And then, as if it was no longer up to him at all, and his entire body reacted to the strangeness of such a reality, Mick Sinatra lost all consciousness.
Roz was holding onto him with one hand, and driving with the other hand, and it was she who kept his body from sliding out of the SUV. Sirens could be heard in the distance as Roz drove her heart out. Their assassins apparently heard those sirens too, because they suddenly completed a U-turn in the highway, and took off in the opposite direction. But Roz wouldn’t have cared if they stayed on her tail. She had to get her man to the hospital. She had to save his life. And nobody, not the cops, not the crooks, not a million different assassins in a million different fast cars, was going to stop her from getting there.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The automatic hospital doors slid open and Big Daddy Charles Sinatra, along with his oldest son Brent, hurried inside. Charles was Mick’s oldest brother. He was the man who raised Mick when their father killed their mother and was carted off to prison. Mick was as much a part of him as Brent was, or his other children. When he heard the news, he was devastated.
The family was in a private waiting room, for their own security, with police officers posted outside. When the cops refused Charles’s attempt to enter the room, Brent, wearing a big cowboy hat that automatically made him stand out, moved in front.
“Hello, gentlemen. My name is Brent Sinatra.” He flashed his badge. “I’m the police chief up in Jericho County, Maine. Mick Sinatra is my uncle. This is my father, Charles Sinatra. He’s Mick’s brother. We’re family.”
The officer looked at Brent’s credentials, but still pressed the police radio button he held on his shoulder to get permission to allow them through. Once permission was granted, they had to be frisked. They were getting on Charles’s last nerve, but he kept his cool. It was tough enough.
Once the cops realized Brent was packing, his gun was taken away. But they were allowed passage in.
They walked into a somber room. Teddy was sitting between Gloria and Joey, and all three of them had tear-stained eyes. When they looked up and saw that their Uncle Charles from Jericho had arrived, Gloria and Joey ran to him.
Charles pulled them into his powerful arms, and they sobbed in his arms. He had never seen them so distraught. Teddy came up too, and shook cousin Brent’s hand, but even he could hardly handle this. He and Brent embraced.
When the hugging stopped, Charles looked at his brother’s children. “Where is he now?” he asked them.
“In surgery,” Gloria said. “He’s still in surgery.”
“He was shot three times, Big Daddy,” Joey said.
Charles’s heart dropped. “My Lord,” he said with a frown on his face.
“Three times?” Brent asked. “Geez.”
“What about Roz and the twins?” Charles asked. “Where are they?”
“She’s with the twins,” Teddy said. “The doctor’s examining them. They appear to be okay, but Roz wanted to make sure.”
“Dad would have died if Roz wouldn’t have pulled him into that truck and drove him away from there,” Joey said. “He wanted her to leave him, but she wouldn’t. Our daddy would be dead if she hadn’t saved him.”
Joey was by far the most unhinged of Mick’s children as they all digested the incredible news that their mighty father had fallen. That he was only human after all. Charles squeezed Joey’s arm. He reminded him so much of his own son Donald. They both were man-babies in the end. “He’ll pull through,” he said. “Don’t you worry about your father. He’s tough as nails. Nobody tougher. He’s going to get out of this alive. I promise you.”
Joey needed that reassurance. He gave his uncle another hug.
Brent looked at Teddy. “Do we have any idea who’s behind it?” he asked.
“None,” Teddy said. “And not for a lack of searching. His men are on the case. I’ve ordered everybody to hit the streets. They haven’t turned up anything yet, but it’s still early.”
“Wasn’t there some trouble about a month ago?” Charles asked Teddy. “Mick mentioned something about some trouble.”
“We had some trouble, yeah,” Teddy said. “Some batshit crazy motorcycle gang got away with a hijack, and a couple thugs out of New York had a scheme to bring Pop down. But Pop eliminated those threats easily.”
Brent was a lawman, and he didn’t approve of his uncle’s lifestyle, but he wasn’t blind to the reality of it. “But did he eliminate everybody involved in the threats?” he asked Teddy.
