by Taylor Hill
“Nonetheless,” Romeo said, feeling even colder than the icy temperature of the room, “they already knew we were there at the Eden and considering the amount of irrefutable evidence we’ve already built up on you, killing us now would only ensure that you spend the rest of your lives in a cage. Your lives end with ours, capice?”
“Capice,” Sal muttered, “capice—what is this, Capice? Are you even Italian you little snake fuck?”
“Well be that as it may,” Eyeball said, ignoring his Capo and rubbing his chin slowly as he considered Romeo, “if they really do have all that evidence they could probably send us away for twenty years or more regardless, no? After all—and I say this with all due respect—you really got into everything we had going for ourselves, didn’t you? You really did a number on us, you rat bastard.”
“Guilty as charged,” Romeo smiled, “but it doesn’t have to go like that—maybe there’s a way out of this for everybody.”
Sal and Ferret both looked perplexed now, like the dominance and control they’d so relished moments earlier had slipped from their hands without either of them having any idea how. Eyeball on the other hand smiled knowingly as he scratched his pale chin.
“Ok,” he said, “ok, so what you’re saying is what—we let you go and turn ourselves in and in return you give us an official pardon or some shit?”
“You’d have to agree to testify,” Romeo said, “but yeah, you do that and you can all walk free.”
“Fuck that!” Ferret spat, with a distaste that was vehement. “Sal, let me do this traitor right now, please!”
“Wait a second,” Sal muttered, waving his hand and obviously curious to see where Eyeball was going with this.
Good, Romeo thought, so they were willing to listen to reason at least. Talk was better than torture any day.
“Ferret’s right,” Eyeball said, “we ain’t rats. And giving up on this thing would be no different from giving up our lives and going to prison anyway. This thing of ours is our lives. Sorry pal, there’s no way out for you.”
“Then there’s no way out for you either,” Romeo said. His body tensed in anticipation of the torture that now almost surely awaited him. He just had to stall…
Beside him Lana began to murmur as she stirred to waking. As he looked at her, Ferret’s eyes lit up with lust and Romeo felt chilled to the bone.
“By the way,” Eyeball said, “you know it was me who figured you out in the end, don’t you?”
Romeo smiled. “Who else? Those other two wouldn’t have copped if I’d sent them the memo myself, dumb bastards.”
“Shut your fucking mouth!” Sal barked, “it’s over for you sunshine.”
They stepped towards him and Romeo shouted for them to wait, laughing now, wildly, the adrenaline coursing through his veins like the pure Colombian cocaine that had made a lowlife like Sal into a millionaire before he was thirty. “Wait fellas,” he said, “just wait a second, ok? Aren’t you going to tell me how you did it? Aren’t you at least going to rub it in my face?”
“Fuck you man, this ain’t no James Bond movie,” Sal said.
“Yeah,” Ferret chipped in, “and you ain’t no James Bond neither Romeo—no matter how much you might act like it.”
Eyeball held up his hand, a thoughtful, considered gesture in the face of the avarice and hatred of the other two. “Well hold on a second,” he said, “I don’t see what harm it’d do. We still have to wait for Lou anyway, right? And I would like to see this bastard’s face when he finds out what gave him away…”
“Well yeah,” Ferret protested, his voice like that of a spoiled child who’d just been informed that the fairground would unfortunately be closed that day, “but I wanted to make my mark on him before we got out of here.”
“You can carve him up when we get back from that other thing,” Sal said, “he’ll probably be dead by then but still—at least you can have the girl. Now go ahead Eyeball, I want to show this fuck that he ain’t so smart after all.”
“Ok,” Eyeball said, stepping towards Romeo with the relish of a bard about to explain the greatest, most eloquent riddle in his repertoire. “Well the moment I saw your face outside the diner that day, I could tell something was definitely not right—you could say that the game was up right then—I just had to find out exactly what it was you were up to…”
“You looked like you’d seen a fucking ghost my man,” Sal said, “I mean, I know Ferret’s ugly, but nobody’s that ugly.”
