CHAPTER 27: Piper
I should have been scared, sickened, appalled even, by the slaughter at the bar. But the whole time, even as Theo was firing off round after round into the attacking group, All I was wishing for was to see Vinnie dead among them.
That man had destroyed lives, terrified and tortured me, and done any number of other horrible things that I’d probably never know anything about but, most of all, I realized, he’d made me meaner. I was never above using violence to fix things, especially if someone was hurting me or someone I cared about, but I cared about life. I could never have watched dozens of men get mown down before, not without caring. Now, to me, they were just bad guys and I was cheering for us, for the good guys. Hell, as soon as Marco was in danger, I was there, shooting away at random guys that were threatening a friend of mine.
I was grateful, though, when Theo told me I hadn’t actually shot anyone. I didn’t feel quite ready for that, unless I had no other choice.
I didn’t know Theo was such a badass, though. He didn’t come across as a killer. Just from what he’d shown me and from what I’d seen, I knew he had fought before, maybe even killed, but it was different to actually see it. I should have been afraid of him. Instead, I felt safe with him. He was killing for us, for me. And, instead of thinking it was bad, I was urging him on. We were on the side of the righteous, after all.
But I couldn’t go into the killing ground. I wasn’t ready for that, I wasn’t that far gone, yet. The bikers were sorting through the bodies, like soldiers mopping up after a battle. You never see that in the movies, the aftermath. The hero walks away, usually with the girl, leaving death and destruction behind him. You never see the poor souls who have to come in clean up the mess, wipe up the blood, and pick up the dead. Yet, here we were. Every so often, a single gunshot would go off, frying my nerves and announcing that another mobster had been found alive, then taken care of.
Theo scouted through the bodies but finally had to admit to me that Vinnie was not among them. Icy fingers crawled up my spine and, suddenly, I felt eyes watching me. I spun my head around, behind me, off towards the woods either side of me, but I saw nothing. I still felt like he was here, watching me, laughing and about to appear behind me. I shivered. This had to end.
***
In pretty short order, the truck was pulled out of the bar and the dead bodies loaded in the back. A couple of bikers escorted it away on a pair of the bikes that weren’t trashed. Theo told me they were just going to drop it into a canyon about twenty miles from here. He said it could be years before anyone found it.
The bar was pretty wrecked, though, with a big hole was punched through the front wall. A lot of the guys were really broken up by their damaged bikes but, Link told me, they could mostly be fixed, as could the bar.
“At least most of the booze survived,” he smiled at me.
Theo called Link and Marco into the cabin. It was dark outside now, but the normal party atmosphere and thumping soundtrack I associated with this place was missing. It was worryingly quiet. Marco handed a beer to each of us. I nearly finished mine in one long pull. I hadn’t even felt thirsty until I’d put the bottle to my lips.
“Better now?” Theo teased me. I just flipped him off and finished my drink.
“He’s not going to stop,” I announced. The guys looked at me. “Vinnie. He wasn’t here today. Now, though, it’s not Theo and I he’s gunning for, it’s the whole gang.”
“She’s right,” said Theo, putting his hand on my knee but speaking to the others. “And it looks like we’ve done enough damage to piss the rest of the mob off. This massacre is going to get back to the bosses in New York.”
“Maybe now,” began Link “they’ll think twice before coming up here shooting.”
“Maybe, but Vinnie won’t,” I told him.
“If he has the support of the other families, they’ll level this place and then go after your families,” said Theo, making the other two look uneasy in their chairs. “If he doesn’t, he’ll go rogue, killing off Angels one at a time until he’s stopped or we’re all dead.”
“So, you’re saying we need to go and hit him first,” said Marco, finishing his beer. Theo nodded.
“How, dog?” whined Link. “We don’t even know where he’s hold up.”
The room went quiet. No one was looking at anyone else, until I turned to Theo. “GPS,” I said.
“What?”
“Those high-end Mercs and that Caddy must have GPS,” I announced, happily. “If you guys haven’t totally blasted at least one of them to bits, what are the chances the GPS has its history recorded? Hell, it might even have Vinnie’s address saved as ‘home’!”
Well, Goddamn!” smiled Marco.
“You guys should drive a car once in a while,” I laughed.
