But he was outgunned. Because, as one of the men continued to fire at him, forcing him to fire back, the other man moved on his belly to the backside of the sofa, behind Jimmy, and launched a sneak attack. When Jimmy realized the second gunman was behind him, he reacted swiftly. He turned onto his back and tried to take him out. But it was already too late. He was hit once, and then twice. By the time all was said and done, Jimmy had taken four bullets. And as the lights were going out, he thought about his father. And how his father was right. He didn’t stand a chance.
Dommi could hear the gunfire as he put his sister on the passenger seat of Val’s car and he got in behind the wheel. But instead of those horrific sounds cowering him, it made him more determined to protect his sister. He was worried sick about Jimmy, but he knew if he failed, if he let fear and worry overtake him, Sophie would die. Sophie was his responsibility.
And he took his responsibilities seriously. He pressed the Start button in Val’s car, pressed the garage button that lifted the garage door, and put the car in R and drove out of the garage. He clipped the side mirror as he drove out, and he knew Val was going to kill him when she found out, but he couldn’t worry about that either. He had to get Sophie to safety. He had to get Sophie to his mom and dad!
He swerved the steering wheel around, put the car in D, and drove off. Sophie was looking at him with terror in her eyes. Dommi was driving? She couldn’t believe it. But it was true. Her stupid brother was actually driving a car. And he was driving fast. Sophie looked out of the window, as they drove through the open gate.
But as soon as they drove through that gate, a Van pulled up and blocked their path. Mike Rawls got out of that van, with a gun pointed directly at Dommi, and Dommi didn’t hesitate. He floored it. He tried to drive over the van. But Rawls shot one shot inside of that car, breaking the windshield and barely missing Dommi’s head. Dom looked at him with shock in his eyes. Who would shoot a child?
But Rawls wasn’t thinking about Dom’s age, or Sophie’s. He ordered Dom to unlock the car door, and then he reached in and grabbed the keys. “Little prick!” he said angrily, as he did.
Sal snatched the phone from Trina’s hand when Reno wouldn’t respond. “Reno?” he asked. But just when he asked it, he heard the crash. It was so loud, even Sal had to remove the phone from his ear. And then he heard flapping sounds, and more flapping sounds, as if something was going up and crashing down, over and over and over. And then nothing. Just static. Sal looked at Trina.
“What is it?” she asked. “What happened, Sal?”
Sal immediately pulled out his own cell phone, keeping Trina’s on too, and phoned Jimmy. It rang and it rang and then went to Voice Mail. He phoned Debrosiac. It went to Voice Mail too.
“You stay here,” he said to Trina as he headed toward Reno’s office inside the penthouse.
“Tell me what’s going on?” Trina said, following him.
“It sounded like an accident.”
“Reno?”
“Yes. And Jimmy isn’t answering his phone, and neither is Debrosiac.”
“God, no,” Trina said, pulling up GPS on her cell phone.
“I’m going to see what’s going on,” Sal said, pressing the button and exposing Reno’s arsenal of weapons. “I’ll increase security on you.”
“Increase it on yourself,” Trina said. “I’m going too.” She began to reach for weapons of her own.
Sal grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. “Like hell, Tree!”
But Trina snatched away from him. “This is my family you’re talking about. I’m going too!” And then she handed Sal her phone. “This is where Reno’s car is located.”
Sal was stunned. “How the hell do you know that?” he asked, taking the phone.
“I secretly put GPS on his ass. Get men there now!” She began arming herself.
Sal was astonished, they kept tabs on their ladies, not the other way around! But he knew time was everything and the longer it slipped away, the harder it was going to be for them to find out anything. He called for his men to get to Reno’s location as quickly as they could, as he grabbed weapons and then hurried out of the door. But Trina was right behind him, with two of Reno’s guns in her possession too. Her heart was hammering, but her children and her husband were at risk. It was beyond mere feelings now. It was a family thing now.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
After shooting Jimmy four times, the two gunmen looted his house, grabbing a garbage bag filled with whatever valuables they could easily carry, and hurried out.
