“Yes, sir,” said the lawyer, and hurried back toward the interrogations.
But as Teddy and Nikki continued to stare out at the blazing ship, Detective Malidec began to stare at Nikki. A second detective on scene moved over to him.
“What you staring at?” the second detective asked. Then he looked too. “Now that’s a good-looking woman. I like her face. She’s classy looking. Who is she?”
“Don’t know.”
“Teddy’s old lady maybe?”
“Maybe,” Malidec said. “I never seen him with a woman before so I don’t know his taste. But he’s holding her hand awfully tight.”
“And they match,” the second detective said. “I heard Sinatra was big as a log down there. He’d need a woman her size to be able to take it all in.”
Malidec looked at him. “Big as a log? How the hell you hear something like that?”
“I hear things.”
Malidec continued to stare at him.
“What?” he asked. “I’m just saying she could be his old lady. That’s all I’m saying!”
“Just cut the Dr. Phil crap and get the photographer to discreetly take some photos of her,” Malidec ordered. “The kind we can run through the trace. I don’t know who she is right now. But I’ll soon be knowing her entire life story. Let’s just hope it’s juicy.”
The detective smiled. “Sure thing,” he said, and went to find the photographer.
It would be several hours before the fire was considered contained, and the firemen, with their bright red engines, and the cops, with their photographs of Nikki, had all gone back to their day jobs. The deckhands in the employ of the Sinatras were trying to get what they were able to salvage of the containers before the blaze went out of control, onto their other ships. Joey was busy supervising the massive transfer, and Teddy was getting a blow-by-blow of exactly what all happened.
Nikki, left to her own devices, began walking around further away from the activity. Teddy kept looking away from his briefers to keep his eyes on Nikki, but every time he looked he was satisfied. She was walking around, but within eye sight.
But as she walked further outside of the restricted area, impressed with the enormity of the Sinatra operation and curious how it all looked so legitimate when it obviously couldn’t be. But that was what kept the Feds away, she suspected: nothing concrete to pin on them.
But as she walked she noticed something that seemed, at least to her, out of the ordinary. A man walked off of one of the ships further away. What struck her was how he walked off. It seemed as if he had been hiding on that ship until the coast was clear. What also struck her was the shoes he wore. He stepped off of the ship as if he was a regular deck hand. But what deck hand, she wondered, wore Ferragamos to work?
Her suspicion was confirmed when the man looked over and saw her, and she clearly was already seeing him, and a look of panic suddenly appeared on his already red face. For a moment she expected him to give her an explanation. But he didn’t say a word. His panic won out. And he took off running.
Nikki took off running, too, in the opposite direction toward Teddy. “Teddy!” she yelled. “Teddy!”
Teddy’s briefers had only just left his side, and he was about to go to Joey to get a damage assessment. He didn’t hear her yells – there was too much noise for that to happen. When he looked up to check on her once again, he saw her motioning to him. He took off running too.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he made it to Nikki. His heart was pumping fast. “What’s wrong?”
“That guy,” Nikki said, pointing backwards, toward the man who was running away. “He just came off of that ship over there. He saw me and then he took off. I think he’s up to something!”
“Get Joey,” Teddy ordered as he prepared to run after the man, “and tell him to stay with you. Get Joey!” And then he left her side and took off after the man.
Nikki felt she would be better off by herself, protecting herself, instead of relying on Joey, but she did as she was ordered. Teddy knew his kid brother better than she did. She hurried to get Joey.
Teddy hurried, too, but by the time he saw the man in question he was already turning a corner near the old buildings that used to house docking stations. Teddy knew he had to rely on his speed alone to catch him. And he was determined to catch him. The fact that he could be the arsonist and could have been in hiding until he felt he could get away clean, was reason enough. The fact that he had startled Nikki sealed the deal for Teddy. In his mind, he was going to catch that motherfucker. There were no ands, ifs, or buts about it.
