Mick’s men were already there, scouring the place, when he and Joey walked in. The capo in charge, Pauley, hurried over to Mick.
“Hey, Boss.”
“Found anything?”
“Nothing. But it was a struggle. No doubt about that. Teddy fought his ass off.”
“Did you find it?” Mick asked. He had already phoned ahead to tell Pauley what to look for.
Pauley nodded. “We found it,” he said, and handed Mick what appeared to be Teddy’s cell phone.
Mick was surprised to see it. “They didn’t take his phone?” he asked Pauley.
“Apparently not. Which was weird to me too. And none of us could figure out his password to get inside of that joker.”
“But we don’t know his code either,” Joey said.
But to Joey’s surprise, Mick knew Teddy’s code, by heart, and immediately pressed the right letters and opened his phone. Which made Joey realize that Teddy and their father were a whole lot closer than even he had thought.
Joey stood beside his father as Mick went to Teddy’s Camera and pressed the button of the first video he happened upon. Mick pulled out a pair of glasses and put them on, and Joey stood even closer to him, and then Mick pressed Play.
To Mick’s shock, a car drove up to the Philly docks and the guy he had just beaten, the actor Uri, stepped out. Mick frowned. “What the fuck?” he asked. Then he looked at Joey.
“What?” Joey asked. “That’s just Ivan.”
Mick frowned. “Ivan? You mean Uri.”
“No, Ivan,” Joey said as the video showed Uri walking over to the ship and Joey walking off of the ship. Both men shook hands and began talking. “At least that’s what she said his name was.”
“She said it?” Mick asked. “Who’s she?”
“Irene,” Joey said. “Ivan is her cousin.”
Mick was confused as hell. “This guy is your girlfriend’s cousin?”
“Yeah. He wanted to get in the shipping business and wanted some pointers. Irene asked if I would meet with him and give him some. So I figured why not?”
“But you said you never met with any Russian.”
“I didn’t!” Joey insisted. “He’s no big, bad Russian. I mean, he’s Russian. But he’s her cousin.”
Mick was staring at Joey. “You said you never met with any Russians,” he said again.
“I didn’t! I mean, not like Hector meant. He’s Irene‘s cousin, Pop! He’s no mob guy.”
“You don’t know what the fuck he is. I just beat his ass in New York. He’s why I went there.”
“Ivan?”
“His name is Uri. And he’s an actor who tried to fuck my wife.”
“Ma?” Joey was stunned. “But how can that be? He’s Irene‘s cousin.”
”How the fuck Irene gets tied up with him?” Mick asked.
Joey was watching the video. “I don’t know,” he said, and even Mick could see Joey’s anger began to rise.
Mick ended the video and placed Teddy’s phone in his pocket. “Let’s go,” he said, and Joey, though getting more and more upset the more he thought about it, didn’t hesitate. He hurried behind his father.
Irene Holton lived in a farmhouse outside of Philadelphia in Ardmore. On nearly forty acres of land, Mick was surprised how far the property stretched. He knew she owned a farm. The background he ran on her confirmed that. But he had no idea how vast it was.
“Damn,” Mick said as they drove and drove and drove up a long and winding driveway to get to the farmhouse itself. “Where did she get this kind of dough?”
“She inherited it,” Joey said. Then he frowned. “At least that’s what she told me.”
Mick looked at Joey. “Drop the emotions when we get up there,” he said. “We need to find out what happened to Nikki and your brother first. She may be able to tell us something. Then you can kick her ass for all I care. But business first.”
Joey nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said, although Mick knew Joey was as hurt as he was angry. He apparently really loved the woman.
“Nobody trusted her but me,” Joey said. “I’m always so stupid!” he said with bitterness in his voice.
Mick was not good at consoling anybody, and he wasn’t crazy about doing so either. But he consoled Joey. “Don’t beat yourself up,” he said to his son. “How were you to know she would lie to you?”
“Because every woman I’ve ever known has?” Joey responded. “Why would I think she was any different? And she may have something to do with Teddy’s disappearance? Damn! I wanna kick her ass, Pop, I really want to kick her ass right about now!”
