The ‘Ndrangheta Countess

Sydney Moya

This work is the property of the author, and the author retains full copyright, in relation to printed material, whether on paper or electronically. Permission is granted for it to be copied and read by individuals, and for no other purpose. Any commercial use by anyone other than the author is strictly prohibited, and may only be posted to free sites with the express permission of the author.

(c) 2018

Synopsis

Interpol working with a multinational taskforce of Anti-Organised crime agencies is closing in on Mario Di Michele and his ‘Ndrangheta crime family, His father, uncles and his three brothers and two sisters have been arrested or killed. He is a wanted man in North America, Europe and Latin America. There seems to be only one way to evade capture or certain death and it is by being true to his nature.

Chapter Eight

Anna didn’t cry as she laid her children to rest at the Di Michele family crypt. It took a supreme effort of will to do that however her resolve was strengthened by her fury at the manner in which they had died. The autopsies indicated the causes of death as headshots and multiple shots to centre mass. She knew there had been a shootout but she couldn’t accept that the police had needed to kill her children operation or no operation.

The whole thing reeked especially the attempt to pass off two bodies as Marta and Mario. Her babies, did they have them in custody? Was it in some black hole where they were being tortured ruthlessly for information?

Whatever the case was she was going to find her children, the tears would come later.

It was a moving service, which wasn’t what you’d expect for a crime family. However the Di Michele relationship with their neighbours was very complicated, similar in nature to that of a master and servant. Carlo was the don, the man you went to if you had a problem and had no one else to turn to. In return for his help one would basically owe him unfailing allegiance. It was a measure of how influential he was that scores of people had turned out to pay their last respects to the late Di Michele’s. A lot had probably come to eyeball Anna as well. Her whereabouts had fed the local gossip mill since her mysterious disappearances years before.

Anna was sure a lot had come to see for themselves if Carlo was dead. The authorities had refused to release the bodies to anyone not closely related to the family and since most of the family was implicated in the family business the bodies remained unclaimed. Antonin was sure the police had also known this and anybody who showed up to do the right thing risked being sucked into their investigation. So the bodies remained unclaimed.

Antonin looked at his wife and he shivered involuntarily at the expression on her face. Their eyes locked; and without a word both of them knew someone would pay for what had happened here.

“Antonin, Anna began, her voice cracking after the last coffin, Luigi’s had been buried.

Antonin squeezed her hand.

“I’m so sorry about this,” he murmured, “we will get to the bottom of it.”

“I want to find Marta and Mario,” she said close to tears.

“Yes my love.”

They attended a wake at Isabella, her old friend’s house and some of the local’s came to pay their respects. Anna thanked them all and listened to them giving anecdotes of the people her children had become which broke her heart all over again.

He wondered whether he should call the rozz about the men lurking about outside his supermarket. They’d been there every day, in different cars but three men at various times. They looked like hard men and he was sure they were scaring customers away. They were probably looking for someone and weren’t being too discreet about it.

Tony Jenkins had not born yesterday. No sir he wasn’t which is why he wouldn’t be calling the police lest the rotters decided to become shoppers instead of lurkers. Those were not the type of men he wanted paying him a visit. Still Mrs Chubbs had sent an email about it and heaven knew that when that biddy started writing she didn’t stop. He cursed whoever had taught the old woman to email. She made Hyacinth Bucket seem like an amateur in nagging and what’s worse the people at HQ listened to her sort.

He sighed. He didn’t need this besides he valued his job.

He picked up the phone and called the police. They assured him they would come by in a few. Less than half an hour later a police Focus pulled into the lot. The men watched it and the officers who came out of it like hawks. Tony was pretty sure there might be fireworks but breathed a sigh of relief when they got into their car and drove off after the officers had a few words with them.

He thought he was shot of them when a couple of hours later Nigel, one of his baggers came in to say some chaps were asking after Ava.

‘They had a photo. Looked like our Ava too,” Nigel said.

Tony frowned wondering why they were bothering his favourite worker though he would never tell Ava that.

“What’d you tell them then son?”

“I didn’t like the looks of them guvnor, not regulars. Looked a bit foreign too if you know what I mean so I just shook my head and they left without asking again.”

