Dale wiped the blood that was still trickling from his forehead.
“Well did he?” Sal asked him.
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s what he told him. What you thought he was gonna do? DeLuca feeds his enemies to pigs on that fucking farm he has in Alabama. You think Pauley was gonna be risking his life for the two of you? Two motherfuckers who never gave a damn about him? Who left him to die on that sidewalk?”
He was already dead and Tommy knew it. That was why he didn’t even entertain Dale’s outrage. “What was DeLuca up to? Why the bids on property he knew I wanted? Why the lies?”
“He wanted Pauley to distract you. That’s all he needed, he said. He needed you to think he was going right, when he was really going left. That’s what he told us.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Sal asked.
“It means what I said it means.”
“What you’re telling us,” Tommy said, “is that he told Pauley what to say to us? That when you and Pauley met us, both your asses were toying with us. That’s what you’re telling us? That it was all lies?”
“Yeah,” Dale admitted.
“Why you trash-barrel motherfucker!” Sal grabbed Dale and began punching him with his fists. Reno looked quickly to see if the woman would start screaming again, but realized she was still out cold.
“Stop him, Tommy!” Mick ordered. “We may need him for intel!”
Tommy quickly pulled Sal back from Dale. He understood his brother’s frustration, because he felt it too. When they were looking one way, the way he and Pauley had them looking, he should have prepared his family by looking both ways!
But he wasn’t through with Dale either. “Where’s DeLuca?” he asked him.
Dale was in severe pain now. “I don’t know,” he said. “He told me to lay low, and I did.”
“Is he back in Alabama?”
“No. He said he had something to do here.”
“Where’s he staying?”
“It doesn’t work like that. He doesn’t tell me things like that. He tells me what I need to know, and nothing more than that. That’s how DeLuca does it.”
“What about Henry?”
“Henry?” Dale asked. “Who the fuck is Henry?”
“His butler,” Sal said. “What part is he playing in all of this?”
“I never heard his name mentioned,” Dale said. “I have no idea.”
“And we’re supposed to just believe your ass now?” Sal asked. “After all that lying you’ve been doing?”
“I don’t give a fuck what you believe, Sal Luca,” Dale had the nerve to say and Sal was about to beat his ass again, but Reno had to pull him back.
“Let’s get out of here,” Mick said. “Their neighbor might have already called the cops. He doesn’t know shit. DeLuca made sure of that.”
Reno and Sal looked at Mick. “You believe him?” Sal asked. “You believe this pile of shit he’s telling?”
It was obvious to everyone that Mick didn’t like to be questioned. “Let’s go,” he said firmly, and then walked out of the door.
Sal looked at Tommy. “You believe Dale, too, Tommy?”
Tommy exhaled. He hated that he did because believing Dale meant they had nothing. “I don’t know,” he said.
“Well I as hell don’t,” said Sal, looking at Dale. “Lying motherfucker!”
Reno looked at Tommy. “What you want us to do with him, Tommy?”
“Safe house him,” Tommy said. And then he saw her. Nobody else did, but Tommy did. He saw her move her hand. It was very slight, but he saw her small hand slide beneath the chair within an inch of where she had fallen. She might have been knocked out cold by Mick, but she wasn’t out cold anymore.
And when Dale’s ex-wife grabbed what looked like a J-Frame pistol from beneath that chair, before anybody but Tommy realized she had even regained consciousness, Tommy turned toward her quickly, effortlessly, and blew her brains out.
Sal backed up shocked. “What the fuck, Tommy!” he yelled. “What did you do that for?”
Reno was shocked too, and he stared at Tommy. Even Mick ran into the house.
Everybody, including Dale, looked at Tommy. Had he lost his mind?
But Tommy was looking down at the woman. He was no more Mister Nice Guy. He tried to play by the rules, but the rules kept changing on him.
