Hammer looked at Amelia as she walked the beams, and he prayed she would not fall. He would die where he stood, he believed, if she fell.
But Amelia was a pro. He could see the determination in her eyes. And she made it across without fail and pressed the button. Which meant that he had to do his part. Neither one of them were sure what their roles actually would be, because it all involved a lot of improvising. But they were ready.
And when the mob of gunmen entered the second floor of the factory, ready to shoot to kill, they were shocked by what they saw. Hammer Reese himself, standing at the back of the room, waiting for them with his hands in the air.
“Don’t shoot!” he yelled.
They were all so thrilled to see that they could cause the biggest catch of their fishing careers to bow to their will, that they actually forgot about Amelia. Which was a necessary component of Hammer’s strategy.
They began to bum-rush Hammer. Amelia quickly removed her fur coat and tossed it as far as she could. The gunmen didn’t see it until it was floating down toward them, and they all turned in that direction. But it was enough of a distraction for Hammer to pull down his hands of surrender, pull out his two guns, and began shooting. And then Amelia, who had already pressed the Heat button on a vat, grabbed the controls, and pulled them straight down. And what she and Hammer were banking on, with all of their eggs in that basket, materialized.
The hot, liquified metal released from the vat and fell on top of the heads of the gunmen. They screamed as their flesh were cooked, and those that tried to get out alive were gunned down by Hammer. They tried but couldn’t get a shot off. Some even rolled on the ground to get a shot off. But the metal was overwhelming, had hit parts of every one of them, and it was just too hot. Hammer took no chances. He fired and he fired, even if they appeared dead already, until there was no doubt. And every last one of those motherfuckers were dead.
Hammer hurried to Amelia, helped her back down, and then they both let out an enormous sigh of relief.
But they didn’t rest on their laurels. They got out of that place. And Hammer had a theory. “Now I know,” he said.
Amelia, whom he had protectively in his arms as they walked, looked at him. “Know what?”
“Tamberelli, or even this son of Bulldog’s, doesn’t want your territory.”
This was news to Amelia. “What do you mean? What do they want then?”
“They want your life,” he said, and looked at her.
And just like her, he hated the realization too, as he pulled her even closer into his arms.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ozzie Jones left the nursery and made his way to the bar, and sat at the counter beside Amelia. They were back at Charlemagne. Hammer was behind the bar mixing drinks, and the mood in the room was what Oz could only describe as depressed. Both Amelia and Hammer had showered and were in bathrobes. It had been a long, harrowing day. Without even knowing the details, Oz could see it on their drained faces. They were tired, and it was only nine pm.
“JoJo still asleep?” Amelia asked Oz when he sat beside her.
“Sleeping like a baby,” Oz said with a smile. “I was just talking with Rowena. Interesting woman. Did you know she has a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education?”
Amelia smiled and glanced at Hammer. She believed all along Ro and Oz would hit it off. But Hammer was buried in his own thoughts, and refused to be distracted. “Yes, I know,” Amelia said. “That’s one of the reasons I hired her.”
This interested Oz. “And what was the other reason?” he asked.
“She could handle a gun almost as good as I could.”
Oz laughed. Then looked at Hammer. “So, Boss,” he said, “what do we know?”
Hammer finally looked at them. “Bulldog does have a son,” he said.
This surprised Amelia. “You’ve confirmed it?”
Hammer nodded. “I’ve confirmed it.”
“Damn. Who is he?”
“All we have is a name. Some guy named Michael Wheater,” Hammer said, and looked at her.
Amelia shook his head. “I’ve never heard of him. And I don’t know anybody named Wheater.”
“We had to track down all of the women Bulldog was rumored to be fooling with before and after he married you.”
“I didn’t know he was fooling with anybody,” Amelia said.
“The wife is always the last to know,” Hammer said bluntly. “We didn’t find the woman, but we found a few who said a woman named Jada Wheater told them that Michael, her newborn, was Bulldog Valtone’s son, and that DNA proved it. He paid for the boy, they said, but then Jada moved away and that was the last they heard of her. My men were able to pull birth records and, sure enough, Angus Valtone, better known as Bulldog, appeared as the father to a Michael Wheater, on Michael’s birth certificate. We tried to track him or his mother down, but we turned up blanks. But based on the dates, Michael, it seemed, was born while Bulldog was married to his first wife.”
Amelia exhaled. “I’m not surprised,” she said. “Where does this Michael Wheater live?” she asked. “Baltimore?”
“We don’t know that. We haven’t been able to track him, or his mother down.”
“And he thinks he should have inherited Bulldog’s company?” Oz asked.
“Apparently thinks he should have been next in line.”
Oz exhaled. “So what are we going to do about it?” He looked from Hammer to Amelia.
Hammer said nothing, but Amelia spoke up. “Give it to him,” she said.
Even Hammer found such a suggestion incredible. Oz found it downright amazing. “Say what now?” he asked. “Give it to him? Give Valtone Distributors to this so-called son?”
“Yes,” Amelia said. “At least call a meeting with him and Leo T under the guise of a peace offering. By now I’m sure they’ve heard that we survived the onslaught. They can’t be happy about that. They have to feel demoralized.” She looked at Hammer. “It could work.”
