In Sal’s home office, Yvonne Welker, who had been subjected to an extreme pat-down session, was seated in a chair in front of the desk. Reno and Tommy were standing on either side of the desk as Sal and Gemma entered the office. Gemma was also surprised to see that Robby Yale had arrived, and was sitting next to the woman, undoubtedly as insurance in case she made some sudden move. Sal had that kind of confidence in Robby.
Sal walked around and sat behind the desk. Gemma followed him, and stood by his side.
Instead of introducing his wife to a woman he didn’t feel worthy of such an introduction, Sal leaned forward and got to the point. But he was still inwardly spooked. But for a little age on her, Yvonne looked good as gold. Fine as wine still. Which didn’t add up, considering what he witnessed. “What happened that night?” he asked her.
Yvonne knew what night he meant. She needed no additional information. “Fast was raging with jealousy,” she said, as she crossed her legs. “One of his men saw me go upstairs at the PaLargio with you, and they ran and told him.”
Tommy and Reno glanced at Gemma, to see how she was taking the news. But Gemma didn’t flinch.
And Yvonne didn’t hesitate. “He was certain you had raped me or forced me or did whatever to me and I was an unwilling participant. He was convinced of it. And I knew I was dead if I told him the truth. So, I went along with whatever he said. That’s why he confronted you. But he knew he couldn’t mix it up with the Gabrinis. He knew that was a fight he’d lose. So, he believed you when you denied my allegations. He believed you.”
Sal could see the pain in her eyes. He remembered that night, and how devastated he was that his decision to take her upstairs cost her her life. He rationalized it then. He said she bought it on herself by propositioning him. But even that couldn’t shield his devastation.
“But because he believed you,” she said, “that meant he had to punish me. When he shot me, that was no optical illusion. That happened.”
Sal frowned. “But look at you,” he said. “That fucker shot you in the fucking head. Where’s the scars?”
Yvonne hesitated, and then removed her big, blond wig to show a scar that extended from the top peak of her forehead, across her skull. “It’s since healed,” she said, “but it’ll never go away.”
“And even though he did that to you,” Gemma said, staring at Yvonne, “you stayed with him?”
Yvonne gave Gemma a sidelong look. “I thought you were this upstanding lawyer lady who didn’t know shit about her husband’s dealings. At least that’s the line you always tell when reporters ask you. What are you doing here?”
“None of your fucking business,” Sal responded. “Just answer her question.”
Yvonne didn’t like it, but she knew she was a woman with no choice but to comply. Word on the street was that Sal was looking for her. Instead of having his men take her down, and possibly end her life, she turned herself in to him. The idea was that Sal wouldn’t survive those hits. But he did. She knew she was a dead woman walking when he did.
But by turning herself in, she turned against Fast. She was a dead woman walking going and coming. Her options were all at Sal’s mercy now. She answered Gemma’s question. “You don’t get to decide if you’re going to stay or go. If a man like Fast wants you to stay, you stay. If he doesn’t want you around anymore, you leave. He wanted me to stay. I’m the mother of his children. After he pulled the trigger, he regretted it. They rushed me to the hospital. I lived, had a long recovery, and he stayed by my side. He loves me.”
“But yet you show up here,” Gemma said suspiciously, “ready to spill the beans on the man that loves you. You didn’t leave him after he nearly killed you. But you left him now. Why?”
“Yeah,” Sal agreed. “Why the fuck you suddenly wanna cooperate with us? The Gabrinis are the enemy. Remember?”
“That’s why I came,” Yvonne said. “When I saw you in that restaurant and you, as we suspected you would, came running after me, you were supposed to die that night. But you didn’t.”
She paused. “When I found out you got away, and didn’t die, I knew we had done it now. I knew there was no way Fast was going to win a war against the Gabrinis. He knew it too.”
“If he knew he was not going to win against the Gabrinis, why did he wage a war in the first place?” Gemma asked. She was in complete lawyer mode now, and they all loved her for it. She was, after all, the lawyer they turned to whenever they were in hot water criminally. They respected her abilities without question now.
