by Amy Rachiele
“What’s next?” he asks. I shake my head at him in a give-me-a-few gesture.
Facing the hard reality of the Prazzo’s disloyalty to the family prickles at my skin, no matter how much I tell myself that this is their choice, it doesn’t make it sting any less. But I have to live by my father’s motto —Don’t think, just do. What I have to do, right now, is figure out a plan, keep everybody out of the line of fire, and wait it out.
I decide to slip out of the room to go have a cigarette outside. I need to clear my head. The murkiness of being sick and the cold truth need to puff out of me in smoky circles.
It’s chilly. The fall air is awesome though, crisp and clean. I’m not alone long. Troy comes out too.
We’re quiet, not looking at each other.
“You got something to say to me?” I ask him, a stream of smoke caressing my words.
“What have you gotten her into?” he asks.
“Dude, I am going to say this once. This isn’t all me. You don’t know everything,” I challenge.
“Then tell me.” Troy says irritated.
“You know everything you need to know.” I crush my cigarette with my fingers and toss it into the dewy grass. “Thanks for taking Erin last night. I’ve gotta move the girls. I’ll keep you informed.”
I move to go back into the hotel. Troy stops me with a hand on my arm. I look down at it. Why the fuck is he touching me? I could easily break his hand in about two seconds. But I don’t.
“Do you love her?” he asks.
I lower my head, and I give Troy the honor of my confession. “Yes... I think I always have.”
“Keep her safe,” he says, and drops his hand. We walk back to the rooms in silence.
“Everyone, get your stuff together, we’re leaving,” I command when I enter the room. Erin is sitting up on the bed. Vito is sprawled on the other bed watching T.V. Megan is on her phone.
“We need to get the SUV and return it to the rental place. I want to find a new location to hold up. Vito, go downstairs and get another map.”
Vito leaves. “Troy we need to borrow your car for a little while longer. Better yet, let me have the car you borrowed. We will take it back to the campus later.”
Troy nods, and we switch keys. I notice that Megan is still on the phone. I walk over to her.
“Yeah,” she says into the phone. “Okay, bye.” She hangs up.
I don’t have to ask because she tells me.
“That was my dad. I called him back...” Her expression is sad. “I just... I just...wanted to know why he and my mother haven’t bothered to call.”
“I’m sure she wants to, honey, but your dad probably told her not to,” I say comfortingly.
“Dad said that, but I don’t think it’s true,” she says.
“Come on, let’s go. We have a lot to do today.”
I take her hand and lead her towards the door.
Chapter 13
Feekanaz (Fee-ca-na-zz): sneaky or nosy person
Megan:
Antonio appears to be better this morning. Thank God! I don’t like seeing him sick.
We go to pick up the Porsche from where Vito parked it a couple of blocks away from the bar. It appears fine. Antonio pulls up on the opposite side of the street from it. No one touched it. I find that very lucky considering the neighborhood.
Antonio is driving Troy’s borrowed car. Vito gets out with the rental keys in hand.
“We’ll meet you back at the campus,” Antonio says to Vito. “Then we’ll clean out the suites. I want to be at a new location before dinner.”
“Got it,” Vito says and gets out. He walks by the front of the car, and heads to the SUV. He gets the door open.
“I’m gonna go with him,” Erin says, quietly from the backseat, as she opens her door.
Antonio takes a breath to speak, when we hear a small squeak. Erin falls out of the car onto the pavement.
“Ouch!” she says.
“Erin you okay?!” I call out to her.
“Yeah. I missed the curb and twisted my leg,” she says, slumped on the sidewalk. Antonio opens his door to help her.
BOOM!
An explosion rocks the car. Pieces of fire-leaden debris land on the hood of the car and the surrounding area. A couple of spidery cracks form in the windshield. I am stupefied. I quickly look through the backseat to Erin’s open door. Horrified at what I might see. I’m confused when I see the back of a leather jacket. Vito’s leather jacket. He is crushing my sister to the pavement.
Antonio yells, “Move!”
