Then Reno released his son from his grasp as if he was pushing him away. And then he walked away.
Jimmy stood there, and faced the reality of what he had done for the first time. And it stunned him.
He fell to his knees.
Trina sat up in bed when she heard the front door open and shut. She waited as Reno walked up to the doorway of their bedroom. She was still naked, and was still waiting for him to finish what he had started with her. But when she saw his face, her heart fell.
She immediately got out of bed and went to him. He was already shaking with sobs.
“I ruined my child, Tree,” he said as Trina pulled him into her arms. “I’ve destroyed my child!”
Trina didn’t know what he meant. She didn’t know what Jimmy had done. But now was not the time for questions. Reno needed her. That was all, right now, that she needed to know.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Shopper’s Row inside the PaLargio was a modern mall of glass and granite filled with upscale stores, hair salons, and eateries. Reno and Trina walked hand in hand as if they were one of the tourists and guests that clogged the avenue, and not the owners of that avenue. They also gave no hint that they were being followed by a battalion of bodyguards. Every member of their security knew how to blend in and not be seen or heard.
“Gemma’s coming over later,” Trina said as they walked.
“Oh, yeah? What about?”
“The boutique.”
“What boutique?”
Trina looked at Reno. He looked even more distracted than he usually looked. “The boutique she, I and Liz plan to own. Remember?”
“Right, right, I remember. Found a place yet?”
“Yes, I told you, Reno. We’ve already signed the papers and everything.”
Reno looked at her. “I don’t know why you couldn’t open a shop right here.”
“You don’t have a space available and you know it.”
“You’re my wife, what are you talking? I’ll find a space for you.”
“Yeah, by moving somebody else out. No thank-you. Besides . . .”
Reno continued to look at her as they walked. “Besides what?”
Trina exhaled. “I think it’s important I tried something on my own.”
Reno nodded. “I don’t blame you. I’m bad news. Run, don’t walk, away from me.”
Trina leaned against him. “Don’t be daft,” she said. “There’s nothing bad about you. But of course I’ll never say that in front of your enemies.”
They both smiled. Trina, however, continued to look at him. “You okay?”
“I’m better,” he said. “I won’t be okay until I find Tony and snuff out all of his plans. Whatever they are.”
“I saw Jimmy this morning. He slept in his own apartment last night.”
“Yeah, I know. I have about zero influence in his life right now.”
“That’s not true. He loves and respects you. He still feels awful about what happened with Eddie Dreeson. He realize how wrong he was. He was thinking about turning himself in to the police.”
“Over my dead body,” Reno replied.
“Don’t worry, I told him,” Trina assured him.
They stopped at the railing that overlooked the PaLargio’s first floor lobby. They were on the second floor.
“He thinks you’re very disappointed in him.”
“I am disappointed in him. But I’m more disappointed in myself.” Then Reno paused. “He saw me take out Shanks,” he said.
Trina looked at him. “I know. Isn’t it awful?”
“It’s like it was a defining moment in his life. It was like my son went from being this innocent kid to this calculating badass, and I didn’t even know the change was taking place. He has it in him. I saw that all along. But I never dreamed he’d start this soon.”
“You started soon,” Trina said. “I remember what you told me about Jimmy’s mother, and how you had to fight against your own father to save her. You started even earlier than Jimmy.”
“But he’s not me. And I don’t want him thinking it has to work that way. He’s better than me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Dominic Gabrini, Senior. No human being is better than you. Not even our children. I know that upsets your sensibilities, but it’s the truth. So deal with it.”
Reno smiled. And then laughed. At least Trina was in his corner.
They didn’t see Sal coming toward them, until he was upon them.
“Out shopping, Sal?” Trina asked jokingly.
“Yeah I saw a nice purse I wanted to pick up.”
Trina laughed.
Sal looked at Reno. “They found Dirty,” he said.
The Pocca Club was like a strip joint, only seedier, and Reno, Sal and their men entered from the front door. It was a dark, dingy club, one they’d never ventured into before, so they knew they had to play it slow and safe.