Jenkins nodded, “Alright. Let me know if they come back.”

‘A photo,’ Tony thought, ‘what’s she mixed up in?’

He frowned wondering what they wanted with Ava. The girl had asked for two weeks off which after he had agreed to after some protests as she was really good at what she did and he didn’t want Jess messing up the stocks. Ava had insisted she needed the time and that she had coached Jess. Tony had given in knowing he had no leg to stand on and suspecting if pushed Ava would quit.

He had long suspected the girl was whiling away time here and was probably smarter than she let on. She spoke like a toff when she’d first shown up here though she had quickly picked up a more local accent in an effort not to draw attention to herself. He had once caught her reading a large tome during a break. It had looked like Russian. Other times when she was typing, her fingers simply whizzed over the keys.

He remembered when she’d corrected a mistake after a month end stock take. Ava had found that a bar code had been wrongly entered into the system which had thrown the stocks out. He’d spent hours wondering what the matter was and having that particular section recounted twice to no avail. She’d got to the bottom of it in a matter of minutes. He’d kept an eye on her from that moment, pushing her as much as he could so he could recommend her for a promotion. Jenkins management style was rather brusque and more tough love than anything but he liked her though he was certain the girl loathed him but was too polite to tell him.

An inexplicable feeling passed through her, one most of us are all too familiar with. Ava tossed and turned on her bed, hoping to ward it off and trying to get comfortable so she could get back to sleep. It was a futile struggle. She yawned and sighed before sitting up in bed missing her old bed in Uxbridge.

‘So uncomfortable,’ she mused

She squinted, her eyes still sore from the late hours she’d worked researching her adversary. She pushed the covers off and stood up before making the bed.

Ava didn’t feel well rested having spent half the night tracking Enver’s banking practices, she’d started with the café in Croatia and then traced its ownership through various shell companies that her family knew were owned by the Albanian’s. Ava shouldn’t have been able to do this but where money was involved she was like a bloodhound on the hunt, she was gifted with a nose for tracking money and had some not inconsiderable hacking skills. All she had to do was move a few funds around their accounts and show them as originating from certain groups that were known to the police as traffickers. After that she had to let nature take its course and hope the police would get Enver off her back forever.

‘If that doesn’t work then,..’ Ava thought before balking at the implications if she followed that thought to its logical conclusion.

She was not her father. Instead she began her morning routine stretching a bit before doing a hundred sit-ups, a habit she had found was crucial to keeping her tummy in shape.

A shower followed before she headed to the kitchen to begin making breakfast for her houseguests. She knew the kids would probably be hungry after getting up.

Her phone buzzed with a text message as she made scrambled eggs.

It was Jess her workmate. Ava smiled Jess was her assistant, a sweet albeit bumbling girl. If Ava had a friend at work, it would probably be Jess.

“Hiya girl. How is Spain? Hope you got a tan. Missing you loads! BTW Some blokes with funny accents came by looking for you,’

A picture accompanied the Whatsapp message. Ava didn’t recognise the men but guessed they were with Enver. She sighed rubbing her temple.

“Nigel told them he’d never seen you before. They didn’t look to happy about that. Is everything okay?”

Ava texted back,

“Hi Jess. Thanks for letting me know. I don’t know these guys. Why would they be looking for me? If they come back just avoid them. Spain is great. Missing you loads!”

‘I tell lies way too easily,’ Ava thought, ‘it’s become second nature.’

As she had naturally never confided in Jess about her identity, being trans or being an heiress to a mob family. The less she knew the better for both of them was a justification. Sometimes she ached to tell someone about her life, it felt so lonely at times as she had to be careful with every word she said.

Yes she was happy to finally transition but freeing Luciano had reminded her she was a fugitive from the law who was responsible for the family upstairs and probably the people at the shop too. If any harm came to them it would be her fault and she wasn’t sure she could live with that.

Watching Luciano and Natalia brought home what she was missing out on. Would she ever be so lucky to find someone who could love warts and all? How would she even start?

