Two Wars (1)
The day of the decisive battle.
The family boss and consigliere moved first.
The forces led by Elena and Salmo began pouring straight into the central district of the city, cutting through the territories held by Vanella and Viola Carmen.
The city—already thrown into chaos by my father’s death—took a considerable shock. After all, large and small shootouts had begun erupting not in the outskirts or the western districts, but in the very heart of the city.
I sat inside the union office at the Academy, flipping through the day’s newspapers.
They weren’t packed wall-to-wall with stories about our family, yet there was hardly a paper that didn’t carry at least one article or column about us.
One headline screamed The Wolf’s Return, The Dark Wolf’s Emergence. Another asked, A Massive Influx of Funds to the Fellini Family—Who Stands Behind Them?
The second piece clearly drew from the Rat’s Den. The stench of bought information clung to every line.
There was even a special feature titled The Wolf Strikes the City Center!
“Luke, what are you staring at so intently?”
When I kept silently turning pages, Sarina walked over and asked.
“The papers. At this rate, Elena’s doing a hell of a job.”
It made sense that our continued crouch in the east would produce such an explosive reaction.
“Um… Boss, I’m not sure it’s good for this much attention to be on us.”
“True. But what can the authorities actually do? The acting mayor is on our side.”
“Luke’s right. From the start, worse bastards than us are crawling all over the west.”
The “worse bastards” Sarina referred to were the Carmen and Sanchez Families. The two organizations were still waging a brutal war in the western districts.
“Besides, I already told you some of the spotlight needs to fall on Elena.”
“Yes, you did. That the Lusso Family should focus on the young lady instead of us.”
“Exactly. We won’t move for now.”
Elena had become a hot potato; she needed to soak up even more public attention. If we simply stayed put, the Lusso crew would eventually realize we hadn’t gathered to attack them, but to guard against enemy strikes while Elena pushed into the city center.
“Sarina, is everything moving smoothly on Viola’s end?”
“Yes. Giovanni says they’ve mapped out exactly which parts of the Lusso territory to hit.”
“Already?”
Theory and reality are different beasts. I told her to relay a message through Sarina: Giovanni was not to get cocky and should prepare thoroughly.
“Well, the guy’s a bit of a klutz, but he’s got the young lady’s subordinate and that woman with him. I don’t think we need to worry.”
The subordinate Sarina mentioned was Fabio Carini; the woman was Viola Carmen.
“Still, better safe than sorry. And Giovanni isn’t stupid enough to ignore my orders.”
Meanwhile I unfolded the map across the desk once more.
Our coming battlegrounds would be the northeast and northern sectors of the city.
Giovanni, Viola, and Carini would depart from River West, cross the bridge through Beverly, and strike Hayes—the Lusso Family’s territory.
My own group—me, Sarina, Armo, and Lumini—would split in two after leaving North Woodlawn. Sarina and I would take Beverly while Armo and Lumini handled Hayden Park.
“Sarina, the southern half of Beverly belonged to that guy, right?”
“Yes. The Mad Hatter.”
Mad Hatter—Albert Cario.
A former caporegime of our family and the longtime ruler of Beverly. He had controlled southern Beverly for generations, long before our family ever appeared.
He possessed a peculiar tic: he would throw his hat and kill a man at the exact moment it touched the ground. That was how he earned his nickname.
When my father became Godfather, Cario had been one of the many who submitted without resistance.
“So what will you do with him?”
“Send someone first.”
The Godfather’s children had returned. It was time to reestablish the proper order of things.
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just eliminate him?”
“He submitted to Father of his own will. Elena and I aren’t Father, but the same logic could apply.”
“Hmm…”
Sarina clearly disagreed, but she offered no further objection.
After that we simply waited for time to pass. Two days after Elena began her push into the central district, contact arrived from the financial king, Hagen.
This time the call went to Elena, not me. Consigliere Salmo relayed the news immediately.
“Hagen?”
“Yes, Luke. He has buildings he would prefer we not touch.”
“And? What does Elena want to do?”
“She seems inclined to accommodate him for now.”
“…I agree with her. Tell her exactly that.”
“Understood.”
I didn’t know the exact buildings, but they clearly carried more than a little negative impact on Hagen’s enterprises.
“The financial king really has no patience.”
“Pardon?”
“Hagen couldn’t even wait a few days before reaching out.”