Sal received the call from his men just as he and Trina were driving toward Jimmy’s house.
“We found the car,” one of the men said on Sal’s car phone.
“Wrecked?” Sal asked.
“Totaled,” the man said.
Trina’s heart squeezed. “What about Reno? Is Reno there?”
“No, ma’am,” the man said. “We can’t find a trace of Mr. G.”
Trina leaned her head back. And began praying.
“Keep looking,” Sal said, and ended the call. He was as anguished as Trina, but he knew he had to stay strong.
By the time they neared Jimmy’s house, they could see Val’s wrecked car outside of the gate. “What the hell?” Sal asked as he drove past the car. It was empty, the windshield was shattered, and the door was wide open. Where was the security he ordered Debrosiac to provide?
But as soon as the two remaining gunmen were running out of Jimmy’s house with their bag of loot, Sal’s Porsche was driving in. The men was surprised, and so was Sal and Trina, as the men pulled out their weapons and immediately began firing.
“Get down!” Sal yelled to Trina, Trina ducked down, and Sal hit the gas. He dodged bullets as he accelerated toward the two men. They tried to run away, stunned that he would drive so recklessly, and they tried to dive out of the way. But it was too late. Sal was too fast, and reckless as hell. He rammed into them the way a bull rammed into a matador. The car knocked both of them up, their guns and bag of goodies flying down, as they landed on the front lawn.
Sal and Trina jumped out of Sal’s car with their weapons drawn. One of the men appeared already dead, his head busted open. The second man was still alive, but moaning with a broken back. He wasn’t going anywhere.
Trina ran into the house. When she saw Debrosiac lying near the front door, and saw that he was dead, her heart pounded even harder. “Jimmy?” she cried. “Dom? Sophie?”
She heard the TV in the family room and began running in that direction, but that was when she saw Jimmy behind the sofa. Her heart dropped. She ran to him, fell beside him, and frantically called 911.
After she cried for them to send an ambulance, she began giving her son CPR. She didn’t even know if he was still alive, or where Dom and Sophie were, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She cried for Sal.
Sal ran into the house, his gun drawn.
“Jimmy’s been hit,” she cried. “I don’t know where Dom and Sophie are. Find Dom and Sophie, Sal!”
Sal was heartbroken when he saw Jimmy lying there, it felt as if his own son was lying there, but he was a Gabrini. They didn’t panic. They did what had to be done. He ran through that house like a madman looking for the children. He ran into the family room, into the bedrooms, everywhere. He found neither. When he saw Val’s wrecked car just outside the gate, he knew something bad had gone down. But he never dreamed it would be this bad.
He ran back up front. Trina, still applying CPR, looked up at him.
“Nothing,” he said. “Did you call 911?”
“Yes! Find my children, Sal.” Trina continued to pump on Jimmy. “Find my children!”
Sal ran outside. The second gunman was barely alive. But Sal put his gun into that man’s mouth. “Where are they?” he asked. “What the fuck did you do with those children?”
But the man shook his head. “I don’t know about any children,” he said. “I don’t know about. . . Help me. Don’t let me die like this!”<
br />
“What about Reno?” Sal asked. “Where’s Reno?” The longer he was asked questions, the more hope a dying man usually felt. It was a false hope. But when clinging to life any kind of way they could, even false hope was hope. “Where’s Reno Gabrini?” Sal asked again.
“They took him,” the man said.
Sal suddenly felt some hope too. “Where?”
“Bridge.”
“What bridge, motherfucker?”
“To nowhere.”
Sal frowned. “Where the fuck is that?”
“Off Palmer Road. Near the Graze.”
Sal remembered. The bridge that was too expensive to finish, on a backroad that nobody traveled.
Sal ran back into the house, told Trina he had a lead. She was going to stay with Jimmy, as he knew she would. But she warned him. “Don’t bring your ass back without them,” she said to Sal.
