Reno Gabrini: The Trouble with Dommi

by Mallory Monroe

  They followed Mick through the passageway Reno knew like the back of his hands, although the cops had no clue existed. But Reno and a handful of others knew: Trina, Jimmy, Mick, Sal, and Tommy. That was it.

  Now Dommi knew too.

  They all followed Mick, unsure where he was headed, until he went through another passageway and Reno knew exactly where. And he was nodding. “Now we’ll get somewhere,” he said.

  “Where are we going, Pop?” Dommi asked.

  But when Mick opened the door, he saw where. It was a helipad that he’d assumed was an unfinished part of the PaLargio. But that was exactly what Reno wanted people to assume.

  And a helicopter was waiting.

  “How did you pull this off under the cops’ noses?” Sal asked as they all began piling into the copter.

  “I called it in,” said Mick, talking over the sound of the blades, “and it arrived before the cops got here.”

  “What’s the plan, Uncle Mick?” Sal asked as they all sat down.

  Mick, sitting up front with the pilot, motioned for the pilot to take off. “We’ve got to go in blind,” he said. “But we’re going in.”

  “Damn right,” said Sal as Mick reached down in a large duffel bag and began handing each one of them assault rifles with silencers on them.

  “Use these weapons with the silencers,” Mick said. “We’ve got to try to make as little commotion as possible. Enough to get the backup crew to see what’s going on, but not enough to get Cobahara to see what’s going on.”

  “And the cops?” asked Reno.

  “I figure we have ten minutes tops,” said Mick, “before the cops are up there too. They can see this helicopter, I’m sure.”

  But Dommi was worried. It was the going in blind part that disturbed him. “Why don’t we go in with the cops?” he asked.

  But his father frowned. “Fuck those fucking cops!” he said. “What we wanna wait on them for? Everybody will be dead if we wait on the cops!”

  “If they aren’t already,” said Mick bluntly, and everybody looked at him. And then they looked at each other. And just like that, reality hit again. And that desperate feeling of dread that had gripped them when they first saw all the cops at the PaLargio, was heightened.

  But they didn’t have time to muse about it because as soon as Mick had handed them the hardware, they were where they needed to be: just outside of a floor to ceiling back window.

  “Follow my lead,” Mick said, as the helicopter hovered just outside of a back penthouse-level window. Mick opened the door, grabbed the attached rope onboard, and then, with his long, white coat flowing around him, he flew through the window, shattering it with his big body, and rolled to the floor in case of gunfire.

  He looked around, saw that the coast was clear, and then released the rope. It was pulled back in by Tommy. Reno grabbed the rope and flew in after Mick, followed by Sal, followed by Dommi. When Tommy flew in, too, the helicopter, with the rope dangling, flew away.

  But they all knew they were sitting ducks. That was why they didn’t try to run beyond the corridor where they landed. They, instead, ran around a side wall and waited, their weapons drawn. When Reno realized Dommi was near the front of the pack, with Mick, he grabbed him and slung him all the way to the back. “Keep your ass out of the line of fire,” he ordered his son. “Don’t overstep your bounds, boy!”

  And just like that, Dommi realized just how tenuous his Gabrini man status really was. As long as he was under his father’s thumb, he was going to be under his father.

  But status was the last thing on his mind. His mother and brother and sister and little niece were in that house. His aunts and cousins were in that house. They had to get inside and help them!

  It took several more seconds before they heard anything at all. And soon, the door at the end of the hall was opened, and they heard voices. “Over there!” one voice said and Mick and the Gabrinis steeled themselves.

  Footsteps could be heard running toward the shattered window, and when Mick, the man in front, judged that they were near enough, but not right upon them, he made the first move. And when Mick moved, Reno and Sal and Tommy didn’t hesitate. Dommi didn’t either. They hurried from around the side wall and began firing away. They didn’t want the gunmen advancing toward them to get a shot off of any kind. Because Mick and the Gabrinis had silencers on their guns. They knew the backup crew would be sent to investigate the sound of the shattering window. They didn’t want to alert the A-team that was undoubtedly left inside the penthouse.

