Bk 2- Chapter 23 - The Twins
"Ronaldo, slow down. I can't understand you. What are you talking about a lion attacked you when you kidnapped the girl?" Ricky rubbed his forehead. He should have known better than to have this idiot try and get the girl. Ronaldo was obviously on some type of drug.
"Ricky, listen to me. I only have a few minutes because I'm in the hospital. Yesterday I kidnapped the girl, but she woke up quicker than I thought. She hit me with a baseball bat and knocked me out. When I woke up, she had me tied up, and there was a lion with her. She said to give you a message to not send anyone else after her. The lion bit off three of my fingers and used his claws to scratch down my whole body."
Ricky thought Ronaldo was crazy, but he could hear the fear in his voice. He wondered how the girl had gotten a lion, but that was for another day. Right now, he wanted to find her before she came forward. He would also need to eliminate Ronaldo before he ran his mouth to the wrong person. He wasn't planning on being lion bait, but he had some men who could fight with a lion.
"Alright, stay calm. I believe you, but I'm not giving up. I'll send a couple men. We'll get her and make her pay for putting her lion on you." Ronaldo felt dread wash over him. If Ricky's men came, they would kill him and the girl.
"You can't go after her. I told her I would give you the message, and everyone would leave her alone. She's not planning on contacting the FBI." He didn't know if what he was saying was true, but he needed to make Ricky think it was true.
"That wasn't your promise to make, but it may be better that you did. Now she won't be expecting us, and we can catch her off guard. Did you get her name?"
"No, I never got her name. The two times I saw her were by coincidence." Ronaldo had no intention of telling Ricky the name of her boyfriend or that his brother was a detective. He was planning to be long gone by the time Ricky's men arrived.
"I'll let you know when my men are coming so you know when to expect them. You can show them where you saw her so they can take over where you left off. What hospital are you in?" Ricky wanted to get his men there as quickly as possible. No more incompetent fools like Ronaldo.
Ronaldo gave him the name of the hospital across town from the one he was in and said he was supposed to be discharged in a few days. However, he planned to discharge himself from the hospital in the next few hours and disappear. Ricky said to expect his men in a day or two.
Ronaldo hung up the burner phone he bought from the hospital gift shop. He decided he was leaving tonight when there was less staff around. His wounds were still bad, but they were stitched up. He would rather risk getting an infection than the alternatives.
Later that night, Ronaldo waited until the nurse came and gave him his nightly meds. After she had left, he got up and carefully removed his IV. The nurse had left bandages in the room, so he wrapped the area so he wouldn't drip blood everywhere. The lion and hospital staff had ruined his clothes, so he put some hospital pajamas on and went to the door to look out into the hall.
When there was no one around, he slipped out of his room and went to the emergency exit at the end of the hall. Ronaldo opened the door and waited to see if it set off an alarm. When nothing happened, he shut the door quietly and started down the stairs.
He made his way outside and had to lean against the wall to catch his breath. The deepest wounds on his chest and abdomen were causing him the most pain. He refused his pain medication from the nurse because he wanted a clear head.
Once he felt he could move again, he headed down the street. He figured he could walk home because he had no money for a cab and didn't live far away. Ronaldo didn't know where he would go, but it would be far from Sacramento.
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Ricky stared at the phone for a minute after Ronaldo hung up. He knew the idiot would try and leave before his men got there, but they would find him. Otto and Tito were two of his best. He believed they would get the girl, Ronaldo, and any other bystanders who got in the way.
"Otto, Tito, I have a special assignment for you." The twins stood up from the table next to Ricky's in the clubhouse. They were identical with tan skin, black hair, and black eyes. They were over six feet tall and built like an ox.
"We're ready, boss," Otto spoke for both of them.
"I need you to go to Sacramento. Ronaldo attempted to kidnap the girl, but she got away. Find his apartment and get him. I need you to also find the girl and make them both disappear. You can make it a triple if she has anyone with her."
Ricky watched as the twins left. He purposely didn't say anything about the so-called lion. That was probably something made up by Ronaldo anyway because he was embarrassed the girl got one up on him. He also didn't tell them Ronaldo was in the hospital. Ricky knew he was going to try and sneak out anyway.
Otto and Tito went outside and got into their black SUV with tinted windows. Their bags were already in the back because they never knew when Ricky would send them on a job.
It only took the twins three hours to get to Sacramento. They went directly to Ronaldo's apartment to see if they saw him, but what greeted them was still a taped-off crime scene. There weren't any police they could see. Otto decided it would be best to wait in the car to see if they saw Ronaldo come home.
A few hours after they'd arrived, they were sitting in the vehicle eating sandwiches when they saw a man limping down the sidewalk. At first, they didn't pay him any attention, but when he stopped next to the building to catch his breath, they realized it was Ronaldo.
"I wonder what happened to him? Ricky said the girl got away, but it looks like she did more than that." Tito looked at his brother, who nodded.
"Let him get inside, and then we'll pay him a visit." Otto didn't want to make a scene with witnesses, and from the looks of Ronaldo, it wasn't going to take much to finish him off.
They watched him make his way into the apartment building, and when they saw his light come on upstairs, they went inside. Otto looked around to ensure no one saw them as they slowly went up the stairs to the second floor.
Outside Ronaldo's door, they could hear him scrambling around. Tito peeked into the apartment and didn't see anyone. He and Otto slipped inside, closing the door quietly behind them.
The twins were not expecting the sight in front of them. There was a couch across the room, and it was covered in blood. The floor in front of the sofa also had a puddle of blood. The apartment smelled like someone had died from the amount of blood everywhere. They looked at each other in surprise, wondering what had happened.
Otto led the way down the hallway to where they could hear Ronaldo shuffling around the bedroom. The door was open, and they walked into the room. Ronaldo didn't see them at first, but when he did, he started shaking in fear.
"What are you doing here?" He thought he would have at least a day to put space between himself and Ricky's men. He had never met the twins, but he was well aware of who they were.
"Ricky sent us to finish the job you messed up. What happened to you?" Otto asked, noticing the blood soaking through the front of Ronaldo's shirt.
"Ricky didn't tell you? I told him that when I kidnapped the girl, she somehow got a lion here that attacked me. It caused these deep gashes down the front of me and bit off three of my fingers. I'm telling you that you should leave her alone." Ronaldo held up his bandaged hand, showing them the missing fingers.
Otto and Tito looked at each other, unsure if they should believe him. However, they saw his wounds and the amount of blood in the other room. For now, they would try to find the girl and keep Ronaldo with them. They always followed Ricky's orders, but being mauled by a lion wasn't part of the plan.
"Finish packing your things and come with us. We'll check into a hotel and then go over where you saw the girl. You'll stay with us and be our guide." Ronaldo breathed a little easier. At least they weren't talking about killing him yet.
Once he had packed a bag with some clothes, Ronaldo followed the twins down to their SUV. He sat in the back and told them where they could find a decent hotel. An extra cot was requested for Ronaldo when they checked in.
After they got to the room, he described in detail what had happened from the minute he took the girl off the street until he was taken to the hospital. Otto and Tito listened and asked a few questions. When he was done and went into the bathroom to wash up and change his bandages, the twins spoke quietly.
"I don't know about this job. I believe what Ronaldo said after seeing his apartment and his wounds. I'm not too big on being lion food." Otta said, and Tito nodded.
"I agree. Let's see if we can find her and go from there, but if it's going to cost us our lives, she's not worth it."
They went to bed that night, deciding what they were going to do. It could be their deaths if they went after the girl or refused to complete the job. It may be time for them to go underground if what Ronaldo said was true. Ricky could get someone else for this job.
