Tommy
We knew Leo Denarda was gonna be coming. We were prepared.
One of his men had agreed to help with the promise of support of his taking over Denarda’s role once the fuckhead was taken out. That man was the rest of that organization’s choice to take over.
The guy had been like a son to the uncle, but Leo was blood-family so it’d been a problem in the Denarda organization. It was a small organization but one nonetheless and they owned some big construction contracts in Nevada and had some strong ties with politicians as well as had pull in the bookie business.
The organization was worried Leo being at the helm would fuck that all up. And he’d already taken away from their livelihood because they never got the Fete build, but the guy we’d brought over to our side was going to be in a solid position for his power play after Denarda was out of the picture. And he’d benefit from being a subcontractor in Nevada for the Ferrano Enterprises construction arm.
He’d let a mutual acquaintance know that he was very unhappy with the state of play and we used that to our advantage. Someone on the other side had been there when Leo Denarda got Ben’s invite to the Fete launch.
It’d been delivered only two days before but we’d made it look like a courier problem that had delayed it. The envelope was beat up, there was a fake waybill attached that was backdated if Denarda tried looking it up online. Leo might be suspicious but he could come without losing face, which would be perceived as important to a guy who thought he had any face in Nevada or anywhere else.
I saw the look on his ugly mug when he spotted my sister. He’d tried to hide his surprise but I saw the smug look die on his face. And he’d given her a chin jerk like they’d been old hook-up buddies or something. The smug bastard hadn’t flinched through that part. Either he wasn’t surprised that I’d gotten her back, someone had gotten that news to him (which would be really fucking bad but I doubted it), or he didn’t give a fuck and thought he was untouchable.
Or, he had what he believed would be another ace up his sleeve.
We’d had Ben increase security, add another layer of vetting through Hal, Zack Jacobs’ man for staff for the opening, and there were cameras everywhere. If something went wrong, we’d be able to pinpoint how it had happened. I’d not only had a GPS in my wife’s engagement ring, but we’d had Tess wear a watch that had a GPS as well.
We also had Leo’s limo driver being switched out for one of ours. He wouldn’t be going back home tonight. His two bodyguards, who I’d just had a text stating were directly outside the bar giving death-ray eyes to my other guards, would be put out of commission, too.
I was uncomfortable with how long the girls were taking to come back so I looked over my shoulder at Dex. I could see him standing outside the employee bathroom. I touched my index finger to my wrist and jerked my thumb toward the door.
I looked back in Denarda’s direction and caught a look on his face that set my teeth on edge. He put his drink down, grabbed his date’s hand and they moved quickly out of the room. Too quickly. Nino didn’t wait for my ‘go’, he immediately moved to follow.
I sipped my drink. My phone rang with a blocked number. I rejected the call and looked over my shoulder toward Dex.
I didn’t like that I couldn’t see the girls so I jerked my chin at him and said, “Now.”
Dex knocked on the door to the washroom but at that second, the lights flickered as the room shook with a vibration that hit me in the depths of my gut. The bar area, to the left of me and not far from the alcove that led to that ladies’ room where my wife and sister were, it exploded. Something scraped my face and temporarily disoriented me.
I saw an orange flash that accompanied the deafening sound of glass smashing, wood splintering, and people screaming. Screaming filled the crowded space.
The now darkened space was filled with smoke. I immediately moved toward where I knew Tia and Tess were and before I got too far, moving through people and wrecked furniture and falling down ceiling and light fixtures, there was a second explosion. It was happening over by the entrance to the bar, where we’d come in.
As the sound of that explosion and debris crashing around me pierced the air, I’d gone to the floor, turtling. When I rose, pieces of wall and ceiling or whatever falling all over me, there was coughing and screaming. Dust and smoke in the air was filling my lungs.
I glanced behind me and saw flames by that doorway. My eyes started to burn, but I had a single-minded goal. Get to Tia and Tess.
Leo Denarda deserved more credit than he’d been getting. Priority one: my wife and sister. Priority two: make Denarda pay. Fuck, I hoped that Nino and our other guys had managed to get away from that doorway in time and that our guy had him in the limo.
I moved through people and debris, smoke clogging my lungs but determined to get to the girls. It was all I could think about. I felt for my phone in my tux jacket pocket and squinted through feeling half blind to use the phone’s flashlight to light the way.
I could see people who were hurt and some who weren’t moving among the debris. The bar was half blown apart, some pieces of ceiling were down and there was stuff coming through from the floor above the bar. The alcove that led to the restrooms had people and furniture and other shit blocking it. I carefully moved through it.
“Can you help me? I think my leg’s broken,” a small female voice asked. I saw the black and white cocktail waitress uniform of one of Ben’s servers.
“I’ll get help. I have to get to my pregnant wife in the bathroom. One sec.” I started coughing, eyes still burning, mouth filled with dust, throat itching like fuck, but I kept moving forward. She was talking to me as I moved, sounding in pain but still talking. I had no idea what she was saying because my wife and sister were all I could think of.
I heard more voices and saw spotlights from people’s phones coming through the dust and debris from multiple directions. The dust was settling a little bit but that fire by the door was spreading. People coughed, I heard weeping, both male and female. My cheek was wet, cut or something, but I was otherwise okay.