When everybody else looked at the woman, too, they suddenly understood why Tommy did what he did. Her hand, as if by the reflex of the dead, opened, and that small pistol she gambled with her life for, was revealed. It was small, but they knew it could have killed one of them.
“I thought her ass was still out,” Reno said.
“So did I,” said Sal. “Damn.”
But Mick was nodding his head. “Good work, Tommy,” he said. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.” And he headed back outside.
But Dale cried out in agony. He cried for his ex-wife.
Tommy looked at him. “If I find out you’ve been lying to me,” he said to him, “you will be next.” Then he walked out of the house behind his Uncle Mick.
Reno looked at Sal. “Backdoor Tommy is back,” he said. “All of that worrying about the bad guys, or these so-called innocent bystanders? Fuck that shit. He’s back.”
Sal nodded his head. “Fucking with a man’s family does something to a man,” he said. “That’ll bring you back.”
And Sal grabbed up Dale, while Reno called for a cleanup crew.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
They were back home, at Tommy’s house, and everybody looked worn out. It was almost nightfall, after a day already too long, and there had been no word about Grace and the kids.
Tommy was finally sitting down. He was slouched down in a chair, his head back and his eyes closed, although all he could think about was his family. Everybody else were waiting, anticipating, and hoping to finally hear some good news.
And that was when the front gate intercom buzzed. Everybody looked at Tommy. Tommy got up and hurried over to the button on a side table, and pressed it. “What is it?”
“Jules Matteo wishes to talk to you, sir.”
They all were puzzled. Tommy was confused too. “Jules? He’s on the phone?” he asked him.
“He’s at the gate, sir,” the front gate security guard said, and as soon as Tommy heard those words, he took off running.
Mick, Sal, Reno, and Hammer took off behind him. Amelia and all the wives tried to run out there behind them, but Big Daddy blocked their path.
“We’ll wait here,” he said to them. “You, too, Millie. You’re waiting too.”
There was a definite chain of command in the Gabrini/Sinatra clan. The outside world was certain Mick was at the top of that chain. But the family knew better. Big Daddy Sinatra, Mick’s big brother and their undisputed moral leader, was at the helm. They all followed his orders, even Mick. Big Daddy had the true last word.
And the women, including Amelia, waited inside.
Tommy, Sal, and Reno, along with Mick and Hammer, were all running down the long driveway that led to the massive front gate. It was such a sight to see, with all of those powerful men running all at once, that the grounds security, on seeing them, ran across the lawn and tried their best to catch up. They were security. They were supposed to be out front guarding those powerful men. But they were running too fast.
“Open it!” Tommy was ordering anxiously, waving his hands, even as they were still running up to the gate. Jules had been at the scene of the crime. He was there when those gunshots rang out. He was there when Grace and the children were crying for Tommy to help them. If anybody knew if his family was okay, it was Jules!
The front gate security had opened the gate by the time the men ran up to it. On the other side of the gate was Jules Matteo, standing beside the now-battered car he used as detail chief, and with Branson Nash holding a gun to his head. Jules was bloodied and beaten.
Mick was looking around. Although they had the house under tight securit
y, everything about this scene bothered him. “Bring him inside,” he ordered, before Tommy could get a word out edgewise, then security grabbed Jules.
But Tommy took him away from them, and escorted him personally toward the main house. Everybody else followed them. Tommy didn’t realize they had sharpshooters on his rooftop until he saw Mick give them the thumbs up, and he looked up too.
Once they got him inside, Tommy held Jules’s arm until he pushed him down into a chair. All of the women, and Big Daddy, were all standing and waiting in anticipation.
“Where’s my family?” Tommy asked Jules.
But Jules looked spooked. He was talking, but was staring as if he was in some sort of trance. “They waited until we got to Amber Street.”
“That side street?” Sal asked.