But as soon as they entered the door, Reno saw Dirty standing at the pool table against the wall. And as soon as Dirty saw Reno, he jumped from the table and took off through the back.
Reno’s men hurried after him, knocking over tables and a few people as they did. Reno and Sal, however, turned around and walked casually out of the front door.
After they cleared the door, however, they took off running too. Reno saw his men chase Dirty through an alley in the back of the club. Dirty almost made it out of the alley, but Reno’s fastest man, Lou, caught him and tackled him to the ground. Reno and Sal then made their way up to a man who married Reno’s sister Fran, and then had the nerve to betray the family. Reno grabbed a steel pipe that was lying in the alley, as he walked up to Dirty Marcasi.
“Going somewhere?” Reno asked him as they approached.
“I ain’t going nowhere. You going somewhere?” Dirty was virtually out of breathe as Reno’s men held him down. Lou was now standing up and knocking the dirt off of his clothes.
Dirty looked at Sal. “Long time, no see,” he said.
“What’s up, Dirty?” Sal asked. “Or should I say, what’s down?”
Dirty laughed.
“You and you,” Reno ordered, pointing the pipe at two of his men, “stand guard at the entrance into this alley.”
“Yes, sir,” one said and they did as they were told. The third man continued to hold Dirty down. Reno told him to stand him up.
“I appreciate that, Reno,” Dirty said as he stood on his feet again. “Not fair to beat a man when he’s already down.”
“Even a man like you,” Reno said, “that sleeps on the ground?”
Dirty smiled. “One point for Reno. That’s funny.”
“You know what’s funnier?”
“What?”
“The very thought that a punk like you would try to fuck around with a man like me.”
Dirty’s smile left. “I don’t fuck around with nobody. I keep to myself these days.”
“Where’s Tony?”
“Tony? Who’s Tony?”
Reno stared at him. Sal folded his arms as if signaling to Dirty that they had all night if necessary.
Dirty exhaled. “His people got in touch with me.”
“Since when Tony has people?” Sal asked.
“His people got in touch with me,” Dirty continued, ignoring Sal. “They said Tony wanted me to contact Eddie Dreeson. He knew we used to do business, Eddie and me, back in the day. And they figure I would make a good point person. They figure I would be onboard for any shit that involved getting you, Reno. And they were right. So I agreed to deliver a package.”
“So you’re a delivery boy now?” Reno asked him.
“I do what I gotta do. There’s a lot of jokers out there begging to see you fall. And they know I’m on their side. I make a living on their hate.”
Reno thought about that. “Tony wanna see me fall?” he asked.
“And how,” Dirty said. “Even after all these years. You stole the PaLargio from him and he wants it back.”
“He los
t the PaLargio. I didn’t steal shit from him. He lost it.”
“Well he don’t see it that way. Surprise, surprise.”
“Why after all these years?” Sal asked Dirty. “It’s been over a decade since Reno bought the PaLargio. Why would that bother Tony all of a sudden?”
“What all of a sudden?” Dirty asked Sal and then looked at Reno. “He’s probably been trying to get your ass for years. But he had to scheme and plot. He didn’t wanna just shoot you. None of them do. What’s the fun in that? That’ll be too easy. You’ll think you’re a fucking martyr if you go down like that. No. They want you to suffer.”
“Then answer my question. Why after all these years?”
“How should I know? He’s been busy. Ask the president, he’ll know.”
Sal looked at Reno. Reno was staring at Dirty. “What?”
“You heard me. Ask the president. Maybe he’ll know. Tony’s a member of his administration.”
Sal unfolded his arms. Reno frowned. “Get the fuck outta here!”
“I’m telling you the truth,” Dirty insisted. “Look it up. Tony Tufarna is a manager in the Department of the Interior or something like that. He’s a presidential appointee.”
Reno could hardly believe it. But he knew Dirty. He wouldn’t lie about a thing like that.