And her questions now, they also noticed, were completely on point. They were going to let her lead this interrogation until it was time for them to take over. “Attempting to kill Sal Gabrini,” she continued as if she was removed from that statement, “was an act of war. No question about it. Your boyfriend had to know that.”
“He knew it,” Yvonne said.
“Then why did he do it?” Sal asked. “Why did he wage a fucking war against me he knew he couldn’t win?”
Yvonne shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said.
“Why are you here?” Gemma asked her. “Did your boyfriend tell you to come?”
Yvonne couldn’t believe it. “Did he tell me to come?” she asked with shock in her voice. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Just answer the question,” Sal ordered her. “You disrespect my wife I’ll kill your ass on the spot.”
Yvonne gave Sal a slight look of anger, but she answered the question. “No. Fast has no idea I’m here. I don’t live in Vegas anymore. He comes to see me at this place he has for me in New Mexico of all places. I was never allowed anywhere near Vegas or Seattle, for that matter. He needed me to spook you that night at the restaurant, and then make my way back to Las Cruces, where me and the children live. And I did.”
She hesitated again. “But when I realized Sal was still alive, and was searching for me, I knew I was between a rock and a hard place. I had to deal with Fast if I turned on him, and I had to deal with Sal Gabrini if I didn’t. I decided to bet on a Gabrini. That’s why I came.”
“So you’re saying unequivocally,” Gemma asked, “that Fast Eddie Bronson, your boyfriend, is the man responsible for both assassination attempts?”
Yvonne knew it was a monumental confession. “Yes,” she said.
Sal leaned back. Reno and Tommy felt some relief too, if she was telling the truth. It was better to know your enemy than not.
But then Sal leaned forward again. “What about Billy Minoche?” he asked her.
“What about him?” Yvonne asked.
“Did he have anything to do with this shit?”
“Not to my knowledge, no,” Yvonne said.
“And Easy Max Capone?” Reno asked. “What about him?”
Yvonne frowned. “Who’s that? I would have remembered him if his last name is Capone. I never heard of him.”
That wasn’t what they wanted to hear. But it was Sal who asked the most pertinent question. “Where’s Fast now?” he asked her.
She looked at him. She wanted to bargain; to deal. But the most she could hope for was life. If she was straight with him, and led him where he wanted to go, Sal just might let her live.
She leaned forward, and sung like a canary.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The white cargo van drove slowly along the backroads of Vegas as it made its way to the outskirts of town. Tommy sat on the front passenger seat of the van, alongside the driver, while Sal and Reno sat in back. A small contingent of Sal’s men were also in the van, and they were armed to the teeth. Sal and Reno, in fact, were still building their rifles and triple-checking their munitions vests. They were preparing for an all-out war, although, because of the terrain, they knew they couldn’t bring along too many guys. But war or an easy grab didn’t matter to any of them. Fast Eddie Bronson was coming with them this day.
His old lady had given them an earful. He was on the outskirts of Vegas, she said, at the big farmhouse they all knew about.
“But there’s a catch,” Yvonne told the Gabrinis.
They all looked at her. “What catch?” Sal asked.
“He doesn’t live in the house. Nobody does. It’s completely empty. He lives in the barn on the property. The barn that’s supposed to house all of those farm animals you never see because there are none? That barn looks deserted outside, but looks like a mansion inside. That’s where you’ll find Fast.”
After ordering a group of his men to haul Yvonne off to a safe house until further notice, and after putting Robby Yale in the safe room with Gemma, Lucky, and Mia, his nanny, inside their home, Sal whispered to Gemma to “trust no-one,” and privately handed her a gun. Then he and his brother and cousin prepared themselves for battle. And they didn’t wait around, either. They didn’t wait for the cover of darkness. They wanted to smoke Fast out in the light of day when, Sal believed, he would not expect a day attack and would be at his most vulnerable.
