by Ws Greer
“So, explain this to me, Nix,” I say into the phone as we exit the highway and make our way to our next stop. “First off, is everything in place?”
“Of course, Solomon,” Nix replies. “But Ricky is hotheaded.”
“Yeah, we all know that by now, but I wanna know what happened before we show up in a few minutes.”
“Well, when we pulled the guy outside, he didn’t believe that we worked for Dante,” Nix explains as we navigate around a corner, bringing us less than a block away from Kimpton Palomar Hotel, our second destination for the day.
“We knew that was a possibility,” I reply. “So what happened? Just tell me he didn’t go so out of control that he ruined the plan. Because if that’s what you’re telling me, that’s gonna be a problem for him, Nix.”
“I know that, but I don’t think it ruined anything. Once we started talking to the guy, he wasn’t feeling anything we were saying. Dante must’ve really put the fear of God in this guy, because it didn’t matter what we said, he just wasn’t buying it. So, Ricky pulled his gun and pistol whipped him.”
“Oh shit,” I exclaim in both excitement and annoyance. Since Donny died, Ricky hasn’t been his normal, mild-mannered self. He’s becoming a bit of a pain in my ass.
“Yeah,” Nix continues. “So, I don’t know if the guy believes us now or not, but as Ricky is pummeling the guy, he knocks him nearly unconscious before getting him to tell us that the money is in his car, which is parked in the front of the hotel. So, Ricky makes him hand over the keys, and I drive to the front of the hotel to get the bag out of the guy’s trunk. After I get it and toss it into the back of my rented car, I drive around to pick up Ricky. As I pull up, I see Ricky digging into the guy’s pockets and taking stuff. He snatches the guy’s watch and wallet before standing up as I stop the car next to him. Just as he starts to walk to the car, he pulls his nine and shoots the guy in the chest twice. No silencer either. The shots were loud as hell.”
“Ugh, damn it,” I snap. “Is he out of his mind? Stupid sonofabitch! Did anybody see you?”
“Nah, I don’t think anybody saw us.”
“Not him, you. I don’t give a shit about Ricky right now. Did anybody see you, Nix?”
“Nah, Solomon. I’m good.”
“Okay, good. Did you plant the radio?”
“Yeah.”
“Good,” I say, just as I turn the corner onto the street of the hotel and see it covered with flashing lights. “Damn it.”
“What’s up?” Nix asks.
“Uh-oh,” Reina says next to me as she sees what I see. “Well, that’s interesting. What do we do about this?”
I have to react fast, because Dante’s car has stopped on the street about thirty yards in front of us, and he could see us if he looks in his rearview mirror. So, I quickly put the car in reverse and whip it into a parking spot on the side of the road between two other cars. Dante’s car stays put in the middle of the street, their eyes focused on the scene in front of them.
“Nix, where’s Ricky?” I ask.
“He’s right here.”
“Put him on the phone,” I demand, and Nix doesn’t hesitate.
“Solomon,” Ricky answers.
“In front of me are about a dozen cop cars surrounding Kimpton Palomar Hotel,” I explain, as fury fills my body. “Apparently, your impulsive little act was heard, and whoever heard it, called the cops. They’ve flooded the hotel lobby. Now, as far as Dante is concerned, I’m not upset. Either way, he doesn’t get his money and he’s as confused as I want him to be. But, if this comes back to Nix or me, you and I will meet again, and that won’t go well for you. So if you believe in a god, you better pray to him that nobody spotted you. Now, don’t say a word, and give the phone back to Nix.”
A second later, Nix is back on the line.
“Everything good, Solomon?” he asks.
“I think it’ll be fine,” I tell him as Dante’s Mercedes flips a quick U-turn and drives right past us. Luckily, the two of them were too confused by the scene at the hotel to be looking for people possibly following them. “Dante is moving on. I figured he wasn’t gonna risk being spotted at a crime scene. Return the rental car and drop Ricky off. Tell him to stay put until he hears from us after this is all over. I’ve gotta get back on the road and follow Dante. Let’s hope he’s still going to Franklin.”
“Alright,” Nix answers before hanging up and carrying out my orders.
