The moment Bobby ordered the attack on the B-Bang, he knew his people in the Red Stocking were at risk. Sure enough, an hour after Naldo left the yard, a firebomb hit the front of the building. Then things got nasty and the field of battle spread way beyond the confines of the San Francisco city line.
Within a week, blood was spilled on both sides and operations halted or destroyed. What nobody in the Lagotti family factored into consideration was that Nikolay Markov was Russian. That meant he had connections far beyond his immediate reach in the Tenderloin in SF. And the fellas he knew had almost unlimited resources and not one inch of sentiment in their bodies.
MILTON SPENT ANOTHER night sleeping in a fuck-room in the Palace. Ever since the Markov trouble had spilled outside SF, his time had been occupied inside the Lagotti fortress, protected by extra armed guards, to keep him safe. Six men in three shifts were stationed at his family‘s home in Palm Springs and that made him feel better. He‘d been around the block long enough to remember the twins‘ kidnapping.
The one thing he missed was Elsie, with whom he‘d been having regular encounters for the past two years. He spotted her the day she started at the Palace: he was down in the reception area when she walked in and lit up the room for him. Before she got the chance to earn any money, he put her on his personal payroll and bought her clothes, trinkets and her own apartment.
A week without Elsie felt like a lifetime and that was too long for Milton. At first, he hadn‘t wanted her anywhere near the Palace because it might be too dangerous, but seven days later and his opinion had shifted.
“Baby. Pack yourself a bag and get your tail over to the Palace. Papa wants to have fun and he‘s been missing your loving.”
“I‘ll be right over. See you in thirty.”
Forty-five minutes later and Elsie had yet to appear, but Milton accepted that LA traffic was shit any time of the day or night. After an hour, he started pacing and tried to take his mind off the wait by watching footage from the peephole cameras. When ninety minutes had passed, he began to fret and two hours since the phone call, Milton flipped his lid, hopped in his car and headed over to Elsie‘s apartment.
When he got there, the door was an inch ajar. He pulled out his pistol and pushed the door open and walked inside, eyes darting left and right. Something was wrong. Intruders maybe. Through the hall and into the living room. The answer lay in a large pool of red on the rug by the couch: Elsie was naked and knife wounds punctured her torso, her legs, her groin.
Milton squatted and threw up. Once he‘d pulled himself back together, he thought he heard a creak from the master bedroom. He took two deep breathes, crept to the door and listened. Definitely a noise. He kicked the door open and pointed his gun forwards. A flash and a bang and everything turned black.
ALICE, BOBBY AND May Lou were in the summerhouse and ten men surrounded the perimeter, some with sniper rifles hidden in crow‘s nests in the trees. Irma popped her head round the door after knocking and said there was someone on the phone. She thought it might be Naldo, but as ever she hadn‘t asked. What she didn‘t know couldn‘t kill her. Bobby walked back to the house to take the call. When he returned two minutes later, he was ashen.
“They‘ve killed Milton. Put a bullet in his brains and dumped his body on the sidewalk outside the Palace.”
Alice‘s jaw dropped and Mary Lou looked on, stone-faced.
“IT‘S TIME FOR you to come home, son.”
“I‘m fine, Mama. Why d‘you need me on the other side of the country?”
“We have issues and I need you by my side.”
Frank lay in bed with one hand on his girlfriend‘s stomach and toyed with her belly button as he spoke. For Mama to place the call meant some heavy shit was going down. And the lack of information she was offering indicated to him she was concerned about ears on the line.
“I‘ll get over as soon as I can.”
Frank put the phone down and sent his fingers below the belly button.
“Come on, you and I are off on a little trip.”
“I don‘t think that‘s a good idea.”
“Nah, it‘ll be fine. My family is very accommodating of strangers. And you‘re not that strange at all.”
“Even so, I think I should stay here.”
“Nope. If what might have gone down has happened, you won‘t be safe. I won‘t be able to protect you.”