Mick nodded. “I understand that. But stop beating yourself up. We can’t help who we love.”
Joey looked at his father as they drove toward the farmhouse. “You ever got your heart broken, Pop?” he asked.
Mick hesitated, his green eyes hard to read. “No,” he said. “I never invested it deep enough to get it broken.”
“But you broke a lot of hearts, I’ll bet,” Joey said. Because he knew it to be true. His mother’s heart was chief among them.
He also knew his father wasn’t going to answer that question, and he didn’t.
When they arrived at the entrance to the farmhouse, both men got out and made their way to the front door. Joey had a key, but just as he was about to put it in the keyhole, the front door was opened and Irene, with her suitcase in hand, was about to come out. She stopped in her tracks.
“Joey?” She looked stunned.
“Didn’t think I’d figure it out, did you?” Joey asked.
Mick began walking into the home, causing Irene to back up into the house. Mick closed the door behind them. “Where’s my son?” he asked her.
“Your son? He’s right beside you.”
“Don’t fuck around with Pops,” Joey said angrily. “Are you nuts?”
“Where’s my son?” Mick asked her again.
“I don’t know,” she said again, and then she dropped her suitcase and quickly pulled a gun out of her coat pocket. “And even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell your arrogant butt!”
Joey was as offended as he was shocked. “A gun, Irene? For real though? You gonna pull a gun on me?”
“Get the fuck out of my house,” she ordered. “You and your old man. And I mean it, Joey!”
Mick wanted to roll his eyes. She thought she had the upper hand on them when it was like taking candy from a baby to Mick. Because as she was barking out orders to Joey, he easily slapped her with one of his hands and took her gun with his other hand. Even Joey was shocked at how quickly his father moved. Irene was downright stunned.
Then Mick slapped her, hard, across her face. “Still want me to go?” he asked her. “Still think you’ve got it under control?” he asked her.
She held the side of her face and gave Mick a hateful stare. “You are such a bastard!” she barked at Mick.
“Where’s my son?” Mick asked her again.
“Kiss my ass!” she said back to Mick.
Joey knew she had done it now. And he was right. Mick immediately grabbed her by the hair, slung her backwards, and placed her own gun beneath her chin. “Where’s my son?” he asked, this time with clenched teeth.
And she cut the bull and responded proportionate to the threat. “With Uri,” she said quickly. “He’s with Uri.”
Joey looked at her. “Don’t you mean Ivan?” he asked.
“Don’t you mean that horny-ass actor?” Mick asked.
“He knew what he was doing,” Irene said. “He knew if he got fresh enough with that wife of yours that you’d go to New York. He lured you to New York because he knew you’d defend your wife’s honor. You fell right into his trap.”
“Bullshit,” said Joey. “How would he know how Pop felt about Ma?”
“Because I told him, fool,” Irene said. “They were supposed to take Uri to the hospital after you did what you did to him,” she said to Mick, “but he didn’t go to any hospital. He got on his own plane and flew
right here to Philly. Might have even beat you here. And he ordered them to take Teddy, because I told them he was your favorite. Him and Gloria. But I knew Teddy was more valuable to you.”
Mick was pissed by her analysis. He loved all of his children and he was damned tired of people deciding that he had this favorite or that one. He loved them all.
“Why Teddy?” Mick asked. “What does he want with Teddy?”
“Bargaining chip,” said Irene. “Roz Graham would have been perfect, but she’s an actress. They snatch her and it would be too high profile. Teddy was the next best thing, since he’s the one, after Roz, that you love the most.”
Joey looked at his father. Mick never felt any need to correct anybody. He never gave a fuck. But he knew Joey’s sensibilities. He corrected her. “I love all my children equally,” he said.
Joey nodded. He didn’t believe it, but he wished it was so.
“And what about Nikki?” Mick asked. “What happened to Nikki?”
Joey wanted to roll his eyes. Why was he always so worried about her?
“Victim of circumstances,” Irene said.
When Mick heard the word victim, his heart sank. “What do you mean?” he asked her.
“We only took Teddy’s girlfriend because she showed up at the house just as they were taking Teddy. That’s what I mean.”
