by Nova Rain
“You got it.” Donny flashed me a wink, whereas Joe nodded in appreciation to Michelle.
I watched them leave, a mixed sense of fulfillment and satisfaction spreading through me. I had won back both my old job and my friend. Our nasty argument was a thing of the past. I was prepared to forget it and move forward, because Michelle and my new line of work were much too important to me. I hoped she wouldn’t linger on it, either. Neither of us could afford clinging to bad memories. Such a mistake would drive us apart, this time for good.
Chapter Sixteen
Donny
“Let’s kick the tires and light the fires.”
That was my last phrase before Joe switched on the engine of his Landcruiser.
Destination? Shandaken. Bryan and Jimmy had been up there for days, hiding from our enemies. As the powerful SUV roared onto the interstate, I felt my confidence rising. Joe had promised to help out, but it was clear that he had spoken too soon. His sweetheart was causing him—and us—problems, because she refused to face reality. With that issue resolved though, he was free to focus on the case. United, we could find those who wanted us dead, and deliver our own punishment. We had nothing to fear. In fact, it was our rivals who should now fear us. Not so long ago, we conspired against a Mafia Don, killed him, and came out on top. Some people in the organization suspected us, but none of them could prove our involvement. All they had were rumors and hearsay, and although shooting people was common in this life, nobody was shot without at least a shred of proof.
The scenic route to the Catskills sparked conversations between me and Joe. Neither of us had forgotten the tough times we went through when Joe had discovered the true identity of Michelle’s father. It was a time full of tension, tons of adrenaline and a huge desire to break free of the Santone family. We had done some bold and spectacular things, like blowing up his meth super lab. The atmosphere in the car on our way back to Joe’s cabin back then had been just unbelievable. We had been all celebrating, all smiling and cracking jokes, because we knew we had made a dent in his cash flow.
But, once we’d covered that, the mood in my friend’s SUV changed. I didn’t know what was going on in Joe’s head, but what killed my high spirits was simple. If Eric Santone’s cousin was the one who’d blown up that mall, it meant we were not done with that family yet. Worse still, getting to Kevin wasn’t going to be a picnic. He lived three thousand miles away, in a city none of us had ever been to. We knew jack about Los Angeles. And if there was one thing I’d learned in all this time working for the Mafia, it was that knowing the lay of the land was crucial. We just couldn’t run around in that city relying on maps.
The big wheels of the Landcruiser ripped through a patch of snow on the side of the road as Joe turned right and onto his property. The cabin looked like it could use some repairs. Planks on the outer walls had been scarred by hail and snow. There were small holes in quite a few of them, visible even from ten feet away.
A sweet, familiar scent hit my nostrils while my gaze roamed those walls: Burning wood. Along with the relaxing effect of the fireplace, it was one of the things I’d missed from our time on the mountain. Following Joe in, I found Jimmy banging on the keys of his laptop, whereas Bryan was pushing logs around with a fire iron.
“How’s your holiday, bitches?” I asked, flashing each of them a smile.
“I wouldn’t call chopping down an eighty-foot tree a ‘holiday,’ man.” Bryan spoke, a hint of discomfort in his tone. “You’d run out of firewood, Joe. I went down the slope yesterday. I had to carry that tree up here all by myself, because the computer geek has ‘very delicate hands.’”
“I’m sorry, but it’s true,” Jimmy interjected, not taking his eyes off the screen of his laptop. “I can’t risk so much as a paper cut, let alone carrying a tree.”
“Enough with the bullshit, kid,” Joe groaned. “What have you found so far?”
“Just about everything there is to know about Kevin Santone,” Jimmy announced, easing his computer off his lap and onto the coffee table in front of him. “He’s fifty-three, divorced with two children. I’m not sure what you’ll make of this, but he’s still in New York City. He’s staying at the AC Hotel in Manhattan. And judging by his checkout date, he’s got no intention of leaving anytime soon. It’s March 18th.”
