by Lynn, JB
“You can sleep in the barn, if you’d rather,” I told her, eager to get on the road and put our plan in action.
“You could open the windows and air the place out,” she replied testily, waddling off.
“Moody, isn’t she?” God remarked.
I took the bear I’d mistakenly stolen out of the oversized bag and showed it to DeeDee. “You cannot, under any circumstances, harm this toy. You don’t rip it. You don’t chew it. You just carry it.”
“Be me will it safe with,” she pledged.
“You’re entrusting a prized possession to a beast that can’t compose a sentence,” God groused.
“But I trust her.” I rubbed the dog’s snout. “She’s a good girl.”
“Girl good,” she repeated.
“Shotgun!” Piss yowled triumphantly.
I chuckled as the cat claimed the front passenger seat.
DeeDee hung her head, dejected.
“Cheer up,” I told her. “We’re going to do something now that will save people from dying from a poisonous gas. That’s pretty cool.”
“Cool,” she agreed, perking up.
We reviewed the plan on the way over to the Delveccios’.
“I still don’t get why Mike is coming,” I admitted.
“Most mammals are colorblind,” God said. “That means Piss and DeeDee can’t pick out a blue bear. Crows see colors better than humans.”
I didn’t ask why he couldn’t find the blue one. I assumed it’s because he sees things differently as a reptile, but I didn’t want to point out his dissimilarity. I knew it was a sore subject for him.
I rolled down the windows and floored the accelerator as I sped up the Delveccios’ driveway. I secretly hoped that Gino had been wrong about how dangerous it was to show up unannounced. The only way for the plan to work was for us to have the element of surprise in our favor.
My brakes squealed as I skidded to a stop in front of the house. I threw open my door, muttering, “Good luck!” Then, raced up the stairs.
I banged on the door. “Hey! Hey!”
A moment later, the door swung open.
I found myself face-to-face with Delveccio. At least, one of them.
“Did you hear?” I asked, pushing past him and running halfway up the marble staircase. “Did you hear? I did it!”
He stared at me with a mixture of shock and amusement.
“I took down the big, bad Nikolai!” I ran back down the stairs and did a wild happy dance in the foyer.
“Are you drunk?” Delveccio asked.
“Oooh,” I squealed. “Alcohol. That’s what we need to celebrate!” I grabbed his hand in both of mine and pulled him away from the door.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked worriedly.
Behind him, DeeDee, carrying the wrong bear in her mouth and balancing Mike on her back, along with God, riding Piss, crept inside the house.
“I’m celebrating,” I gasped breathlessly, needing to keep the mobster’s attention on me. This running up and down stairs thing was going to be the death of me. “Griswald’s okay. Nikolai is dead. We need to have a party.” I kept pulling him away from the door and the animals.
“Maggie.” Gino’s voice cut through my partying.
“Something’s wrong with her,” Delveccio told him. “It may be the same kind of break her mother had.”
That stopped me dead in my tracks. I hesitated; my whole plan forgotten at the mention of my mother’s mental illness. “Did you love her?”
He frowned down at me. “Of course.”
“But she wouldn’t leave my dad for you.”
He shook his head, and I could see how much that admission pained him.
“I’m sorry she hurt you.” Impulsively, I pulled him into a hug.
He stiffened but didn’t pull away.
“She didn’t mean it. She never means to hurt anyone. She really doesn’t. I swear. It took me a long time to figure that out. I used to think she did it on purpose. Had her episodes just to take a break when things got tough, but that’s not it.” I knew I was blathering, but it was doing the job of keeping Delveccio distracted. Plus, it felt good to voice my frustrations about my mother to someone who’d also loved and been hurt by her. Everyone else just told me to be understanding of her shortcomings. “It really hurts, though,” I said. “When she forgets who you are.”
He hugged me back, then. Not a cursory squeeze, but a genuine embrace. “It does,” he murmured. “It really does.”