We hurried back outside and we’re in luck to find the second Mercedes barely had a scratch on it. It had keyless ignition but the key was safely sitting in the cup holder. I sat in the passenger seat while Theo turned the car on and looked through the computer. Sure enough, ‘home’ was set to an expensive place in Calabasas. I’d heard Vinnie mention the town before, so that had to be it.
“Okay,” said Theo, a purposefulness returning to his voice for the first time since the battle, “Marco, I need you to organize shit here. Link, you, me and two enforcers are going to whack this asshole.”
“And don’t forget me,” I told him. Marco and Link looked awkwardly at one another, then slid out from the back seat they’d been occupying.
“Seriously?” Theo said to me.
“Seriously what?”
“I can’t do this hit if I’m worrying about you the whole time.”
“Whereas I can stay here and worry about you?” I was raising my voice, mad that he thought he could just go off and leave me. “You want me to just wait here until I find out about you being killed when Vinnie pops up and puts a knife to my throat?”
He was quiet for a long moment. My anger faded as quickly as it had flared up. He looked so sweet, so lost when I shouted at him. I had a feeling I was never going to win an argument with him, he was just too damn sexy.
“You’re right,” he conceded softly. “But you can be driver only. We go in to take care of him, you stay in the car, got it?” I saluted my obedience. He leaned over and kissed me on the lips, long and soft. “You’re amazing, lady. I love you so much, I could never let a shit like Vinnie take me away from you.”
I felt a small thrill in my heart, because I knew he meant it. I could barely believe that after so many years of men I couldn’t care less about, I had met one who would do anything for me and that I could not get enough of. I felt like I’d won the jackpot lotto every time I looked at him. Now, we just had to remove this last obstacle to our freedom and happiness. Just one more thing, it felt like there was always just one more thing.
***
Breaker, a middle-aged white guy with a square jaw, a short, military-style haircut, and hard, sinewy muscles under his leathery skin, and Big Al, another Caucasian who was nearly as big as Tiny, but owed far more to fat than muscle, joined Link, Theo, and I on this little day trip. We loaded rifles and shotguns into the trunk of the Mercedes and left the bar as it was heading towards midnight. The rebuilding work seemed to have been put on hold until tomorrow, as beers were being opened and meat put on the grill. Music was playing, too, as we rolled down the hill to the highway.
I drove the Mercedes, partly because I’d always fantasized about owning one of these, but mainly because the guys insisted they took their bikes. Theo was able to ride Frost’s old Harley, as the guys had been able to repair it before the fight had begun, in the little workshop they had out back.
The idea was to take different routes into LA and attract less attention. The chances, according to Link, of a random mob hit on Steel Angels patch wearers were considerably reduced after we took out the bulk of their foot soldiers this afternoon, but Theo had everyone take off their vests anyway, with assurances not to tell Tiny and not get thrown into the pit.
We met up at in the parking lot of a closed plastic surgeon’s office about three miles east of the Calabasas Park Estates. This was the Kardashian’s stomping ground, after all. The guys parked their bikes in a row and everyone squeezed into the car with me. It took a few minutes to reach the community but, with the blacked out windows of the Mercedes showing nothing in the night’s darkness, and the rent-a-cop in the gatehouse clearly shit-scared of the mob, the gates opened up easily for us without me even having to stop.
Vinnie’s place was way over the back of the estate, in a little world all of its own. Long after the regular million dollar listings had stopped lining the road, the ranch came into view. I parked up on top of the hill, looking down over the property, and we sat and watched.
Looking down the hill and around the bend, we could see another gate, this one with wise guys guarding it. From there, the road snaked around to the left and down to the house. It was too dark to make out much, but the main house was lit up with soft amber lights and we could see a pair of guys circling it every fifteen minutes. The main house had another apartment attached to the side, probably for guards, with a walkway that crossed the drive as it continued out towards the back. Theo, though, was sure Vinnie would be in the main building. Most likely in a room on the second floor that faced out away from the city. I could see the dark outline of the Santa Monica mountains in the distance. It was probably quite a view in the daylight.
Link was ready to go now. “Come on, dog,” he hissed, let’s do this motherfucker!”
“Wait,” ordered Theo. “The sun will be coming up in a couple of hours. We can see a little better at dawn and those guards will be even more tired.”
