“I hope this isn’t a rude question, but what
is your name?” I say, thinking that came out horrible.
“Lisa,” she says with effort.
“Where are you from?” I ask. I am trying to
encourage easy conversation.
“I live here in Chicago.” Her monotonous
voice and expressionless face is an indicator to me that she’s in a
mild state of shock; Erin was exactly the same way. Lisa isn’t as
bad off as Erin was, actually. “Demetrius killed my brother,” she
repeats.
I nod, although she has already told us
this. I guess she needed to say it again.
Doc Howie walks in carrying his medical bag.
He absorbs the scene in the room, smiles warmly, and approaches
Lisa, giving us all a general hello.
“I’d like to check your heart rate,” he says
to Lisa. She nods, allowing him to do it. “How are you feeling?” he
asks.
Lisa doesn’t respond, she just stares
forward. He presses his hand against her forehead.
“I used to date him,” Lisa
says out of the blue. “He gave my brother a job.”
Demetrius?!
“Does anything hurt?” Doc Howie asks,
methodically.
She shakes her head no and continues.
“Drugs...he got my brother into drugs,” she says with no emotion.
“I found out too late. My brother came to me. He said Demetrius
threatened him.” Lisa stops, emotion overtaking her as a single
tear courses down her cheek.
I hear voices out in the
hallway...deep ones.
It’s Antonio and
Vito!
My heart does a quick slam in my
chest. It takes everything I have not to run into the hall, but I
exit as quickly as possible. Antonio is entrenched in conversation
with Alex and Vito. As soon as he sees me he breaks away. I step
into his arms, and he kisses me, wrapping his arms around me...and
pauses. The gun. He glances at me quizzically, and steps back from
our embrace.
“My father wants me to carry it,” I
explain
Antonio doesn’t say anything. I see in his
eyes that he wants me to carry it, too. He quickly kisses me
again.
Someone’s phone is ringing. It’s Alex’s. He
answers, and suddenly his face twists with fury. “Where!? Are you
fucking kidding me?!” Alex yells into the phone. Anyone on this
floor can surely hear him. Alex pulls the phone away from his ear
and pointedly looks at Antonio.
“Someone downstairs says that Tutti is out
on the street,” he rushes out urgently.
Antonio and Vito move quickly. They run to
the stairwell at the end of the hall. Vito flings the door open and
they’re gone. As thought my legs have a mind of their own, I’m off
running to catch up with them. Alex reaches out to grip my hand to
stop me as I rush by, but I shrug it off and bolt through the door.
I am cascading down the stairs neatly, allowing the railing to
glide under my hand. I make it to the bottom floor in record time
and burst into the casino.
The casino is busy, as it
very often is. I rush past gamblers and wait staff carrying drinks.
I make it to the front doors and see no one guarding them. Through
the glass, I scan the street, but I can see nothing. I throw open
the swinging door, looking to the left and then to the
right.
Where is Antonio?
I take a step forward, looking all around me. This
sky is cloudy. It is a dark winter day. I immediately feel the
chill with the absence of a jacket. I step forward once again,
putting myself on the sidewalk. That’s when I hear it.
Gunfire echoes in the air like thunder, in
between two large city buildings. Knowing Antonio would want me to
stay put, I dive back in to the casino, my face plastered to the
glass as I struggle to see something...anything. Sirens sound in
the distance, getting closer by the second. Nobody in the casino
seems to register the gun shots. Everyone is in their own world,
deafened by the sounds of the machines.
My heart pounds with worry. I stand on my
tiptoes to see around the parked vehicles on the street and watch
three cop cars skid to a stop. Their doors fly open and uniformed
officers swarm into the alley across the street.
A hand grabs my arm and roughly pulls me to
the side against the wall.
“It’s not safe to stand by the door.”
It’s Demetrius!
Horror grips me. My arm throbs where he
clenches it, his fingers pushing into the flesh, bruising me. I
wince. He touches my hair with his other hand in a creepy,
affectionate gesture. The paradox of his hands, one brutal - one
gentle, isn’t what startles me; it’s the psychotic cast in his
eyes. He is capable of anything. I’m paralyzed as he stares me
down.