It was a tall order. Teddy was well behind at first. But after he cleared the old station house, and saw the man running toward the main road, he was able to put on the after-burners. He caught him. He relied on his speed and agility and was able to run the older man down. He leaped onto the man’s back, and they both crashed to the ground.
Teddy quickly turned him around. He wanted to see if he knew the asshole. But he didn’t. He never saw him before.
Teddy grabbed his collar. “You were on my ship,” he said. “What the fuck were you doing on my ship?”
“I wasn’t on any ship,” the man insisted. “You have the wrong guy!”
Teddy slammed the guy’s head into the ground, causing him to scream in pain. “What were you doing on my ship?” he asked him again.
“I wasn’t on your ship! I’m telling you the truth! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Teddy stopped. And frowned. “What the fuck?” he asked. And then he leaned down and sniffed the man’s shirt. And he smelled it. He knew the smell of explosive concoctions. Demolition: he had to do a few for his old man. He knew what those materials smelled like. And he panicked. Joey was still near those ships. His men were still near those ships! Nikki was still near those ships!
Teddy stood up quickly. He couldn’t allow this fucker to get away, but he had to get to Nikki. He had to get back to those ships.
He pulled out his loaded gun, the one he had retrieved from his Corvette after the cops left, and he shot the man in his right leg. The man grabbed his leg and shrieked in pain. But Teddy knew he still could hop his ass away from the scene. And that was why he shot him again, in his left leg, causing the man to nearly pass out. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would have to do.
Teddy took off running. And there was no faster way: Teddy had to put on those after-burners again.
Nikki had found Joey and told him what Teddy had told her, and Joey, to Nikki’s surprise, didn’t hesitate in complying.
“Which ship was he on?” Joey asked her.
“That one down there,” Nikki responded, pointing to the ship the man had departed.
“Come on,” Joey ordered her, as he headed toward the ship.
Although Nikki wasn’t accustomed to being ordered around by two different men in the span of a few minutes, she complied again. She was out of her depth, and Joey was the man Teddy had put in charge of her safety. She was going to do as she was told.
Joey looked at Nikki as they walked toward the ship. “You think I don’t like you. Don’t you?” he asked her.
“No,” Nikki said.
“Come on!” Joey said with a grin. “Why you lying like that? You’re telling me you haven’t thought about how I feel about you?”
“I haven’t thought about you at all,” Nikki said.
“Ouch,” Joey responded. “You strike back.”
Nikki smiled too. “And don’t you forget it,” she said.
But when Joey and Nikki looked up and saw Teddy running toward them, pointing at that ship, Joey frowned. “What is he saying?” Joey asked. They couldn’t hear a word Teddy was yelling.
But Nikki didn’t have to hear him. She saw him pointing at that ship. Teddy was a lot of things, she realized, but a drama king wasn’t one of them.
She quickly grabbed Joey and began moving away from that ship. But just as she did, the ship exploded with an explosion that rocked th
e docks. Everybody took cover. And they weren’t nearly as close as Nikki and Joey.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Teddy screamed out in agony when he saw a ball of fire and smoke pierce through the sky as soon as the ship went up. It had rocked even him. And he ran even faster. He didn’t think he had it in him. But he ran so fast he nearly outran himself!
When he arrived near the explosion, he could only hear people coughing and his men giving orders to try and contain the fire.
And then he saw Nikki and Joey.
Nikki had fallen halfway on top of Joey, and she appeared to have shielded his body. Teddy felt relief, but he was not going to be completely relieved until he got up to them and saw that they were okay.
They were both okay. But it was those first words out of Nikki’s mouth that sealed the deal for Teddy. When she looked up, and saw him, she asked with worried eyes: “Are you alright?” she asked him.
Teddy smiled. “Am I alright? Yes! Are you alright?”
Nikki smiled too. “Yes,” she said as Teddy helped her to her feet.
“You sure?” he asked as she stood up.
“I’m sure,” she replied.
