by Jessie Cooke
“Carmella,” he said, coming around the desk to offer her his hand. “It’s good to meet you. Please, have a seat.”
“Thank you.” She shook his hand briefly and took the chair he offered. “It’s good to meet you too. Thank you for seeing me.”
“Of course. I owe you a huge thanks. Maddox tells me that we never would have found my sister if not for your help.”
“I’m glad she’s okay. The reason I’m here is that I’d like to help you again, if you want my help. Maddox didn’t.” Blackheart might have frowned at that, but his facial expression went neutral again so quickly that she wasn’t sure.
“What is it you want to help me with?” He asked.
“I know where you can probably find Gianni, and Frankie. I mean, I can’t promise you they’re there...but it’s a pretty good bet...”
He folded his arms and said, “Maddox didn’t want this information?”
“Not from me,” she said. “He said he was worried about getting me involved.”
A black eyebrow went up and he said, “I can respect that. I am slightly hesitant to get you involved as well, and I don’t know you the way Maddox apparently does.”
She frowned at that and said, “He doesn’t know me at all. But anyway, do you want this information, or not?”
He leaned forward, so close that she could smell the mint on his breath, and he said, “Carmella, you know if you tell me where to find your...these two men...I can’t promise their safety. They kidnapped my little sister, and terrified her, and they hurt a friend of mine. Louis will have injuries from this that will haunt him forever, and who knows what this will do to Brigette’s state of mind over time?”
She nodded. “I know that,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned they all deserve what they get. But, there is one thing I have to ask...I mean, it’s not a deal breaker because I can’t promise you that he wasn’t involved...but my old man is not stupid and as much as I do know about his business I don’t believe he’s in the habit of hurting young women...”
“You want me to leave your father out of this?” He leaned back again and crossed his arms. She looked at the colorful, bulging biceps for a few seconds, just as a break from those intense blue eyes of his. Taking a deep breath she said:
“I would like for you to. But like I said, I’m not going to come in here and try to make it a condition of helping you. I know my old man is not perfect...”
“None of us are,” Blackheart said. “I am so far from perfect that perfect wouldn’t recognize me if we met face to face. But...I don’t hurt women, and I don’t allow any of my men to do so. I would think a man like your father, who I’ve come to respect over the past five years, would have the same rules of conduct for his crew. That’s not to say that I’ve never had a man...or two...go rogue. When you are the leader of a large group of people with largely different personalities and backgrounds, it stands to reason there would be times when you might misjudge one...or two...over a matter of years. Just because he’s supposed to be calling the shots doesn’t mean there might come the day when one of the men decides not to listen. We’re all human, after all.” She felt a glimmer of hope in her chest and he went on to say, “So Carmella, before you tell me what you know, I will promise you this much...your father will not be harmed by me, or any of my crew, over this.” He added, “I know the police spoke to him, and I’m sure you know I’ll have no control over what they choose to do. I will also say this: I’m not sure what this might have done to his and my business relationship. I’ll be slightly leery of his ‘crew’ from here on out. But that’s as harsh as I will get with your father...as long as I never see proof that he knew my sister was being held captive in a basement. Is that agreeable to you?”
Carmella liked this guy. He was like her father, handsome and intelligent...articulate, even. She always wondered why Mario Scarponi Tucci hadn’t done something positive with his brain and all that charisma he had. She wondered the same about Blackheart...but she’d never ask either of them. People choose what they choose, like Maddox...who had chosen to walk away from something she honestly believed they had that was special. She almost rolled her eyes at that thought, pushed it away, and said:“Yes, more than,” she said. “Thank you. Gianni has this woman friend in Natchitoches.” Natchitoches was the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. Carmella knew that because when she first moved to New Orleans she dated a guy who was obsessed with the history of the place. He’d taken her to the National Historic Landmark District there on a “date” once. It was a thirty-three-block area with all kinds of shopping boutiques, restaurants, and cute little bed and breakfast places. Its claim to fame in the food arena was a “meat pie” he’d insisted that she try. She hadn’t been overly impressed, but she remembered telling him she loved it so as not to hurt his feelings. They’d had a great few days getaway, and it had been during that time that Gianni had started up a “relationship” with a woman named Rachel.