Mick exhaled. If anything happened to Nikki, he knew it would devastate Teddy. “Where’s Uri now?” he asked Irene.
“Right here,” a voice said, and Mick and Joey, both startled, looked upstairs.
And at the top of the stair was Uri himself, with Teddy in front of him. He had an arm around Teddy’s neck and a gun to Teddy’s head. Two other men were also upstairs, with guns trained on Mick and Joey.
“Lay your weapons down, Mister Big Stuff,” Uri said. Then he stared at Mick, the scars of Mick’s beating still all over his battered face. “Remember me?” he asked with a smile. And then the smile disappeared. “Remember me?!” he yelled. “Lay your weapon down, motherfucker.”
Mick removed the gun from Irene‘s chin and put it on the floor. But as soon as he stood back erect, Irene slapped him. Mick, to Joey’s shock because a gun was to Teddy’s head, slapped her right back!
Irene was stunned too. She expected Mick to do as any ordinary man would do in his compromised position and let her slap him around a little. But Mick was hardly ordinary. She held the side of her face, again, and angrily looked at him. Then she looked at Uri, who was laughing. “You’re gonna let him get away with that?” she asked him.
“Who cares what he does to you?” Uri asked. “Do not get ahead of yourself. You serve a purpose just like everybody else. Nothing more.”
Then he looked at Mick. “You think I’m a fool like her, don’t you?” he asked Mick. “You think I don’t know your ass is Mafia? You’re packing as sure as I’m standing here. Get your own gun out,” he said, “and lay it down too.”
“Joey has one, too,” Irene said bitterly, and Joey looked at her. “He always carries one!”
That bitch, Joey thought. He still could not believe the level of her betrayal. A woman he was trying to love!
“You heard her,” said Uri. “Pull yours out, too, boy.” Then Uri grinned. “And I don’t mean your johnny either.” Uri’s men laughed.
Mick’s jaw tightened when they thought this shit was funny, but he pulled out his Magnum, and laid it down even as Joey was laying his weapon down too.
Then Uri, with his gun still at Teddy’s head, walked Teddy downstairs with him. His two men followed behind them, their guns still trained on the Sinatras.
“What do you want?” Mick asked as they came down.
Once they made it onto the main floor, Uri moved Teddy closer against him and pressed his gun against the side of Teddy’s head. “What do I want, you ask?” Uri said. “I want a partnership with the king of the mob. That’s what I want.”
“Pop don’t have partners,” said Joey. “And I’ll bet your ass knows it.”
“Yes, but I can kill his golden child,” said Uri. “I think that gives me a slightly different positioning.” Then he looked at Mick. “What say you, Micky? That’s what your friends call you, I presume? I would like to partner with you, on terms that favor me, of course.”
“No,” Mick said without hesitation.
Uri was surprised. “I’ll kill your son,” he said.
“Kill him,” said Mick. “Why the fuck should I care?”
Joey didn’t look at his father, although he was shocked. But Irene looked at him. “You lie!” she said. “You love Teddy!”
“I love all of my children equally,” said Mick again. “But I never said to what extent that equal love was.”
Even a roughed up Teddy had to look at his father. Mick was that convincing.
Uri looked at Irene, as if to say she might have misjudged Mick badly. But then he thought about Roz. “You came all the way to New York just because I was flirting with your wife,” he said. “If that’s not love, I don’t know what is. You love Roz Graham. I know you love her!”
“You didn’t snatch Roz Graham,” said Mick. “You snatched Teddy. Different ballgame.”
Teddy and Joey both stared at their father. For Teddy, it was all about gaging his father’s next move. For Joey, it was all about what he said, and did he really mean it.
Uri looked at Irene again. He could just kick her ass. Mick the Tick had a reputation as an ice cold killer. But she insisted he loved his family with all of his heart. When their scheme to get him to New York worked, and they were able to snatch his son while he was preoccupied helping his wife, Uri was certain Irene knew what she was talking about. But they snatched the wrong Sinatra? They snatched the wrong one?