The tears that slid down my cheeks were genuine, not part of the act, as I mourned the woman we’d both lost. “I miss her,” I choked out.
“Me too.” He kissed the top of my head. “But you still have her in your life.”
I nodded without looking up, suddenly feeling guilty when I realized he no longer had a part in her world.
Holding my shoulders, he took a step back. “You did good taking out that monster, Anatov.”
I swiped away my tears and glanced at Gino, who was standing a few feet away. His expression was unreadable and I worried I’d oversold my act. “It was a team effort.”
“Smart to have called in the redhead as reinforcements,” Delveccio praised.
I nodded, understanding Gino had relayed the part Patrick had played. My respect for him climbed. He could have easily taken credit. I doubted that Patrick would have tried to claim it for himself.
“You’re just in shock,” Delveccio said. “Gino will get you something to eat and then take you home.” He squeezed my shoulders reassuringly. “In the meantime, I’m going to watch the end of the game.”
He lumbered away, leaving me with Gino.
“Game?” I asked, wiping away the last of my tears.
“He bets on women’s college softball games,” Gino explained. He gave me a long, searching look. “Are you okay?”
I nodded.
“Griswald’s going to make a full recovery,” Gino revealed. “Or so I heard. The bullet only grazed his side. You saved his life, pulling the trigger when you did.”
I looked away, suddenly embarrassed. It had been one thing for him to know the kind of work I did for his bosses. It was something else for him to have witnessed it firsthand.
He moved closer to me. “It was ballsy of you to distract them like that.”
I shrugged.
He closed the remainder of the distance between us. “And,” he said, his voice dropping deeper with barely restrained emotion. “It was…”
I held my breath, waiting for him to say it had been kind of sexy.
I raised my gaze to meet his. He lifted his hand toward my face.
My eyes drifted closed, waiting for him to kiss me.
Waiting.
“Stupid. It was really stupid,” he ground out.
My eyes snapped open just in time to catch him flicking one well-aimed finger at the spot between my eyebrows. “Ow,” I cried, jumping back. “That stung.”
“A bullet would have hurt more,” he growled.
My mouth dropped open in shock. “Did you just flick me with your finger?”
“Uh huh,” he replied defiantly.
I didn’t know whether to be mad or laugh.
Then, all hell broke loose.
28
No plan is ever perfect.
Something crashed overhead.
Dominic squealed in terror.
I winced, realizing the animals must have startled him.
“What the—?” Gino asked, pulling his gun out, pushing past me and racing up the marble staircase.
I chased after him. “Stop!”
But he ignored me, running at full speed up the steps.
I couldn’t catch him.
“Gino, stop,” I begged, trying to simultaneously breathe and climb, and feeling too weak to do either one well. I had to stop him from killing my pets, but he’d already gotten to the top of the stairs.
“You’re dead!” Delveccio boomed from down the hall.
“No!” I ga
sped, thinking he was threatening DeeDee.
Benny greeted me at the top of the stairs. “Danger! Danger! Danger!”
For once, I thought his timidity was justified.
“No one moves or the kid dies,” an unfamiliar voice ordered.
“Who’s that?” I asked the mouse.
“Bad man. Bad ma—”
I held up a hand to silence him. Scooping him up, I let him balance on my shoulder. Trying to keep my heavy breathing from giving me away, I crept down the hallway.
“Tell your man to drop his weapon,” the voice commanded.
My breath caught, realizing he must be talking about Gino.
A long silence stretched.
I didn’t dare move.
“Do as he says, Gino,” Delveccio ordered.
“What a well-trained lackey,” the voice mocked. “On the ground, errand boy.”
A moment later, I heard a dull thud and gasp of pain, followed by an evil laugh. I tensed, realizing he’d probably kicked Gino.
“You’re not going to get away with this, Mahaffie,” Delveccio threatened.
Even though I couldn’t see him, I knew he was bluffing. A note of fear threaded through his words, giving him away.