“That’s the one,” said Jules. “Then they came at us from the front and the back. Vincenzo was driving, and I was riding shotgun. Mrs. Gabrini was in the backseat with Destiny and TJ. We were heading to Destiny’s school, to drop her off first. Vincenzo was assigned to stay there with her. Like Branson ordered. I was going to take Mrs. Gabrini to work and TJ to the daycare at Trammel, and stay with them. But they were at our car door with guns coming at us from the front and the back. We pulled out our guns, and were going to fight it out. Me and Vin, we were going to go down fighting to protect your family. We were going down for them. But they overpowered us. It was too many of them. Too many guns right in our faces. We had to give up, sir.”
“But where’s my family?” Tommy asked him again. “Tell me about my family.”
But Jules shook his head. “I don’t know about them. They took Mrs. Gabrini and the kids in one van, and they put me and Vin in another one. They blindfolded us. They made us talk to you on that telephone and tell you lies. We weren’t working for them. They kidnapped us the same time they kidnapped your family, sir. And then they killed Vincenzo.”
Tommy frowned. “They killed him?”
“They killed him for no reason. They put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger for no reason.”
“Where were my wife and children when that happened?”
“They were in that other vehicle, sir. I don’t know where they took them. But they killed Vin.”
“Then how did you get out,” Sal asked, “if they were that coldblooded?”
“They drove me back to Amber Street, and gave me keys to the car that was waiting there. They told me to come to you. To tell you what happened to Vin.”
Tommy frowned. “This shit isn’t making any sense. I need to know what happened to my family. Not what happened to Vin! What about my family?”
“I don’t know, sir, I don’t know! They told me what to tell you, and that’s why I’m here. They took them away from us. I don’t know what happened to them. When I talked to you on the phone, and was telling you to kiss my ass and everything else they told us to say to you, I wasn’t even in the same place they were in. We weren’t even in the same place.”
“You didn’t hear those gunshots?” Sal asked.
“What gunshots?” Jules asked.
“Where the hell were you then,” Reno asked, “if you weren’t in the same room as Grace and the kids?”
“Like I said, they blindfolded me. I don’t know where they took me. I just know where they picked me up from, and that they killed Vin after we said what we said on that telephone conversation, after your time was supposedly up, and where they dropped me off at. That’s all I know.”
But Tommy was shaking his head. “That’s not what I wanna hear, Jules,” he said. “That’s not what I need to fucking hear! I need to hear that my family is alright. That you saw them and they’re alright.”
“I can’t tell you that, sir. They took them away separate. I don’t know what happened to them.”
Tommy placed his hands on his hips. He was getting unhinged again.
Big Daddy stepped up this time. He knew he had to say something: some encouraging words or Tommy was going to lose it. “At least he didn’t see Grace or the children come to any harm,” Big Daddy said. “At least that, Tommy.”
“Yeah, Tom,” Reno said. He was worried sick too. “At least that.”
But it was little consolation to Tommy. He began pacing again.
“What about Henry?” Reno asked Jules.
“Henry?” Jules said. “What about him?”
“Did you see him, or hear anything about him?”
Jules shook his head. “No, sir. Not Henry. Don’t tell me he’s missing too?”
Sal placed his hands over his head. “You don’t know shit either,” he said. “Nobody knows shit!”
Branson Nash looked at Tommy. “Want me to safe house him, sir?” he asked him.
Tommy nodded. “Under your personal guard,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Branson said. “Let’s go,” he said to Jules, grabbed him up from the chair, and walked him out of the house.
“This is getting crazy,” said Reno. “Why would they let him go?”
Tommy didn’t know. He just kept pacing. He felt as if he was going to squeeze out of his own skin if he didn’t keep moving! He even started asking God to help bring his family home. He needed help!
And before he could even finish asking for that help, his cell phone began ringing. Everybody looked at him. Could it be the kidnappers finally with a ransom demand?
Tommy pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked at the Caller ID. When he saw that it was coming from a convenience store, he frowned. But put the call on Speaker and answered anyway. “Yes?”
“Tommy?”