Sal looked at his wrist watch. “How much farther?” he asked the driver.
“Few more minutes,” the driver responded.
Sal turned around to his men in the back of the van. “Everybody’s geared up and ready?”
“We’re ready, Boss.”
Sal looked at Reno.
“What do you think?” Reno asked before Sal could ask. Then he patted his munitions vest. “Bring those motherfuckers on!”
Sal smiled and nodded. No matter what was going down, he knew he could always count on Reno. He was all mouth, and got on his last damn nerve, but if he was in a pinch, and needed reliable muscle by his side, he truly believed he’d pick Reno. Tommy was masterful at what he did too, and was smooth about it, but Reno was badass. Reno, Sal suddenly realized, was a lot like him!
The van suddenly turned down a side road filled with nothing but thick weeds and trees and Sal opened the side panel to the van and his men, and then he and Reno, jumped out. When Sal closed the door back, the Van, with Tommy and the driver still inside, backed out of the woods, got back onto the side road, and drove off.
The driver looked at Tommy as he drove. “What if she’s lying?” he asked. “What if we pull this stunt and Fast ain’t even in that barn?”
“Then she dies,” Tommy said as he double-checked his own weaponry.
“And?” the driver asked.
Tommy didn’t blink. “So do we,” he said.
Sal, Reno, and Sal’s men made their way through a thicket of woods that made them glad they wore army fatigues and vests. The weeds slashed against them like whips as they marched. But this was the only way they could gain entry onto the property. This was the only way the plan had even a chance of working. And even this chance, Sal and Reno both knew, could be slim.
After nearly five minutes of tracking through the woods, they finally make it to the back side of the property. And Sal immediately saw their targets. Four guards, each within twenty feet of the other one, responsible for securing the very woods they just tracked through. They were laughing and talking, about their latest female conquests, but Sal could see that they were also armed to the teeth.
Sal looked back at his men. He ordered three of his men to take out the first guard. Three to take out the second guard. And he and Reno would handle the other two.
They all walked lightly to their positions. The fact that the guards were laughing and talking helped them. But when one of the guards thought he heard something, and the laughter and conversation suddenly ceased, Sal and Reno suddenly stopped walking too. Sal’s men also stopped. They were well-trained. But one of them, the inevitable weak link, didn’t realize the conversation had ceased and made a few additional steps. No more than three. But it was enough.
The guards turned around and didn’t ask questions. “Drop!” Sal yelled to his men as the guards began firing. One of his men was shot down. Another one of his men was shot down. But the rest of them managed to fire back. Sal took out his man. Reno took out his man. But they quickly realized that a small army of additional guards were running their way. And they were going to be surrounded right quick if they didn’t think of something and execute it as they were thinking of it.
Sal grabbed a grenade from his munitions vest, pulled the pin and tossed it, even as he yelled “launch!” to his men. Reno pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and lobbed it at the guards, too.
They killed many of the guards, and held the others back. But Sal and Reno knew it was only momentary. They knew they had to get out of Dodge. The plan had failed.
Sal motioned for his remaining men to abort the mission and get out. And they did. Sal, Reno, and Sal’s men all ran back through those woods as if their lives depended on it. They ran as if they were born to run.
But the firepower began again. And yet another army of guards were heading their way, and threatening to overtake them. And then the unthinkable happened. As Sal and Reno and their men were running out, yet another contingent of Fast Eddie’s men were running in. Sal stopped in his tracks when he saw that they had just run into a brick wall of guards. The guards stood there, with their rifles drawn and pointing at Sal, Reno, and each one of their surviving men. If they expected to survive, too, they knew they had to drop their weapons now. They dropped their weapons. Put their hands up. And the guards took over.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Where’s Daddy?” Lucky asked as he played on the floor with his sports car.
Gemma was on the floor with him, and she was worried sick. “He’s working, baby,” she said to her young son.
“This Daddy’s truck,” Lucky said as he pushed the car around.