Vito scoops up my sister in his arms and jumps in the backseat holding her to his chest. I am turned around, frantic, checking her for injuries, running my hands up and down her legs. My breath is shaky and my lip quivers, my body wants to cry, but I force it back.
“You okay?!” I ask panicked. Vito slams the door, Antonio revs the engine, and we screech away. I stare at the devastation that was once the car we were riding around in. Bile fills my throat. Vito was almost in there! He would have died! I clamp my eyes shut, wishing the unpleasant thoughts away.
“What the fuck?!” Vito yells.
“Had to be a timed detonator,” Antonio says, weaving down the street. “Set to explode seconds after the door opens. He smashes his hand against the steering wheel. “They were waiting for us! That was way too fuckin’ close. You okay?” he asks Vito.
“Yeah! I saw Erin fall and was going over to help. Then it blew the fuck up!”
Erin is whimpering in Vito’s arms. I check her legs again, lifting her pants at the hem this time. Her ankle is swollen, and the skin on her leg is rubbed raw and bleeding.
“Buckle up, there’s nothing you can do until we stop,” Antonio says softly to me. I sit back in my seat, heart racing.
We are all quiet for a few minutes digesting the blast. I wipe a few stray tears from my cheeks. The hood of the car has black, charred marks all over it. Every once in a while a stray piece of wreckage flies up and over the top of the car. Antonio continues to speed away from Chicago.
“Ummm...guys?” Vito gets our attention. “Does anybody know the signs for shock?” His voice is odd. “I think Erin might have it.” I turn around again. My sister is convulsing. Her body is tipping and rocking, rough and jagged. Her eyes are half-closed and empty. Vito is desperately trying to hold her steady.
Vito’s words come out frightened, which I never have heard before.
“What do I do?!” he asks.
I am losing it too. I start to freak out.
I shout at her, “Erin! Look at me! Erin!” I get no response.
Antonio speaks calmly, “Vito cover her up. Megan, use my phone to find the nearest hospital.”
Vito works to shrug out of his coat and hold Erin at the same time. I didn’t smell it before, but I do now. Burnt leather. There are holes, burn holes, all over the back of Vito’s coat. He lays it across a shaking Erin.
I set the navigation on Antonio’s phone. “Two miles away,” I say, taking off my coat too. I lay it over Erin’s legs.
We spin into the parking lot by the emergency room. Antonio pulls right up to the door. He races around to help Vito with Erin.
“Run in, Megan,” he says. “Tell them were coming.”
I sprint through the automatic doors to the desk.
Through heaving breaths, I say, “My sister...she’s convulsing... Help!
Chapter 14
Moosh a moosh (moo-sh-a-moo-sh): feeling yucky
Megan:
The nurse quickly rounds the desk to the doorway. Vito is carrying a shaking Erin. A stretcher immediately appears and Vito lays her down on it. She is shaking so much I’m afraid she’ll fall off it. I’m about to say something, when a guy dressed all in white, pulls the sides up on the bed. He forces the bed to move and quickly rolls it through double doors into the main hospital.
The nurse turns to me. “Her name please,” she asks.
“Erin. Erin...”
Antonio c
uts me off. “Smith. Her name is Erin Smith,” he finishes for me.
The nurse looks at him oddly, and hands me a clipboard. “Please fill out these forms.”
We walk to the waiting area. From behind us, the nurse calls out, “Excuse me?” and rushes over to us. She touches Vito, and he flinches. I move behind him too. His back has severe burn marks scattered all across it. His shirt has more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese.
“Holy shit!” Antonio says.
“You need to come with me,” the nurse tells Vito, matter-of-factly. He complies and follows her.
I hear her say “Name please.” Vito responds with “Jimmy Smith.” The nurse shakes her head, and leads Vito away.
A few minutes later, the nurse comes over with another set of forms. “Here you go. These are for Jimmy,” she says.
Antonio takes them.
“How are they?” I ask.
“Are you family?” the nurse asks. Now what difference does that make, we’re the ones that brought her in here.
“Yes, I’m Erin’s sister,” I say.
