Chapter 5 - The First Counter-Move
By noon, the diner had opened for its regular lunch rush. Clara worked the counter, her hands shaking slightly as she poured coffee for regular customers, her ears constantly tuned to the small television mounting in the corner of the bar.
“...the search continues for suspected underworld leader Lorenzo D’Angelo following a violent shootout near the Chicago River last night,” the news anchor reported. “Police officials suspect a internal coup within the D’Angelo family...”
Enzo sat in the windowless break room, holding a cheap burner phone Clara had managed to slip away to buy. He dialed a twelve-digit number from memory.
“Speak,” a gruff voice answered on the third ring.
“Silvio,” Enzo said simply.
A long, heavy pause followed on the line. Enzo could hear the sound of a heavy breath being drawn. “Enzo? By the saints... they said you were at the bottom of the river.”
“Luca is sloppy,” Enzo said, his voice flat and deadly. “He hired street thugs to do a professional's job. Where is the loyalist council?”
“Hidden,” Silvio replied, his voice dropping to a low whisper. “We’re at the old brewery on the south side. Luca has the docks, he has the unions, and he has the police commissioner in his pocket. He’s declaring himself boss at the traditional family dinner tomorrow night at Rosso’s.”
Enzo’s eyes narrowed into slits of pure steel. “Let him declare it. Tell Marco to gather whatever weapons we have left in the north side cache. Don't move until I give the word.”
“Enzo, you’re hit. You can’t fight a war like this.”
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“I’m not fighting a war, Silvio,” Enzo whispered, looking at the door where he could hear Lily’s distant laughter as she played with a coloring book by the kitchen. “I’m executing a traitor. Prepare the men.”
He hung up the phone, his side throbbing with a dull, persistent heat. He knew he was running out of time. His body was weak, his resources were depleted, and his enemies were celebratory. But as the door opened and Clara walked in carrying a bowl of hot chicken soup, Enzo realized he had something he had never possessed before in his entire life: a reason to live that didn't involve power.