“Just remember I told you I shouldn‘t come along.“
“Duly noted. Now put your panties on so we can get going.”
She giggled then wriggled into her skirt, ignoring Frank‘s underwear instruction. He smiled and licked his lips.
“Dirty minx.”
FRANK AND HIS girlfriend arrived in Palm Springs and headed straight to Oakcrest Drive. Into the house and up to his old room, which was now a spare bedroom after all this time. They unpacked and lay on the bed for half an hour.
Eventually Frank had enough and went downstairs.
“I‘ve got a headache. I‘ll be down later.”
Frank shrugged and made his way to the living room. Empty. So he walked through the conservatory, out past the pool and into the summerhouse. Bobby and Mama sat talking and they both smiled at his arrival. Mama ran over, gave him a hug and tiptoed to kiss him on the forehead.
He suffered in silence - a grown man treated like a child - but when she messed with his hair, he brushed her away. Mary Lou laughed at him and sat back down. Frank slumped down on his own in an armchair to prevent further maternal attacks on his dignity.
“Where‘s Alice? I thought all ships were coming into the harbor.”
“She‘ll be along later. Right now she‘s under Naldo‘s protection in a safe house.”
“Why does she get special treatment? Can‘t she look after herself?”
“More than you‘ll ever know. We thought it best for her not to stay in her apartment as it‘s difficult to defend from attack.”
“Are we on some kind of lockdown?”
Bobby glanced at Mary Lou who stared at Frank. Neither of them felt the need to respond to him and he waited to find the answers to his questions.
“Was the flight okay?”
“Yeah, we had a smooth run and thanks for sending a car to pick us up.”
“De nada. We?”
“Yes, I brought someone with me. If lives are going to be threatened, I want to know she‘s safe too.”
“Who?”
“My girlfriend. She‘s taking a rest right now but you‘ll meet her later.”
“Does she have a name?”
“Sammy. I think I might be serious about her, but before you get too excited, it is still early days, so don‘t freak her out.”
“Bravo, boy. And well done to Sammy: the first woman ever to tame our little boy.”
“Leave me alone. All I ask is that you‘re nice to her and try not to make fools of yourselves around her.”
“We know how to behave. The question is whether you can keep it in your pants until you guys are in the privacy of your room.”
“Are you ever going to let that go? I was eighteen and you weren‘t supposed to be back until the following day. Jeez.”
“Both of you: stand down. We are facing a dangerous situation and the last thing we need is to lose focus and fight among ourselves. Please, people.”
AS IF ON cue, the summerhouse door opened and in came Alice with Naldo in tow. When he saw the whole clan was here, he nodded to Bobby and shut the door behind him as he left. The man knew not to intrude on family business.
Hugs for her Mama and Bobby, then Alice sat down next to Mama, a single glance at Frank, only acknowledgement of his existence she could muster.
“Is someone going to tell me what this is all about?”
“The Markov family has attacked a number of our west coast operations. Meth labs, heroin labs, prostitution. They've hit the casinos, but so far they haven‘t damaged the Queen of Sheba or Bakersfield Printing. We have to assume it is only a matter of time
though.”
“And we‘ve just sat back and taken this insult?”
“Not at all. Under Naldo‘s stewardship, we have brought their call girl operation to its knees and cut their supply lines for cocaine, ecstasy, opium and meths. Blood has been shed: us and them.”
“So why am I hearing about this only now?”
“This may have been a disturbance to business, but we thought it was relatively contained. Until last night.”
Beat.
“They shot Milton in the face and cut off his dick. Stuffed it in his mouth and dumped his body on Sunset Boulevard.”
Frank fumed and Bobby was certain he saw steam seeping out of his ears. Alice inhaled deeply on her cigarette as she tried to keep it together, despite Milton‘s loss.
“What are we waiting for? Let‘s get all our men over to San Francisco and kill the motherfuckers.”