“Change of plan, sugar,” Piss meowed softly, running up to me. “God’s going to get DeeDee to rescue the boy.”
“From whom?” I whispered. It occurred to me that God would have approved of my grammar.
“Three men. Armed.”
I frowned, confused.
“They’re after the bear, too,” the cat explained.
I nodded. That explained it. More than one group was after the formula for the killer gas. It made sense. At least, more sense than how it had ended up in the mobster’s home.
“You never even knew what you had,” the one I assumed was Mahaffie taunted.
I crept closer to the room the voices were coming from.
“Take what you want,” Delveccio bargained. “Just give me my grandson.”
“Naah,” Mahaffie said, “we’re taking him as an insurance policy.”
“Let me go,” Dominic cried.
Hearing his terror, my heart squeezed. I had to do something. I had to save him.
I glanced around, looking for something to arm myself with. I settled on a two-foot-high cherub statue that guarded one of the doors. It was solid, but not too heavy to swing.
“It’s the blue bear,” Mahaffie said.
I assumed he was instructing a henchman. After all, Piss had said there were three of them. I looked around to ask her for more details but she was nowhere in sight.
“This is about a bear?” Delveccio asked, clearly confused.
I felt better knowing for certain that he hadn’t been planning to sell the toxic gas to the highest bidder. Not that I’d really thought he had, but I’d been surprised by other people’s betrayals.
“This is about making a fortune,” Mahaffie corrected. “The idea is that they put the chip in the bear. Leave it on the highest shelf of the hospital gift shop. I buy it and then waltz away with nobody the wiser. But then your brat goes and screws everything up by insisting he wants that very bear, and your oh-so-accommodating man, here, buys it for him.”
“Sorry, boss,” Gino muttered. “The kid had so many other stuffed animals, like his Doberman pinscher that he leaves under the bed, that I just bought him the blue bear to shut him up.”
I grinned at the clever way he’d let me know that DeeDee was in the room, hiding under the bed.
“I mean, he’s got that black bird thing, too,” Gino continued, alerting me to the fact that Mike was in there, too.
“Shut up!” Mahaffie shouted.
I heard another thud, followed by a groan of pain, but Gino’s message had been clear. Mike was in the room, too.
That only left Piss unaccounted for. Knowing my cat, she’d positioned herself in the best possible place to help.
“We need a distraction,” I whispered to Benny. “Can you run in there and then back out?”
“Yes. Yes. Yes,” he whispered back, even though his whole body was shaking with fear.
“Thank you.” I plucked him off my shoulder, kissed the top of his head, and put him onto the floor.
He scurried toward the voices.
Raising my battering ram, I followed closely behind.
“Distraction! Distraction! Distraction!” Benny squeaked loudly as he rushed into the room.
“What the—” more than one man muttered in alarm.
“The bear! The bear!” Mike squawked.
Piss let out an ear-splitting attack yowl.
A man screamed in pain.
“Shoot it!” Mahaffie roared.
Before I could round the corner and jump into the fray, Mike, wings beating frantically, flew out of the room, a blue bear, bigger than he was, clasped in his talons.
As I leapt inside, DeeDee emerged from beneath the bed, teeth bared. “Hurting a no child!” she snarled.
Startled by her appearance, the man who I’d seen climbing out of a sports car in the Delveccios’ driveway, dropped a squirming Dominic. The kid hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Gino scrambled over and yanked the boy away from Mahaffie just as DeeDee knocked the man over.
Before Gino could get up and get Dominic to safety, one of Mahaffie’s accomplices grabbed the kid’s arm and pulled. Delveccio delivered an uppercut to the man’s chin. The mobster was well past his prime, and the blow didn’t do too much damage to the attacker, but it was enough to loosen his grip on the boy.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Gino snatched Dominic out of reach and pointed him toward the door before he was tackled from behind by Mahaffie’s other accomplice.
Dominic stood in the center of the chaos, dazed and not moving.