Back in those days, her father was still sending a “bodyguard” with her whenever she went out of town. She suspected even now he still had her followed, but he’d learned to be more discreet about it since she’d loudly voiced her objections. Anyway, that particular time it had been Gianni’s turn to “watch” her. Carmella had actually introduced her older cousin to the pretty middle-aged woman who worked at the bed and breakfast where she and her date, Tim, had stayed. They’d had separate rooms, of course, because back then she’d still been pretending with her dad. Since then, she’d outgrown that.
Carmella had really liked Rachel and found her to be almost desperately lonely. She introduced her to Gianni partly because she did really like her and felt bad about the woman’s loneliness, and partly to get Gianni distracted so she and Tim could have some real “fun.” Rachel and Gianni really hit it off, and even now after Tim was just a notch on her bedpost, Gianni and Rachel were an item. Rachel had always wanted her own little farm, and Gianni had bought one for her right on the edge of the town of Natchitoches. She raised miniature horses, and goats, and bred teacup piglets. Rachel had named the place “Many Hearts Ranch,” and although Carmella didn’t know the precise address, that should give Blackheart all he needed to know to find the place. Rachel had stables and barns and even a few outbuildings. Carmella would bet a million dollars that Blackheart would find Gianni and Frank in one of them. She felt bad for Rachel because she was sure Gianni was about to disappear...but in the long run she’d be better off, at least that’s what Carmella told herself.
Blackheart walked her back through the clubhouse when they finished talking, and this time the men and women all seemed to mind what they were doing and not even glance in her direction. It was easy to see that he had complete control of the room. When they got to the door he opened it for her and said, “Can I give you a piece of unsolicited advice, Carmella?”
“Sure,” she said, with a smile.
“I don’t know Maddox all that well, but what I do know is that in the last five years or so, he’s had one hell of a hard life. My friend who introduced us told me that this man has walked through Hell and back more times than any man should have to. Sometimes that might make a man leery of getting involved with someone he might care a lot about. He seems like a good man to me, and I’m a pretty good judge of character. But sometimes our past haunts us to the point of interfering with our future.”
Still smiling she said, “Is there a piece of advice in there somewhere?”
With a grin of his own he shrugged and said, “I guess I’ll let you figure that out. Thank you, Miss Carmella. I’m indebted to you.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. Between those blue eyes, those almost mesmerizing tattoos, the French/Cajun accent, and all that charm, Carmella could at last see what all the talk about the Jokers president had been about in New Orleans. She was still smiling as she headed through the stream of Harleys to her car and thought about what he’d just said about Maddox. She knew she would spend some time, picking
it apart in her head...but she also knew that she’d never “chased” a man in her life...and she wasn’t sure she was ready to start now.
17
Natchitoches
Blackheart had done his best to come up with a plan on the four-hour drive to Natchitoches. He had managed to get the blueprints to the little ranch emailed over to him the day before, right after Carmella left. He didn’t like going in anywhere cold, the way they had in Baton Rouge, if he could help it. They’d left New Orleans at midnight and it was just before four a.m. when they rolled through the sleepy little tourist town. He hoped to be in and out before the sun came up around 6 a.m. The first pass by the ranch was simply reconnaissance. They found a long, narrow road, lined with trees, where they stopped and he pulled out the blueprints. There was a three-bedroom house on the ranch, two small stables and three outbuildings, one of which looked to be an apartment. He presumed that if Gianni was there, he was staying in the house with Rachel. He made it clear to his men as he gave them their assignments that he did not want the woman hurt. He’d also like to have Gianni and Frank alive when they put them into the van to take them back to New Orleans...but only as long as that was possible.