29
“BEFORE WE RUSH over to San Francisco, we need to have a plan - and know it‘ll succeed.”
“Kill them. Kill them all.”
“Not helpful, Frank. We‘ve tried direct violence and harassment and it hasn‘t worked. We have to find a different solution to this problem.”
He sat back in his chair and sulked. No-one was listening to what he had to say. Nothing in this family ever changed. Here he was skulking around his Mama‘s house when he was making real money out east and nobody seemed able to recognize he‘d done it alone.
“Is there anyone who might intercede on our behalf?”
“Pasquale has been out of the game too long. He‘s the only made man I‘ve ever known and trusted. Beyond him, we are on our own.”
“There‘s only one Nikolay Markov and three of us.”
“Four,” chimed in Mary Lou.
“Sorry, four of us. Let‘s call a peace conference and kill the fucker.”
“Let it go. We need a solution the whole Markov family will stand behind and mass murder is not the answer.”
If Frank had bothered to listen, he would have detected a definite edge to Bobby‘s voice. The man was tired of Frank‘s unhelpful repetitions. As for Alice‘s scowls, Frank always discounted her disapproving expressions.
The only person whose opinion mattered to him was Mama and she remained perfectly calm. Totally still - like these discussions didn‘t matter in the grand scheme of things. That response gave Frank the strength to believe she was on his side. Why else had she dragged him across the country? His methods were direct and blood-soaked. She‘d have nixed his idea if she really wanted to silence him.
ONE LONG HOUR later with everyone circling round the same problem and offering no useful fix, Irma popped in to warn them food was to be served in a handful of minutes. Frank left the summerhouse and inhaled fresh air. His family was doing his head in - how much more he could take? Sammy was still asleep when he got back into the room, so he blew in her ear to rouse her. First she flicked at her earlobe as though a fly was annoying her but persistence paid off and a minute later, she opened an eye.
“Time to eat.”
She tried to generate a half-smile but failed and only transformed her expression into a grimace. A sinking feeling hit the pit of her stomach. This meal was going to be painful, but she‘d known this day would come and had done nothing to prepare herself or Frank for its arrival.
“I need to change first.”
“Well, get a move on then,” he said as he placed his hands in her panties.”
She squirmed as Frank fooled around and gasped when matters got more serious.
“Now we can eat, right?”
She nodded and slipped into a blue dress while he did up his pants. Sammy held his hand as they left the bedroom, which he mistook for affection. Fear of meeting Alice was the real cause.
FRANK AND SAM walked into the living room and Alice‘s jaw opened wide. Bobby‘s eyes darted between Sam and Alice, while Mary Lou watched benignly.
“Good to meet you, dear.”
Sam‘s mouth twitched a smile as she had no idea what to do next. His mom hadn‘t remembered her but Alice sure as hell had.
“Hi all. How are you doing?”
Frank appeared to not notice the confusion and embarrassment on everybody else‘s faces. Then he blinked and realized he‘d stepped into the middle of a Noel Coward play. Mumbled responses to Sam‘s question ensued as Bobby, at least, tried to salvage the moment and steer everyone well enough to sit down to eat.
The silence was broken by Irma who took them into the dining room to serve their food. Bobby and Mary Lou at each end of the table with Alice sat opposite Sam and Frank. A pleasant family meal. The knives were needed more to cut the tension than the veal which was tender and flavorsome.
Alice trawled the food around her plate. When Sam first walked into the room, as Alice exhaled, a wave of anger overtook her body and she wanted to grab a gun and shoot Sam through the head. Then she inhaled and withdrew from the world, wanting to curl into a little ball and vanish into nothing.
Now she glared at Sam, occasionally scooping a mouthful of veal or potato. Mary Lou ate her meal in silence, focused on her delightful food and not experiencing the same emotional fallout as the rest of the table. Bobby knew better than to stand in the way of the twins, their lover and their mother.