Meanwhile, Delveccio was losing his fight. The man had him pinned against the wall and was choking the life out of him.
Hefting the statue overhead, I shattered it against the man’s skull. He collapsed.
DeeDee yelped in pain, and I saw that Mahaffie was punching her.
“Piss!” God bellowed. “Help DeeDee.”
“Run!” Gino yelled.
I wasn’t sure if he was telling me or Dominic, but I didn’t stop to ask. I picked up the boy and ran out of the room.
Piss let out another eardrum-puncturing yowl.
I didn’t know whether that meant she was hurt or attacking. There wasn’t time to find out. I had to get the boy away to safety.
A plan that died as a man stepped in front of me, blocking the escape route of the stairs.
I skidded to a halt, almost falling over.
“Give him to me,” he ordered.
I thrust Dominic into the other Delveccio twin’s arms and then ran back into the room where the fight was.
I’d worried earlier about having to choose between saving Griswald and Gino, but as I re-entered the room, my split-second choice came down to DeeDee or Gino. Both were about to die.
29
Mahaffie was aiming his gun at DeeDee. His cohort had Gino in a deadly looking chokehold.
Both Piss and Delveccio were slumped against the wall, neither able to help.
I hesitated for a split-second, unsure of what to do. It was a horrible choice to have to make between the dog and the man. I picked up a shard of the broken cherub to use as a weapon, unsure of who to use it on.
Timid little Benny had no such qualms. White fur streaked across the room and raced up Mahaffie’s leg. Underneath his pants.
Alarmed by the sensation, he used the gun to try to bat away the mouse beneath the fabric.
DeeDee leapt, clamping her jaws onto his wrist and causing him to drop the gun.
I charged toward Gino’s attacker. What was it Patrick had drilled into me about self-defense? Eyes. Nose. Throat. Groin.
I jammed the pointy piece of statue right into the man’s eye.
He screamed in agony, releasing Gino.
I had
to cover my mouth to keep myself from puking the bile that rose in my throat. I’ve done some violent things, but that had to be the most disgusting.
“Boss,” Gino rasped, pointing to Delveccio.
Turning, I saw the mobster start to list.
I rushed to his side, trying to check to see whether he was breathing. He didn’t appear to be. I laid my head on his chest, trying to hear a heartbeat, but if there was one, the screams of Mahaffie and his man drowned out the sound.
I pulled Delveccio, no easy task with such a big man, so that he was lying on his back. Tilting his chin back to ensure his airway was open, I prepared to begin CPR compressions.
“What’s the song?” I muttered.
“Staying Alive,” God answered.
“Oh yeah.” I hummed the song, pressing the mobster’s chest as hard as I could along with the beat of the song.
God sang along with me. “Dun. Dun. Dun. Dun. Staying alive. Staying alive.”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Gino had gotten to his feet and retrieved Mahaffie’s gun.
“DeeDee, let him go,” Gino ordered calmly.
The dog looked to me for confirmation. I nodded.
She released Mahaffie’s bloody wrist and hurried over to check on Piss, who was mewling in pain.
Delveccio sputtered under my ministrations, taking in a shaky breath.
Letting out a shaky breath of my own, I stopped pressing.
“Dominic?” the mobster gasped.
“Your brother has him.”
A stampede of footsteps charged up the marble staircase.
Whirling, I picked up the gun of the man I’d knocked unconscious and mimicked Gino’s posture, taking aim at the door.
“Boss?” a voice called from the hallway.
“It’s the cavalry,” Gino said, lowering his weapon.
“They’re late,” I muttered, following suit.
Delveccio chuckled weakly. “That’s my girl.”
30
I left Gino to clean up the mess at the mansion.
I carried an injured Piss, a traumatized Benny, and a jubilant God out to my car. DeeDee trotted beside me.
“That was something,” God shouted, clearly exhilarated by the ordeal.
“That was a disaster,” Piss mewled in pain.