Tommy’s heart dropped. He could hardly believe it. “Grace?” he asked, and everybody hurried to his side.
He placed both hands on his phone. “Is that you, Grace?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“You’re alive?”
“I’m alive, yes.”
“And the children? Where are the children?”
“They’re with me. They’re okay, Tommy. They’re okay too.”
“Praise God!” Trina said.
“Where are you?” Tommy asked anxiously.
“In Bellevue. At this gas station.”
“What, you ran out of gas?” Sal asked.
But Tommy was taking off. “Are you safe?” he was asking into his phone as he ran. “Are you or the kids injured?”
“We’re okay. None of us are injured. They dropped us off at this gas station. We’re okay.”
“Who’s there with you?”
“Just the store clerk. They took my phone away. He let me use the store phone.”
“Put him on the line,” Tommy said as he hurried to the SUV.
“I need a full crew to stay back,” Mick was ordering urgently, “in case it’s a trick.”
“I’ll be here,” Big Daddy said.
“And me and Hammer will stay back too,” Amelia said. She knew they needed just as much firepower going out, as staying put. Just in case.
And Mick, Sal, and Reno hurried behind Tommy and got into the SUV by the time the store clerk got on the line.
“Hello?”
“My name is Tommy Gabrini,” Tommy said to the clerk. “I’m a very rich man. That woman and those children belong to me. Do you have a gun?”
“A gun?”
“Yes. Do you have a gun?”
“Yes. I got a gun.”
“Put them inside your store somewhere under your protection. Guard them with your life and I’ll pay you a hundred thousand dollars as soon as I get there. I don’t want any one to come near them until I get there.”
“A hundred thousand dollars?”
“If no harm comes to them, that’s what you’ll get.”
“I will guard them with my life, sir,” the store clerk said.
And the SUV was speeding down the driveway, and through the opened security gates, followed by ten other SUVs loaded with security, in a serious show of force.
####
The SUVs stopped at the
door of the Magic Gardens Gas and Convenience Store and Tommy, followed by Mick, Reno, and Sal, jumped out and hurried for the entrance. Mick remained outside, along with half of the men, to ensure it wasn’t a trap, while the Gabrinis and the other half of their security hurried inside.
But Grace and the children were nowhere to be seen. Tommy panicked and hurried to the counter. “A woman and two children,” he said. “Where are they?”
The clerk, stunned by the show of force, could only manage to point toward the back of the store.
Tommy and his gang ran to the back of the store. There was only one door back there, so he quickly opened it. When he opened that door, a young black man stood there, pointing a gun shakily in his face.
But Grace, Destiny, and TJ, standing behind the man, saw Tommy too, and they tore from around him. “Daddy!” Destiny cried.
“Daddy!” TJ cried.
“Tommy!” cried Grace.
And Tommy was on his knees as he lifted up his two children. And when Grace made it to his side, he sat Destiny down, and TJ, and pulled her into his arms. His eyes shut tightly as he held her. As he felt Des and TJ’s arms around him. He had his family back. And they were all okay!
But that didn’t mean he didn’t look at them again. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked Grace, although he was checking her out, anyway, and his children too.
“We’re okay,” Grace said. “They didn’t harm us.”
“But all of those gunshots,” Tommy said.
“He was shooting away from us. He told us to beg for you to help us, or he wasn’t going to miss the next time. So we did what he told us to do.”
“Thank God!” Tommy said.
“Did you see any of their faces, Grace?” Sal asked.
Grace was shaking her head. “No. Nothing. They blindfolded us. They put us in one van, and put Jules and Vin in another one. Are they alright? Have you heard from them?”
“Jules is alright,” Tommy said, and by the look in his eyes, Grace knew that meant that Vin wasn’t. But they weren’t going into that in front of the children. They’d been traumatized enough.
Tommy looked at the man with the gun: the store clerk he had spoken with. He extended his hand. “Thank you,” he said.
Tommy Gabrini: A Family Man Page 13