***
A dull gray light began gently filtering over the city behind us. It was the time, just as day broke, when the world was at its coolest, its quietest, and it felt like every living thing in the world was asleep, except for us. It’s also the time most people die in their sleep, I thought to myself, smiling at the thought of Vinnie being dead soon.
The boys got out of the car, and I drove it down to the gate. My heart was in my mouth and my palms were wet as I crept down towards the waiting guards. I held my Glock between my legs, so it couldn’t be seen but I could grab it quickly if I needed to, just like Theo had told me to. He also said that I shouldn’t worry. He said they’d take care of everything, they just needed a distraction.
I killed the lights as I pulled up to the gate, just like the sign in front of me said. One side opened and a late thirties guy with very short, black hair stepped out. I spotted his buddy by the closed side, holding a machine gun low, but ready. Smile as always, I told myself, guys find it harder to shoot pretty girls if they’re smiling…
The mobster carefully walked around the car, unable to make out who was inside. I was thankful this was one of their cars, and it didn’t look too suspicious rolling up here at daybreak. He got to the driver’s side and tapped lightly on the window. I lowered the window and watched his face change as he saw a girl where he expected to see another mafia man.
“Hiya, doll face,” I beamed at him, as Breaker popped up behind him and shot the guard still behind the gate three times with a silenced pistol. Big Al, with surprising speed for a guy his size, ran up behind the first mobster and wrapped two tree-trunk-like arms around his head, gave a quick twist and broke his neck.
Theo and Link appeared on the other side of the car and ducked inside the gate, checking for more guards. An instantly later, they opened it up properly and we were in.
One of the big selling points of these expensive Mercedes, that I’d heard about, was how quiet they are, despite their enormous engines. Especially at walking pace, the car was almost silent as we crept along the smooth tarmac driveway that led down to the ranch. Inside the car, it was just as peaceful. No one said a word, which helped me to focus on following the dark driveway with no lights on. In fact, we all kept our eyes peeled, praying we wouldn’t bump into any surprises.
We came to a fork in the road. To the right, it went to what looked like low farm buildings, probably a stable, a barn, a feed store, and so on. To the left, there was a sea of bright lights and the main house. Theo had me head towards the stables and park up, after turning the car around for a quick getaway. The other three guys got out and went to the trunk, gabbing weapons for themselves and Theo.
“Promise me you’ll stay here?” he whispered. “No matter what?”
“Promise me you’ll come back?” I whispered back. “No matter what.”
He gave me a half smile and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his head, holding his lips to mine, deepening our kiss. I had a bad feeling, all of a sudden. I knew we had to take out Vinnie, but it just felt like this was too easy.
“I lo…”
“Don’t say it,” I interrupted, putting my fingers against his lips. “Not this time. Just be careful. And finish the sentence when you come back.”
He smiled again and got out, leaving me alone in the car. I watched them cross the grass, disappearing into the darkness of the trees.
After everything we’d been through, was it really going to be this simple? Sneak in, shoot Vinnie, get out and live happily ever after? It didn’t seem possible.
The suspense was almost too much to bear. My palms were still wet. My stomach was in knots. How long was I supposed to wait here? How long does it take to break into a mansion and kill someone? If they weren’t back in five minutes, was I supposed to leave? To come get them? Would I even know they’d failed until I was surrounded, my new Merc being riddled with bullet holes? I started to shake and panic. They could all be dead already and I’d have no idea.
Fuck! Theo needed me to be stronger than this. I couldn’t insist he bring me here and then fall apart. I slapped myself in the face and tried to control my breathing. Deep and slow, in and out. I began to feel better. At the very least, I told myself, if they were caught I would hear gunfire. It wasn’t a pleasant thought but it helped to remove a variable. It made me worry more about Theo, but I reassured myself by remembering all the ways I’d seen him take care of himself, or take care of me. He looked like he knew what he was doing.
I thought I heard something. Another thing I remembered about these cars was they almost soundproof inside. I rolled down the window and my heart rate doubled. I could hear gunfire from inside the house. I took a second to try and figure out what I should do but, in the end, it didn’t matter. I didn’t want to be without Theo, especially with Vinnie still chasing me, so I didn’t see how I had a choice. I got out of the car and stole along the route I’d seen them take earlier. I had my Glock in my hand, ready to shoot the first person I saw that wasn’t wearing dressed like a biker.