“But then what?” Hammer asked. “We have the meeting. We offer to give them your company for peace sake. And then what?”
“We take every ounce of territory Leo T own and utterly destroy it, while we’re at it,” she said.
Hammer couldn’t believe her ruthlessness. “Do you realize what you’re saying? You want to run one of the most powerful mob bosses in America out of business? Are you fucking serious?”
“Yes,” Amelia said without hesitation.
Oz was smiling and shaking his head. He looked at Hammer.
Hammer smiled, too. “Oh, yeah,” he said, putting his glass of liquor to his mouth, staring at Amelia, “you’re Mick the Tick’s sister alright.”
Oz laughed.
“There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind about that,” Hammer continued. “Because your ass, with shit like what you’re proposing tonight, is pulling that same kind of gangster shit he likes to pull. You’re his kin alright.”
But Amelia was too serious for levity. “But are you in?” she asked him.
Oz looked at Hammer, too. Although Hammer was a man with a wealth of experience, he was also a very cautious man. One of the most cautious Oz knew. He did not suffer risk for risk’s sake, no matter how appealing. That was why, when Hammer said yes to Amelia, causing Amelia to finally smile too, it shocked Oz.
But Hammer wasn’t all-in just to destroy Leo T. He had an entirely different calculation. Something he had been thinking about for some time now. Something far riskier than he was comfortable with, but something he felt was going to be necessary to keep Amelia in line. He was playing a long game. He was in it for the long haul.
Later that night, after spending considerable time in the nursery with their son, they ended up naked in bed. Amelia was lying on her side watching Hammer, and stroking his dick. Hammer was lying on his back on the phone, and rubbing her pussy. But if Amelia thought she was going to hear exactly what that conversation entailed, she was mistaken. Hammer listened almost the entire time,
enjoying her hands on his penis, and said very little. An occasional um in between, was the most he said. Until he added, let me know, and ended the call.
He tossed his cellphone onto his nightstand, and turned on his side, too, toward Amelia.
“Did that phone call have anything to do with my situation?” Amelia, still with his penis in her hand, asked him.
“Yes,” he responded.
“In what way?”
“Logistics on Leo T. I asked my people to get a daily manifest of his routine activities. They were giving me a blow-by-blow. They’re going to narrow it down, and then contact him.”
Amelia stared at him. “So you’re going to help me?”
He studied her. He could tell she still doubted his love. He understood it. She wasn’t accustomed to being loved. But it still reminded him of how much work he had cut out for him. “I said I was going to, didn’t I?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“At the end of the day, a man’s word is all he has.” Then he smiled. “Especially if he expects to keep a high-maintenance woman like you.”
“High-maintenance?” She laughed. “Me? Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack! You are a high-maintenance broad. That’s okay. That’s cool. I’m not upset about it. I can support you. But it’s a stone-cold fact.”
Amelia dismissed such an absurdity with a wave of her hand. “Whatever,” was all she could say.
But then their gaiety died back down into the realities that faced them. And Amelia was concerned. “He’s big, I know that,” she said. “But how vicious is he?”
“As vicious as it gets,” Hammer responded. “He has no limits, which makes him, above all men, most dangerous. Your brother Mick is more powerful than Leo. He’s a bigger get. But your brother has some stopping sense. I can respect your brother because, although I vehemently disagrees with all of that underhanded shit he’s involved in, he doesn’t seek out trouble. Trouble seeks out him. Leo T seeks out trouble.”
Amelia exhaled, causing the satin sheets that covered her to droop down off of her chest area, exposing her big brown breasts.
Hammer’s hand was already under the covers, stroking her vagina, but now his eyes, like laser beams, diverted its attention to those exposed breasts.
“I wish I didn’t have to get you caught up in this with me,” she said. “But I’m glad you’re with me.”
“Leo started this, which is what he does. So don’t you dare feel bad about refusing to lay down and play dead for his ass. You fight back. You have to.”
Amelia considered Hammer. “I know you want me out of the business,” she said.
He considered her. “Am I going to have a fight on my hands over it?”
“You’re going to have a fight on your hands over everything that involves me. Get used to it, pal. Or get out now while you still have a chance.”
She appeared to be joking, but they both knew she was mostly serious. But Hammer felt he needed to get something straight. “You know me, Amelia,” he said, “but you don’t really know me. Not yet. Because you need to understand something about me also.”
Amelia could see that hard look appear in Hammer’s eyes. He had a side of him that she’d never seen. Her brother Mick already warned her about that. Was she about to get a glimpse? “What do I need to understand?” she asked.
“That I’m unlike any man you’ve ever been with,” Hammer said. “Because nobody, and I mean nobody, handles me. And if you don’t believe me, ask the President of the United States. The administration line was that I resigned from the CIA. I didn’t. They fired my ass. Because nobody handles me. But what that means for you is that, as long as you’re mine, I control us.”
Those words concerned Amelia. She didn’t like to be controlled. She had her fill of control all those years she was with Bulldog. “Are you telling me that we’re together,” she asked, “but there’s no partnership?”
