Reno stopped in his tracks. Sal bumped into him and looked at him.
“What do you want?” Reno asked him.
“I have what I want,” Tony said. “You and Sal are invited to a party. I have a car waiting for you right across the street. It’s a tan van and the driver is right now waving at you.”
Reno and Sal looked across the street and saw the driver waving.
“Don’t worry,” Tony continued. “Your life isn’t in danger. But your family’s is.”
Reno’s heart stopped. “What have you done?”
“Say hello to your father, Jimmy,” Tony said onto the phone.
“Fuck you,” Jimmy could be heard replying.
No, Reno thought nervously. Don’t fight him, James. Don’t fight that fool!
“Your son seems to be a tad belligerent,” Tony said. “But he is black, after all.”
“Don’t do it, Dad!” Jimmy could be held yelling. “Don’t give him what he wants!
“Shut the fuck up!” Tony yelled back, and Reno heard a sound of a slap.
“Mrs. Gabrini,” Tony said, and Reno realized he had his entire family. Trina would not have left without her baby.
Tony continued. “You’re far more practical than your son here, or whatever he is to you. Explain the situation to your husband please.”
Reno held the phone with both hands. Sal attempted to listen closer.
“They have guns on us, Reno,” Trina said into the phone. “Me, Jimmy, and Dominic. All of your men are dead. Artie was---”
“That’s enough,” Tony said. “I asked for a comment, not a recitation. But you get the point Reno. Come to this party or you won’t feel much like celebrating.” And then the phone went dead.
“Tony!” Reno yelled into the phone. But the call was over.
“What are you gonna do, Ree?” Sal asked him.
Reno looked at his burning hotel. Then he looked at the waving driver across the street, and the numerous goons that he could see already had them surrounded.
“We’re going to get my family,” he said and made his way toward the driver. Sal attempted to go in the opposite direction, to get help, but the goons pushed into him. And forced him to follow Reno.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Reno and Sal entered the home from the garage. Tony Tufarna, looking fatter and older than Reno remembered him, was standing behind the living room sofa. Seated on the sofa were Trina, Jimmy and Dominic. Trina and Jimmy’s wrists and ankles were bound, and their mouths were taped. Dominic was in a car seat and the car seat was tied down to the sofa.
Reno’s heart couldn’t hammer any faster than it was hammering now. And to add insult to injury, he thought as he and Sal were pushed further into the room, the house they were standing in was one of the oldest safe houses Reno owned in Vegas.
Sal noticed as they were pushed further in that there were armed guards all over the house. But it was Tony’s gun, which was trained on Reno’s family, that had his closest attention.
“Well, well, Reno Gabrini is in the house,” Tony said with fake cheeriness. “It’s been a long time, Reno. How you doing? I would do the drop of my hands the way Wendy Williams does it, but, as you can see, my main hand is preoccupied.” Tony waved his gun around. “But you get the message. How you doing, Reno?”
“Kiss my ass, Tony,” Reno said. He knew he couldn’t show any concern whatsoever for his family. If he showed any weakness, any of the inner desperation and fear that was almost crippling to him, then his family was finished.
Tony stared at him. “Still arrogant, I see,” he said. “Still the cocky bastard I couldn’t stand. But that’s okay. Be the tough guy, I don’t care.”
“Does our president know where you are today?” Reno asked him.
“What is that your business?” Tony said and then smiled. “No, of course not. He thinks I’m this meek and mild businessman who once owned the PaLargio but was now one of the best managers the Department of the Interior has ever had. That’s the official response. Privately, between you and me and your family here, the president doesn’t know me from Adam. I know Dirty told you I was a presidential appointee. That’s because I told him that. But the president didn’t appoint me. I don’t think he knows any managers. He especially doesn’t know one that purposely rides under the radar. So no, Reno, the president doesn’t know where I am today, and he doesn’t give a fuck. But that’s not the question, anyway. The question is more real. And it’s directed at you.”
Tony folded his arm, with his gun now pointing toward Reno. “Which one dies, Reno?” he asked.