“Something about the broad didn’t look right neither,” Eyeball continued, “I mean you wouldn’t be the first wiseguy to get himself a piece of upmarket pussy—this thing of ours makes us very attractive to a certain type of lady after all—”
“Agreed,” Sal said.
“Ain’t that right,” Ferret chipped in, and even through his intense dread, Romeo had to shake his head a little.
“—but there was something different about this one. Maybe she was walking just a little too tough to be that kind of dame, I don’t know what it was, but something didn’t sit right. Not that I acted on it straight away. I thought it over for a bit before I even mentioned it. There were other things too, like Lou’s sister… You had a serious boner for her, didn’t you? Admit it.”
Beside him, he heard Lana mutter: “I knew it,” just loud enough to be heard by him and him alone—as far as the others were concerned she was still out cold. Well it was nice to know that she’d held onto her sense of humor in all of this anyway. Good for her.
Romeo remained stone-faced. Whatever happened he was not going to let them bring Sandy into this mess.
“Well that doesn’t matter now anyway, does it?” Eyeball said, “It was enough for me to bring it up with Sal and it took a bit of persuading but—”
“No,” Sal cut in, “no, I had that feeling myself too. I was just waiting for you to say it.”
“Uh, right,” Eyeball continued, “well anyway, I brought it up with Sal and he did a little digging on you Romeo. Started making phone calls about you back in New York and then we knew it was worse than any of us had imagined. You see, at first we thought maybe you was just informing on us to save your own skin, but now—well how come nobody but Chuckles Bonanno seemed to have ever even heard of you in the first place? How come that, if you was supposed to this big connected guy up in New York?”
“Chuckles, that fucking rat,” Sal said shaking his head. “He’s not going to be a problem for anybody anymore now though, my friend, heed my words on that one.”
Romeo winced with a dismay that felt almost physical. Chuckles Bonanno was as much of a psycho as these other guys but even still—with how the mob dealt with their leaks—he didn’t want to bear any responsibility for that kind of suffering.
“That was when we knew you was an undercover cop,” Eyeball said, “and admittedly it freaked us out a little, but when you and little Miss Sara here called us up with that half-baked story of yours…”
“So stupid,” Sal mocked and Romeo was momentarily glad that Lana was awake to hear that bit at least.
“Well we thought maybe the least we could do after letting you get in so close was dispatch of our own mess,” Eyeball said, “and so now, here we are.”
“It’s only a shame we’re going to have to leave it up to Lou,” Sal said, “because unfortunately we’ve got some other business that needs taking care of. Otherwise we’d be cutting you to shreds ourselves right now.”
“Can’t go back upstairs drenched in blood, unfortunately,” Eyeball said, “wouldn’t sit right with the customers.”
“Unfortunately,” Ferret repeated.
There was a big banging thud on the door and Sal smiled. “Well I guess there’s your little playmate now,” he said.
Lou looked pretty shaken up when he entered the freezer. His eyes were wide and glassy and he was making a point of looking anywhere but at Romeo and Lana. “Sal,” he said, “I came as soon as I got your message. I ha
d no idea…”
“Well,” Sal shrugged, “don’t beat yourself up about it kid, he had us all fooled pretty good.”
Romeo watched them closely. Surely Sal hadn’t been serious when he said that he was going to leave them with Lou alone, had he? With Sal and the others he had been destined to die in the most horrible way imaginable, but with Lou—at least he would have a chance. It all depended on how betrayed his friend now felt.
“But still,” Lou said, “I was the one who brought him in. All this, this is on me.”
“You’re damn right it is,” Ferret spat but Sal held up a hand to silence him.
“That’s true,” he said, “but at least you’re willing to own up to it. Now listen, this is your chance to make it all right again. Me and the boys have to go, but this rat was your responsibility from day one so it’s up to you to snuff him out once and for all. Do this for us—prove your loyalty—and that’s it, when the books open next you’ll be a made man.”