  And it worked. Four men were sent to investigate, and Mick and the Gabrinis took out all four easily. So easily that not one of the four men was able to get a shot off. As far as the penthouse was concerned, they were still alive and well and investigating. It was exactly what Mick and the Gabrinis wanted them to think.

  After grabbing the guns of the four downed men, Reno now led the charge, with Dommi, as his father ordered, bringing up the rear. And they ran along another back corridor that would lead into the penthouse, but through a back room.

  Once they made it to the door, Reno was able to put in a code and then all of them hurried through. And then they split up, with Reno, Sal and Mick going up front and Dommi, with Tommy as his protector, hanging back.

  They only began to hear voices as they neared the front of the penthouse. The bunker was actually a side wall, and Reno could see that the wall had been shot up violently, but the bullets, they were relieved to see, had not been penetrated and the wall had not opened to reveal the safe room entrance. They were desperate to press the button that would open that wall and check on their families in the bunker, but they knew they had to dispense with the men upfront first: they had to get rid of the A-team.

  They kept walking. Then, to Reno’s great relief, they heard Trina’s voice. “You’re out of your mind,” she was saying, “if you think you’re going to get away with this. There’s no way.”

  “You don’t know me, Bitch,” said a male’s voice. “I’m with the fucking A.M. Who are you?”

  “I’m a Gabrini, that’s who I am,” Trina said proudly. “The A.M. ain’t got nothing on the Gabrinis. Believe that!”

  Reno shook his head. Her ass was defiant, even in the face of that kind of danger. But that was his woman. She was nobody’s fool. She had apparently calculated that whomever had her captive, enjoyed the challenge.

  What it also said to Reno and the others was that whomever Trina was talking to was a strong man, and they had to go in hard. Their calculation? She was talking to Cobahara himself.

  They decided to go in hard. Especially when Cobahara asked, “where are our guys?” Reno knew then they had to go. He looked back, at Mick and Sal, and then he held up his fist. He did a hard intake of breath, and then let down his hand. When he did, they immediately ran up front, they ran up blind, with their weapons drawn.

  They saw six men, all Asians, with one of those men being the man they knew: Ken Cobahara. Bertram Mitsu, the young man who had been using Destiny to get to Sophia, was also in that room.

  When the men saw the Gabrinis, they were shocked. Cobahara dived out of the line of fire as Reno, Mick, and Sal, and Tommy and Dommi, too, began firing away. Mitsu tried to shoot back, but he was shot and killed before he could get off a single round. Trina jumped over the sofa, and hid herself.

  But she also saw Cobahara crawling toward her, to take her as his hostage. And she knew she had to act.

  As her husband and the others were preoccupied in a gun battle with the surviving Asians, Trina slid on her stomach to the side table, even as Cobahara was grabbing at her heel. But just as he grabbed a hold of her heel and pulled on her, she was able to grab the gun she knew Reno kept beneath the side table. She turned onto her back and pointed the gun at Cobahara.

  “Don’t move!” she yelled at him. “Don’t your ass even think about moving!”

  But what she didn’t realize, when she turned toward him, was that he already had released her heel and had
not one gun, but two guns pointed at her. And in that horrible moment, Trina realized why he was such a feared assassin. She realized how out of her depth she truly was.

  “Drop it, motherfucker,” Cobahara said to her. “It’s your ass that better not move!”

  But it was Dommi who heard his mother’s voice in the midst of the gun battle, and he jumped behind the sofa and landed on top of Cobahara. They began to wrestle for control of his weapon. Trina was still pointing hers, trying to get a shot at Cobahara, but she was afraid she’d shoot her son.

  But Reno had also broke away from the gun battle when he heard Trina’s voice, and he crawled to where he saw Dommi land. And when he saw that Cobahara had his gun pointing at Dommi’s face, Reno didn’t have any trouble worrying about his shot. He was too well experienced. He dropped his assault rifle, grabbed the pistol he had on his person, and fired away. He fired several shots. And Cobahara, the so-called great assassin, fell over. He was riddled with Reno’s bullets. He was dead.