Sal took off. That went without saying to him. He phoned his men, told them where to meet him, shot that dying man through the forehead to make sure his ass was dead, and then jumped into his car. No stones could be left unturned in his line of work. That was especially true today, as all they seemed to be stumbling into were stones.
Sal in his Porsche, and a car load of his men driving up behind him, were approaching the bridge to nowhere just after Sophie and then Reno fell in. Pechetti and Rawls began shooting at him as they raced toward the van. Iceman had already gotten away in the SUV. But Sal and his men arrived and jumped out of their cars. Sal removed his shoes and jumped into the river just as his men immediately took out Mike Rawls, who was at the back of the closed van. But Pechetti and McCumberland, who were running toward the van as their getaway, moved in front of the van after Rawls was shot down, and traded gunfire with Sal’s men. Sal’s men took cover behind the van and a gunfight ensued.
But Sal was jumping in the river. He was going to find Sophie, and Reno, if it was the last thing he did on the face of this earth!
And he found them. Reno had incredibly made it over to his daughter, even with bound hands and feet, as he was swimming like a mermaid, but he was having trouble hoisting her up. Sal grabbed her, and then Reno, and hoisted up both of them.
When they cleared the water and was able to suck in air, Sal pulled them to terra ferma under the bridge. Reno was fine, but Sophie had taken in too much water. Sal had to pump her. Reno tried to help, but his hands were tied. When she came too, he and Reno both sighed relief.
“What about Dommi?” Sal asked.
“I didn’t see him,” Reno said, still unable to regulate his own breathing, still attempting to pull Sophie into his bound hands. “I didn’t see him!”
“Van,” Sophie said, as she looked at her daddy, and at Uncle Sal.
Sal didn’t wait to ask more questions. There was no time. He, instead, left their side, left her in her father’s hands, and made his way up the incline to the top of the bridge where the gunfight was still hot and heavy. He checked to make sure he was still packing. He was. And he took off.
But Sal didn’t go up the front way. He didn’t climb back up in friendly territory. He climbed up the backway, in enemy territory. Right behind Pechetti and McCumberland as they battled it out, shot for shot, with Sal’s men. But Sal didn’t hesitate. He didn’t call them out, he didn’t try to see if he was faster on the draw. He executed them. He shot one, then the second one, without batting an eye. When they kidnapped and then threw little Sophie into that water, they’d already proven what kind of perverted fucks they were. He didn’t need any more proof.
His men saw what he had done, and held their fire. It was over now as far as they were concerned. But it wasn’t over to Sal. Dommi was still missing. Sophie had said van. Sal hurried in that direction.
“What about Reno?” one of his men asked as he walked past them.
“What about the little girl?” asked another one. They seemed as concerned as Sal was.
“They’re okay,” Sal said. “You and you, get beneath the bridge,” he ordered. “Shoot those chains off Reno, and call 911.”
Two of his men hurried down to do as they were told.
But Sal went to the back of the van, and motioned his remaining two men to take cover on the opposite side. They did, with guns drawn. And then Sal snatched open the back door of the van. It flew open, and Sal and his men aimed.
Dommi was inside, hogged tied with tape over his mouth. Sal smiled. Even the kidnappers got tired of him and his mouth. Sal removed the tape.
“Get Daddy and my baby sister,” Dommi urged. “Get them now! I’ll kick everybody’s ass if you let anything bad happen to either one of them!”
Sal’s men laughed. But Sal failed to see the humor. He stood there, looking at Little Reno. “Oh, yeah?” he asked Dommi.
Dommi’s heart dropped when he realized who he was talking to. “Everybody but you, Uncle Sal,” he clarified.
But Sal still couldn’t enjoy the moment. Jimmy was on his mind. As he pulled out his cell phone to call Trina, he knew Reno and Dommi had no clue about the full extent of what actually went down. And the fact that Iceman Nelson got away was a twist of that knife too. This shit wasn’t over by a long shot.