“That’s fifteen days away,” Joe remarked, his face twisting into an expression of confusion. “The mall opening was on February the 20th. Can anyone guess why he’s planning on staying in town for almost a month?”
“That’s easy, buddy,” I maintained, bringing my gaze over to his. “He’s a stockbroker. He’s checking out things on Wall Street.”
“Or he’s planning to take out his cousin’s killer,” Bryan assumed, strutting towards me. “He figures four weeks are enough to find him and get rid of him. Once it’s done, he’ll probably check out sooner than March 18th.”
“It doesn’t feel right,” I commented, pursing my lips. “He’s got motive; I’ll give you that. The guy’s in his fifties. He’s been a stockbroker since we were knee-high to a poodle. Does a guy like that sound able to mastermind a plan to avenge his cousin?”
“You’re forgetting something else he’s got, Donny,” Joe complained. “Money. I agree with you. He’s been pushing papers all his life, but he can buy the best assassins in town and ask them to mastermind a plan.”
“No pro I know would ever use a machine gun to take out their target,” I argued, recalling the holes all over Jimmy’s Audi. “It’s too goddamn loud and attracts too much attention. The same goes for the bomb.”
“Maybe, but both scream ‘personal,’” Joe retorted, his voice louder this time. “We hurt the Santone family, Donny. We destroyed it. Why shouldn’t a Santone try to avenge the death of his cousin?”
“Because he doesn’t know, asshole!” I yelled, furrowing my brow. “Only a handful of people know who threw Eric off that roof. Hell, half of them are in here. That information never left New York. Now, you’re trying to convince me that a paper jockey—who by the way, doesn’t even bother hiding and stays in the financial district—is out for revenge? Come on, Joe! Use your head!”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Joe stated, his tone stiff. “Jimmy, what’s the guy’s routine?”
“I’m afraid he doesn’t have one.” Bryan’s cousin shook his head in disappointment. “He heads to Wall Street in the morning and spends his afternoons with clients. I know that because I’ve seen him in the hotel lobby bar three times in the past three days, hanging out with men in fancy suits. Joe…” He paused. “I know I don’t have your experience or anything, but wouldn’t he have a protection detail if he was actually going after you?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Because he doesn’t,” Jimmy claimed and pointed at the screen. There were four, separate screens, depicting Kevin Santone in a lounge chair, talking to different clients, with his secretary sitting on his left in all of them. “That’s Kelly Walsh, his PA.”
“We still have to pay him a visit,” Joe made his intentions clear once more, his voice losing some of its nerve. “Jimmy, I take it there are security cameras on every floor of that hotel.”
“That’s right. There are four on each floor, to be exact,” Jimmy informed him, looking up at him. “I’d suggest disabling them remotely, but you guys will have to show your faces in that hotel. Someone might recognize you. The parking lot is your best bet. It’s underground. No one will see you go in at night. I’ll disable the two cameras down there instead.”
“Alright,” Joe nodded in agreement. “Bryan, take Jimmy back to New York first thing tomorrow morning. We’re meeting tomorrow over at his place. Five o’clock should be fine. We’re taking his van. Any questions?”
“What do we do when we find Santone?” I asked, my voice coming out in a monotone.
“We don’t shoot,” Joe’s response was sharp. “We talk to him first.”
“Okay.” I nodded to him. “Jimmy, call me or Joe
if Santone leaves his hotel early. You kids have a good night.”
“See you tomorrow,” Joe said as I strolled back to the front door.
Finding myself back out in the cold, I couldn’t help but laugh at what we were about to do. Joe had made a few points, but so had I. The way I saw it, we were just going to waste our time. No matter how much money Kevin Santone had, he was a stockbroker. He had earned it by a legitimate form of gambling. He didn’t belong in the organization and didn’t have the necessary muscle in New York to pull off such a feat. I chose to agree to the plan because Joe and Bryan were desperate to check him out. Neither of them would shut up until we did.
Chapter Seventeen
Donny
Two things were plaguing my mind on the drive back to the city.