  After several more shots by Mick and Tommy and Sal, the other gunmen in the room were also taken out. They all were dead.

  But while Mick hurried to check on Reno, Trina and Dommi, Tommy and Sal didn’t hesitate. They ran for the bunker, to make sure their families were also okay.

  But while they ran to the bunker, Trina was still in distress. “We’ve got to help Jimmy,” she was saying, as she got up and began running down the other side corridor.

  “Jimmy?” Reno asked, but Trina was already running away. He and Dommi got up, and Mick followed them, too, as they ran around the side corridor. And to their shock, they saw what Trina was talking about.

  Reno’s heart sank like a rock when he saw his son lying on the floor, holding onto his side. He looked as if he was dead!

  “Jimmy, no,” said Trina said as she fell on her knees by his side. “Jimmy, please be alright!”

  Dommi fell on his knees by his big brother too. “Please be alright,” he was saying also.

  But it looked hopeless to Reno. He dropped his gun in defeat. All of that success, only to end up with his beloved son dead? Reno could hardly believe it.

  Until Jimmy opened his eyes. “I’m okay,” he said. “I wasn’t sure it was just you guys. I had to play dead just in case. But I’m okay,” he said again. But Trina and Dommi, and Reno too, was already hugging him.

  “But you were hit,” Trina said, looking over his body.

  “I wasn’t shot,” Jimmy said. “I hit my hip on that table when I fell. But they were upon me before I could react. I had to play dead. But I’m okay.”

  They all sighed relief. But then Reno thought about the safe room. “What about the safe room?” Reno asked.

  “They’re okay,” said Trina. “They shot up every room, thinking there had to be a bunker somewhere, but I denied there was one. They never found it. At least I don’t think they did!”

  When she said she wasn’t certain, Reno and Dommi and Mick took off running to the bunker. Trina helped Jimmy up, and they hurried to the bunker too.

  “We’re okay,” Gemma was saying as they all were getting out of the bunker that Tommy and Sal had opened.

  But Reno immediately realized a problem. “Where’s Sophie?” he asked. Then they all looked at Trina.

  “She was in the bunker,” Trina said. “Wasn’t she in the bunker?”

  “She got out,” said Grace in panic. “She ran out after you, Trina!”

  They all panicked, and began searching every inch of that penthouse. “Sophie!” they were crying. “Sophie!”

  But they found nothing!

  Until Dommi remembered their old hiding place, a closet under the stairs. Although there had been major renovations, that closet was restored. And Dommi ran there and opened the door. And sure enough, there was his sister, cowering in the corner, her knees up to her chest. Crying.

  When she saw Dommi, and when Dommi saw her, she got up and ran into his arms. “I found her!” Dommi yelled. “I found her!”

  Mick and the Gabrinis all ran to the sound of Dommi’s voice. And when they saw him hugging Sophia, they all either leaned over with their hands on their knees, or thanked the Lord, or sighed relief. Whatever they did, it was clear: they had dodged several bullets that day. And Coba was dead.

  That only left the entire Asian Mafia to deal with: the second contract.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  But several hours later, after the police had come, questioned all of them, and left, and after Reno’s private physician had come and gone, too, confirming that Jimmy was fine, you could hear a pin drop in that home.

  It was a waiting game. They couldn’t even consider a game plan at this point because there were too many moving parts. Where did they begin? So they waited. Their men were on the streets, attempting to get any read they could on Kong’s whereabouts, or what the A.M. was up to, and they could do nothing but wait for a lead to break. Everybody were on edge. They took Cobahara out. And Bert Mitsu. But they weren’t driving that ship. Kong was. And until they found out what he was up to, it was never going to end.

  Tommy and Grace were in Reno’s office with Destiny, and they were giving her hell, as everybody felt she deserved. No Gabrini child could ever have friends without there being a background check on those friends and their parents. A background on Bert Mitsu would have easily disqualified him. His age already had.

  But Reno and Trina could only have a passing interest in Destiny and her boyfriend mess. There was still a contract out there on their baby girl. They could think of nothing, or worry about nothing else, but that.