Teddy also helped Joey to his feet. “What happened?” Joey asked, knocking the rubble dust off of him. Then he looked at Nikki. “She saved my life,” he said.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Nikki.
“But you did,” he said. “But she did,” he said to Teddy.
Teddy pulled both of them into his arms. His men, including the Bevin twins, ran over too. “Everybody okay?” Ron Bevin asked.
“We’re okay,” said Joey. “This lady right here saved my life,” he added.
Both twins looked at her. They’d never seen her before. They’d ask Joey for the 411 later because they knew Teddy didn’t play that.
“Get some guys and go over on the other side of the old docking house,” Teddy said to the twins. “There’s a guy with bullet holes in both legs who might be responsible for these fires. Go get him and bring him to me.”
“Yes, sir,” said Ron Bevin as he and his brother motioned for a couple guys to come with them, and then they all took off in the direction Teddy had ordered them.
“Let me get you out of here before the cops return,” Teddy said to Nikki, and all three of them began walking toward Teddy’s car.
“I am so pissed,” Joey was saying as they walked. “We gotta hit back and hit back hard, Teddy. This some bullshit Bovenconti’s pulled on us! I can get the guys and--”
“You don’t get the guys and do shit until I tell you what shit to do,” Teddy said with edge in his voice. “You hear me, Joey?”
“But we gotta hit back!”
“I know what we’ve got to do. You think I’m an idiot? I know we have to hit back. But we for damn sure won’t be doing it half-ass like some street thugs! The planning will be from my end only. And I don’t need any help.”
“What about Pop?” Joey asked.
Teddy hesitated as they continued to walk. “What about him?”
“He’s going to blow a gasket when he finds out. If he hasn’t already.”
Teddy knew it too. “Yeah, he’s not going to like it. That’s for sure.”
“What are we gonna do?” Joey impatiently asked again. “I say we should hit tonight, when they least expect it.”
“Hit tonight?” Teddy asked. “That’s when they’re most expecting it! Besides,” he added, “we haven’t even established who the perps really are.”
Joey frowned. “What the fuck you talking about, Teddy? It has to be Boss B! I told you what my guys did to his son at that hospital!”
“I know what you told me. But you’re also talking about starting a war.”
“He started it!”
“We started it when we hospitalized his son! Don’t get it twisted, Joey!” Teddy calmed back down. “If a war is breaking out, we’d better be damned sure about the intel. Pop will want hard evidence, not just your theories.”
“That’s why we should strike before Dad even finds out what went down. At least we’ll have a success story to tell him.”
“Let’s just see what that guy has to say about it,” Teddy said. “I had to take him down to keep him in place. Hopefully he’s still able to talk.”
But Joey got a phone call just as they arrived at Teddy’s car. And the news wasn’t good. Joey looked at Teddy.
“What is it?” Teddy asked.
“It’s Ronnie. He says the guy skipped.”
Teddy frowned. “I shot him in both legs. His ass couldn’t skip anywhere!” Teddy snatched Joey’s phone. “What are you talking about, Ron?”
“He’s gone,” Ron Bevin said over the phone.
“Gone how?”
“When we got here, two guys were putting him in a car. Then they got in, too, and sped off. He’s gone.”
Teddy couldn’t believe it. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he yelled.
Nikki began rubbing Teddy’s back, comforting him in public. Joey was shocked. And the way she looked so worried, as if she really cared about his brother. He stared at her. Who was this lady, he wondered?
But Teddy, at that moment, didn’t have Nikki on his mind. Nor his kid brother. His old man was on his mind. And how angry he was going to be when he realized the full extent of Teddy’s fuck up.
“Let’s get out of here,” Teddy said, and placed his hand in the small of Nikki’s back as he walked her around to the passenger side of his car.
Teddy walked back around to the driver side and handed Joey’s phone back to him. “Call the suits,” he said. “And shut the fuck up until they get here.”
“I know what to do, Teddy, damn! And what are you still hanging around yapping about? You’d better take off before the cops arrive. One ship explosion might be a mistake. But two? They just might try to take you downtown for questioning.”
