“I think I found it!” Amato said with a gleam in his eyes. “That’s what you said three hours ago, what makes you think ya got it now?” Jimmy said rather annoyed. Pointing to a newspaper article, he said, “You remember that D.A. Ariana Del Fino?”

“Do I?” Jimmy answered rather excited, “How do you forget the first female District Attorney? And more importantly, how do you forget that a…” he paused, forgetting there was a lady in the room. Clearing his throat, he simplified his answer to, “Yes, yes, I do.”

Cracking a smile, Cassie watched as these two apes tried to piece together a mystery of who put the hit out on Amato. Leaning back in his chair Amato said, “She was the D.A. that put Charlie Albero and several other of the Cosmios away but look at this here,” he said pointing to a copy of the trial records, “His conviction was reversed when it discovered the D.A. was busted in a corruption sting two years later.” Not getting it, Jimmy said, “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“She was taking money on the sly from the Alunni,” Cassie chirped up. Surprised, Jimmy asked, “How you know?”
“Who else hates the Cosimos so much and have the pockets deep enough to bribe a D.A.?” Cassie responded. Both men nodded their heads in agreement and looked at each other in awe at her insider information. “They’re moving in for the kill, and think you’re on the payroll,” Jimmy concluded tilting his glass of scotch directly at Amato. “If they think you’re one of them, the Cosimos prawbably went with it to scare ‘em.” Jimmy chuckled then he looked directly at Amato and exclaimed, “Damn’, you must be real good at your job, brotha.”

Not knowing whether to smile or cuss, Amato sat in his rickety barroom chair silent. Meanwhile, Cassie attested, “He’s one of the best” then took a sip of her gin.

Seeing this was serious, Jimmy exclaims, “So whadda we do?”
“I don’t know, what do we do Cassie?” he asked with serious stare.
Playing it cool, Cassie responded, “Well you can spend the rest of your life on the run or you can use this to your favor. Play them against each other. Offer your services to the Alunnis.”
“How?” Jimmy asked.
“I know of a racket that a few of the Cosimos are involved in, that would be catastrophic if the wrong people got word of it.”
“Which one?” asked Amato.
“The gas stations,” she said then smiled devilishly.
“Ooh, that’s gonna hurt,” Jimmy laughed at the fiendish idea.

Amato liked what he heard and knew that the Cosmios would lose millions of dollars if they lost their gas stations. You see, like most of their businesses, they were just fronts for other things like drug dealing, prostitution, and gambling. It wasn’t unusual for one family to infringe on another’s territory especially if it was lucrative. But he had only one question, “How?”

“We do a little fronting ourselves,” Cassie explained, “Rattle the Cosimos a little bit and make them believe it’s the Alunni. That’ll start a war and…”
“Then roll in and offer our assistance,” Amato finished the thought.
“Playin’ them against each other, it’s friggin’ brilliant!” Jimmy said. “And once we’re inside, we can get all the intel we need.”

So it was settled, they would begin operation: Reconquest but first, they had to plan their strategy and while they did that, Cassie excused herself, and went outside for a cigarette. Once she was safe from prying eyes and ears, she made a phone call to an old boyfriend Stephano Rimaldi, consigliere to the boss of the Alunni.

Author Bio:
Rachel Rueben is author of the bestselling YA novel Hag and The Eternal Bond Series both available on Wattpad. To keep up with Rachel, you can sign up for her frighteningly entertaining newsletter here.