“When?” Jake asked.
“Tonight,” Pauly said. “At your place first.”
Jake frowned. “Mine? Why mine first?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t go into those kind of details. I’m trusted, but I ain’t that trusted.”
“You set up that director to ruin his wife’s talent agency,” Scar said to Jake. “Maybe that’s the reason.”
“Whatever the reason,” Petty said, “I don’t care. That prick killed my wife. I want him so bad!”
“And you’ll get him,” Scar said. “We all will.” Then he handed Pauly an envelope stuffed with cash. “Good job, Pauly. Stick with us and you’ll be running the Sinatra crime family one of these days.”
Pauly, knowing his ass was stew and Mick was going to be the chef if any of this went sideways, took the money and ran.
After Pauly took off, they discussed their own plans.
“How are we gonna go after, not only Mick the Tick,” Jake said, “which would have been tough by itself. But Mick the Tick plus the Gabrinis?”
“When they go over to Jake’s place tonight to launch their strike,” Scar said, “we are going to be waiting. But not at Jake’s place.”
Jake frowned. “Hun?”
“They’ll go to your place and find it empty. We’ll go to the Sinatra estate, shoot our way through with our own overwhelming force, and take his wife and babies who will be holed up inside. We’re get his family while he thinks he’s getting ours. Only ours won’t even be there.”
Petty and Jake smiled. “Damn, Scar,” Jake said. “That’s fucking genius! Sinatra won’t know what hit his ass.”
“That’s right. We’ll prove, once and for all, who runs this territory. And it ain’t going to be Mick.”
They all relaxed. Finally, they were about to get somewhere.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The SUVs were loaded and ready to go, the Gabrinis had already suited up in hardware and were heading out of the front door, and Roz and the twins were already downstairs in Mick’s fortified safe room, with Deuce McCurry and Pauly Pantangelo guarding them. But Mick, standing in the foyer in his black pants, black turtleneck, and ankle-length white coat, felt uneven. He had a rifle in hand, and a rifle and a machete concealed inside his coat, ready to go too, but he couldn’t make himself leave. And the reason, he quickly decided, was Teddy.
Teddy was heading out of the door ahead of Mick, in full battle gear, including oversized fatigues, but Mick pulled him back.
“What’s wrong?” Teddy asked.
“I want you to stay with Uncle Charles.”
Teddy frowned. “But Dad! Why do I have to stay? Big Daddy can handle it.”
“I know he can handle it, fool,” Mick snapped. “He can handle you and me both! That’s not the issue.”
The issue, for Mick, was personal. The issue was that Mick’s blowup with Joey still affected him. It made him feel like he was the worst parent ever. What self-respecting father, he began to wonder, would allow his own son to go on a kill ride with him? Teddy had been on plenty before. But Mick was questioning that now. He already had issues with Joey. Gloria was mad at his ass too. Now he was putting Teddy on the firing line. That was too much. For whatever reason, his gut was telling him Teddy needed to stay. And Mick always paid attention to his gut.
“You’re staying,” he said to his son.
“But Dad!” Teddy began saying, but Mick gave him that look that brook no debate. Teddy knew not to argue with Mick when he saw that look. He would risk getting the shit knocked out of him if he didn’t heed. “Yes, sir,” he managed to say.
Mick looked at him. And patted him on the chest. “Take care of our family,” he said to Teddy, and left the house.
A convoy of SUVs pulled out of the Sinatra estate and Scar Parrushi watched on his own SUV’s monitor with rapt attention. They were two streets away in the opposite direction of Jake’s house. Petty and Jake were also in the SUV watching too.
“Identify those motherfuckers,” Scar said to the man working the camera angles. “I wanna see faces.”
The hidden cameras on the street beyond Mick’s street zoomed in as Mick’s SUVs approached. Scar smiled when he saw the faces. In the third SUV he saw Mick Sinatra and Sal Gabrini, and then Reno and Tommy Gabrini in the fourth SUV. They were leaving the estate to do battle at Jake’s place. Only Jake was two streets over, Jake’s place was empty, and the battle was about to be waged at Mick’s place.