He assigned each man to one of the buildings, taking the house for himself, and a few men were left with the motorcycles and the van. His road captain handed out walkie-talkies so they could stay in touch, and once everyone had their assignments and their weapons ready to go, they headed on foot back toward the ranch. As they walked, small flashlights and binoculars in hand, Blackheart finally turned to the man on his right and said, “I was surprised to see you this morning.”
Maddox looked at the club president with his green eyes. Blackheart could see the sadness in them; it was something that was etched on the man’s very soul. What he could also see, when Maddox began to talk, was how they lit up of their own accord as soon as he uttered Carmella’s name. “Well, when I talked to Maz about going home and he told me that Carmella had given you this place...I couldn’t just leave without knowing how it would end.”
“She cares very much about you,” Blackheart said. He wasn’t one for matchmaking, or lecturing men on how to live their lives. But he’d had his own epiphany recently about a woman. His Sally had practically wasted her entire life because she knew they were soulmates and Blackheart had been too stupid to admit it.
Maddox didn’t acknowledge that. Instead he said, “I’m afraid she’s going to get hurt, caught up in all of this.”
“I can respect that,” Blackheart said, “but something I figured out, much too recently, was that no matter how much we want to protect them, we have to also understand that while we still carry around this old-fashioned idea that they’re the weaker of the sexes, most women I know are ten times stronger than me in spirit. I know you’re probably thinking about all you’ve found out about me and my sisters and thinking I have some nerve...but the truth is that I’m a slow learner sometimes. Maybe if I hadn’t kept such a heavy hand on my sisters, finding Brigette wouldn’t have been such a difficult task. I mean, honestly, I knew very little about her life...her real life, that is. I’m digressing, but my point is that sometimes you have to allow people to take risks with their own hearts. We would like to be in control of everything around us, and everything around those we care about...but that, my friend, will never come to pass.” Maddox still didn’t acknowledge that he’d even heard Blackheart’s words, much less had any intention of taking any of it to heart. They’d reached the edge of the property and it was time to use the binoculars to scope things out and make sure they’d have a clear path to the house that sat in the center of it all. Maddox stood quietly next to Blackheart until he spoke into his walkie-talkie to the rest of his men. It was a simple sentence, “Move, and be careful.”
Maddox and Blackheart moved toward the house, staying as low as possible, and as far out of the reach of the lights as they possibly could. The hope was that whoever was inside was still asleep, but they couldn’t be too careful. Blackheart reached the front door first and after trying to knob just to make sure it wasn’t open, he pulled a small black pouch out of his pocket and began picking at the simple lock. Maddox stood watching him and as soon as Blackheart was about to throw it all across the yard out of frustration, the ex-soldier said, “May I?” Blackheart handed him the tool and stepped aside. It took Maddox about ten seconds to unlock the door and while he was doing that, Blackheart was slipping off his boots. Maddox did the same as soon as the lock clicked and then in synchrony, without another word between them, the two men...dressed exactly alike in jeans and long-sleeved black t-shirts...slipped black ski-masks on over their heads, and entered the house.
They knew from the plans that from the entryway, they’d go right toward the master bedroom at the end of the hall. Blackheart took the lead, now with his gun in his hand. Maddox had his gun out too and when they reached the large bedroom off the back of the house, Blackheart stopped and stood looking in the door for several seconds until his eyes adjusted to the dark. He could see that there were two people in the bed. They were both covered to their necks and facing away from them, so it was difficult to tell who was who. The one on the far side looked larger, however, so Blackheart assumed it was Gianni. He wasn’t sure if the big Italian would fight or not, and because he didn’t want Maddox to have to be the one to draw blood again, he made his way to that side of the bed. Meanwhile, Maddox positioned himself on the other side, and with a nod from Blackheart, he reached down and put his hand over the mouth of the sleeping woman, just as Blackheart pressed his gun into the side of Gianni Tucci’s head.