One of them was Ava’s reaction to our mission. She might have acted cool about this sort of stuff before we got together, but women could get manipulative. A great example of that? Michelle. For all I knew, this was just a trick to convince me into dating her. I couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t object to what me and my boys had to do. Ava could give me her friend’s speech, maintaining how dangerous it would be for me to meet Santone head-on. As crappy as it sounded, I could get caught in a similar situation to Joe’s. And witnessing that mess firsthand was not a pleasant experience. I wanted to slap him in the face and yell at him, because he had allowed a woman to interfere with his business.
My second concern was the mission itself. We had all been in much more dangerous situations than this, but few of them were in such a public place. We would be out in the open, exposed to danger from all sides. Although that danger didn’t include armed men, witnesses were just as bad. It would take just one man or woman to spot us in the dark. In case that happened, we would have to take action, and that meant “shoot to kill.” Gunshots fired in a downtown hotel parking lot was a recipe for disaster. Within minutes, we’d end up being chased by the cops. In the jammed roads of Manhattan, this would be one of the shortest chases ever.
Still, Ava’s reaction was unlike anything I’d been anticipating. Lecture? No. Words of advice? No. Any of the other stupid crap that Michelle had used and pulled on Joe? Not that, either. Instead, she smiled and said:
“It won’t be a problem for you guys. You’ve gone up against more dangerous men than a rich stockbroker.”
That was a relief… It was other things, too, but that’s the feeling I had when she uttered those words. More than anything, it was proof that Ava wasn’t the controlling woman her friend was. She didn’t want to put me on a leash. Of course, in that case, it would have been over between us. I was nobody’s pet. I wouldn’t become one either, not even for the hottest date I’d ever had. We could be together, but we would only do that on my terms.
The following day, I stuck to Joe’s plan and went over to Jimmy’s apartment in Queens. After a short chat with my friends and the geek, we all left in the “van of gold” as we used to call it. We were broke when we drove that Transit to Las Vegas, and we came back millionaires.
Well after dark, Jimmy turned into the hotel parking lot, with Joe, Bryan and me hiding in the cab. After rolling past the cover of a storm drain, he drove it down into an area in the middle of the lot, out of the range of the surveillance cameras.
“Santone just reached the lobby,” he informed us, his eyes glued to his laptop. “I’ll need a minute to disable the cameras. I’ll cough when I’m ready.”
In silence, Joe slid the side door open. I hopped out, hoping that this wouldn’t go sideways. My gaze was met with six rows of cars, with three corridors in between them. Each of those corridors featured large overhead lights, just feet from one another. It was then that I realized that we couldn’t make our move before those cameras were out of the game. A chase in either direction would put us well within their range. All this light was guaranteed to give away our presence. Straightaway, I headed for the nearest column and hid behind it, Joe and Bryan following suit.
“If Santone’s behind this shit, I’ll beat the living crap out of him,” Bryan spoke in a near whisper, halting next to me. “I’ve had enough of that damn family. I never want to hear about them again.”
I parted my lips to offer him my viewpoint, but as I did, the faint ring of the elevator sent my senses into overdrive. Several yards to the left, Kevin Santone’s tall, scrawny figure emerged, his blonde PA going over documents as they crossed the lot. I tapped my fingers on the column, eager to get Jimmy’s signal. He didn’t let us down. Santone hadn’t covered more than thirty feet, when the kid’s cough spurred us into action.
“Walk. Do not run,” Joe advised. Stepping away from the column, I did as I’d been told, because running could spook them. I kept my focus on the row of cars to my right, pretending to admire a green Mustang with black stripes in the middle. I looked down at its spoiler and its fat wheels, the sounds of Santone’s shoes and his PA’s heels getting louder by the second. With him just inches from my spot, I thrust my arm up. My flexed bicep crashed against his chin, throwing him off balance. He landed flat and hard on his back, my ears catching his assistant’s muffled screams. I dropped down to the deck and dragged him behind the Mustang, Joe strolling past me.
