CHAPTER 28: Theo
So, now Link was dead and we were no closer to ending this war. In fact, all I’d done was make Vinnie mad and lose three more brothers. A great start to my time as leader of the Steel Angels. I mean, really. We knew where Vinnie lived but, after this morning, he’d either be hold up somewhere else or security was going to be tighter than a rat’s asshole.
The next thing we could expect was a full-on assault at Handle’s Bar. And no couple of dozen guys in a truck. I was imagining helicopter gunships, tanks, submarines, nuclear weapons, and all that shit. On the one hand, I was pretty certain that Vinnie would wait for backup from the other mob bosses before he hit us again, which gave us time to skin out of our clubhouse and find another abode. On the other side of the coin, once that time had passed, we were looking at being crushed under the boot heel of the biggest organized crime syndicate in the United States, if not the world. I didn’t think a change of address was going to help us stay hidden for long.
They only thing I could hope for was that we lost no more lives. I seriously doubted the mob new any of our members by name or face, except me. They were targeting vests. If we stopped wearing our vests, if we all just went our separate ways, we’d just become a shit-load of individual bikers. There would be no Steel Angels for the Mafia to be at war with. Only me, and I could just take Piper and we could disappear. I’d just have to live with being the guy who killed the Steel Angels, on my first day as the new president.
It was going to be heartbreaking but it offered the best chance for the most brothers and their families to get out with their lives. I really couldn’t wait to tell them all.
We had joined the I5, heading back towards the bar. I was playing out the announcement I would have to make in my head, almost lost in a dream, when Piper started thumping me urgently on the back.
“What is it?” I yelled back to her.
“Look!” she screamed.
I craned my neck to see what she was pointing at. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Vinnie, back in his Lamborghini, driving along right beside us in the outside lane, back just far enough to be about level with Piper. He was still grinning insanely and, when he realized I’d seen him, he made an obscene gesture with his tongue at Piper and swerved dramatically, trying to clip my back wheel with the sharp, pointed snout of his supercar. He missed, but had no trouble lining up for another try.
“Hold on!” I shouted to Piper, before changing down two gears and accelerating as fast as Frost’s bike would go.
Unfortunately for us, it became quickly obvious that a late seventies Harley was going to be no match for a new Lamborghini. That car could move. I saw my speedo creep past one hundred miles per hour but Vinnie was barely having to try, and was easily able to match our speed. There wasn’t even any traffic I could weave through to try and lose him that way. I needed to come up with a new plan.
He swerved again, this time bumping the back of the bike. The handlebars shook violently in my hands but the heavy bike managed to remain mostly stable. Piper was screaming and swearing over my shoulder as Vinnie swerved to hit us one more time. He hit us so hard this time, he almost took the bike out from under me. I gassed the Harley again and was able to power through the wobble, but enough was enough. I had to do something to save us before Vinnie crushed us under his wheels.
I hit the brakes hard, this time causing the car to swerve in front of us. I took my hand off the throttle and pulled my SIG out. I fired six shots at the back of Vinnie’s car. At least one bullet hit the fat rear tire and it exploded into a mess of sticky black pieces of rubber. The car swerved again, this time out of Vinnie’s control, the backend veering wildly as he fought to keep it straight. The machine began to spin, turning side on to us, and I got a glimpse of Vinnie’s face as it careered off the road. I smiled to myself because, for once, he actually looked scared.
The big Lamborghini slid onto the grass verge that lined the highway. I watched it tear across the scrub, cutting great swathes through the scenery, throwing up mud and plant life as it ploughed off the road. It kept spinning, not seeming to slow down at all until, suddenly and brutally, it slammed nose first into a tree.
“YES!” I heard Piper scream as we slowed to a stop, just off the side of the road. Smoke drifted back towards us from the stricken vehicle, and we could see no sign of life. “Is it over?” she almost pleaded. I wasn’t certain if she was asking me or the heavens above. I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want to say it was over and be wrong.
There were still no other cars around, but it was getting lighter every minute and the chances of a good Samaritan spotting the wreck and calling an ambulance were getting higher all the time.