I moved around the bushes and the tree that hid the house from my parking spot and stumbled over something. Looking closer, in the half-light that was filling the valley, I discovered it was a mobster and he was dead. I freaked a little, never having touched a body before, but pulled myself together and turned back towards the house.
I fought to get my breathing back under control and to stop my heart trying to hammer its way out of my chest. I was going to be no help at all if my gun hand shook like a teenage boy having his first kiss. I looked up at the huge house in front of me. It was white with a dark gray sloping roof on top and covering the enormous porch. There was a large red door under an enormous entryway, which was open. That must have been how the boys got in. The outside of the house was illuminated by warm yellow lights outside, but the windows were still black inside. Black, except for random flashes of light on the top floor, each accompanied by a muffled banging. The noisy light show looked to consist of mostly fast, flashing shots from the windows to the left, and big, explosive blasts from the ones to the right. To me, this meant that the mobsters were all over the left of the building because the Steel Angels were using shotguns and didn’t have any automatic weapons. I took a deep breath, held up my gun and made for the open front door.
I reached out to push it but it disappeared from in front of me. I took a step back in surprise, to be faced with two men coming out. Quick as I could, I raised my gun again, pointing it dead center of whoever was in front of me. I looked beyond the muzzle and there was Theo, pointing his own gun at me.
“Easy!” he shouted before I could shoot him. “It’s us!”
“Oh my God!” I cried, seeing all the blood that covered them. Theo was propping up Link by holding his arm over his shoulder, trying to walk and carry him at the same time. Link was conscious but he didn’t seem to have much strength.
“Quick!” yelled Theo. “Help me!”
I rushed up to them and wedged myself under Link’s other arm, taking some of his wait and helping him move. We tried to run but could only really manage an aggressive stumble back towards the Mercedes.
“Where are Breaker and Big Al?” I asked urgently.
“They’re not coming,” he told, regret in his voice. “I told you to wait in the car.”
“No, you didn’t,” I shouted back, “you told me to promise you I’d wait in the car. I did. Then I broke my promise!”
“She got a point, dog,” muttered Link.
“Oh, shut the fuck up, both of you!” snapped Theo.
A gunshot rang out behind us and I felt it hit, like someone smacking us with a two by four. All three of us went down. Link, yelling in pain, turned into dead weight almost on top of Theo, while I was rolled over by the momentum. I ended up looking back at the house, back at the front door. And then I saw Vinnie, no more than twenty yards away, pointing a revolver at me.
“Guess you’re not dead after all, beautiful,” he growled. “Let’s see what we can do about that.”
Time seemed to slow to a crawl, as I stared dumbly into his eyes. They looked crazy, filled with glee and he was smiling broadly. He was naked, save for a bandage wrapped around his thigh, and hard. I should have moved, shot at him, done anything but sit and stare. It was horrific. As he took another step into the light, I realized he was splashed with dark blood over most of his body. The orange lights of the courtyard shone back at me like fire from his wild eyes as he blew me a kiss and pulled the trigger.
There was a click. He kept smiling and tried again but it looked like his gun was empty. I came to myself and raised my own gun. This was my chance. I could end it all myself. Vinnie stood still, that maniacal smile still on his face, until I fired. I unloaded everything, pulling the trigger again and again, willing him to just go down, but I couldn’t seem to hit him. My first shot was wide but, as I kept firing, he ran back through the open door. I swear I could hear him laughing as he disappeared around the corner.
“Fuck!” I screamed, hurling my empty Glock at the door. “Fuck, fuck, FUCK!” I was so close; I should have had him. I was furious at myself, furious at that asshole for not dying. It felt like this nightmare would never end.
“Little help!” called Theo from under Link. I snapped back into the moment and went to help sit Link back up.
“Is he still alive?” Theo yelled as he pushed Link off him. I checked for a pulse.
“I’m still here, dog,” Link managed, winking at me as he startled me. We got him standing again and ran him back to the car as fast as we could.
I helped Theo bundle Link onto the back seat. He followed him inside while I ran around to the driver’s seat. I realized I was covered in blood now, too.
With Theo shouting at me to go, I started the car and slammed my foot to the floor. The big tires launched us up the road fast, squealing slightly as the steering wheel twisted in my hands.
I took a breath, feeling like we’d made it, when the rear window exploded behind me. The noise terrified me and I nearly steered us into the wall that lined the driveway, but I got it back under control. Theo fired a couple of shots out of the empty hole, then ducked down to reload his gun.
