"Will you at least tell me who you are, and why you're doing this?" asks Mero as he presses his foot onto the brake, letting the car come to a slow and deliberate stop in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but trees as far as the eyes can say. To be frank, it's a shock that he and Luca even got this far, as all it would take is one misstep, one momentary fuck up and the car would be smashed up against the base of a tree right now. It was almost as if Mero had some kind of familiarity with this environment, almost as if...

"You live 'round here?"

"What's it to ya?"

"It's something to me. Answer me."

Luca presses the gun against Mero's temple, hoping that would make the urgency more apparent. Mero, shaking, stays as firm as he could. By choosing to say nothing, he already gave Luca his answer.

"Come on man."

"Why? You're gonna fuckin' kill me whether or not I tell ya, so why the fuck does it matter so damn much to ya?"

"I already know you do. You wouldn't be so fucking defensive if you didn't. So, just tell me. Humor me. Confirm my fucking suspicions, dammit. Need I remind you that I have a gun pressed into your skull? Huh, does that make it real enough for you? I haven't pulled the trigger yet because I want you to tell me yourself."

"I don't get it. Why? If you're so sure you know the answer, why do you need me to tell you what you already know?"

"Because you have people to protect. People that my organization would put in their cross-hairs the second I breathed wind of their existence. Something I'm going to do if you don't cooperate."

"Fine. Fine! I do have a place in these woods. Happy? Can you fucking kill me already?"

Sighing, Luca pulls the gun away from Mero's head and rests it in his lap. Letting his body fall back against the seat, he slams his head against the headrest five or six times before letting out a primal yell and grabbing at nothing; neither hand anywhere near the gun. For a second, Mero contemplates reaching for it. A feat he could easily accomplish and would allow him to turn the tables on his attacker.

"What are their names?"

"Who?"

"The people you're hiding. What are their names?"

"Why do you wanna know?"

"I just do. Don't question it."

"Y'know, I have a burning question on my mind too, the longer we sit here and the longer I'm still alive. Who are you? What do you care about me or them?"

"I don't think you'd like the answer much, man. Not much at all."

"I'd like it a helluva lot better than dying in the dark."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it Mero. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Who are they?"

"My idiot cousin Lenny and equally as stupid friend Jared. I think he's the one who got me into this predicament, Jared was, seeing as he just recently decided to cut his ties with the same people I'm guessing you work for."

Upon hearing Jared's name, Luca grows a callous smirk: the first emotion he's shown besides guilty apprehension.

"That so?"

Mero nods, letting himself fall more and more at ease with each passing second. Luca grabs the gun and shakily takes aim at Mero, swearing under his breath. As the seconds tick by, his hands shake harder and harder, leaving him unable to get a clear shot on his victim from nigh point blank range. Laying the gun on the dashboard, he grabs at his hair and tugs, sighing again.

"So, who are you? You gonna leave me hanging here, or... ?"

"Think about it Mero. You know who I am."

"No I don't. If I did, I wouldn't be like you and ask you to repeat it."

"Did this Jared ever mention anyone he worked with in the Organization by name?"

"I don't get what fuckin' game you're trying to play by not answering me."

"No games."

"Alright. Yeah, he mentioned someone. Some fuckin' slimeball guido fuck named Luca Arzegotti. Y'know, the dead bigshot wrestler who, I guess it runs in his wop blood just so happens to be a fucking rat. He sold me and a few more of my friends out to the police for a scheme he cooked up. He walked us all into a trap, and it just so happened to turn out that Jared and him were supposed to work on something to save humanity or some other bullshit they fed the two of 'em to get 'em on board. Fell apart, because Jared wasn't too keen on working with a known rat. He'd have probably let Jared get killed right away anyway. Or Jared woulda killed him."

"And how ironic is it, that Jared became a rat and threw you under the bus to save his own ass and ensure his safe excommunication?"

"What? You're kidding-- wait a second, what does any of what I told you about Arzegotti have to do with who you are?"

"No, I'm not kidding Mero. Jared sold you out. You, Lenny, Renee--"

"Wait, how do you know Renee?"

"Remember when I said, if I told you who I was, you wouldn't like it? Remember when I told you to think? Combine those two clues right now."

Mero racks his brain for a few moments, before looking Luca dead in the eye with a jaw dropped glare.

"Arzegotti?"

Luca nods, pulling the gun off the dashboard.

"Why would Jared sell me out?"

"I dunno man, I dunno."

"It makes no fucking sense. Almost as if someone..."

Luca, finally letting his facade slip, begins to smile as Mero unravels the string of lies he was fed since Luca started his guilt laden hitman routine. He cocks the gun as Mero snarls in disgust.

"Once a rat, always a--"

Luca pulls the trigger. One bullet, one site of impact, one set of brains splattering against the driver's side window.

"Goodbye Mero, and thank you."

Pulling the burner phone from his pocket, he dials the number that belongs to the Organizer to report his success with not only the mission, but also in finding a derelict. The phone's answered on the first ring.

"Done."

"How'd it go?"

"One bullet. A bit messy, nothing a clean up team can't fix. Better news: I found someone you might've been looking for."

"I'm listening."

"Jared Russell. Turns out, he was hiding some place in the middle of this fuckin' forest with Mero and his cousin Lenny Carlyle. Woulda pressed him for the location but I figured that'd make him suspicious. You'll find it. You're too meticulous not to."

"Very well. What are your coordinates now? Where's the body?"

"You gotta tracer on this phone, don't you? How about we kill two bird with one stone? I keep this thing on the dearly departed and your clean up crews deal with it?"

"Fine."

"One more thing. Tell Heiman he owes me one and a half million dollars. I finally collected on his hit."

Click.