“You sure this is going to be okay?” Reina asks as I pull out of the parking space and step on the gas to catch up to Dante’s Mercedes.
“No, I’m not,” I answer honestly. “But I’m not concerned about that right now. At least not until I need to be.”
“You gonna let Ricky live after this?” Reina says as she places a hand softly on my leg. “If you want him dead, let me do it. He’s a liability, Solomon, and I didn’t like the way he talked to me at the Asylum last night.”
I turn towards her and meet her gaze. “You didn’t?”
“No. He was rude and arrogant. So, if he has to go, I wanna be the one to send him away. Okay?”
“Well aren’t you a little firecracker,” I reply behind a chuckle. “Alright, if this goes south, he’s yours. Now, let’s hope Ricky’s little stunt didn’t scare Dante back into his hideout. Buckle up, baby. It’s time for the grand finale.”
Franklin Hotel is a beast of a structure. Its three massive buildings look like gigantic Lego bricks stacked on top of each other, and the three humungous brothers stand side by side by side, casting their shadows over every building on the block. It’s a sight to behold, especially for the tourists. Tonight, everyone inside will get a special treat, put in place by the king and queen of Philly.
The three-towered structure is nestled on the corner of Chestnut and Ninth Street, with buildings directly to its rear and left side. On the backside of the monumental landmark is an alleyway that is used to deliver food and other supplies to the hotel. It’s also where Dante goes once a month when he picks up his payoff that none of the tourists have a clue about. While everyone is hanging out inside, enjoying their stay at a historic location, Dante is outside, picking up a duffel bag full of money that’s his payoff for making sure nothing bad happens to the place. If the owner, Lorenzo, didn’t pay up, little Scarfo goons would show up at some point, and the power to the entire building would mysteriously go out. Or, somehow the kitchen would magically catch on fire with a couple of people trapped inside. Then, of course, Lorenzo would have to call Dante Rossi to make sure these mishaps don’t continue to happen. Such is the life of an Italian gangster and hotel owner.
Just like his relationship with Matteo, Dante and Lorenzo go way back. We’re not sure how far, but Lorenzo has been letting Dante skim off the top of his hotel for nearly a decade now, so the two of them have grown close, and they have their business dealing down to a science. Dante shows up in the alleyway around nine in the evening and knocks on the manager door in the back. Lorenzo comes out and the two of them walk over to a white van to do their business in private. Inside the van, Lorenzo hands Dante a black duffel bag stuffed with one-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollars in cash! The life of a mob underboss is good! That amount of money may seem like a lot, but Franklin Hotel is a feature in this city, and it brings in that amount on nearly an hourly basis, so skimming at that rate is virtually unnoticeable to anybody paying attention.
Now, this information isn’t something that’s publicly known on the streets. This is private stuff we’re talking about here. The only reason I know about it is because Reina and I beat it out of Lorenzo about two hours ago. As Dante and Tony turn their Mercedes into the alleyway behind the behemoth hotel, they have no clue that their biggest cash cow is now running dry. Dante once told me that I cause chaos. Tonight, he’ll see it firsthand.
There’s no adjacent alley for Reina and me to park in this time, so we have to setup shop across Chestnut Street, behind a small credit union on the corner. From our hideout,
we watch as Tony and Dante exit the Mercedes and walk up the delivery ramp to the manager’s door. Dante, just like he always does, bangs on the door and waits. He looks confused and frustrated when no one comes to the door, and without a radio near him, Reina and I can’t hear what he’s saying to Tony. He looks livid as he pounds on the door again, to no avail. Once again, he vents to Tony, who shrugs his fat, stupid shoulders, because he’s an idiot who doesn’t know what to do. When their irritation reaches a fever pitch, I reach into my pocket and pull out the keys I made sure to bring with me a couple of hours ago. With a giant smile on my face and as Reina watches with her own grin, I press the Lock button twice, making the lights on the van behind Dante flash as the horn honks once.
