crashed.
Rayburn flinched.
Marco fired into the ceiling.
The agent moved.
Elias dropped the chair sideways.
Norah lunged and dragged him by the collar behind a concrete pillar.
Rayburn ran.
Not toward the exit.
Toward a side tunnel.
Leo entered from the opposite door.
Of course he ignored the plan.
Rayburn stopped.
Leo stood between him and escape.
For one second, the two men faced each other.
Rayburn raised the gun.
Norah shouted.
Leo moved.
Marco hit Rayburn from the side.
The gun discharged into concrete.
Matteo came in behind.
Federal agents flooded the room.
Rayburn went down.
Cuffed.
Alive.
Norah watched.
Part of her had imagined killing him.
Not with a gun.
With a scalpel.
With a sentence.
With any object available in dark fantasies built during two years of fear.
Instead she watched strangers read him his rights.
It felt less satisfying than revenge.
More permanent.
Rayburn looked at her from the floor.
“You think this fixes you?”
Norah walked closer.
Leo moved as if to stop her.
Then did not.
Good.
She crouched.
“No.”
Rayburn smiled.
“Then what did you win?”
Norah looked at him.
“My name back.”
His smile vanished.
Good.
Elias was bruised but alive.
The federal agent identified herself as Dana Cho.
She had worked with Marco off-book after his original task force was compromised.
Marco had stayed hidden because Rayburn and Vescari controlled too many local channels.
Bianca joined the operation one year later through DeLuca records.
Everything sounded almost coherent when agents explained it.
Norah distrusted coherence now.
Leo stood across the depot facing Marco.
Cousins.
One believed dead.
One built an empire.
They stared.
Then Leo punched him.
Marco staggered.
Norah closed her eyes.
Of course.
Marco straightened.
“I deserved that.”
Leo hit him again.
Matteo said:
“Maybe one.”
Leo stopped.
Marco wiped his mouth.
“You done?”
“No.”
“Fair.”
Leo grabbed him.
Norah expected another punch.
Instead he hugged him.
Hard.
Marco froze.
Then hugged back.
Family apparently required violence before affection.
Norah made a note to avoid it.
Bianca arrived.
Marco saw her.
Everything in his face changed.
Oh.
Norah looked at Leo.
He noticed too.
Bianca crossed the room.
Marco touched her face.
“You’re okay.”
“So are you.”
They kissed.
Leo looked away.
Norah stared.
“The bride who ran was in love with your dead cousin.”
Leo exhaled.
“Apparently.”
“That feels relevant.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He looked at her.
“Are you checking whether I’m lying?”
“Yes.”
“Fair.”
Dana Cho approached.
“We need Norah’s full statement.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Leo said:
“She needs rest.”
Norah looked at him.
He corrected.
“Do you need rest?”
“Yes.”
Dana nodded.
“Tomorrow morning.”
Norah looked at Rayburn being placed into a federal vehicle.
“Will he stay arrested?”
Cho’s expression was practical.
“We have attempted kidnapping, assault, evidence tampering, conspiracy evidence, Marco’s testimony, Moretti’s testimony, the bullet, and hospital records. I’m optimistic.”
Not certainty.
But more than Norah had in two years.
Elias came beside her.
“I’ll testify.”
She looked at him.
“You could lose your license.”
“I should have thought about that two years ago.”
Norah nodded.
No forgiveness.
But maybe the start of repair.
As the depot emptied, Marco approached Leo and Norah.
“There’s another problem.”
Leo stared.
“Of course there is.”
“Carlo knows Rayburn is down.”
Bianca looked at him.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“He’ll move against Vescari.”
“And us,” Leo said.
Marco nodded.
“The marriage truce.”
Norah sighed.
“I knew this conversation was coming.”
Marco looked at her.
“You’re really married.”
“Legally.”
“Leo married a doctor in a laundry room.”
“Former doctor.”
Marco smiled.
“I like her.”
Leo said:
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Norah ignored him.
“What happens now?”
Bianca answered.
“My father expected me to complete the ninety days. He does not care who Leo married as long as the agreement remains intact.”
“Why?”
“The South River docks.”
Norah nodded.
“Nine hundred million dollars. I’m familiar.”
Bianca looked impressed.
Leo looked annoyed.
Norah continued.
“If I leave at thirty, Carlo claims the docks.”
“Yes.”
“And if I stay ninety?”
“The truce locks for five years.”
Leo said:
“You are not staying because of that.”
Norah looked at him.
Interesting.
Three days ago, thirty days had been a request.
Now he released ninety without asking.
“Why?”
“Because it isn’t your war.”
“No.”
She looked at Rayburn’s departing vehicle.
“But my life already got destroyed by it once.”
Leo’s face tightened.
Norah continued.
“I will stay thirty days.”
“Norah.”
“Not ninety.”
“Why thirty?”
“Because I signed that agreement.”
“You can still leave.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“I also know Rayburn’s arrest does not restore my license tomorrow. Marco’s testimony does not erase the newspaper articles. Vescari is still out there. Carlo is still dangerous. And I am tired of running before I understand where the exits actually are.”
Leo studied her.
“This is your choice.”
“Yes.”
“Not mine.”
“Yes.”
“Say it again.”
She almost laughed.
“My choice.”
His shoulders loosened.
Then Marco cleared his throat.
“There is one more thing.”
Norah looked at him.
“What?”
He looked at Leo.
“Vescari did not order the hotel shooting.”
Silence.
Leo’s face hardened.
“Who did?”
Marco looked toward Bianca.
Her face changed.
Then he answered:
“Carlo DeLuca.”
Bianca went white.
Her father had attacked the wedding he arranged.
And suddenly Norah understood the treaty differently.
Carlo never expected Leo to complete the marriage.
He expected Leo to die before midnight.
Which meant Norah’s signature had not merely created an accidental truce.
It had ruined a plan worth nearly a billion dollars.
Carlo DeLuca did not want Leo divorced.
May you like
He wanted him dead.
And Norah had made herself the woman standing between him and the docks.