Reno thought he was going to die where he stood. But he fought with every ounce of strength within him to never let it show. “What’s your problem, Tony?” he decided to ask.
“I don’t have a problem. Which one dies, Reno?”
“You’re talking crazy, Tony.”
“Which one dies? You will have to answer that question,” Tony said. “You killed a big part of me when you took the PaLargio away from me.”
“I didn’t take shit from you and you know it. You lost the PaLargio!”
“You took it from me and you know it,” Tony shot back. “You took my mother’s confidence in me and made her place her confidence in you. It was all about Reno. She loved you more than she loved her own son. She even left the PaLargio to you.”
Reno stared at him. What the fuck. “She left the PaLargio to you,” he said.
But Tony was shaking his head. “She left it to you, Reno. In her real will. But I paid off her attorney and we changed the will. Everything, the new will said, was left to her beloved son. When she never had a beloved son. She had a son, but not a beloved one. And it was all thanks to you. So you killed a big part of me, Reno. A big part of me.”
As Tony gave his sob story, Reno was determining what he was up against. He looked at the number of guards. He looked at the position of their guns. But no matter what scenario he placed in his mind, there was no getting around the cold truth. He and Sal were outnumbered and outgunned and, with a slickster like Tony in charge, outmaneuvered too.
“I know you, Reno,” Tony continued. “At least I used to. But I know your type enough to know that all three of these individuals are a major part of you. I already took the PaLargio from you just like you took it from me. It’s burning still even as we speak. Now a part of you has to die, Reno. It just does. So answer my question. Which part of you dies today, Reno? Which one dies, Reno?”
Reno began to panic. Tony had thought this through. He had visualized this day a long time ago. Now he had his dream scene. Reno looked at Trina, and at Jimmy, and at little Dominic. And Reno broke.
“Don’t take part of me,” he said. “Take me. All of me, Tony. Let my family go and take me.”
“Oh, no. I only want a part. That’s only right. I survived, even thrived. And after the death of one of these people on this sofa, you will too. It’ll take time, but you will too. But right now you have a decision to make. One decision. Which one dies, Reno?”
“Me,” Reno said. “Kill me since you gotta kill somebody. Kill me! I’m the one who fucked you over. Kill the one who did it to you. That’s only right.”
Tony put his gun to Trina’s head. “Your wife?”
“No!” Reno said, his voice betraying his panic. He was about to jump out of his skin.
Tony put the gun to Jimmy’s head. “Your son?”
“Kill me you sick motherfucker! Kill me!”
“Take me, Tony,” Sal jumped in. “What you bothering with the back benchers. You got two stars right here. Take us and let the nobodies go.”
“And let Reno off that easy?” Tony asked. “You know better than that, Salvatore.”
“Then just take me.”
“I’m not taking you, alright?” Then he looked at Reno. “Which one dies, Reno? You have five seconds to pick one. Or I kill all three.”
Reno dropped to his knees. “Kill me,” he said, tears in his eyes.
“Fiv
e,” Tony began his countdown.
“What you want most in this world, Tony?”
“The death of one of your family members. Four.”
“I can give you anything you want.”
“Three.”
“You can’t kill my family, motherfucker!” Reno screamed, standing up.
Two guards moved behind the sofa with Tony. “Perfect timing,” Tony said to his guards. “Two,” he said to Reno.
“Kill me, you asshole!” Reno roared. “Kill me!”
“One.”
One guard placed his gun to Trina’s head. Another guard placed his gun to Jimmy’s head. And Tony placed his gun at Dominic’s head.
“No!” Reno screamed.
Then Tony began to scream too. “Which one dies, Reno?” he screamed. “Which one dies? Your time is out!”
“You can’t do this!” Reno roared.
“Okay,” Tony said. “He can’t decide. We kill all three.”
“No!” Reno said, moving toward them but being stymied by guards.
The guards and Tony pointed their guns at their respective family member. And Reno failed. He couldn’t bear it.