“Then I will have to change the plan. I will have to kill your son, your other son, and then you, too,” Uri said. “And then I will take over all of your territory all by myself. Fuck a partnership. Then I will be king of the mob,” he added, with laughter.
Although it appeared Mick was staring at Uri as he made his declarations, he was actually staring at Uri’s men, and how they had their guns positioned, and how he was going to have to cause them to reposition them.
And while Mick was studying Uri’s men, Teddy was studying his father. He would take his cues from him. He and Mick both already knew that.
“And don’t underestimate me,” Uri continued as Mick and Teddy made their mental calculations. “Money can buy anything. And I have plenty of that. How do you think I became a Broadway actor? Because of my talent? Ha! What talent? I paid my way onto that stage. Just as you, once upon a time, paid Roz’s way. Before you, she was considered a mediocre, at best, actress that nobody would hire. Then you produced a play and made her its star, and suddenly she’s in demand. That’s my story too. Only I paid my own way.”
“Then why do you need to partner with Pop?” Joey asked. He realized his father and brother were sizing up the situation, too, and he needed to keep Uri talking.
“Money and power are two different things,” said Uri. “Your old man has both. I want both. And I shall get both,” he said, and suddenly everything changed.
Mick realized Uri was just about to pull that trigger and take Teddy out. Mick knew, within that split second, that he had to act and act immediately.
As Uri placed his hand on the trigger of his gun and was about to squeeze, Mick revealed the tiny J-Frame pistol he had gotten out of his airplane safe, a pistol that was already hidden in his left hand. And he pulled the trigger. He purposefully didn’t shoot Uri first, but one of his men. That caused Uri, as he had hoped, to remove his finger from the trigger for just a second in the shock of the moment, and it caused Teddy to move his body away from Uri just enough for Mick to take that shot.
Mick took that shot and caught Uri in the throat. As Mick was shooting Uri, Teddy was elbowing Uri’s second man behind Teddy, causing the second man to shoot wildly, and then Teddy turned around and knocked the man out cold. With one l
ick. Then he hurriedly picked up the man’s weapon and shot him dead too.
Uri dropped dead, joining both of his men, and Joey knelt down, stunned by it all.
And Irene, stunned too, turned to Joey: her only hope. “They forced me,” she cried to him. “They made me do it, Joey. You know I love you baby. You know I love you.”
Mick was ready to kill her lying ass, but he knew Joey had to make that call. She was Joey’s problem, and he only hoped he solved it.
But Teddy began running upstairs.
“What is it?” Mick asked.
“Nikki,” said Teddy, running, and Mick, realizing that Nikki wasn’t accounted for, grabbed his Magnum from the floor and hurried up those stairs behind his son, leaving Joey to deal with Irene.
Joey sat there, still crouched on his hindlegs, staring at her.
“You know I’ll do anything for you, baby,” she said. “I was looking out for you, sweetie, you know I was. I told you Uri was my cousin because they made me. I didn’t want to set you up. I didn’t want anything to happen to you, baby. You know that.”
“The only thing I know,” Joey said, “is that you told them I had a gun.”
Joey, who was knelt down at his gun, picked up his gun. Irene‘s heart dropped. “I know you had your suitcase packed and was trying to get out of Dodge before me and Pop walked into this ambush. You told them my father was lying when he said he didn’t give a fuck if they shot Teddy, knowing good n’ well why he said that. All I know is that you’re a liar. And I don’t like liars.”
Irene began backing up, on her ass, as Joey stood up tall.
Upstairs, Mick and Teddy were opening the doors of room after room in search of Nikki.
“Are you sure they brought her here?” Mick asked as he opened yet another door and found no one.
“I’m positive,” said Teddy. “They took me to one room, and took her to another one. But she’s up here. Nikki!” he cried out. “Nikki!”
It would take them opening several more doors and going into several more rooms before Teddy finally entered the right room. As soon as he saw his girlfriend, sitting in a chair, he ran to her. “Nikki!” he said and Mick, realizing his son was now calling out his girlfriend’s name in relief rather than in terror, ran to the room too.
Mick Sinatra: Ice Cold Love Page 8