Teddy nodded. “Everybody,” he said. “Don’t worry. It’s Pop you’re talking about. He left no stones unturned.”
“My mom was spared,” Joey said, and everybody looked at him. Teddy was surprised that Joey even knew that his mother played a role in that drama.
“Your mother?” Charles asked. “Cathleen was involved?”
“She doesn’t like Miss Roz,” Joey said, “so she tried to get dirt on her. She hooked up with this guy who once accused Miss Roz of sexual harassment. She thought Dad didn’t know about him.”
“She was spared?” Brent asked. “What does that mean?”
“Dad didn’t kill her ass,” Joey said bluntly. “He warned her not to try it again. I warned her too.”
Teddy and Gloria knew how much Joey loved Cathleen. They knew how hard that was for him to say. But they understood. Because they loved their mothers too. But it was nothing like the feelings they had for Mick. His specialness made them feel special. He elevated them unlike anybody else could. Mick came first to all three of his grown children, despite their belief that he had never put them first. But their love for Mick was on a different level.
Roz came into the waiting room shortly after Charles and Brent had arrived, and everybody hurried to her to hear the news. But Roz, who had been a tower of strength throughout this ordeal, saw that Charles had arrived and ran to him. She needed his strength. She needed his tower. He swooped her up and held her tightly. She almost crumbled in his arms.
But she rallied somehow and kept her composure. Mick’s children would fall apart too if she fell. She had to hold on.
Charles looked at her when they stopped embracing. Emotionally, he could tell she wasn’t well. Her big, brown eyes looked too wide open, with stress lines underneath, and her clothes suddenly seemed ill-fitting and too big, as if her weight lost had been measured in hours rather than days. It wasn’t possible, but she looked that way to Charles. Because he knew that stress, as potent as a bullet itself, was a killer too. “How is he?” he asked Roz. “Have you heard anything new?”
“He’s still in surgery,” Roz said. “He’s still fighting for his life.”
Gloria covered her mouth as a cry escaped. Big Daddy pulled her into his arm. He was the real tower of strength in that room, but only because he had to be. Inwardly, he was crumbling too.
“Hey, Brent,” Roz said and they hugged. “How’s Jenay and Makayla and everybody?”
“They’re hanging in there. They all wanted to come of course. But Dad said no, and I agreed with him. Tony’s looking after everybody.”
Roz nodded. Tony was a good man. “Good,” she said.
“What about you?” Brent asked. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m holding,” Roz said.
“Why don’t you lay down, Roz,” Teddy suggested, “and get some rest?”
“Thanks, Ted,” Roz said, “but resting isn’t going to be possible until I know your father’s out of danger.”
Then she exhaled with a stretch of her body. “I’m going to get back to the twins,” she said to all of them. “As soon as I hear anything, I’ll let you guys know. But I want everybody to stay at the hospital until we can figure out who’s behind this. You hear me, Joey? Glo? Nobody goes anywhere.”
“We won’t,” Joey said. “We have to know that Dad is okay first.”
Roz was pleased to hear it. But then she stared at Mick’s children. At her stepchildren. “I need each and every one of you to pray for your f
ather. I don’t mean any weak prayers, either. He needs divine intervention. I need you to pray like you have never prayed before. Pray, and then keep praying. Only God can help him now.”
They felt the graveness of her voice. And tears returned to their eyes, along with a heaviness that overtook the room.
“We will, Roz,” Gloria said. “We will.”
Roz then turned to leave. But she gave a look to Charles first, a look he understood. He followed her out into the hall.
They walked out of earshot of the policemen on guard.
“How bad is it?” Charles asked her.
Roz exhaled. “It’s bad. Shot three times. He lost a lot of blood. Our family doctor is in the operating theater, and he’s been giving me updates. But he says it’s not looking good, Big Daddy. He says it’s touch and go at this point. Given the extent of his injuries, it’s a miracle Mick arrived alive at the hospital.”