Almost the second Irma cleared the plates away, Sam declared she was going up to bed. Frank shrugged and, given the lack of joy in the room, followed soon after. Alice listened as his footsteps announced his arrival on the second floor.
“Why didn‘t you tell me?”
“He called her Sammy and she hid in their bedroom until just before dinner. I found out the same instant as you.”
“Fucking whore.”
Neither disagreed but Mary Lou remained resolutely silent. Bobby opened his arms and Alice walked towards him and accepted the hug. All three sat down in the living room and attacked a bottle of Scotch. Two hours later, Alice crashed out on the couch: she couldn‘t face being only a wall‘s width from the rutting couple.
“We still a need plan.”
“Kill the bitch.”
“Not what I meant...”
FRANK TUCKED INTO his pancakes with gusto while the rest of the family was subdued. He and Sam had a long conversation the night before when she explained to him what he was too emotionally illiterate to comprehend for himself and now he understood why everyone was acting so strange. The man remained untouched by everybody else‘s emotional fallout, but Sam made him promise not to lay into Alice - for her sake and a quiet life.
His response was to fill his face with food because he couldn‘t be sure anything apart from barbs would come out of his mouth if he spoke. Sam pecked at her maple syrup soaked circles but was able to meet Alice‘s gaze once or twice.
Alice‘s sense of loss stayed with her from the moment she woke up but she recognized nothing and nobody was going to make her feel better - in the short term. She wasn‘t hungry but despite this, she made sure she ate some of Irma‘s cooking and instigated a tiny amount of small talk. The silence was too oppressive and centered on her.
“These are so good.”
“Irma‘s done a fabulous job.”
“Yep.”
“Anyone had fresh thoughts about the Markov problem?”
”You won‘t hear me say this again in my lifetime, but Frank might be right.”
“Thanks sis‘.”
“Hold back the hugs: you didn‘t let me finish.”
“You might be right that direct intervention is the answer. But you‘re probably thinking about rushing in with a crew and committing merry mayhem.”
“Pretty much. Go in, kill ‘em, leave.”
“That is the opposite of what‘s to be done. We need to cut off the head of the snake and leave the rest of the body alone.”
All silverware was placed on plates as Alice grabbed everybody‘s attention.
“What are you thinking?”
“One person - not a crew - go to the Markovs and once they are fac
ing Nikolay, a bullet to the head solves all our difficulties. The rest of his family and fellas will fold immediately.”
“And who should get this assignment?”
“Nothing personal Sam, but perhaps we should carry on this conversation in the summerhouse.”
“It‘s okay, sis‘. Sam‘s already heard about my business.”
“And about ours too?”
“No, Alice. Just Frank‘s world. He let me in.”
A glare for a response and Alice stood up.
“You coming? We‘ve already said too much in front of her.”
The ease with which they‘d moved from breakfast to assassination showed how Sam had entered their circle of trust by stealth. Now she had enough to go to the Feds and pocket herself a healthy reward. Bobby thought for half a second and stood up, which encouraged Mary Lou and Frank to follow.
ENSCONCED IN THE safety of the poolside building, Alice was more relaxed.
“So who should go on the mission? Can‘t be me because Markov won‘t believe I have any interest in him or his family. Mama and Bobby aren‘t believable either.”
They all did the Math and that left only one person.
“You looking at me?”
“I don‘t see anyone else here.”
“Got to be kidding. I want Nikolay Markov dead but only if I‘m still alive as well. I‘m not volunteering for a suicide mission.”
Alice‘s eyebrows raised themselves up on their haunches and she smiled.
“I thought you wanted to kill them all.”
“Not at any cost.”
“Good to come home to a warm bed, huh?”
“Does my sleeping with Sammy bother you?”
“Children!”
Mary Lou bellowed across the room at the squabbling twins. The effect was instant silence and sheepish looks.
The Lagotti Family Series Page 82