“Part of the team,” Eyeball said, sounding perversely like a dedicated football player welcoming the new linebacker into their community.
“But you got to make him suffer first,” Sal continued, “he’s done us a lot of harm kid, now it’s time to pay it forward.”
Finally Lou looked at his old friend now, but when Romeo returned his gaze it was like staring at blank glass. There was no recognition in his eyes, no familiarity. It was like peering into the lifeless face of a storefront mannequin.
“Lou…” Romeo began.
“Shut up rat,” Lou muttered in return, before turning back to Sal. “Ok,” he said, “I’ll do it.”
Sal and the guys left after that, blowing Romeo air kisses and waving at him in a way that almost made him laugh despite—or perhaps because of—the intensity of the situation. They looked ridiculous, though he wasn’t going to say anything that might cause them a change of heart. He was just glad to see them go.
The freezer door slammed shut and Lou walked slowly to the large bundle of canvas placed along the floor, wrapping God only knew what kind of murderous tools and utensils. As he held up one of the saws—its razor-sharp teeth glistening in the freezing light of the meat locker—his hands shook noticeably.
“Lou…” Romeo repeated.
“I said shut up!” Lou cried and his voice now had none of the certainty of earlier, it quivered with emotion and even from his position of serious compromise, Romeo couldn’t help but feel sorry for his friend.
“Are they gone?” Lana asked, opening one eye, “Holy crap, thank God.”
Lou stared at the gorgeous blonde in the lime green dress, strapped to the chair beside Romeo, her face and lips blue from the cold and her eyes muggy but defiant. From his face, Lou appeared to be having some trouble figuring out just exactly what he was looking at here.
“Lou,” Romeo said, “meet Lana.”
“Hi kid, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Lou just stood there, the utensil hanging limply in his hand, with all the menace of a koala bear. Romeo was certain now that he wasn’t going to be up to this. He just had to get through to him before Sal and the others returned.
“You don’t have to talk to her,” Romeo said, “in fact I’d advise against it. If I never have to talk to her again it wouldn’t be long enough.”
“Cute,” Lana said, “thanks Don, that’s just what I needed to hear to give me some strength right now.”
“Don?” Lou said, “That’s your real name, Don?”
Romeo sighed. “Jesus Lou, I don’t even know what my real name is anymore. I don’t even know…”
“Those other guys were the ones we were really after,” Lana cut in, seeing her chance, “you were never on top of our list Louis. If you’d cooperated with us then you would have walked free—guaranteed.”
“I’m no rat!” Lou shouted.
“Lana,” Romeo sighed, “would you—for once—just please shut up and let me do the talking here?”
“Ok, jeez,” Lana shrugged.
“Lou,” Romeo said, “this might not mean much now but I swear to God you’re the best friend I ever had.”
“Give me a break,” Lana muttered beside him. Romeo ignored her.
“How the hell am I supposed to believe that?” Lou said. “After all the lies… My sister man—you even got close to my sister. She had nothing to do with this!”
“I know,” Romeo said, making no effort to hide the pain, the burning shame, he felt for having interrupted their lives so drastically over the past few months. “That’s something I might not ever forgive myself for Lou. Especially because the truth is I love her. I love her Lou and I think maybe I always will.”
Lou studied him. Even from the corner of his eye, Romeo could see how Lana was shaking her head at him. She would never understand.
“Then why did you have to go and betray us like this?” Lou said, “huh? Why couldn’t you just walk away?”
“I was thinking about it,” Romeo said, “believe me—then Lana here went and fucked it all up.”
Lou glanced warily at his companion. “Who is she?” he asked.
“Agent Lana Smith,” Romeo answered, “FBI.”
“Anything to Freddy Smith?”
“He’s my uncle,” Lana said.
Lou smiled. “That’s the guy who took down my father.”