“There’s a partnership,” Hammer said. “I respect you greatly. There’s a partnership alright. But I have controlling interest.”
Amelia continued to stare at him.
“That’s how it’s going to always be as long as we’re together,” Hammer continued. “You’re a tough lady. You’re as hard and as badass as most men I know. You run Valtone’s empire now that he’s dead, and you don’t want anybody telling you shit. I get that. I get you. But I’m going to have to be the one human being you will have to listen to. I’m going to have to be the one human being you will have to answer to. You need to get that. You need to get me. Or, like you just said, you need to get out while you still have a chance.”
That getting out while they still could, they both knew, meant getting out before they were in love too deep to leave.
Both of them, if they would ever admit it, were already there.
And that was why Amelia didn’t fight back. And a troubled look, as if it were a realization, came over her face.
Hammer saw it instantly. “What’s wrong?” he asked her. He removed his hand from her pussy, and placed it on her small shoulder. “What’s wrong?” he asked again.
Amelia looked him in the eyes. “I need somebody like you,” she said.
Emotions that Hammer were not accustomed to filled his heart. “You’ve reached that conclusion?”
Amelia nodded. “Yes.” Then she frowned. “But it’s scary as hell.” She said this and looked at him again.
Hammer’s heart broke for her. He moved closer to her. “Listen to me, Amelia,” he said, and lifted her soft chin up to his face. “I’m not Bulldog Valtone. You understand? I’m not trying to control you because of some sick, perverted need to be in charge. I’m trying to protect you. And love you. And make sure I keep you from getting into shit like the shit you’re in now. That’s why I have to have the final say. I’ve been around the block far longer than you. I’ve been around blocks that you would not have survived. I know that world out there. You’ve only skimmed the surface. I can’t allow you to go in any further. Not alone.”
He began fondling her breasts to help ease her tension. “And you’re right,” he said. “You need somebody like me. All those other men out there will let you run over them like roadkill. They’ll just be happy to be your man. I’m not that guy. Fuck that, okay? They’ll tell you what you want to hear and let you go down whatever dark alley you want to go down. I’ll tell you no. Point blank period. Hell no. You’ve got to understand that about me.”
She nodded. “Oh, boy,” she said. “We’re going to have a very volatile relationship, Hammer, I’m telling you now. Because this is going to take some getting used to for me. I need my independence. My business is my independence. You’ll have a fight on your hands if you try to take that away from me.”
“Let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s handle this situation right now, and worry about the rest later.”
She looked at him, and smiled. He looked at her, and smiled too. And just like that, the mood changed. Hammer had been fondling her breasts all along, but now she felt his thumb rub across her nipples. And when he leaned in, and sucked her, she let out the sigh he was waiting for.
And the fever broke.
Hammer was all over her: sucking her breasts, kissing her mouth, and rubbing the shit out of her clit.
And then he moved her on top, and entered her. She sat up, and rode him hard. It was a full lift up, and lift back down, because his rod was so long, but that fullness made the workout worth every second. She was getting wetter and wetter, just from the ride.
Until Hammer took over. He pulled her down, wrapped her in his arms, and stroked her hard.
He couldn’t do slow and easy when it came to Amelia, he didn’t care how many times he tried. And he wasn’t taking it slow now. And easy? What was that?
He pounded her. He pounded her so hard they were halfway out of the bed fucking. He pounded her so hard they were leaning over the edge of the bed fucking. He pounded her so hard they ended up on the floor, but still
continued to make love. Amelia couldn’t get enough, and Hammer couldn’t give enough. They were groaning and moaning and taking that pounding with unbridled joy.
And when they came, they came together. He poured out and she clamped down, which caused him to pour out even more. And they were still fucking, like an old athlete who didn’t want to give it up, but their skills were getting weaker and weaker and weaker.
When it was over, and they were lying on the floor beside each other still catching their breaths, Hammer’s cellphone rang. He had to reach up, and feel around the nightstand for it, and then he grabbed it and looked at his Caller ID. It was Ken DeSousa, one of his stateside security chiefs. Hammer placed the call on Speaker.
“What you got?” he asked him.
“He’s agreed to a meeting.”
“Both agreed?”
“Leo Tamberelli agreed. We still haven’t been able to track down Michael Wheater. Mainly because he’s not on anybody’s radar.”
“But Leo wants to talk?”
“And how. He’s anxious to get this matter resolved, he said.”
Hammer looked at Amelia. Amelia smiled. Hammer returned to his cellphone. “Okay, good. When and where?”
“Tomorrow morning. 9am. At his office.”
“I didn’t know he had an office.”
“It’s in a laundromat in Trenton,” DeSousa said. “He pretends to be nothing more than your normal, neighborhood businessman.”
“Nothing fucking normal about that killer,” Hammer said.
“Gonna be able to make it at nine?” DeSousa asked.
Hammer looked at Amelia. “Watson had to go to Toronto to take care of business,” he said to her. “But Oz is here to protect JoJo, and Rowena’s here.”
“Then yeah, let’s do it,” Amelia said.
Amelia Sinatra: Hammer Time Page 14