“Are you hurt?” he called to me.
“No, I’m fine,” I told him as I steered the big car through the open gate. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not hit,” he told me, “I wish I could say the same for Link.”
“I’ll be okay, dog, don’t worry about me.” Link murmured weakly.
“Sure you will, brother, all you need is a good shot of tequila.” Theo comforted him. I looked at Theo in the rear view mirror. He saw my eyes and gave me a tiny shake of his head. I felt the tears well up in my eyes. “Ease off, the gate should open automatically to let us out.”
It did, though terrifyingly slowly. I felt like we would have bright lights behind us any second, along with the sound of gunshots and revving engines. We got through, though and I accelerated back towards where we’d left the bikes.
“Did you get him, at least?” Theo asked me. “Was all this sacrifice worth it? Is it over?”
“I had him dead in front of me and I fired everything I had. I just couldn’t seem to hit him!” I sobbed. “It was like he was invincible.”
“Oh man, si,” wheezed Link, “that hombre is el Diablo! We were checking the rooms on the top floor, me and Breaker, and I open the door and it's him. He’s banging this young ho, like he doesn’t even sleep. Breaker opens fire, and the motherfucker just spun the girl at him and she takes the bullets. Meantime he’s grabbed a piece. Guns down Breaker, tags me. The whole place goes wild and Theo grabs me to get me out.”
“I’m sorry we missed him, Piper. There were just too many of them once the shooting started.” I could see the frustration that was hunching Theo’s tense shoulders in my mirror. I couldn’t stop the tears running down my cheek. More lives lost and Vinnie was still coming. “Big Al took a shotgun blast to the stomach. He knew he was dead, so he stayed to cover our retreat. We owe him our lives.”
“So how did Vinnie get past him?” I wondered aloud. The experience was so surreal now, I was beginning to think I’d imagined it, that I’d emptied my pistol at a phantom.
“Back staircase, I guess,” said Theo. I felt a touch of relief that I probably wasn’t actually getting any crazier.
I saw the doctor’s offices and pulled up beside the bikes. It was still early enough that there was no traffic around but that was going to change in an hour or two, and then we wouldn’t get far in a blood-covered Mercedes with no back window.
The sun was just beginning to warm the world with its delicate early rays as I shut off the engine. I suddenly realized how tired I was. Apart from a few sex-induced catnaps in Frost’s cabin, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept. As everything went quiet, my levels adrenaline dipped and the temptation to just lay down was really strong. My eyelids drooped and my breathing slowed, until I was sharply brought back with a wet cough from Link.
“It’s okay, brother, just hold on,” whispered Theo. He couldn’t keep the desperation out of his voice. First Frost, then Link, within twenty-four hours. I got out the front and hurried around to open the door behind Theo. There was enough room for me to squeeze in beside him, so I pushed my way up there and took hold of Link’s hand. “We’re going to get you all fixed up, don’t you worry.”
“I know, dog,” Link smiled. I could see a bloody hole in his chest, like the bullet had exploded its way out through his lung when he’d been shot in the back by Vinnie. He had another entry wound in his hip, which was most likely where Vinnie had got him first time, and I couldn’t understand how he’d managed to walk anywhere, even leaning on us. “It’s going to be okay, boss,” he hissed, “you’re going to do fine. Just get her away, somewhere safe. Go now.”
“We can’t leave you here,” I cried, trying to keep myself from sobbing.
“You’re going to have to,” he breathed, and for the second time in a day, I saw the light of life leave someone’s eyes.
I couldn’t do this anymore. I needed to just stay here and weep, let the tears fall, mourn the deaths of all these people fighting because Theo and I fell in love. But, according to Theo, there wasn’t time.
“Piper, come on, baby,” he said, softly but urgently. “We have to go.”
I let him drag me out of the car. Already, two trucks had driven past. Soon, we’d be attracting a crowd. Theo fired up Frost’s bike and I swung my leg over the back of it, turning to take one last look at the mess we’d left behind. All I could see was blood as we pulled away. Blood left behind, spilled by Vinnie, a psychopathic criminal obsessed with owning me and, now, killing me, the man I was in love with, and everyone we cared about. Everything we’d tried so far to end this situation had failed. It was obvious now that there was no way we could afford to fail again.