“Jimmy,” he said, his heart pounding like a drum. “I pick Jimmy.”
Trina almost jumped out of her body. He knew what she was screaming through that tape that covered her mouth. She was begging him to pick her. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t pick Trina.
And Tony smiled just before he put his own gun to Jimmy’s head, and fired.
Reno staggered back and nearly fell as his son’s head lobbed back and then leaned forward.
Sal had his hands on his head with tears dropping from his eyes.
Trina closed her eyes, unable to bear the sight of her dead stepson and her devastated husband.
And Tony put his gun away. “Good show, Reno. Good. I’ve been dreaming of this day for years. You did not disappoint. Now we’re even,” Tony added as he was about to leave the house. And then he turned around again.
“Oh, and Reno, if you think you can go to the authorities think again. I have a dossier on you, my friend. Cops come knocking at my door, I’ll sing like a canary. I’ll talk until I can’t talk anymore. And I have a lot to say, Reno. So let’s not involve the law, don’t you agree? This has nothing to do with the law.”
Then Tony walked out.
Soon, his men walked out too.
Reno backed up against the wall and slid until his butt hit the floor. He placed his hands over his head and closed his eyes. He began to rock back and forth. He couldn’t handle this. He couldn’t live with this! His boy was dead on his word, on his order. Yet another one of his children’s blood was on his hands. All because of his sins. All because of the life he forced them into. All because of him!
Now only Dommi was left. And soon, Reno was certain, Dommi’s life would be required too. He was Reno’s son, after all. He was Reno’s boy. And no child of Reno’s got out of this life alive.
He heard Sal walk over to Trina and remove the tape from Trina’s mouth. But he couldn’t move. He heard Trina murmuring and Sal murmuring and both of them scrambling around. But he couldn’t move.
Until Trina screamed a blood-curdling scream.
“REENOO!” She screamed his name as if his name was agony itself. And that scream, that pain, caused Reno to finally look up. He could barely hold up, but he looked up. When he did, his heart nearly rammed through his chest and his hand froze in his hair. His mouth flew open, stunned and bewildered.
“He’s breathing, Reno,” Trina was saying as she continued to realize it was true. Sal was already calling 911.
He’s breathing, Reno,” she said with more and more hope in her voice. “He’s breathing!”
And Reno didn’t think to get up and walk. He crawled to the sofa so fast it seemed like he ran there. When he realized there was a pulse. When he realized there was a hope no matter how slim, he placed his arms beneath his unconscious, bloody son and lifted him into his arms. He was going to carry him all the way to that hospital if he had to.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Two months later
Tony Tufarna stood behind the podium in Manassas, Virginia and concluded a drawn-out speech on renewable sources of energy. As soon as he finished his speech, he received word that he had to leave now. Tony knew not to question it because it was Jake Mumford, his head of security and the man who traveled with him everywhere he went, who was whispering in his ear.
Tony notified his host at the small event that he would not be able to take questions, and then he and Munford left by the side exit.
“What couldn’t wait for me to answer a few questions?” Tony asked this as they hurried across the parking lot to a waiting SUV. The driver/guard was holding the front passenger door open and was doing his job by constantly looking around to ensure that the area remained secure.
“The office phoned,” Munford said. “Secretary Bennick has called an afternoon staff meeting for all senior staff. That’s you. We have to get back.”
“Wonderful,” Tony said sarcastically, and began removing his suit coat. “That ass-wipe never has anything of any value to anyone to say. But he loves to call meetings. He loves to hear himself talk. And we all show up like the whores for power we are and laugh and applause as if no smarter guy had ever been created.”
“He takes all the heat when things go wrong.”
“Yeah, that’s the good part,” Tony said with a smile. “Thank-you, Mun, for getting me to look on the bright side.”
The driver/guard stood aside as Tony climbed onto the front passenger seat. “Remind me to bring up that land rights amendment again,” he said to Munford as he did. “Congressman Aikens is up my ass about it again. He wants an answer yesterday.”