As soon as Mick’s convoy left the area, Scar gave his driver and his own convoy the order. “We move in now,” he said on his phone’s Walkie Talkie, and the convoy began to move. They had to strike and strike fast before Mick arrived at Jake’s place and realized it was a set up. Scar especially was ready to make it happen.
The SUVs, five strong, turned onto the street that housed only one property: Mick’s estate. As soon as they arrived on that private street, they turned off their lights and drove slowly toward the estate. When they arrived at the high security gate, they floored it.
They knocked down the gate with the armor-style rammer on the front of the lead SUV, and the shooting began. Scar, Petty, and Jake jumped out of their truck and began firing shot after shot as they ran toward the main house. Their army of men jumped out too, firing too. They all had silencers on their guns, the tradition for mob wars fought under the radar, because nobody wanted cops involved.
But that didn’t lessen the impact. They fired shot after shot. They were going to shoot their way through that front door and not stop until everybody inside, be it man, woman or child, were dead.
It wasn’t until they approached the steps, and were about to head up to break down the front door, did Scar realize something profound. He stopped and held up his hand. Everybody stopped in their tracks too.
“What is it?” Jake asked. “What the hell you stopping for?”
“We’re shooting,” Scar said. “But nobody’s shooting back. Where the fuck is Mick’s security? He wouldn’t leave his wife and kids here with no protection. Where’s everybody?”
“You mean us?” It was Mick’s voice behind them. But it couldn’t be. They saw him leave!
And they were right. Mick’s convoy did leave. That was a part of their plan. But they laid in wait too, just around the corner in the opposite direction of Scar’s convoy. And as soon as Scar made his way toward Mick’s estate, Mick made his way back home.
When Scar, Petty, and Jake, and all of their men, heard Mick’s voice, they turned around slowly. And there was Mick, and the Gabrinis, all with guns drawn, and every one of their guns had silencers on them too. But Mick had the advantage. Mick had an army three times Scar’s army, and they were ready for war.
Scar and his gang tried to fight back. They fought gallantly. But it was as if boys were fighting men. Reno was a sharpshooter and had a rifle. Tommy was a sharpshooter and had a rifle. Sal was a sharpshooter and had a rifle. And Mick, sharpshooting since he was a teenager, had two rifles. And they overpowered their adversary. They ran and shot while their opponents ran for cover and died. It was a bloodbath.
While Petty and their army were shooting it out with Mick and his army near the front of the line, Scar and Jake managed to make their way toward what was now the back of the line and take off around back.
Mick saw their getaway and handled his business. He had already warned the Gabrinis that the three bosses belonged to him. He was taking them out, unless it couldn’t be helped. And with his aim singularly focused, Mick walked and shot a string of men between the eyes, killing them each with one shot, to clear the way for him to take out Petty Renault. And Mick did. He unloaded a barrage of bullets into Petty’s body, with Petty jerking and trying to shoot back, before he was overwhelmed with holes and dropped dead.
As the Gabrinis continued to take out those in Scar’s army still fighting back, Mick slipped away and hurried toward the back of his estate. But while Mick was running around back, going after Jake and Scar, Jake was on the
opposite side of the estate, running toward the front again, but staying on the periphery of the yard as he made his way toward the damaged security gate. He wanted to get away. He was running away. He was leaving his men on the field, and running for his life.
Around back, Mick saw Scar foolishly jump into his pool to hide out. Which was fine by Mick. Because he went over to that pool, knelt down, and waited for the idiot to come back up for air.
It didn’t take long. Scar was no swimmer. And as soon as Scar’s head popped up out of the water, to take a breath, it ended up being his last breath. Mick pulled out his machete as if he were a Ronin, and sliced that head off. It ruined his pool, but it was worth it.
“Mick, you okay?” It was Sal, who had shot his way around back to offer Mick cover. When Sal saw the blood in the pool, and the floating head, he stopped in his tracks. “Damn,” he said. And looked at Mick. The fucker was vicious.