Charles’s eyes turned hard, but Roz could tell he was fighting back tears. “I’ll pray too,” he said. “I already have. I’ll keep praying.”
“And another thing,” Roz said.
Charles looked at her. How could there be anything else? “What?” he asked.
“I called the Gabrinis.”
Charles opened his suit coat and placed his hands on his hips. He shook his head. “I don’t know about that, Roz. Last time I spoke with Mick, he was still reeling about that kidnapping allegation. He wasn’t ready to forgive them yet.”
“I know,” Roz said. “He told me the same thing.”
“We have to stay mindful of Mick’s wishes.”
Roz frowned. “I am mindful of them, Big Daddy,” she said. “That’s all I’ve been mindful of.” Tears appeared in her eyes. “He wanted me to leave him behind. And I should have, because our babies were at risk. I should have drove away to protect them.”
Charles placed his hand on her upper arm.
“But Mick had been shot multiple times,” Roz said. “He was dying and I knew it. And I couldn’t leave him, Big Daddy. I risked my babies’ lives, and my own life, to save him. If anybody would have ever told me that I would have risked the lives of my two babies to save anybody, I would have declared them a bald-faced liar. But I did it. I risked everything to save Mick. And I’d do it again. That’s the kind of connection we have. So don’t you dare talk to me about being mindful of his wishes. He’s my life. He’s my everything. I’m always mindful of him.”
Charles could not have respected another human being more. He nodded his head. “I stand corrected, Rosalind,” he said. “Please forgive me. I’m just . . .”
Roz understood. “We all are,” she said.
“And if it was up to me, I would have called the Gabrinis too,” Charles said. “But this is Mick we’re talking about. I don’t know if this is what he would want.”
“He can’t make that call now,” Roz said. “That call is on me. And I say they’re his family too. And they’re gangster as they come. If we’re in a war, I need warriors, Big Daddy. I need men with armies who can take it to our enemies as good as Mick would have took it to them. Because Mick has always told me that if something ever happened to him, and if I felt that the children and I needed protection, I was to call you first, and then immediately call the Gabrinis. Reno, Sal, and Tommy. And after I hung up the phone with you, that’s exactly what I did. And they didn’t hesitate to heed my call. They’re on their way.”
Charles stared at Roz. He dreaded the idea of some bloody mob war, but he couldn’t bury his head in the sand either. His baby brother was a mob boss. A feared and hated mobster. Roz had handled it exactly as Mick, despite his issues with the Gabrinis, would have wanted her to. He nodded.
But then he had to make something else clear. “Until they get here,” he said to Roz, “I’m in charge. You understand? Mick would want it that way too. I want you to go back into that waiting room and get some rest. I’ll go check on the twins. I’ll receive the updates. You won’t be any good to any of them if you keep going at the rate you’re going.”
Roz didn’t feel rest was possible, but she knew Big Daddy was right. She could barely stand up. “Okay,” she said. “And thank you,” she added.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Tommy Gabrini’s private plane had just touched down in Vegas when word came from Roz. He ordered his pilot to prepare for departure to Philly, while Vegas residents Sal Gabrini, Tommy’s younger brother, and Reno Gabrini, Tommy’s first cousin and best friend, hurried to the airport and hopped aboard too. They had to wait, however, because they bought an army with them that was forty-man strong.
Now they were well on their way, within minutes of landing, and Tommy was on the phone getting a status update. Reno and Sal, who sat side by side across from Tommy, eagerly awaited the new news. Their men sat in the back of the plane, waiting for their instructions too.
Tommy finally ended the call. “He’s out of surgery,” he said to Reno and Sal. “The doctors are pleased with that result.”
“Thank God,” Sal said.
“But his condition is still critical,” Tommy added.
“He took three bullets,” Sal said. “Who wouldn’t be in critical condition after that much damage?”
Reno leaned back. “I still can’t believe it. Mick the Tick down like that? Fighting for his life? I thought it was a crank call when I got the word. I thought Sal was trying to pull my leg when he told me that.”
