#hashtag BACK FIRED

Chapter Five

Gabriel, short and stocky, with a bald patch slightly to the rear of his oblong head, in his early fifties, leaned back in his luxurious leather chair, a cigar in his right stubby fingers, a glass of wine in his left hand, regarded Max and Clover with the suspicious eye of an attorney.

Franco, his bodyguard stood beside him, a 19mm Parabellum Beretta Nano hand gun in his right hand. Franco looked very eager to put the gun to use. This made Max and Clover all the more jittery.

Gabriel considered the different versions of the report he was receiving from his two envoys, who had just returned from a dangerous assignment.

“Max, you did your job,” Gabriel said, “you fired the warning shot, right?” Max nodded.

“That's right, sir. Three harmless shots.”

“Three shots!” Gabriel roared, his fat tummy quivering. “Heavens! Are you sure you didn't kill poor Danny?”

Max shook his head negatively.

“Nobody was hit, only glass.”

“Did anybody see you leave the building?” “Nobody,” Max said.

Gabriel turned to Clover.

“Clover here says a cop spoke to you at the gas station. What on earth were you doing stopping over?”

“Clover wanted something to eat – a snack,” Max said.

“And what about the car that you suspected was following you?”

Clover shifted uneasily.

“Well, Max thought - “

“Max thought?” Gabriel fired at Clover. “What did you see? You were supposed to be the driver, right?” Clover nodded.

“Yes, sir. Well we saw the car behind us, but after a while we lost it.”

“Well, I hope to God you bastards didn't lead some motherfucker back here.”

Both Max and Clover shook their heads negatively.

“No, sir,” they both answered.

“We'll see about that in a moment,” Gabriel said, picked up his cell phone and placed a call.

“Hello, is that The Don? Please I'd like to speak to

Danny.”

“Who is this?”

“Gabriel, from the Calypso.”

“Gabriel, what do you want from me?” Danny's whiny voice filtered through the earpiece. “We never speak to each other, so what has changed your mind?”

“Hahahaha, Danny don't be so touchy. You and I come a long way, right?”

“What do you want from me, Gabriel?”

“Aw, you sound in a bad mood, maybe I called at the wrong time. Some broad giving you a pain in the ass?”

“Stop wasting my precious time,” Danny snapped.

“Let's cut to the chase. What do you want?” Gabriel cleared his throat.

“Danny, I understand that you are playing host to some big shot just breezed into town. I gathered that you are onto something real big and I'm wondering why, if it's so big, why not cut me into a piece of the action, no? I didn't figure you to be the greedy type. What do you say, huh?”

There was a long pause.

“Hello, Danny are you still there?”

“You sneaky bastard sonofabitch!” Danny's voice hissed venomously. “So, you thought I'm onto something big, right? So, you send your goons to take me out, is that it? What gave you the crazy idea that if you killed me you'd get deal I'm working on? Assuming there was a deal – heck, I'm always on one deal or another! Don't lie to me, you were only calling to find out if those goons