Read Online Armored by S. W. Frank - Free Book Online Page A

and Corrado. The prospect of becoming kin to the self-righteous brat whose father gave him everything was nauseating. Family gatherings were certain to include heated arguments and whatnot, ugh. He wanted his mom happy but damn why couldn’t she have hooked up with that retired sanitation worker from Nueva York back in the day instead?
    Hell, picking up trash paid more than a cop in the city. But, nah, his mama gave up marriage to religion for a suave old G deep pockets and a bunch of spoiled kids.
    Alfonzo addressed his future step-father. “Concealing Bianca’s condition only prolonged the inevitable. What you did angers me because this cloak and dagger drama was unnecessary. You should have told your adult daughter to speak to the dude who knocked her up but nah your family likes hiding truths. I’m out!”
    Alfonzo gave Corrado a cautionary stare. Go ahead; open your goddamn mouth, the blue eyes challenged.
    Bruno’s eldest son remained silent.
    No defenses or wisecracks emerged.
    The clandestine meeting on the island of Brazil had officially concluded. A Don had the last word.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    C hapter Seven
     
     
     
     
    Tony waited in the car. Music and breakfast purchased on the way to the meeting were his company until Nico arrived. A fast moving vehicle sped into the clearing with plumes of dust billowed from the tires. The car skidded to a halt.
    Nico was on time.
    Nico had clocked over eighty once he made it out of the city to arrive as scheduled. He had to eat a second breakfast, first. When he climbed out of the car clutching a duffle bag, his face was as unreadable as the impending day. Nico hit the hood of Tony’s car and gestured for the man to get out.
    Tony turned off the radio, placed the uneaten Styrofoam plate on the passenger seat and joined his Boss on the secluded plot.
    “How you doing?” Nico asked but didn’t wait for the answer as he began walking fast to a clearing where the noise of propellers grew loud. A chopper came into view and was soon hovering directly overhead.
    Damn, Tony thought, Nico calculated everything to the second, didn’t he?
    “We’re going for a short trip!” Nico shouted as the helicopter began to descend as they scurried back. The metal bird whipped dirt and pebbles around the perimeter as it set down.
    “Where?”
    “No fucking questions. You find out in due time, capisce?” Nico replied in his usual brusque tone. He reached for the door, when the whooshing noises ceased, entered the chopper, tossed his duffle bag on the floor, snapped on his seatbelt and waited for Tony to do the same.
    Soon they were soaring over the landscape. The heavy whirring of the blades cut into Nico’s speech as he pointed to a blip in the distance. Tony squinted to see and thought perhaps he needed glasses because he could only make out what looked like a dot peering from the water.
    After several more minutes they landed on a remote island in the Mediterranean Sea, nautical miles from Spain where beyond sat la de la Juventud or the Isle of Youth, the second-largest Cuban island and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies.
    Nico rummaged in his bag, Tony didn’t ask one damn question as he pulled out a compass, and then began following the navigational device by foot across a rocky plain with an elevated peak for over twenty minutes. They were near the top of a bluff with an unobstructed view of the sea.
    Nico sat down with his bag of goodies and started setting up. Computer screens, game controllers and his cigar were set out in picnic formation. The cigar went between his teeth, unlit as he activated the computer and like a kid about to play a video game stared at the HD image that appeared with intensity.
    “Oh yeah baby, that’s what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed.
    Tony peered at the clear pictures of a home and the surrounding blocks. “Whose house is that?”
    “The mouse you let get away.”
    Tony’s interest heightened. Hot