“We’ve got to go and check,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess we do,” Piper confirmed. Only, neither of us wanted to get off the bike and go down there.
“Come on,” I said at last. “Even if he’s not dead, I can put a bullet in his head and we’ll be free.”
Piper smiled at that last word and swung her leg over the bike to dismount. I followed, and we started walking the fifty yards or so to the busted supercar. The was still no movement, but the smell of tortured rubber, gasoline, and smoke grew stronger with every step we took.
Eventually reaching the car, I could see the windshield was cracked but not smashed. The front of the car was wrapped pretty good around the tree it had hit, mangling and buckling the metal until it was almost unrecognizable. He must have still been doing nearly a hundred miles per hour when he hit. Smoke plumed out of the engine bay behind the cockpit but, inside, the figure of Vinnie lay still, slumped forward over the steering wheel.
“He looks dead,” Piper said, evenly.
“I think we owe it to ourselves to be sure.” I looked seriously at her.
I edged closer to the driver’s door and tried the handle. It was unlocked, and I was able to open it far enough to gain access to the cabin.
“Fuck, Theo, be careful!” Piper nearly wailed. I could tell the suspense was killing her. Me too, if I was honest.
I pulled out my SIG again but Vinnie still just lay there. His arms were dangling uselessly down from his shoulders and his head lay against the steering wheel. I could see blood, some of it old and dried, from the gunfight back at the ranch, some of it fresh from him, right now. I guessed he must have just jumped into a shirt, pants, and shoes and come after us. Crazy motherfucker.
I leaned in closer, reaching down to try and find his pulse. I really didn’t enjoy being this close to him. Blood was leaking down from a wound on his head that I couldn’t see, staining the jacket and pants of the white linen suit he was wearing. I put my left hand on his wrist, holding my gun on him with the other. I slid my fingers along, looking for a heartbeat.
In a flash, Vinnie’s arm broke from my grip. So fast I couldn’t see, he wrapped his hand around my gun and pushed it away from him as I fired. Sparks flew from the bullet hitting the chassis of the car and Piper screamed in surprise.
His face jerked towards me. He still wore that crazed rictus grin and I had time to see that the blood was running from one cut he had on the bridge of his nose and another on his lip, before he lunged at me aggressively, slamming his forehead into my face.
***
My vision blurred and all I could hear was a sharp blast of white noise for a second or two, while I fell back. I felt Vinnie twist the SIG out of my hand as I fell and my eye’s refocused in time to see him step out the wrecked car and punch Piper sharply in the face. She fell too. I tried to move my body to catch her but it wasn’t responding. For a long moment, I couldn’t get my arms or legs to do anything I wanted. All I could do was watch as Vinnie casually tossed my gun away and kicked me in the chest. I felt a sharp pain in my ribs. I was sure at least one was cracked now. Then I saw him wind up again and kick me in the face this time. I could already taste blood from my nose but now I felt it trickle into my mouth from a burning hole on my lips.
I just needed a second. A moment to collect myself, breathe, and devise a new plan of attack. Vinnie was bigger than me, sure, and more powerful. Plus, he didn’t seem to care much about pain but I had always been pretty confident that I could take him, if I had to. All I needed to do was dance around him, keep him off balance, and get him down on the ground. Only, I was finding it tough to get up and start fighting him. He was keeping me down and I was getting pummeled to death as I tried to stand.
He’d got behind me and I felt another stinging sensation as he grabbed a fistful of my hair, lifted my head back. He curled his bicep under my chin but, somehow, I was able to slip my forearm between him and my neck, just about preventing him from finishing his chokehold or trying to break my neck. Thank fuck for that. He kept his grip, though, and lifted me up to standing. I tried elbowing him in the stomach, the ribs, and kicking back to scrape his shin, but I just couldn’t get the leverage to really hurt him. I was running out of options. Ignoring my feeble attacks, he walked me to the back of the wreck, right around until I was staring at the engine mounted under its transparent hood and was facing the low, rear lights.
Using all of his bodyweight, he smashed my head against the back of the car once, leaving my head went fuzzy again. He quickly repeated his assault, and everything in my world went black.