“Jake the Snake is on the loose,” Mick said, standing back up. “Hell, no, I’m not okay. I won’t be okay until I find his ass.”
“And I see what you did to Scar Parusshi,” Sal said. “Then let’s find Jake’s ass,” he added.
They searched high and low for Jake, all across that back yard and into the nature preserve behind it. Tommy and Reno, after defeating the entirety of Scar’s army without incurring any casualties, searched too. But Jake was nowhere to be found. Mick finally and angrily had to reach the conclusion that Jake was gone. That Jake the Snake had undoubtedly took advantage of the fog of war, made his way around front, and had long since slithered away.
Inside the Sinatra estate, Pauly, Big Daddy, and Teddy were on guard duty in the safe room. All were guarding Roz. The twins and their nannies, Doris Hearn and Miss Habersham, and under the watchful eye of Mick’s main protector Deuce McCurry, were in a room further back, a safe room within a safe room, well protected from the world outside.
But the world outside invaded inside as time ticked on. When it was clear the fighting had to have already commenced, Pauly stood up. But everybody else remained seated. They were terrified, because Mick was out there, but they didn’t need anybody getting all nervous.
“Sit down, Pauly,” Teddy said to him.
Pauly looked at Teddy. “You don’t tell me what to do.”
“But I do,” Big Daddy said. “Sit your ass down.”
Pauly was confused. “What’s with all of this hostility?” he asked. “What’s going on? Maybe your brother needs our help.”
“The day he needs the help of a snitch like you,” Roz said, “he’ll put me on the front lines. He knows what you’re about. He’ll deal with you when he finishes with your buddies.”
Pauly was astounded. How could they know? “What are you talking about?”
“She’s talking about you feeding intel to Scar Parrushi,” Big Daddy said. “She’s talking about you playing my brother, her husband, for a fool. We don’t like that. And Mick really doesn’t like it. But he’ll deal with you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pauly said. “How could you think---”
“Oh, leave it out, Pauly!” Teddy said. “Dad’s nobody’s fool. He has eyes on eyes, remember? He has security on his security. He knew you met with Scar Parrushi. He knew you met with the enemy. Dad had bugs all over Scar’s car. He heard your entire conversation, and then he heard Scar plan that counterattack. That foolishness about lying in wait for Dad’s army to leave, only to bring his army here to take out Roz and the twins.”
Pauly was mortified. The idea of Mick the Tick knowing that he was double crossing him brought chills to Pauly’s spine. And he knew, if he was going to make it out, he had to make it out now.
But Big Daddy and Roz were ready for his breakout. And as soon as Pauly attempted to pull out his gun, ready to take down Big Daddy and Teddy first, to clear the room of their firepower, the one he least worried about pulled her own weaponry. Mick had told Roz and Big Daddy what Pauly was up to. He told Roz and Big Daddy that Pauly thought he would be guarding them, but they, in essence, would be guarding him. And Roz was ready for his ass.
To Pauly’s shock, Roz struck first, shooting Pauly in the chest, and then Teddy and Big Daddy finished him off. Still shooting him even after he was dead. They took no chances.
“You okay?” Big Daddy asked Roz when the shooting stopped.
Roz nodded her head. “I’m okay,” she said.
By the time Mick and the Gabrinis made it back into the house and down to the safe room, Pauly was down, and Roz, Big Daddy, and Teddy were getting up. Teddy opened the door for his father, and Roz ran to Mick as soon as she saw him, and threw her arms around him.
“The twins unharmed?” he asked her.
“They’re fine,” Roz said. “Did anybody get hurt? Did you get them all?”
“We got all of those fuckers,” Reno said, coming in too. Tommy and Sal came in behind him.
“All except Jake Vietti,” Tommy said.
“But don’t worry,” Mick made clear. “He’ll surface. I’ll get him.” Then Mick looked at Big Daddy and Teddy. “How messy did it get down here?” he asked them.
“For us?” Big Daddy asked. “Not messy at all. But for your boy down there,” he added, looking down at Pauly’s dead body. “It was a horror show.”