A deep sigh followed before she turned her attention back to the meal she was preparing after deciding there would be enough time to deal with Enver after she’d fed everyone. Very soon she was done. She padded back upstairs to wake the kids up while deciding the adults probably needed the lie in.

“We have to meet,” Mauro said.

“Why what’s the matter?”

“The situation has evolved but this is important,” Mauro insisted.

“Have you got a lead on Mario?” Marta asked.

“Possibly, but we need to meet, another player has showed up,”

“I’ll be in Zurich tomorrow afternoon,” Marta responded

Mauro’s operation was blown thanks to Anna Shevchenko coming out of left field. Everyone was sure she was dead but she’d disappeared and wound up married to some Russian tycoon.

He briefly wondered how she must feel, did she blame herself for leaving maybe she could have pointed her kids in a different direction. Even as he thought it, he scoffed. Carlo Di Michele was not the sort of man whose kids would make their own path in life. It was his intransigence that had led to this. He was doubtful Anna could have done much to curtail his kids following him into the family business.

With her newly dyed hair Ava thought she looked a lot like her mother. She smiled sadly wondering what had become of her.

“If she could see me now,” thought Ava with a sad smile as sshe finished brushing out her locks.

She smiled slightly at her reflection, pleased she looked nice even if she was just in a coat and jeans. No one could guess she was transitioning.

She was lost in her thoughts when she heard some rapid knocks on her door,

“Signora,”

It was Natalia. Ava rolled her eyes. She’d been trying to get Natalia to call her Ava for a while now. The little woman was a bit scared and way too respectful of her. Especially given she’d had her family kidnapped.

“Yes,”

The door opened and Natalia and Luciano entered.

Both of them had guarded expressions.

“What’s going on?” Ava remarked.

By way of answer Natalia handed her the tablet she as carrying.

Ava realised it was their local paper’s site. Splashed across the screen was a headline announcing the funeral of her relatives. Ava’s eyes clouded with tears and it was all she could do not to start sobbing. Those bastards had not buried her family up to now?

As she scrolled down the page, one of the pictures made her heart come to a standstill.

‘Could it be? No it couldn’t’

That woman looked so much like her.

Ava quickly scanned through the article and discovered the answer to a question that had long plagued her. Her mother was alive.

She made no effort to restrain the tears now. The Marciano’s left the room at that moment.

Ava made no effort to stop them as she sat on her bed tears flowing down her face. She was unsure whether they were tears of joy or tears of grief. The woman she had wondered about every day of her life since her disappearance. Her beloved Mama was alive and she couldn’t express how much that meant to her even after all these years. This was juxtaposed with the act that she would never see the rest of her family. She was also sick to her stomach with grief and wondered how if it was so bad for her then how bad it must be for the woman who had brought her siblings into the world.

In that moment she wanted nothing more than to hold her mother and comfort her, the one person who would be in as much pain as she was. Time seemed to have no meaning as she remembered her family, the good times and the bad crying and laughing. Ava had never properly grieved for them but now it all came out.

At some point during that day she fell asleep from fatigue and it was only late in the night when she woke up and remembered the news she’d seen. Natalia’s tablet lay beside and she scrolled through the article again, zooming in on her mother. Her face was still beautiful but it wore expression she had never seen. Ava struggled to make sense of it, her mother seemed so cold and yet determined

The heiress briefly she wondered if her mother had anything to with the raid but she dismissed it out of hand.

‘Mama would never do that!’

‘How would you know she abandoned you when you were just a baby!’ her dark mind informed her.

Ava shook her head to clear her mind of these treacherous thoughts but as she did so a more malignant one entered her thoughts. It would be obvious to her mother that one of her children was missing, there was a manhunt on for her. Would Mama try to find her? If anyone knew how she had felt about being a girl as a child it was her mother and she worried that by trying to find she might give the police new lead.

‘Omigosh what if she thinks I am the traitor?’ Ava wondered, ‘so I could be a woman and steal Papa’s money?’

She knew if the police thought that there was nothing that wouldn’t stop her clansmen from hunting her down and she knew they would never stop searching if they thought her to be a traitor.

WHY HADN’T SHE SEEN THIS COMING?’

‘Che diavolo!’

To be continued.