“And, are you Jimmy’s sister too?” she asks skeptically.
“Yes.” I don’t even hesitate.
“Yeah, I can see the resemblance,” her voice is light with sarcasm.
“Ma’am,” Antonio breaks in. “How are they? Can we see them?”
“Erin is stabilized. We are giving her some fluids, and we gave her something to help her sleep. The doctor is dressing Jimmy’s burn wounds.”
“Can we see them?” Antonio asks again.
“In a little while,” the nurse says and walks back to her desk.
“I gotta call Pop,” Antonio tells me.
Antonio paces in front of me as he relays the events of the past hour to his dad. I am itching to call mine too. I want to tell him everything that has happened, but I don’t call. I let Antonio handle it. His father will certainly tell mine.
“Pop, she’s not right. This shit is messing with her mind. She is not handling things well at all.” Antonio’s conversation halts my own thoughts. “I think we’re going to have to send her somewhere.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, interrupting him.
“Hold on Pop,” Antonio says. “Megan...when this is over, I think you are going to have to send her away.”
“What?!” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Are you saying you think we should have her committed?”
The nurse calls out, “You can go in now.”
“Pop, I gotta go. I will call you after. We can discuss things then.”
We follow the nurse, and she takes us to Vito. I push Antonio’s words to the back of my mind. Vito is lying on his stomach on a hospital bed. He butt is covered with a thin sheet. His back is totally exposed. The burn marks glisten with medication. A few of them are covered in gauze and tape. The doctor is leaning over him examining his work.
“So,” the doctor speaks continuing to tape up Vito’s back. “Is anyone going to tell me what happened? I’m not getting anything from this guy.”
“Fireworks,” Antonio says.
“Fireworks?” the doctor repeats, digesting it.
I spot Vito’s clothes on a chair in the corner, and think about the gun he is carrying. Will they call the police if they find it? I fold the clothes and tuck the gun in tightly, hiding it.
Vito grunts as the doctor puts more salve on his back. Antonio walks over to him to survey the damage him himself. “Is he gonna be okay?” Antonio asks the doctor.
“Yes. Definitely. He is going to be in a lot of pain though. Burns are a nasty thing. They’ll be some scarring. If he follows the treatment routine, they shouldn’t be too bad. It looks like he’s fortunate though. Facing the other way, he would have been burned all down his face and chest.”
What the doctor doesn’t know is that, if Vito stayed with the car and didn’t come over to help my sister, he would be dead. Or, if Antonio was the one to get the Cayenne, it could be him lying there or worse. The thoughts of what could have been make my stomach heave.
I summon my inner strength, and put the putrid thoughts away in a compartment in my brain. We are all okay. We need to stay smart. Trust no one. Solve one issue at a time. This mantra gets going and sticks.
The doctor hands Antonio a large tube of cream. “Put this on him twice a day for two weeks. Keep the areas clean and bandaged until they start to scab over. Then leave them uncovered. He is going to be uncomfortable for a while. Watch for infection and fever. Bring him back if that happens.” He rips off a small piece of paper and hands it to Antonio too. “For the pain.”
Antonio and I nod.
“Thanks Doc,” Antonio says.
The nurse gives Vito a scrub shirt. His has to be thrown out. We leave the room while Vito gets dressed. The nurse takes us to Erin’s room.
Erin is lying on her back, eyes closed. She is sleeping. Her leg is raised up in a sling hanging from the ceiling. Her breathing has evened out. Her skin is pale, and she looks helpless and lost in the big utilitarian room.
I walk to the bed and cover Erin’s limp hand with mine. Her leg is in a soft cast. There are some bandages on her arms, probably from falling. Vito landed on her to block the firebombs of debris. If Vito didn’t shield my sister, she would be a blistering mess of serious burns.
“How long will she sleep?” Antonio asks the nurse.
“She’ll need to stay here for observation.”
Yikes. How are we going to leave her here? Vito comes in the room. He bypasses us and the nurse and stands over Erin’s bed.
“Thank you,” I choke out around a lump in my throat. Emotion overwhelms me. He is my sister’s savior. I will forever be grateful for everything he has done for her over the past week.