Teddy knew it too. The job of the underboss of any syndicate was to never allow himself to be held in police custody. That was especially true for the underboss in the Sinatra Crime Family. It was the first thing his father taught him before he gave him the job.
“Wait on the suits,” Teddy warned Joey again, as he got into his car, pressed the Start button, and then sped off.
As Teddy was driving away, Joey was calling the law firm, ordering the lawyers back to the docks. And just as he was hanging up from ordering them back on scene, the Bevin twins arrived back on scene themselves, and made their way over to Joey.
“Another fucking explosion,” Big-Eye Bevin said. “They’re really playing our asses today.”
“Tell me about it,” Joey said. “My old man is going to be so pissed. And the only witness we had got away.”
Ron Bevin smiled. “Did he?” he asked.
Joey looked at him. “What the fuck that’s supposed to mean?”
“Did he get away I’m asking.”
“What are you asking that for? You told Teddy he got away.”
“I know what I told Teddy,” said Ron.
Joey frowned. “What the fuck you’re talking about?”
“He didn’t get away, Joey,” Ron said. “That’s what I’m talking about. He didn’t get away!”
Joey knew where this was going, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to play that level of hard ball. “Where is he?” he asked.
“We hid him away at the docking station. We’re waiting to see what you wanna do with him.”
“But you told my brother--”
“This is your chance, Joey,” Ron said. “Your father is already going down on Teddy like a ton of bricks. Teddy’s ass is already cooked. But you can get the intel. You can be the hero. No telling what you can do with what we find out from that joker.”
Joey stared at Ron.
“You said yourself when you got here this morning that Teddy was already making noises about firing you for what happened with Khake,” Ron continued. “Imagine what he’s going to do after these explosions!”
“Imagine what he
’ll do to my ass if he finds out we lied about that witness!” Joey shot back.
“Why would he find out?” Big-Eye Bevin asked. “Who’s telling him? You?”
“You don’t know my brother.”
“It’s done now, Joey,” said Ron Bevin. “You can either punk-out and run to big brother, or you can stand up and take your rightful place as your old man’s real heir-apparent to this organization. This is your chance, Joe! It’s the only chance you might ever get.”
Joey knew what Ron said was true. He knew he could be fired as soon as his old man returned to the country. Then where would he be? Another broke-ass also-ran with nothing to show for his daily sacrifices for the family.
Joey made a decision. It was now or never. “Get him to a safe house,” he ordered. “The last thing we want is for the cops to find him. And what’s his condition? Teddy said he shot him in both legs.”
“He’s in pain, but we figure he’ll live,” said Ron.
“Have Doc meet you at the house. We don’t want his ass dying on us.”
The Bevin twins smiled. “Will do,” said Ron, and they took off to finish what they started.
Joey pinched his nose. Damn if he did and damn if he didn’t, he thought. Always the story of his fucking life! But he also knew the twins were right. He might as well shoot for the star, before that star started gunning for him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Later that day, after they both had gone home and showered and changed, Teddy took Nikki out to lunch. It was his way of showing her life with him wasn’t always going to be this complicated. Although, he knew, deep down, that it was.
The line at the front of the restaurant was long, as well-connected patrons waited to be seated, and Teddy had no reservation. But when he made his way to the Maître d desk, presumably, Nikki thought, to get a number so that they could wait in line too, the Maître d immediately sprang into action.
“Mr. Sinatra, good afternoon,” he said quickly, as he grabbed two menus. “Please follow me, sir.”
Teddy placed his hand on the small of Nikki’s back and pushed her forward as they made their way to a private, VIP table near the back of the restaurant. Nikki could see many of the ladies in the upscale restaurant taking peeps at Teddy as they walked by. Not that she was surprised. Teddy was a very desirable man. But it was the ladies who looked surprised. And their looks were undeniable: Him? With her? And they seemed to be wondering what special sauce she had to wrangle a man like that.
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