Shouting makes us both turn to look. Casino
security is racing towards the doors. Demetrius smiles down at me
with a cold look, once again runs his fingers through my hair, and
releases me. He disappears.
A deep crowd has formed around the commotion
outside. People rubberneck over each other to see the scene. I
slump against the wall, the paralysis leaving me. I try to calm
myself, fear coming through in knowing that I did something very
stupid.
Chapter 11
Underboss: second in command
Antonio:
Something is off with the intel about Uncle
Tutti. He is alone and wandering around aimlessly, seems out of it.
The whole thing stinks of a set up.
Vito and I rush outside and sprint across
the street, flanking the walls of the buildings attached to a
mini-mart and a shoe store. I draw my weapon and hold it at the
ready position. Vito does the same. Ahead of us, I see a man who
could definitely be Uncle Tutti, but his back is to us. We inch
closer, one step at a time.
The guy is talking under his breath,
mumbling. He is moving around pointlessly always with his back to
us. I don’t want to fire without being totally sure. Killing an
innocent person is not on my list of things to do today. We creep
slowly not to alert him. My focus is zeroed in to see if this is
Uncle Tutti. I don’t see the sniper on the building to our
left.
Shots are fired! Brick pieces fly and
crumble bouncing off the asphalt as I duck and dive. I rip my jeans
and scrape the shit out of my arm when I land. Vito crouches next
to me and points his gun up, checking the roofs of the other
buildings. My frustration is heightened when this fucker who could
be Uncle Tutti doesn’t even turn around. He isn’t even fazed by the
bullets flying by him.
Sirens whirl and whistle. Tires screech on
the pavement. That’s our cue to get the hell out of there. We
quickly snap open the back door of the mini-mart and shove our guns
back in our pants, pretending to look around.
The police are going to be a long time
investigating. I motion to Vito that we need to get out of here. I
walk to the front of the store and watch as the police rush in to
the alley. The clerk and shoppers are pressed against the doors
trying to see what happened. Looks like the coast is clear, and we
step out the front of the store and head directly for the side
garage of the casino. We make it underground. We rest against a
giant cement pillar, panting.
“What the fuck was that?” Vito spits.
“A setup,” I release in a frustrated sigh.
Nothing adds up. My head is filled with questions and the answers
right there in front of me, but I’m so blinded by my vendetta that
I almost got taken out. The anger and rage is making me sloppy. I
need to talk to that girl. Maybe she’ll have some answers for me
about what is really going on.
Vito thinks for a minute, possibly replaying
in his mind the details of the past few minutes.
“Not just a setup...a
contract!
That fucker was
aiming at YOU!” His eyes flash with horror and something I rarely
see from Vito...fear.
“I think Demetrius has a hit out on me,” I
tell Vito. Anger pulses inside me. “I also think that he is the
cleaner for the Furlotti family.”
Vito scrubs his hands down his face, taking
it all in. “Okay, so what do we do now?” He asks me earnestly like
I would already have a plan. I don’t.
Mob assassins like Demetrius and his
associates don’t have a problem with public executions. It sends a
warning to others and it gives them a sick empowerment on the same
level with a serial killer. It’s a deranged form of
exhibitionism.
I find it odd that Ennio has set us up with
the Furlotti’s. Most mob families typically don’t like to draw
attention. Public exterminations and drug dealing are huge flashing
signs for organized crime. Bosses normally like to keep things
quiet, like my Pop. Although, some families get delusions of
grandeur and greedy, and think they’re untouchable. Flying low on
the radar is what keeps many families afloat.
I didn’t realize the Furlotti family was
like this. They have never been known to be such a high-profile
family. Things just don’t make sense.
*****
Antonio:
Back upstairs, Alex is standing with Megan.
His face is strained as he speaks with her. I quickly thaw when I
see her.
“She’s gone,” Alex informs
me as he sees Vito and is storming down the hall.
Dammit!
“What happened?”