Dante and Tony both spin around at the sound, wondering where it came from. I see them eyeing the white van that looks so familiar to them, but neither of them makes a move towards it. It’s been a long day for these two, so it may take them a minute to remember that they’re supposed to be badass gangsters who aren’t afraid of anything, and not little bitches who jump at the sound of a horn. After another thirty seconds of letting them look around, I press the button again. The lights flash, the horn blares, and Dante finally realizes that Lorenzo must be signaling him from inside the van.
“He’s going!” Reina chirps, as the excitement that’s been building in her all day makes her fidgety. “I thought he was gonna stand there forever.”
“He’s a moron,” I snip, watching the two of them walk down the ramp towards the van. “I wish I could be standing right in front of him, so I could see his face when he opens the doors. It’s gonna be classic.”
“I know, but we’ve got a plan, my love, and we’re carrying it out the way it needs to be done,” Reina agrees, and the two of us fall into silence to watch our scene play out exactly the way we drew it up.
Dante steps up to the back of the van and knocks on the door. Nothing. He knocks again, and I respond by unlocking the doors with the key fob. At the sound of the click, Dante reaches up and pulls both of the back doors on the van open. When he sees what’s inside, he freezes.
In front of Dante and Tony is Lorenzo, wearing black pants and a white shirt that’s covered with blood. His feet and hands are tied by thick rope, and his mouth is duct taped. He’s lying on the floor of the van, still unconscious from when Reina and I left him there. I figured he would’ve been awake by now, but oh well.
“Che cazzo?” we hear Dante swear in Italian over the radio I placed under the passenger’s seat before we left.
“Is that Lorenzo?” Tony asks, and I can hear the fear in his voice. It took him all day to see it, but he seems to be coming around to the idea that maybe today wasn’t full of coincidences.
“What the hell is this?” Dante blurts as he climbs into the van and starts shaking his longtime friend. “Lorenzo, wake up. Wake up, man! What the hell is going on?”
Over the radio, we hear the sound of Lorenzo slowly making his way out of his slumber. He mumbles behind the duct tape just before Dante rips it off of his mouth and he lets out a scream from the pain.
“Lorenzo, what the hell is going on?” Dante shouts as Tony climbs into the back of the van and closes the doors so they can be in private. Once their inside, I remove the phone from my pocket and dial in a number. Reina smiles from ear to ear as I place my thumb on Send and wait.
“Tell me what the hell is going on, Lorenzo! Why are you in here? What happened?” Dante shouts. Reina and I listen closely to what sounds like someone trying to remove the ropes from Lorenzo, but we know he won’t be successful. Reina tied those up nice and tight.
“What? Where are we?” Lorenzo asks, obviously still groggy from being knocked out.
“We’re in the back of your van,” Dante snaps. “You don’t remember where you are? This is crazy! What the hell happened, Lorenzo?”
“Wait, what? Shit, Dante, you have to get us out of here!” Lorenzo yells as he finally remembers what happened to him. Suddenly, we hear shuffling as Lorenzo tries to free himself from the ropes. “Shit, shit! We have to get out!”
“Whoah, what’s the matter with you? Calm down,” Dante barks, but it’s no use. Only Lorenzo knows what’s about to happen.
“Dante, we have to get out!” Lorenzo yells.
“Wait! What the hell is this?” Dante asks, then there is silence. We can’t see them, but I know Dante just found the gifts I left for him next to the duffel bag full of his cash. “Lorenzo, what is this?”
We hear the sound of paper rustling, confirming our thoughts.
“I don’t know what that is, but we have to go, Dante. Now. The van has explosives in it!” Lorenzo bellows.
“What did you just say?” Tony asks.
“Did I stutter? The van is gonna explode!”
After a brief silence filled with the realization of danger, Reina and I listen as panic breaks out in the back of the van. There’s rustling and shuffling as the three men inside scramble to get out.
“Do it, now,” Reina says.
“Not yet,” I answer.
The doors to the van fly open and Tony is the first to jump out. He lands with a thud and turns around to see Dante jumping out after him.
“Go,” Reina chirps in my ear, this time a little more irritated.
“No, not yet, babe,” I reply, still watching the scene unfold.
After Dante hops out of the van, he turns around and realizes his friend is still tied up. Lorenzo can’t scoot his way out of the van because Reina made sure to loop his ropes around the passenger seat. He can’t get out on his own, one of them has to help him.