“What would I look like pulling your leg at a time like this?” Sal asked. “If I wanted to crank on your ass, it’s not your leg I would be pulling.”
“But that’s what I thought you were doing, alright? I’m not saying you were doing it,” Reno added, “but that’s what I thought. Because you’re telling me Mick is in this situation? Mick the Tick? That was some hard news to swallow. Mick Sinatra was always untouchable in my eyes. What fucker would target him? I remember when Mick was a young thug back in the day who had the balls to go to war with my old man. And Mick won even back then! No fucker alive would be crazy enough to go after him full force like this. At least that’s how I was thinking.”
“I’m was thinking the same way,” Sal said. “I’m like what the fuck? They hit Uncle Mick? And they hit him with his wife and kids right there? I couldn’t believe it either. You would have to have a death wish to even think you could pull that shit off.”
“And fucking delusional too,” Reno added.
“And nobody’s talking,” Sal continued. “That’s the weird part. An event like this happens, look like it would be front page news in the underworld. And yeah, everybody knows it happened. But nobody knows a gotdamn thing about who made it happen.”
Tommy looked at his kid brother. Sal was a mob boss himself. One of the fiercest. But it wasn’t something he would ever cop to. “You put feelers out already?” he asked him.
“All over the place,” Sal responded. “But it turned up zilch. It’s as if whoever did this isn’t even a part of our world. They aren’t in the underworld at all. It’s like this might not have anything to do with anything we can figure out.”
“I hope you’re wrong about that,” Tommy said as his plane touched down. “Because if we can’t figure out who was big and bold enough to take it to Uncle Mick of all people, we might all be doomed.”
Sal and Reno looked at Tommy. They knew he spoke the truth. That was why they all looked away.
Their concern, however, wasn’t alleviated at all when their convoy of SUVs arrived at the hospital.
Teddy was standing outside to meet them, but he was out there alone. Sal frowned. “What the hell?” he asked, as all three Gabrinis got out of their SUV.
Teddy walked over to them. He gave Tommy a hug, and then Reno. But Sal was puzzled. “Where the fuck is Mick’s men?” he asked.
“His men?” Teddy asked.
“Yeah,” Reno said, realizing that Sal had a point. “Where’s his security detail?”
“Oh, that,” Teddy said. “I ordered them to hit the st
reets and get us some answers. The police department is guarding Pop.”
Sal frowned. “The police department?”
“The fucking police?” asked Reno.
Teddy was confused. “What’s the problem?” he asked.
Sal and Reno began ordering their men to position themselves in various areas of the hospital. Some inside. Some outside.
But Tommy, seeing Teddy’s confusion, pulled him aside. “In times like these, son,” he said to him, “you protect the family first. I don’t care what went down. I don’t care who’s down. It’s your job, as head of your family while your father isn’t able, to protect him and the family first. You get your most trusted men, not your second most trusted, but your absolute best men on guard duty before you do anything else. You secure the family. Then you go after the bastards who caused the madness. Then you annihilate them. But security first. Understand?”
Teddy used to think of Tommy Sinatra as nothing more than his nickname: Dapper Tom. The pretty boy of the family. The lover not the fighter. And the way Tommy was dressed right now, decked down in his Armani suit with a matching scarf around his neck, didn’t dispute that image one iota. But after he got to know Tommy for himself, he came to realize that he was so much more. More like the brains of the family. More like one of the most respected members of the family. Teddy certainly respected him. “Yes, sir,” he responded. “You’re right. I should have thought about security first. I guess I dropped the ball.”
Tommy wasn’t going to minimize it. Teddy wouldn’t learn from his mistake if he did. “Don’t drop it again,” he warned him. “And never, ever rely on cops for security or anything else. That’s like relying on the enemy.”
Teddy found that an odd thing to say, since Tommy was once a police captain himself. But then he realized Tommy spoke with authority in that sense too. He knew the cop culture. He knew the cop world. “Yes, sir,” Teddy said again.
Mick Sinatra: The Harder They Fall Page 14