“When you left, your girlfriend chased after
you. I tried to grab her but she took off.” Alex gives a steely
gaze to Megan. “I sent Clarissa and Erin back upstairs because I
didn’t know what was going down, and I went after Megan. When I
came back upstairs, she was gone.”
I’m angry, and I flash my eyes at Megan. She
knows better than to follow us like that. I don’t want to get into
it with everyone standing around here. I’ll have to discuss it with
her later.
“Do you think she just took off?” I ask
attempting to stay calm.
“I’m not sure.” He flicks his eyes to Megan.
“But Megan has something else she needs to tell you,” Alex says
with a scolding tone.
She stares at the floor, then raises her
gaze and looks at me sheepishly. This is getting better and better.
I wait for her to respond.
“When I got downstairs, I went to the glass
doors to try to see what was going on...and Demetrius grabbed me,”
she says softly.
A monster so ugly and vicious erupts from
deep within my soul. I want to crush the life out of Demetrius for
putting his hands on Megan. I can’t handle this. What I want to do
right now scares even me. I don’t trust myself so I walk away -
seething in my own rage.
This is a game. A fucking screwed up game.
Demetrius is in rare form, and it is all centered on me. I’d bet my
bank account that Demetrius took her.
I take a deep breath with my back to Megan
and Alex. We need to regroup. I hate this. I take out my phone and
call my father.
“Hi Pop,”
“Eh, Antonio. What’s going on?” he asks.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t know how loaded the answer is to that
question. I can’t tell him everything over the phone, that’s
protocol. So I speak in innuendo.
“There may be some problems with our new
friends. I’m looking into it. Stay alert.”
“Got it. You be careful,” he says.
“You too.” We hang up.
Letting my father know is important, they
could be targeting him, too. This way he will take on some
additional bodyguards. The simple solution would be to just call
Don Furlotti, but things don’t work that way. To accuse him and his
family of putting a contract out, or even not holding up their part
of the alliance, is a major insult. Having all the facts is key, or
you might as well start funeral arrangements.
I call Vito over. “We need to get our stuff
out of the hotel. It’s too out in the open. We’ll stay here where
it is guarded and we have what we need. I don’t know what
Demetrius’ next move is. I think we should lay low and wait.”
“What about Tutti?”
“I have a feeling that whichever way this is
going, Tutti is gonna be at the end of it.” I’m going with my gut
on this one. I don’t want to be blindsided again. I can be patient,
when I need to be. “The celebration dinner is only a couple of days
away. We need to be ready for anything.”
“And that girl?” he asks.
“We don’t know if she left on her own or was
taken. I’ll have Carlo find two volunteers to go look for her.
That’s the best I can do.”
“I’ll take Joey with me and clean out our
stuff. I’ll be back later,” Vito says and leaves.
Alex and Megan are standing silently
waiting.
“Take Megan upstairs. I’m going to find
Ennio,” I order to Alex, not looking at Megan. They get in the
elevator, and I take the stairs to the casino.
*****
Antonio:
I find Ennio at the bar opposite the casino
from the restaurants and shops. He’s taking inventory of the
liquor, holding a clipboard, and he doesn’t look up as I
approach.
“You know I don’t like cops at my casino,”
Ennio’s voice is unhappy.
“I understand. It won’t happen again,” I
tell him. It doesn’t matter how many cops you have in your back
pocket...whenever they show up, it is bad for business.
He puts the clipboard down on the granite
bar. “What happened?” he speaks in a low tone.
“Alex got a call from one of your guys
saying that they thought Tutti in the alley across the street. We
left to check it out, there was a sniper on the top of the shoe
store building. We took off when we heard the sirens. Somebody must
have tipped off the cops.”
“Was it Tutti?”
“I don’t know. We never got a chance to find
out.”
“What’s that look on your face for?” Ennio
asks, sounding like the mob boss that he is.
“I just don’t know what to think. The whole
thing is just wrong.”
“If it doesn’t feel right, keep your head
down. You know that. I’ll do some checking around.”
I leave Ennio to finish his task and head
straight to the family floor. I need to talk to Megan about taking
off on Alex.