Chapter 8 - The Ghost of the City
The streets of Chicago were dark and glistening with rain when Vincent Caruso walked out of the alley behind Romano’s. His black suit jacket was torn, his shirt stained with oil and blood, but his gait remained steady. He had survived the breach, but he knew time was running out. The city he controlled was turning against him; the police sirens in the distance weren't coming to help him—they were coming to hunt him.
He walked into a public phone booth three blocks away, lifting the receiver and dialing a number he had memorized twenty years ago.
The phone rang four times before a tired, gravelly voice answered. "Vance."
"Judge," Vincent said, his voice flat. "Did you issue the injunction?"
A long pause came over the line. "Vincent... you don't understand. The documents your man described... they don't just touch me. They touch the entire supreme court of the state. If I sign that order, Vanguard Systems will release the offshore accounts they set up for my family five years ago. They own us, Vincent. All of us."
"I don't care what they own, Vance," Vincent hissed, his knuckles turning white on the receiver. "A woman was murdered. Her child is running for her life. You knew Maria Martinez. She cleaned your chambers for three years."
"I have a family to protect, Vincent," the judge whispered.
May you like
"So do I," Vincent said, realizing the truth of the words as he spoke them. "And if you don't sign that order within ten minutes, I won't just let the papers leak the documents. I will personally come to your house and show your family what happens to men who break their promises to the Caruso family."
He slammed the receiver down, shattering the plastic housing.