“What the fuck?” Gianni tried to sit up, but he was pushed back down by the butt of Blackheart’s gun against his head. Maddox was doing a good job of holding down the now squirming woman. Blackheart put his free hand on the front of Gianni’s t-shirt, balled it up in his fist, and in a whisper the woman would never be able to identify later if she was asked to, he said:
“If you don’t want a hole in your head, and your girlfriend’s head, you’ll get up slowly...and come with us.”
“Who the fuck are you? Do you know who I am?” Blackheart pulled him up off the bed, held him up about two feet, and said:
“Last chance.” He kept his voice low, but it was a voice he’d used hundreds of times before, and he knew it terrified the average person. Gianni was either no different, or he just wasn’t a fighter.
“Okay, man, okay. I’m coming. Can I get my pants?” He sat up and they could see then he was wearing a white a-frame t-shirt and a pair of black boxers.
“Nah,” Blackheart said, “you won’t need them.” Gianni swallowed hard and stood up. That was when he looked over at Maddox, who now had his gun pointed at the terrified woman. His big hand was still covering her mouth but her light-colored eyes looked terrified. Blackheart didn’t take any pleasure in that, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him from what he needed to do either. He kept his gun on Gianni and brought his free hand up to press a finger against his lips. The woman nodded, slightly. “Where’s your phone?” he asked her. Maddox pulled his hand off her mouth and she croaked out:
“On the dresser over there?”
“And his?”
“Next to mine,” she said.
“You have a landline?”
“No.”
“Don’t make me come back because you lied.”
“I don’t, I promise.”
“No other phones? Nothing in your car?”
“No, I swear.”
“Okay. Your boyfriend is coming with us, and his friend Frankie too. You won’t leave this house for two hours. You’re being watched, and trust me, you don’t want to go anywhere before I tell you it’s okay. At that time you can leave and go wherever you like and tell whomever you like about what happened here tonight. If you follow directions, you won’t be harmed. If not...I’ll be back.”
“I won’t,” she whispered. She was staring at Gianni and he was giving her one of those “everythi
ng will be okay” looks. Blackheart was almost touched by that, so he reminded himself of how many times Brigette said Gianni told her she would be raped until she was dead if she didn’t cooperate with them. That would re-focus him and kill any emotions he might be feeling.
“Good, because you don’t want to mess with me,” he said. He tossed his head at Maddox who stepped away from the woman and with Blackheart’s gun at Gianni’s back, led the way.
Once again, Maddox was impressed by the Jokers. They all met back at the van and Harleys within fifteen minutes, both of their marks in tow. Not a single shot had been fired, and the sun was still an hour away. Gianni and Frankie were tied up and placed in the back of the van. Blackheart had two prospects in the front, one driving and the other one acting as a “gunner” of sorts, and two men riding in the back to make sure the two Italian idiots didn’t manage to get their bonds loose. It was another long, four-hour drive back to New Orleans. Maddox hadn’t asked what the end game would be...honestly, because he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to try and influence Blackheart’s decisions about what he was going to do with the two gangsters, and he didn’t even really care to know what that decision was. So, he followed them, thinking they were on their way back to the clubhouse, but surprised when they stopped next to the loading dock of the butcher shop. One of the guys unlocked the door and went inside to unlock the door to the docks and when Maddox got inside, two of the Jokers were already pulling up the video surveillance, which Maddox had no doubt would ultimately show no sign of anyone coming in or out that morning. Louis was still in the hospital, so no one was around to see the two gangsters being carried in through the loading dock doors and into the big, walk-in freezer section. There, huge sides of beef, pork, and other things that might have been small game and venison, hung frozen from hooks in the ceiling. The two men were placed up against one of the walls before the duct tape was pulled off their mouths. Gianni didn’t make a sound, but Frank let out a little cry when they pulled his off.