“You’re carrying one of the most hated last names in town, mister,” Joe began, sitting on his knees. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Who are you people?” Panic sped Santone’s voice, his gaze shifting from me to Joe.
“We’re the last people on Earth you want to piss off,” Joe grumbled, grabbing him by the neck. With a quick thrust, he slammed his head against the rear bumper of the Mustang. “Don’t make me ask again.”
“I’m in town for business,” he gasped out. “I’ve been trying to land some clients for months. Don’t hurt Kelly.”
“Kelly’s going to be just fine,” Joe assured him. “Last question. Did you know Eric Santone?”
“Eric?!” Kevin scoffed with an ironic smile, his whole body shivering in fear. “I’d only seen that rotten man twice. I wanted nothing to do with him. The world’s a better place without him if you ask me.”
I recognized Joe’s regretful look as he turned his attention to me. This scared little man didn’t even like his cousin. For him to have come all the way to New York to avenge him was one of the most ridiculous scenarios I’d ever heard.
“Don’t tell anyone about this, or the next time you see us, I’ll give you more to worry about than a bump on the head,” Joe threatened him, arising to his full height. “Let her go,” he told Bryan as we strode back to the van.
Jimmy started the engine, and we entered the cab, a shadow engulfing my mind. I was right, but that didn’t mean anything. We were back to square one, without any leads as to who could have planted that bomb in Joe’s mall.
“Fuck!” He shouted, banging his fist against the side of the Transit.
“What did he say?” Bryan asked, his eyes wide with anticipation.
“Long story short, Kevin hated Eric’s guts,” I answered, staring into the void. “You should have seen him, man. The guy was shaking, and we didn’t even put a gun to his head.”
“Damn it…” Bryan huffed in exasperation, tilting his head back.
“Drive us out of here, Jimmy,” I urged his cousin, running my fingers through my hair as the van reached the exit. The silence was so thick I could cut it with a knife. All I could hear was the rumble of the exit, along with the sounds of oncoming cars. None of us had the courage to utter a word. We were back in uncertain territory, not knowing how to proceed. In this game of cat and mouse, this could prove fatal to one of us or even all of us.
Chapter Eighteen
Ava
“What’s taking them so long?”
Michelle was driving me crazy. She posed the same question every one or two minutes, checking the time on her living room clock. For all my attempts to distract her with other topics like my new relationship, she just wouldn’t stop. Pacing up and down, she gave me a brie
f comment, allowed me to ramble and then repeated herself, over and over.
“They didn’t go on a supply run to the local supermarket. They’re taking care of something important,” I addressed her in a calm tone. “And last time I checked, Manhattan was thirty miles from here. Just driving to and from there will take them an hour-and-a-half; maybe more, depending on traffic.”
A quick vibration of the floor drew our attention. The headlights of Joe’s SUV lit the driveway, the power gate opening inward.
“Look at that. They’re here!” I spoke in sarcastic tones, my eyes wide with mock surprise.
“I am not amused,” Michelle groaned, her jaw hardening.
“Me neither,” I responded, taking my eyes off of her. “If you want us to do this again, I suggest you be more patient.”
Michelle didn’t dignify my last comment with a comment of her own, which was good. The two of us had had enough verbal sparring. Arguing with her would not resolve anything. It would just hurt our already battered relationship.
The minute we heard the key turning in the lock, she sprinted off to the door. Donny moved past her and Joe, his friend pushing the door shut. Our friends locked in a tight hug, he looked at me with saddened eyes. I liked that kind of expressiveness, because he couldn’t hide from me. In this case however, his eyes betrayed a bad turn of events.
“What went wrong?” I wondered as he trotted up to me.
“Nothing,” he replied in a soft voice, maintaining eye contact with me. “We got in and out undetected. It’s just…” He faltered. “Kevin Santone almost pissed his pants when Joe and I grabbed him. It turns out he and his cousin were not that close. He had nothing to do with the bombing.”