CHAPTER TWENTY
At the hospital, tests were run and Sophie was cleared to go home. But Jimmy was another story. Dommi and his baby sister sat in chairs against the wall, with Dommi holding her hand, while Reno and Trina, and Sal and Gemma, stood at Jimmy’s bedside. Both couples were holding hands too. Jimmy was sleeping comfortably, and the doctors pronounced him out of danger, but they all still felt the sting.
“Debrosiac of all people,” Sal said to Reno. “He’s been with you so long.”
“That was my mistake,” Reno said. “I trusted him too much when I knew you can’t trust anybody outside of family.”
“Speaking of family,” Sal said. “Tommy called.”
Reno and Trina looked at him. “You didn’t tell him what went down?”
Sal shook his head. “Hell no.”
“Good,” Trina said.
“He’s got his own problems right now,” Sal said. “He doesn’t need anything else on his plate.”
But everybody’s mind was still on Jimmy. Reno continued to look at his son. “Poor kid,” he said. “He deserves better than this.”
“Thank God he survived,” Trina said.
“Oh, I do,” Reno said. “I do.”
Trina squeezed his hand. “Let’s pray New Hampshire becomes the change he needs.”
“I doubt if it’ll make much difference, Tree, to tell you the truth.” Everybody looked at Reno. “He’ll still be my son, I don’t care where he goes. There’s a price to pay for that.”
“There’s a price to pay,” Trina said, “but a wonderful blessing too. You’re a wonderful husband and father, Reno. This isn’t your doing. Don’t you forget that.”
Reno looked at her with that look that made her know he was fighting back tears. These events had rattled him. And she understood why. His daughter nearly died. His youngest son nearly died. And his oldest son was still fighting for his life. She knew he appreciated her vote of confidence, but she also knew he didn’t agree with that vote.
His cell phone rang. When he pulled it out and looked at the Caller ID, he answered quickly. “Speak,” he said, and moved away from the crowd.
“You about ready?” Sal said to Gemma.
Gemma exhaled. “I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?” Dommi asked Sal, then glanced at his mother. He expected her to say, for none of your business, or some such thing, but she didn’t. Treating Dommi like some fifth grader now, after what he’d been through, was foolish even to Tree. She let him ask his questions.
“I have to try a case in the morning,” Gemma, an attorney, answered. “A murder case. Uncle Sal is going to take me home.”
“Drive carefully, Uncle Sal,” Dommi said.
Sal didn’t know if he liked this new Dommi. He was too much like Reno. “You just be careful yourself
,” he said to him.
“Don’t trip,” Trina said to Sal. “He’s the monster you help create.”
Gemma laughed. It was the first laughter in the room. And when Reno finished his call, Trina could see an uplift in his mood too. “What is it?” she asked.
“We’ve got Iceman,” he said.
Trina’s heart relaxed. “Thank God!” she said.
“Need my help, Ree?” Sal asked.
“No, I can handle it.” Then he extended his hand. “I didn’t formally thank you, Sal Luca. But thank you. You saved our lives. I’ll spend the rest of my life repaying you, and I’ll still owe you.”
Sal smiled. “Really?” He shook Reno’s hand. “Well that’s alright then! You owing me? Yeah, I can live with that.”
Sophia leaned her head against Dommi. “I’m tired, Daddy,” she said.
Reno looked at Trina as he walked over and picked up his little girl. “When Val gets here,” he said, “you take them home. They’re tired and so are you. Val will stay with Jimmy until I get back.”
“Where is Val anyway?” Gemma asked.
“She was in Phoenix with her father,” Trina responded. “Reno sent his plane for her. Lee’s meeting the plane. He knows to bring her straight to the hospital.”
“Is Maddie coming with her?” Dommi asked.
“We decided against it,” Trina said. Iceman Nelson was still unaccounted for when that decision was made. “Maddie is staying with her grandfather,” she continued. “But she’ll be back soon.”
Dommi looked at Jimmy. “I’ve been praying for him. I pray he’ll be alright.”
Reno smiled at his son as he bounced Sophie in his arms. “He will, Sport. Don’t worry. Jimmy is going to pull through.”
Reno Gabrini: A Family Affair Page 17