Mick was pleased. “Good,” Mick said, pulling Roz closer. “Exactly what that snitch bastard deserved.”
“It was Roz who took him out,” Teddy said.
The Gabrinis were impressed. “Good job, Roz,” Sal said.
But Mick only pulled her closer. He was pleased that she knew how to defend herself. But he was heartbroken that she constantly had to.
Big Daddy and the Gabrinis left the next day. Roz cooked them a big breakfast, thanked them for coming, and she and Mick walked them out to their waiting limousine.
The carnage from the night before had been cleaned away, with no sign of the bodies that piled up, nor of the blood that flowed. It took a crew of fifty men to get it done, and they got it done by working throughout the night. But instead of the stench of death in the air, there was a strong scent of formaldehyde.
“Sure you don’t need backup?” Sal asked as they stood at the limo.
“From you?” Mick asked with a smile. “l’ll pass.”
“Ouch,” Sal said jokingly, and he and Mick laughed.
“So what’s the game plan?” Big Daddy asked.
“Tear this city apart until I find him,” Mick responded. “Keep the twins on lockdown. Add even tighter security around the rest of my children. Rosalind will work from home.”
Roz looked at him. “I will?”
Reno smiled. “I knew she wasn’t going to like that. She’s like my wife. She’s like Trina. She doesn’t like that work from home shit either.”
“Just for a few days,” Mick said to Roz.
But Roz knew Mick. “A few days?”
“Sure.”
“And even if you haven’t found Vietti, I can still go back to my office?”
“We’ll see,” Mick said.
Big Daddy and the Gabrinis laughed as they got into the limo. “Trust us, sister,” Tommy said. “Mick will not be allowing you to go anywhere anytime soon.”
Roz smiled too. “I know,” she said. “But for good reason.”
They all agreed to that. Then they said their goodbyes, Roz told them to say hello to their wives and children, and they all left.
When the security gate opened and the limousine drove out, with the security gate closing again, Roz looked at Mick. “I knew I was working from home today,” Roz said. “I had already planned for that. But it can’t go on indefinitely, Mick.”
“It won’t. I just want to make sure that asshole doesn’t have an easy target.”
“That goes for you too,” Roz said, and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Be careful out there.”
Mick smiled, and kissed her on the lips. “You know I will,” he said.
He was about to get into hi
s Maserati and head out, and Roz was about to head back into the house, when the security gate opened again, and Gloria’s Lexus began driving toward them. They both could see that Joey wasn’t with her. Joey was the only one of Mick’s children not allowed on the property without permission, and that only became an order again after he pulled that gun on Rosalind. He had just gotten out of Mick’s doghouse, only to get back in.
Gloria got out of her car, and went around to Mick and Roz. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey yourself,” Roz said with a smile, as Gloria gave her a hug. They were close before that gun incident with Joey. She was happy to see that they were still on good terms.
“Hey, Dad,” Gloria said to Mick when she and Roz stopped hugging.
“Good morning,” Mick responded. He assumed she was still pissed with him for pistol-whipping Joey, and that was why she wasn’t going to hug him. It saddened him, but he wasn’t apologizing for something that had to be done. But then she did hug him, and his sadness lifted. All was right with the world again.
“I tried to come over last night,” she said, when they stopped embracing, “but your men wouldn’t let me. I felt like I was a prisoner in my own home. Weren’t they overdoing it?”
“No,” Mick said. “It was on my orders.”
“I figured something went down,” she said. “Uncle Tommy called me, to see how I was doing, and when he said Uncle Reno and Uncle Sal were here too, I said I was coming over. But he said no. He said you wanted me on lockdown. But he wouldn’t tell me why. Why?” she asked.
“I had to take out an adversary,” Mick said. “You were safer where you were.”
Gloria understood that. She knew her father had two businesses. One she was intimately involved with, and another, far more dangerous one she wasn’t involved with at all.
“So what brings you over today?” Roz asked.
“To make sure you guys were okay, for one thing,” Gloria said. “And to bring Joey. He wants to see you guys.”
Mick Sinatra: Now Will You Weep Page 16
