Hammers and Nails
Page 33
“That sounds cool, Mr. Tankowicz. It really does. But if I stay, the Hats will come here looking for me soon. They won’t wait for things to cool down, and it will make things harder for you guys. You know how they are.”
Roland did know, but he also knew himself. “So, let them come,” he scoffed. “We’ll send them home in tiny boxes. It will give the rest of the bastards something to think about.”
Manny paused and looked at the strange group crowding his hospital room. He seemed confused by their persistence. “Why are you doing this? None of you know me that well. Why are you trying so hard to be nice to me?”
Mindy answered first, “Because you can waltz through highly secure areas?”
Lucia followed up, “Because you took a bullet for me?”
Roland sniffed, “Meh. I’m growing as a person.”
“Okay, then,” Manny let his head fall back to his pillow, and his words turned drowsy, “I’ll take the arm, and I’ll work it off. But no bullshit and no charity. It’s a Venusian thing.”
“Strictly business,” Roland agreed before Mindy or Lucia could say something nice and ruin it.
“Goody! I always wanted a pet...” Mindy squeaked.
“Or you could just kill me now,” Manny suggested lazily, “starting to sound good, actually.”
“All right Mindy, let’s clear out and let the boy get some sleep.”
The trio left the stuffy room and filed back into the hallway. Billy was waiting for them.
“How’s the kid?”
“Needs an arm,” Roland said. “We’ll get the Doc to set him up.”
“How about you?” Billy pointed to the obvious disarray of Roland’s clothing and the visible damage to his armor.
“I’m going to be in the chair at least a week.”
“I’m fine, too,” Mindy interrupted, “if you cared.”
Billy ignored her. “I’m not sure you’ve got a week, pal. Rodney is setting up a meeting of all the Dockside rackets for tomorrow night. It’s gonna be big, and it’s gonna be a bloodbath if The Fixer isn’t there to keep cooler heads prevailing, if you catch my drift.”
A few hundred Dockside riffraff in one place discussing who was going to be in charge of what, did seem like a recipe for disaster. Especially if The Dwarf was setting it up.
“Where?” he asked.
“Hideaway,” McGinty replied.
“Hell no.” Roland shook his head emphatically. "That’s a power play. We are not doing this on Rodney’s turf. Tell him we are doing this at the Smoking Wreck. Shit. Marty is going to hate that. Ah well, he’ll get over it.”
“Roland!” Lucia snapped. “You will not be ready by tomorrow night! You are swaying where you stand as it is!”
“Call your Dad. Tell him he’s got thirty-six hours to put me back together. He’ll figure something out.”
Lucia rolled her eyes, but pulled out her comm and started dialing.
“Mindy!”
“Jawhol!” the assassin barked with a click of her heels.
“Go to Hideaway and make sure our pal Rodney doesn’t get ambitious during this transitional period. He will try to make some kind of play for control. He can’t help himself. Gently remind him that this isn’t about him. If subtlety doesn’t seem to be working, feel free to be less subtle. Don’t bother Kitty while you are on the clock.”
Mindy’s face soured at that last bit. “Spoilsport!” she huffed.
Roland’s eyes met Billy’s, “Are you ready for this?”
Billy smiled, “Shit, yeah. I know how to do this. But it’s you they trust. They’re already talking about your fight with that big yellow fucker. You’re a hero to them. You’re like a mascot, or something.”
“Great,” Roland grumbled. “That’s all I need.”
“Don’t be a moron,” the redhead scolded, “This whole system has been bullshit for a long time, and everybody knew it. The problem was that no one knew how to fix it. Just our luck, it turns out that it didn’t need fixing. It needed to be broken.”
“I am very good at breaking things,” Roland conceded. “But now you’ve got to build something better. I only destroy, Billy. The rest is on you, and them.”
“Don’t you worry about that, pal. I’ll get it straightened out. But like I said, they need to see you doing what you do more than ever. It’s the only thing that will keep them from tearing each other apart.”
“So, I’ll keep breaking things, then,” Roland shrugged. “I’m a hammer, after all. And when all you have is a hammer?”
“Everything looks like a nail,” Billy agreed with a smirk.
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About the Author
Andrew Vaillencourt would like you to believe he is a writer. But that is probably not the best place to start. He is a former MMA competitor, bouncer, gym teacher, exotic dancer wrangler, and engineer.
He wrote his first novel, ‘Ordnance,’ on a dare from his father and has no intention of stopping now. Drawing on far too many bad influences including comic books, action movies, pulp sci-fi and his own upbringing as one of twelve children, Andrew is committed to filling the heads of readers with hard-boiled action and vivid worlds in which to set it. His work pulls characters and voices born from his time throwing drunks out of a KC biker bar, fighting in the Midwest amateur MMA circuit, or teaching kindergarteners how to do a proper push-up.
He currently lives in Connecticut with his lovely wife, three decent children, and a very lazy ball python named Max.
Read more at Andrew Vaillencourt’s site.