“Shit! Help!” Lorenzo screams at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing down the street and powered by fear.
“We can’t leave him,” Dante says, but we can barely hear it over Lorenzo’s terrified screaming. “Tony, get him out.”
“He’s tied up, Dante!” Tony blurts. “I can’t get those knots out without a knife.”
Suddenly, Dante reaches into the inside pocket of his suit and pulls out a small knife, handing it to the Scarfo family consigliere.
“Use this, and get him out!” Dante barks.
“Fuck! Why didn’t you give me this before?” Tony exclaims as he climbs back into the van and goes to work on the ropes.
“Do it, Solomon!” Reina barks in my ear again, and I smile at her, immediately calming her down.
Tony gets the rope on Lorenzo’s feet cut, and as he’s working on his hands, he hears a cell phone ring inside the duffel bag in front of him. Over the radio, we can hear him pause briefly before dropping the knife and clambering to turn around and get out. Dante hears the phone and sees his friend leaving his other friend behind, but his fear takes over and he whirls around to run. He gets a few steps away before the phone rings again and Tony places a foot on the concrete.
Boom.
The sound of the explosion is deafening, and the blast shakes our rental car and every building on the block. C-4 is a hell of an explosive! Marcell, the criminal mastermind, strikes again!
“Holy shit!” Reina screams as the fireball engulfs the van and shoots straight up into the sky, peaking at the top of the massive hotel. Black smoke whirls over the building and begins blackening the entire alleyway.
In front of us, Dante lies face-down on the ground, having been blown off his feet by the explosion. The radio was obviously destroyed in the blast, but we watch him struggle to turn himself over as the money and paper from the van begin to float down from the sky. Dante tilts his head up to watch it, and I’m sure he’s filled with more emotions than I can imagine, because not only is Lorenzo gone, but Tony was killed in the explosion also.
Dante manages to stand up, and he faces the flame-engulfed van as it burns in front of him. People from inside the hotel have started to come out, and they’re shocked by what they see. Dante doesn’t even bother trying to get away from the scene. He just stands there as the money and paper falling from the sky start to collect on the
ground all around him. With an unshakeable grin on my face, I watch as Dante looks down at the paper. He bends over to pick one up, and studies it carefully.
“Grand finale, baby!” I say to Reina, who kisses me on the cheek as I put the car in gear and step on the gas.
“God I missed you!” Reina says behind a giggle as we begin to pull out from behind the credit union.
We’re directly behind Dante now, and before I drive away, I notice the moment he realizes what’s on the papers floating down to him.
“These are amazing! What made you decide to go with this image? Oh wait, never mind, I remember. How could I forget that?”
Dante holds the paper in his hand and stares at the image of a gold, flame-covered crown. The same one that’s been tattooed on my left forearm since I was a teenager. It’s my first and favorite tattoo, and I’ve noticed him looking down at it nearly every time we had a sit-down. It was his interest in it that helped me decide to make it my symbol, kind of like the Z for Zorro, or the Joker leaving a joker card behind for Batman to find. In this movie called life, I’m the ultimate villain.
Dante may think he brought this on himself when he tried to have me killed, but that was just a small part of it. The real reason for the chaos surrounding him right now, is the fact that he put his dirty little fingers on my Reina. The second I saw her at that table, the war began. It won’t end now until one of us is dead, and I have no interest in dying anytime soon. Now Dante has experienced chaos firsthand, but soon, he won’t be experiencing anything at all.
“THAT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!” Reina shouts as we drive out of the parking structure of North-X-Northwest luxury apartments, where my loft rests on the sixteenth floor. After taking the rental car back and having Marcell drop us off at my loft, Reina and I decided to go on a ride through the city. Our city!
“I can’t believe we pulled that off!” Reina continues as she rolls the window down on my Alfa Romeo 4C RS and I veer the car towards the on ramp, heading for the highway. “Did you see the size of that fireball and the look on his face? Oh my god, it was perfect. The plan actually played out exactly the way we thought it up. It was genius. We make a helluva team, you know.”