The shootouts in the city center would not drag on. They could not. Law enforcement was concentrated there, and the bustling streets of the central district operated on entirely different rules than the rest of the city.
Besides, the players currently in the center were either former caporegimes of ours like Lumini or outsiders who had slithered in during the chaos. We needed to demonstrate our strength to the latter. Violence against them would also help persuade the former.
“Luke, when are we going to start?”
“Wait a little longer. Let’s keep the spotlight on Elena for at least a week.”
“It’s not just me—my men are all itching to stretch their legs too.”
I didn’t hesitate. I answered Sarina with those exact words.
“Huh?”
“I think I get what it means. Ow!”
The moment Cambara opened his mouth, Sarina’s fist slammed into him.
“Hey, if you understand it, don’t just keep it to yourself—explain.”
“It’s literal! What’s there to explain?!”
“Oh really?”
Sarina began pummeling Cambara in earnest. The sound of her fists hitting crocodile hide rang like a dull percussion instrument.
“Ah, Sarina. Speaking of which, how are those two doing?”
“Who?”
“The metal man and the hole-faced man.”
“The metal one is adapting well.”
“…And the hole-faced one?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. He follows orders without complaint, but with three holes for a face it’s impossible to read his expression.”
In other words, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all. Still, I had heard that hole-faced people were naturally like that.
“Well, it should be fine. It’s not as if you’ve only handled one or two of their kind, Sarina.”
“….”
Sarina seemed slightly pleased by my trust in her.
*
While we waited for the right moment, the telephone on my desk suddenly rang violently. I reached for it, but Cambara—who happened to be standing right beside me—snatched it up first.
“Boss, it’s Mr. Salmo.”
Father or son? The name always created a moment of confusion. Most likely the son.
“Luke.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
It was the son, Anthony Salmo.
“A reply came from Dom Solomon.”
“Really? Our move into the city center must have made their decision easier.”
“Perhaps. At any rate, they have accepted the young lady’s proposal.”
“At any rate?”
“They also expressed a desire to help us subdue the central district.”
Though newly formed, the Solomon Family still constituted one of the Five Families. Effectively, two of the five were now cooperating with us.
“Then the central pacification will finish faster.”
“The young lady seems to think the same.”
“Salmo, what’s your take?”
“We should acknowledge the blood they’ve already shed… It doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”
The boss, underboss, and consigliere were all in agreement. Such harmony was not rare, but it was always welcome.
“Still, don’t trust the Solomon crew too deeply. Not that you and Elena would be careless.”
“Of course. We’re not idiots.”
It was reassuring to have someone as sharp as Anthony Salmo at our side. High loyalty usually came with stupidity; intelligence usually came with disloyalty. Salmo possessed both qualities in balance.
Most important of all, he had inherited his father’s unwavering loyalty to the Godfather and the Godfather’s children. He also seemed to genuinely enjoy bending the law itself while defending us in court.
In a way, he’s not exactly normal either.
Once the Solomon Family began moving in support of Elena, the Lusso Family shifted their focus more toward her than toward us.
The other Families behaved similarly, yet none dared raise an open objection.
Sanchez in particular had recognized our claim to the central district and then turned around and unleashed the Solomon Family there. The hypocrisy was almost impressive.
“Sarina, send wolves to the Mad Hatter.”
“Yes.”
The wolves I ordered Sarina to dispatch were not sent to pick a fight.
They carried an invitation to Albert Cario, the reigning power of southern Beverly: come under our banner.
The answer that returned fell far short of my expectations.
“….”
“This appears to be their reply.”
All the wolves sent to Cario returned alive. Their faces, however, looked exactly like Cambara’s after Sarina had finished with him.
“Shall I go myself?”
“No. I’ll handle it personally.”
My caporegimes and I had not simply been killing time. We had already gathered more than enough information on Cario.
Since he wanted to play it this way, we would respond in kind—forcefully.
First I took hostage the family of the man responsible for Cario’s personal security—the equivalent of an Armo in our own organization.
“…What would you have me do?”
The security chief’s voice over the receiver trembled violently.
Having his family held hostage would make anyone unstable, but the man sounded on the verge of tears.
“Tell me everywhere Cario plans to go and what he intends to do there.”
While the security chief answered, I found the perfect opportunity.
It seemed Cario planned to visit a barbershop in his own territory tomorrow for a haircut.
A barbershop… not a bad place for a man to die.