“I’ll remind you,” Munford said as he got into the backseat, just behind his boss.
Both doors were closed and the driver/guard got behind the wheel and took off.
“What time is this meeting anyway?” Tony was asking as he pulled out his cell phone. “Do I have time for lunch?”
“I doubt it,” a voice that Tony knew wasn’t Munford’s said from the back of the SUV. When Tony realized who that voice belonged to, he quickly turned around. Reno was seated in the third row of the vehicle.
Tony turned all the way around when he saw Reno’s face.
“How did you? What are you?”
But his words fell flat because Munford immediately pulled his gun and pointed it at his boss’s head. “Turn back around,” he ordered his boss.
Tony could not believe what he was seeing. He knew Reno wanted to try something, and he had Reno tailed for nearly a month after their encounter. Every report he received was that Reno was a broken man. Reno was done for. Reno knew not to mess with a man who worked in the president’s administration. Tony was an untouchable. Tony was king. Tony thought Reno understood that.
“Turn back around,” Munford said again.
Tony looked at Reno, who sat there quietly in his triumph. “What is this about?” Tony asked him.
Reno took a moment to speak, as if he was deciding whether to even bother. Then he looked back at Tony Tufarna. “It’s all about you, Tony. Yes, it’s about money for Munford and the rest of your detail. Good, spendable money. They’re guaranteed two million each and plausible deniability for their cooperation. But that’s not really what it’s about. This right here is all about you.”
Tony stared at Reno. He never took Reno to be a stupid man.
“You do realize what will happen to you once the administration finds out that I’ve been kidnapped, don’t you, Reno? You do realize that you’ll never see the light of day again. Don’t you, Reno?”
But Reno wasn’t thinking about Tony’s explanation of the consequences. Fuck the consequences, Reno wanted to say. But he didn’t say a word. He just stared back at Tony. Because he knew exactly what Tony was going through. He knew Tony was blindsided just like Reno was blindsided two months ago. He knew Tony was
doing calisthenics with his brain the way Reno had done when Tony had his family bound and gagged on that sofa. But Reno had plotted and schemed while he was thinking until there were no plots and schemes he could think of. He would not hit back until Tony was comfortable again. He would not even attempt to show his hand until Tony’s people were certain he was so broken that he wouldn’t dare attempt any payback. He would not do anything resembling revenge until Tony, like Reno himself had been before his life changed, was relaxed.
Reno had planned this day to the last detail.
That was why anger began to boil up in him at the mere thought of finally being in the same space with Tony Tufarna again. Anger began to take hold of him at just the thought of being anywhere near the very man who decimated his family and his business and his very life right along with it. And he could barely contain himself.
“Turn your ass around,” he said harshly.
When Reno said it in such a harsh tone, Tony looked him up and down. He wanted to set him straight, to remind him of exactly who he was dealing with, but he had more smarts than that. He turned around.
And the SUV, with Reno’s people following a little further back, continued to drive.
The driver drove slowly, obeying all speeding laws as Reno’s people had instructed him, and he was careful to stay on the route they would have been expected to take had they been heading back to DC under normal circumstances. Tony kept trying to ask questions, and kept insisting that the president would send out the Calvary if he didn’t show up at the White House within the next hour, but he may as well had told it to the tires on the SUV they rode in. Because Reno wasn’t trying to hear it either.
It was late afternoon when they arrived at their destination. Although it was on the route back to DC, it was well off the beaten path in a small cottage down a long, dusty dirt road. Reno’s security came out of the cottage, and under armed guard Tony was escorted inside. He was given the best seat in the house: the sofa. And Reno sat in the flanking chair.
“Oh, I see,” Tony said as if he wasn’t fazed at all. “You’re supposed to pull a Tony Tufarna on me? Is that what you’re supposed to do?” Tony smiled. “You can’t hurt me, Reno. Unlike you, I don’t take people to heart. I never have.”
MOB BOSS 6: THE HEART OF RENO GABRINI (Mob Boss Series) Page 15