Chapter 5

• "Placido, what the heck went on down here, man?" Senna said as he stormed into the basement of his nightclub with two security guards strolling behind him.
• Everyone quickly turned their attention to him.
• "The Puppeteer happened," Placido responded.
• "And Amanda?"
• "Gone. He took her with him."
• "Damn! I don't get it. The Puppeteer is just one man. He should've been outmanned and outgunned."
• "Yes, and he was all those things, outnumbered and outgunned, but boss, I'm telling you, this guy's reflexes are out of this world. He's fast, like one of those guys in the matrix."
• "Did you get a look at his face? What'd he look like?" Senna looked at all the dead bodies just lying around and grimaced inwardly.
• "No, I'm afraid not. He was putting on a mask."
• Senna sighed softly. "So why didn't you go after them?"
• Now, it was Placido who grimaced inwardly. "Boss, he knocked me out pretty bad."
• "Placido, I don't pay you to get knocked out like a bitch!"
• Placido gave a resigned sigh. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
• "Alright, listen up," Senna said in a much louder voice, addressing everyone in the room. "The Puppeteer isn't done yet. And if there's one thing we've learned from this guy's MO, he will always return to finish what he started. I want more men on guard, and I want eyes and ears out in the streets."
• "Yes sir," they chorused.
• "Placido, you find me Amanda Peres! I don't care how you'd do it. So long as the Puppeteer stays in my city, we will ensure he gets the heat. Am I clear?"
• "Clear, sir," Placido replied.
• "Alright," Senna said, exiting the room. He was heading out again for another urgent meeting with his consigliere and underboss.
• Inside the car, Senna started thinking about what Amanda could have achieved during his brief time with her as his mistress. His consigliere had warned him not to let her know about whatever else they were doing as a mafia organization. Still, he'd been too in over his head thinking he could use Amanda as an asset to his organization.
• He thought about how much he'd let her know about his organization, and the truthful answer to those thoughts choked him a lot.
• Also, his consigliere had warned him right after he had detected Amanda's foul play to clip her. Still, Senna insisted he would torture her instead until she gave up the Puppeteer's identity, and now Amanda was in the wind.
• Amanda could pause just for a while because Senna Black had a much larger problem at hand, which was why he was meeting with his consigliere and underboss. It turned out that the police had recently discovered a dead body that could be traced back to him if sufficient investigative work was carried out.
• The victim's name was Alfonso Hitchcock, and he had been reported missing about seven months ago. His consigliere had called him earlier tonight on his way to the club to tell him about the police finding Alfonso Hitchcock's body, which was reported on the evening news that he'd missed out on while banging the new girl.
• The police had also ruled Alfonso's death as a murder case, which Senna suspected was not only because they had found a bullet hole in his head but also because of the torture marks he had left on poor Alfonso.
• Senna paused his thoughts, sighing, closing, and opening his eyes after a few seconds. He realized that they had arrived at the Trivandrum Hotel, where he was meeting with his underboss and consigliere.
• Senna found Elio, his consigliere, and Rocco, his underboss, in the suite they had booked for the meeting. They were both standing and arguing when he let himself inside. They both paused and turned to him.
• "I hate to say I told you so, man," Elio said without welcoming Senna. "I told you we should've just burned his body, but you insisted we just toss it into the lake. It bothers me when you don't listen to me, man. You keep implicating the rest of us as is with everything else I've been telling you to do, which you never do."
• Senna scoffed. "Tell me, Elio, how exactly does the police plan on solving this case? At best, the case will run cold."
• "I don't know, they've got forensics working on the case, don't they?" Elio replied tersely.
• "And we have a guy for that," Senna countered, moving along to sit on a chair.
• "It's not only the forensics that we are worried about, Senna," Rocco pitched. "The laceration wounds found on the victim's body will draw out further investigation from the police about Alfonso's life. Before now, Alfonso was a walking saint, but now his lifestyle would be reexamined."
• "Fine, then we start wiping out every connection Mr. Alfonso might have had to us."
• "It takes only one fucking mistake for everything to crumble, man," Elio barked, surprising Senna greatly. "Never finding Alfonso's body was the best thing that could have kept our involvement with him buried."
• "Alright, so we make sure there's no mistake," Senna said with an air of finality in his tone, and Rocco nodded, satisfied, but Elio looked like he wanted to say more but kept it to himself.
• "Moving forward, we heard that the Puppeteer paid us a not-so-friendly visit," Rocco said, and Senna nodded.
• Elio shook his head. "Why's the Puppeteer interested in us?"
• "Hmm, Elio," Rocco said, pacing back and forth. "I think the better question is how he plans on taking us out."
• Elio nodded slowly and said, "You are right. This guy could drop evidence on us as a souvenir to the police, yet we know he doesn't associate himself with the police."
• Rocco spoke slowly, saying, "Last year, when the Puppeteer went after Don Machete, all he was interested in was destroying the influx of drugs coming in from his organization to the port of Milan. Before then, one of Guerrero Ardiente's biggest arms trafficking to New York was also destroyed by the Puppeteer."
• "Recently, Batista requested protection of a sizable amount of weight from me," Senna said. "He thinks the Puppeteer might try to stop him from moving the weight away from the city to its desired location."
• "Are you suggesting we bait him?" Elio said.
• "Yes, and I've already run the idea through Batista," Senna said.
• "And what was his response?" Rocco inquired swiftly.
• "He's game," Senna answered.
• "I've been doing some thinking," Elio said. "Since the Puppeteer became interested in us, I've been feeling it has to do with our brothel business."
• "Yeah, Amanda showed some pretty specific interest in the brothel," Senna said. "But I never allowed her to know anything about how we operate."
• "Oh yeah?" Elio grimaced. "Were you not the one who said she got close to finding out alone?"
• "I don't think she found anything worthy of worry," Senna said, sounding doubtful.
• "You aren't even sure," Elio countered.
• "Amanda will be dealt with," Senna said calmly. "Our guys are out on the streets searching for her."
• "No, that's where I have a problem with you, man," Elio said, pained. "Amanda should've been dealt with before reuniting with the Puppeteer."