Dirty, in fact, was laughing. He relished the thought that Reno was blindsided. “Yeah, you’re dealing with the big boys now, boy. You’re dealing with the big boys now. In a way, by my working for Tony, that means I work for the president too. I work for the president! You gonna beat up a man who works for the president, Reno? You gonna be that stupid?”
Reno looked at Dirty. “Where’s Tony?”
“In Washington, where you think? I don’t deal directly with Tony. Never have.”
“Who do you deal with then?”
“Nobody now that the plan didn’t go right. Used to deal with one of Tony’s goons. He was the one who gave me the hundred thousand to deliver to Eddie.”
“A hundred thousand?” Reno asked. “I thought it was fifty.”
“A hundred thousand up front. Another hundred thousand when he got Jimmy arrested for murder. I got fifty for my part.”
Reno couldn’t believe it. “Where Tony get that kind of dough?”
“He’s a politician now,” Dirty said. “Where you think?”
Reno and Sal exchanged a glance. This shit was beyond serious now.
Dirty looked at the pipe in Reno’s hand. “Got your pipe like the thug you are,” he said. “So what you gonna do, Ree? Gonna beat my ass again like you did in that hospital? You gonna take that pipe and disfigure the president’s man? That’ll make a big boy like you feel better, Reno? That’ll make you feel better?”
“No,” Reno admitted as he tossed the pipe aside. Then he pulled out his gun. “But this will,” he said and shot Dirty between the eyes. Dirty grabbed for Reno as if he was grabbing for a life preserver that wasn’t there, and then fell straight back, kicking up the dust as he did.
Dirty was willing to set up his son. Reno wasn’t letting him get away with that.
Jimmy was on the floor of the penthouse playing with Dominic. Trina was seated at the Queen Anne desk near the back of the room reviewing talent contracts that she or Reno needed to approve. And then the phone rang.
Trina and Jimmy looked at each other. Trina pressed the desk phone Speaker button and Jimmy stood up and came over.
Reno was riding on the passenger side inside his Porsche. Sal was driving and Lou and his men were following in an SUV.
“Hello?” Jimmy answered Reno’s phone call.
“Where’s Tree?” Reno asked into the phone.
“I’m right here,” Trina said. “You talked to him?”
“We talked to him. That motherfucker works for the president, Tree.”
“Dirty?”
“Tony Tufarna. He’s a gotdamn government official! A gotdamn Fed and not one fucker knew it!”
“What we gonna know about somebody working for the president?” Sal asked. Tree and Jimmy heard him. “That ain’t our territory.”
“Working for the president,” Trina said. “That changes everything.”
Reno agreed. “Tell me about it. Here I am thinking I’ve got some twisted, vengeful fuck with money to throw around, when I really have a twisted, vengeful fuck with money and power to throw around. I’d call that a change, yeah. Big time.”
“What are we gonna do?”
“That’s the part I haven’t worked out yet. I’ve got to find out where he is first. I’ve got to---”
And then there was what could only be described as an explosion. It was so loud that Reno had to move the phone from his ear. “What the fuck was that?” Reno asked when he put the phone back to his ear. “Trina? Katrina? Tree?!!”
But not another sound could be heard. Reno’s heart felt as if it was going to stop.
He looked at Sal. “Zoom this motherfucker,” he ordered, his heart pounding at a dangerous rate. And Sal put the petal to the medal and nearly lost traction as he flew that Porsche toward the smoldering Vegas Strip.
Artie came into the penthouse just as Jimmy had grabbed Dominic and was hurrying out of the front door. Trina was hurrying behind them.
“What happened?” Trina asked Artie as they hurried toward him. “What was that noise?”
“An explosion like you wouldn’t believe, Miss G. It was on the other side of the PaLargio but the whole hotel has to be unstable now. We’ve got to get outta here.”
They ran out into the corridor. Not one guard, when Reno had left an army, was still there.