Gemma smiled. The nanny and Robby Yale did too. “Yes, you’re right,” Gemma responded. “Daddy drives a sports car, too.”
“Daddy’s flashy,” Lucky said.
This stopped them all cold. They looked at the baby. “What did you say?” Gemma asked him.
“Daddy’s flashy,” Lucky said again as he continued to push his car.
“Who told you that?” Gemma asked.
“Uncle Repo,” Lucky said, and everybody laughed. Lucky looked at them when they started laughing, and became frightened. Had he said something wrong?
But when he saw his mother’s face, and saw that she was smiling, too, he grinned. And went to her and fell in her arms. “I want Daddy,” he said as she held him.
Gemma knew exactly what Lucky was saying. She was feeling as if something was wrong, too. “So do I, baby,” she said as she rocked him. “So do I.”
The nanny looked at Robby with a smile. She had a monster crush on him. But he wasn’t thinking about anything but business as he received his text message. He stood up and moved away from the nanny and everybody else, as he received yet another update. Gemma glanced at him while she kissed her baby, and placed her hand in her coat pocket. She placed her hand on the trigger of her gun.
Sal was slammed down in one chair. Reno was slammed down in the other chair. Their men were pushed onto the floor, to sit beside them. They were inside the barn; inside Fast Eddie Bronson’s interrogation room in that barn. And Fast Eddie, with his guards around him, was leaning against the edge of the desk. He couldn’t believe his good luck.
“You don’t know how many times I dreamed of getting the best of the Gabrinis,” Fast said. “And look what falls in my lap. Not one, but two Gabrinis! Mob boss Sal, and Casino Mogul Reno. If I ice your asses, I’ll be the toast of the fucking world! I’ll be the baddest ass in town. Fast Eddie, that’s me. The man who ended the Gabrini dynasty.”
“Your dynasty doesn’t look too promising either,” Sal said. “What with Yvonne and the kids in my custody.”
Fast Eddie’s smile disappeared. He nearly stood erect. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“He’s talking about Yvonne and those adorable children of yours,” Reno said. “You didn’t think we were going to take on this mission without any insurance in our pockets. Did you?”
Fast swallowed hard. One thing about the Gabrinis everybody respected:
they never blew smoke up your ass. If they said it, it was usually true. (Although, this time, it was only partly true. They had Yvonne. They did not have his children).
Fast looked at one of his men. The guard immediately pulled out his cell phone and called Yvonne’s. He placed the phone on Speaker. Cab Coleman, who was in charge of the guard detail Reno put in place to guard Yvonne, answered. “Hello?”
Fast grabbed the phone from his man. “Who the fuck is this?” he asked.
“Cab Coleman. Sal’s man. Who the fuck are you?”
Fast couldn’t believe it. He tossed the phone aside, ending the call. Then he looked at Sal. He stared at Sal. “What do you want?” he asked.
“You,” Sal said.
“I want a billion bucks,” Fast replied. “Next?”
Sal stared at Fast. “You,” he said again.
Fast stared at Sal. “Get Sal’s man on the phone,” he said to his guard. Then Fast smiled when Reno frowned. “What, Reno? You didn’t think, after ordering two hits on Sal Gabrini, I wouldn’t have insurance in my pocket, too?”
Reno looked at Sal. But Sal was staring at Fast.
“Tell him to find out where these fuckers have Von and my children,” he said to the guard, “and bring them to me.”
“Yes, sir,” the guard said as he picked back up his phone.
“And tell him,” Fast added, “to bring Gemma Jones-Gabrini and that kid of Sal’s, what’s his name?”
“Lucky Gabrini,” the guard said.
“Yeah,” Fast said with a grin. “Tell our snitch to bring Lucky Luciano Gabrini and the wifey to me.” Then he looked at Sal. “Because if something happens to Von and my children,” Fast said, “something happens to you and yours. But it’s up to--” Fast began to add, but then a loud, window shaking explosion was heard.
Sal Gabrini: Love And War Page 13