Wow, Romeo thought, he’d never heard Lou ever even mention the senior Guilianno. And after what Sandy had told him that night in the café he’d just presumed Lou thought the same.
Romeo looked him up and down. “Lou,” he said, “just how much do you know about your old man?”
“How much?” Lou asked, “Everything. I know everything. I’ve known for a couple of years now, even though it was never in the news. Why do you think I went into this thing? You think I would have wanted this so much if I’d thought those guys really had just been using him like was reported?”
“But you never said…”
“I didn’t want Sandy to find out,” Lou shrugged.
“Your father was responsible for a lot of tragedy,” Romeo said.
“Look who’s talking.”
“That’s fair.”
“Listen,” Lana cut in, her voice scornful and frantic, “I hate to come between friends, but enough of this shit. Louis, you want to cut a deal, now’s the time to do it.”
“No,” Romeo said, “no, Lou you talk to me. You asked me why I didn’t just walk away? Well I’m ready to now. These guys have used me just as much as Sal and the others used you. I’m done with this bullshit and I’m not going to see them drag you and Sandy down too. You let me go and we leave together. Walk away from it all, right now—tonight.”
Lou and Lana both were staring at him now, both desperately trying to deduce how much he actually meant those words. For now, only Romeo could know for sure.
“You mean that?” Lou asked.
“He better not mean that,” Lana said.
“Sure I do,” Romeo answered, “you really think Sal and those guys are going to open the books for you after this? You let a rat into their operation, there’s probably a target on your back already.”
“He’s got you there kid,” Lana said and then, leaning over to Romeo: “I don’t know where you’re going with this but make it fast, we don’t have all night.”
“Not to mention how much he hates your father,” Romeo continued, “you never pick up on that?”
Lou stared from him to Lana, his eyes shifting uneasily. “How can I trust you now?” he asked. “How could I ever trust you again?”
“Lou, it’s me or them,” Romeo said, “come on, remember how I helped you with Gino? With Lisa when she wouldn’t talk to you? I meant what I said, you’re my best friend. That stuff wasn’t just the job.”
He stared at Lou, praying that he was finally getting through to him.
“Alternatively you can make the deal with Lana here,” Romeo continued, “go in
to the program—there’s worse ways to live.”
“That’s the only way to live,” Lana said. “I swear to God Romeo if you mean what you said just now I will hunt you down and bring you back to justice myself.”
“Shut the fuck up Lana,” Romeo answered. “Lou, get me out of here.”
He couldn’t help but laugh with delight when Lou stepped forward and did just that.
“Romeo—Don!—you untie me right now you son of a bitch!”
“Christ,” Romeo said, rubbing the grooves cut into his arms and abdomen by the ropes, “those guys really messed me over.”
“So you mean it then?” Lou asked, “About walking away from this?”
“Hell yes,” Romeo said, “you’ve seen what Lana’s like. I’m done with that shit. Give me my phone there, I’m going to call the cops to pick her up once we’re gone. Where are we exactly?”
“You ever heard of Vivaldi?” Lou said and Romeo’s eyes widened.
“No way,” he muttered, before turning back to Lana with a smile. “See honey,” he said, “and you say I never take you anywhere nice.”
As Lana fumed in her binds Romeo unlocked his phone.
“Hold on,” he said, “I’ve got a message from Sandy here.”
“Sandy?” Lou said, turning to his friend and then, when he saw how pale Romeo’s face had grown: “what is it?”
“Lou,” Romeo replied, clicking his phone closed and jamming it back in his pocket, “I think we’ve got a problem. Those assholes have been using my phone…”
It was after midnight by the time I got to Lisa’s place and I’d never seen my friend look so distraught in all my life. As soon as she opened the door and saw that it was me, she immediately burst into tears and threw her arms around me.
“You were right! Oh God, Sandy you were right all along and now they’re going to kill Romeo!”
“Lisa,” I said, still manic from my own relief, “it’s ok, it’s fine. He’s going to be ok.”