“Where’s everybody?” Trina asked in shock, looking around.
“They heard the explosion and took off. I thought you guys were already gone.”
“Let’s go,” Jimmy said as he began running with the baby toward the elevator.
“The elevator’s out, Jim,” Artie said. “We’ve got to take the back stairs.”
But as Jimmy ran back toward Trina to get to the private stairs, Trina knew something was wrong. Reno didn’t hire cowards. They wouldn’t have ran just because there was an explosion.
And she knew she had to make a decision. Reno said, to protect the family, sometimes you had to make that over-the-top decision. Trina felt that this was that time.
As Jimmy was about to hurry past her, she stopped him, pulled the gun she knew he had in his pocket, and pointed it with both hands at Artie.
Jimmy looked at Trina, amazed. “What are you doing?” he asked her.
But just as Jimmy asked that question, Artie reached for his own gun. But Reno had trained Trina well. He had dragged her to the shooting range many times before. And she shot Artie through the heart with practiced precision. His gun fell out, as he fell back.
Jimmy looked at Artie, stunned, and then looked at Trina.
“We leave,” she said, “but not by the back stairs.”
And Jimmy asked no further questions as he followed Trina toward the stairs farther away. They were private stairs that led to the side, rather than the back, of the building. As soon as she pulled the door open, her suspicions were confirmed. The bodies of all of the guards that had been protecting the penthouse, including Lou’s body, were piled up in the stairwell. That was why Asshole Artie wanted them to go down the back stairs, she thought. It had nothing to do with that explosion, and everything to do with a set up.
She held the door, looking back, while Jimmy held Dommi tight and stepped over all of those dead bodies. Trina thought she would faint, too, just walking across such carnage, but she held it together. She had to. Reno wasn’t here, which meant she was in charge. She moved in front of Jimmy, and led her family through.
And initially it worked. She and Jimmy and the baby made it downstairs fine. It was a long trip down, but they made it. They even made it out of the side door and into the alleyway. Into the sunlight. They were even able to begin running toward the front of the PaLargio as the sirens could be
heard in the distance and the sound of chaos and confusion began to fill the air.
But they didn’t quite make it. An SUV swerved into the alley and began speeding toward them. They turned and started running toward the back of the alleyway. But another SUV entered the alley from the back and started speeding toward them. Trina backed Jimmy and the baby up against the wall, and then she started shooting. But she didn’t hit anyone. She was no Reno. She was shaking too badly to hit a thing.
The men in the back SUV jumped out, she couldn’t even count how many, and overwhelmed them. Then they grabbed them, they grabbed Reno Gabrini’s family, and threw them into the back SUV as if they were tossing in trash. The SUV then began backing out of the alley in a long, frantic drive-out that would have made NASCAR proud.
Trina grabbed her baby, and Jimmy, and held on for dear life.
“Dear Lord,” Reno said as soon as Sal drove up to near the front of the PaLargio. But there was no front. It was all blown away. And the fire was still billowing up to the point that Reno feared the entire structure would topple. The police and fire trucks were just arriving by the dozens, and hundreds of the PaLargio guests were just beginning to pour out into the streets. The PaLargio had nearly twenty-five hundred rooms and almost all of them had been occupied. Which spelled disaster. And all Reno could think about, as he jumped out of his Porsche, was his family. Trina, and Jimmy, and Dominic.
His cell phone began to ring as he began walking hurriedly toward the entrance. Sal jumped out and hurried beside him. The police was just beginning to hold people back and he knew they weren’t about to let even the owner anywhere close to the entranceway.
But it didn’t matter. Reno’s cell phone rang. Hoping it was Trina, he answered it immediately. “Tree, is that you?” he asked.
“No,” the voice on the other end said. “It’s not Tree, which, I must say is an odd name for a woman. It’s not your wife, Reno. It’s your nightmare. It’s Tony.”
MOB BOSS 6: THE HEART OF RENO GABRINI (Mob Boss Series) Page 14