Antonio puts his arm around me and squeezes. Deep images of roaring flames invade my mind. The explosion resonates and twists in dancing pictures.
I lean down and kiss my sister on her forehead. Vito takes Erin’s hand. Antonio follows behind me and kisses her too.
Antonio whispers to me, “She’s gonna be okay.”
We gather in the hallway by Erin’s door.
“How you doing, man?” Antonio asks Vito.
“It didn’t hurt until Nurse Cratchit pointed it out,” he says.
“I’m going to call Pop. She needs a private room somewhere in the hospital away from everyone. I’m gonna see if Pop has any guys around here he can call in a favor to.”
Antonio calls his father and briefly tells him what he needs. Vito goes to the cafeteria for coffees. A few orderlies and other hospital staff shuffle in and out of Erin’s room while we wait. After about twenty minutes, Erin’s bed is rolled out of the emergency room she was in to the fourth floor. We ride in the elevator with her.
At the very end of the hall, they put her in a huge room. There is a couch and two chairs with a small refrigerator. It is decorated totally different than the rest of the hospital rooms we saw. It is like they mixed a lounge area and a hospital room.
Vito finds us on the fourth floor. He’s carrying coffees in a tray in one hand and a vase of purple flowers in the other. He places them on the coffee table in front of me.
“They’re beautiful,” I say. “Maybe we should put them on the table by her bed.”
Fussing is the only thing I know to do. I have flattened the blankets out on the bed. I organized her rolling tray with a water pitcher, tissues, and the remote for the T.V. Erin is sleeping soundly. Her leg is now perched on a stack of pillows to keep it elevated instead of from the ceiling.
I haven’t paid much attention to what Antonio has been talking on the phone about. I thought he might have been talking to a car dealer. He discussed price and delivery.
I move the flowers and sip my coffee. Vito lies down on his stomach on the couch and scrunches a pillow under his head. He takes his gun and stuffs it under the pillow.
“You in pain?” I ask him, softly.
“Yeah, my back is starting to sting.”<
br />
“Maybe I should go and get that prescription filled,” I suggest. Antonio waves a finger at me and mouths the word no. He is still on the phone.
From my view near the doorway to Erin’s room, I see patients and nurses in the hallway all turning to look at the huge dark complexioned men coming towards us. They stride in the same confident and intimidating way that Antonio and Vito do. Oh yeah, they’re mob.
They stop inches from the door and peek in. Antonio’s face fills with recognition and he smiles.
“I gotta go. Make sure they are here by Tuesday,” he says and ends the call.
I step back towards my sister’s bed, unsure about these guys.
“Hey, Carlo,” Antonio says, and slaps henchman one, Carlo, in a hug. Glad that Antonio knows these guys, I relax a little. But I get the feeling that we can’t trust anyone. Vito gets up and hugs Carlo, too.
“Whoa, easy paesan,” Vito says. “I got a mess of burns on my back.” Carlo backs away.
“I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve seen you guys,” Carlo says. “Remember the time you came up behind Sister Mary and tugged her habit down,” he says to Vito. You scared the shit out of her.” Carlo laughs. “Father Gio made you clean the church for a month.”
I look at Vito. “Are you serious?” I say disbelieving. Antonio, Vito, and Carlo are laughing it up.
“Hey Carlo, this is my girlfriend, Megan,” Antonio says pulling me to him.
“Eh, I see you found a nice Italian girl,” Carlo jokes. “Pleasure to meet you, Megan. These guys treating you right?” he asks. “Because if they’re not...” he trails off.
Antonio gives Carlo a playful jab. “This is Adolfo,” Carlo says introducing the other guy. Adolfo is standing hands crossed watching the scene of old friends catching up. He’s tall and expressionless. He is wearing his sunglasses inside, playing scary henchman number two perfectly.
A deep hello rumbles out of him. He turns and stands by the door facing the filled hallway of intrigued onlookers. He spreads his legs slightly and crosses his hands in front of him again. Oh, yeah, bodyguard.