  And then, causing all of them to jump, Reno’s cell phone rang.

  They were in the living room: Reno, Trina, Dommi, Jimmy, Sal and Gemma, and Mick too. When Reno’s phone rang, even Tommy left his meeting with Destiny, and hurried out into the living room too.

  Reno looked at the Caller ID. When he saw that it was from Kong himself, he frowned.

  “Who is it?” Mick asked.

  “Fanarka,” said Reno. “Kong Fanarka.”

  Mick and Reno exchanged a hard look. “About this,” Mick asked, “or that old shit?”

  Reno didn’t know, so he didn’t answer. He placed the call on Speaker, and answered it. “This is Gabrini,” he said.

  “Don’t get too comfortable, Reno,” said Kong.

  “Who said I was getting comfortable? Because I fucked up your men? You’re the one better not get comfortable.”

  “I know that’s right,” echoed Sal.

  “Put Dommi on the phone,” said Kong.

  Everybody went still when he mentioned Dommi. Reno was scared and angry. He hated when his family were involved. “You talk to me,” he said, “not my children!”

  “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.”

  Everybody looked puzzled. Reno frowned. “What? What fat lady?”

  “Sing, Mariah,” said Kong, and all they heard was blood-curling screams coming from Mariah over the phone, as if she was being tortured.

  Dommi’s heart dropped. He grabbed his father’s phone. “Mariah? Mariah?!”

  Reno grabbed it back. “What the fuck is going on, Kong? Why your ass messing with a school girl for?”

  The screaming stopped and Kong was back on the line. “She graduated, remember? Right alongside your son. She’s no schoolgirl anymore.”

  “Why do you have her?”

  “Because I’m going to destroy her if I don’t get what I want.”

  “What do you want?”

  “That’s for me to know, and for you to find out, Reno.”

  Reno wanted to reach through that phone and strangle the shit out of Kong. “What the fuck does she have to do with any of this?” Reno asked angrily.

  “Oh, she has a lot to do with it. Doesn’t she, Dommi?”

  Everybody looked at Dommi. “What are you looking at me for? I don’t know what he’s talking about!”

  “As usual, asshole,” Reno said over the phone, “you’ve got it all wrong. D
ommi don’t know what you’re talking about, and I don’t either.”

  “I’ll kill her,” said Kong. “Don’t you think I won’t.”

  “Then kill her,” said Reno.

  “Pop!” Dommi yelled, but Reno swung an arm at him and Sal quickly pulled him back to remind his young behind that Reno knew what he was doing.

  “You wanna kill that bitch, kill that bitch!” Reno added. “What the fuck I care?”

  Kong laughed. “Oh, you care alright. That’s always been your problem. Ever since you married the black one. Your family has always been your weakness. You care, Reno. You care.”

  “News flash, asshole,” Reno said. “She’s not my family!”

  But Kong ignored him. “It’s not over,” Kong said, “until the fat lady sings. Sing, Mariah!” he said again, and then Mariah’s blood-curling screams were heard again.

  And then the line went dead.

  And Dommi went ballistic. “Why did you tell him to kill her, Pop? He’ll kill her!”

  “No, he won’t,” said Tommy.

  “Just settle down,” said Sal.

  “But he’ll kill her!”

  “Didn’t Uncle Tommy tell your ass he won’t?” Sal asked Dommi.

  “He thinks you love her like that,” said Jimmy, attempting to explain to his kid brother, rather than just yell at him to understand. “He think there’s leverage there.”

  “If your old man would have begged for her life,” Sal pointed out, “then they’d know she wasn’t worth a damn to him. Now they think she means as much to Reno as she does to you. We know what we’re doing, Dominic!”

  “But what are we going to do?” Dommi asked. “We’ve got to get Mariah!”

  Reno rubbed his forehead. “I’m going to the safe house,” he said.

  Dommi frowned. “What for?”

  “To see what our captives know.”

  “What captives?” Dommi asked. “Jaylin’s the only person at that safe house, and he doesn’t know anything.”