I fucking prayed that the girls were all right.
I walked right into Dex and he grunted. He was half slumped against the wall and half against the bathroom under a collapsed bunch of shit, including a beam. He opened his eyes a little, “Someone got her, Tommy. Can’t…”
My heart stopped.
“Who? Fucking who?”
“Tia. Guy got her, climbed over me, was gonna shoot me, I played dead. He got her and went that way,” He pointed deeper into the alcove, “I tried but I couldn’t get up. Tried to c-call”
His cell phone was on the floor beside him. He coughed and winced. Dex looked rough. Worse than rough. His playing dead must’ve been convincing.
“Tess?”
“Didn’t see her come out.”
I kicked shit out of the way that was partly blocking the door and pushed my way in. The bathroom was dark.
“Athena! Tess!”
“Tommy!”
That was my sister. I panned the light through the space until I found her. She was on the ground. She got up, holding her face.
“A guy came in here and dragged her out in the middle of that. What happened? A fire? An explosion?” She was coughing and she was suddenly in front of me.
“He pistol whipped me.”
“Fuck!” I grabbed her hand and checked her cheek. With my phone’s flashlight I could see it was bruised but she looked okay otherwise.
It was clearer in here but my eyes and lungs were still burning. I fumbled with the phone and found the app with Tia’s GPS from her engagement ring. She was not far. She was showing as right with me.
“One sec, Tess. One sec.” I shoved out of the room. Tess moved with me and crouched by Dex, who was trying, feebly, to get up but he was half buried under shit that had fallen on him. Further into the alcove was a supply closet.
“Stay here, Tessa. Tia!”
I heard my girl scream. The supply closet.
This part of the alcove was dark but unhindered so I grabbed the knob. Locked. I slammed my shoulder against it, while drawing my gun from my lower back holster.
“Tia!”
“Tom-mf!” I heard but the end syllable of my name was muffled. Someone fucking had her in that closet.
I slammed my shoulder against the door again and it gave. I got in. A guy, my age, in a waiter’s uniform, who I didn’t know… he had a gun to her head and was using her as a shield.
Seeing a gun against her head again, a-fucking-gain? It took me right back to that moment with my Pop. Her eyes were huge and on me. This little fucker had to fucking die and after he was dead, Leo Denarda would die a very slow and extremely painful death.
“I’ll kill her! I’ll do it, Ferrano. Back the fuck off.” The guy was wild-eyed.
My gun was pointed at him. His was pointed at her.
“Who the fuck are you?” I demanded, holding my gun steady.
“Leo hired me to nab her. I got no beef. It’s just a fuckin’ job.
Buddy, we gotta get the fuck outta here, though. The bomb!”
“You detonate the bomb?”
“Fuck no. I’m in here, cornered. Why the fuck would I do that? Move. I gotta get outta here. Lower your gun or I shoot her and then shoot you before we blow the fuck up!”
“Give her to me and you can go. I give no fucks.”
“Bullshit. I know who you are, man!”
“I don’t give a fuck who you are. Give me my wife and fuckin’ go.”
Tia looked frightened out of her mind.
“Baby, it’s okay.” I told her, “Buddy, you hired to take me out?”
“No. Just to grab her. There’s a third explosion coming. I don’t have much time. I gotta---” He looked at his watch.
“Third?”
“There were two in quick succession planned and then I have ten minutes to get out. It’s been at least three, four minutes. I saw you---”
“Leo’s in my hands already so there will be no blowback for you not grabbing my wife. Get the fuck outta here.”
I didn’t let the gun go but lowered it a little and watched him. I was good at the quick draw. I hated lowering the gun, putting her at any risk whatsoever but we were at a stalemate. The guy looked freaked. He was not a pro and he was flipped out. His plan had obviously gone south if he’d grabbed her in the bathroom before a bomb blocked his way out with her. The supply closet had no windows. If I recalled correctly, there was a set of restrooms on the other side of this large c-shaped bar and that side probably had a fire exit.
“Shit is south. Everything is fucked!”
“Help me out and I’ll take care of you,” I assured him. I looked him right in the eye. “Give it all to me, I’ll take care of you. Leo’s in my guy’s hands so you’re good. I get that it’s just a job. Turn this thing around now, man, this is your only chance.”
The guy looked at me a beat and then looked visibly relieved, “Didn’t know about this washroom. There’s a fuckin’ exit beside that other one on the other side of the bar. Someone fucked up. Figured she’d go there. Eyes were on her. As soon as she went to the ladies room, bitches always do that, head to the washroom in groups. She goes, Leo leaves. Bomb one. Then bomb two blocking the door into that bar so first responders have trouble getting in and maybe it takes out you and his other enemies. Bomb three happens ten minutes after, giving me that ten to get her out and to Leo before number three. If I can’t get her out, I’m to bail before ten minutes. But she’s on the wrong side and this closet wasn’t a fuckin’ exit!”
“Any mention of my sister?”
“Your sister. No. Was that the rangy chick in the bathroom with her?”
“Let’s find our way out of here. Who’s detonating bomb three and from where?”
“I dunno; only know we’re runnin’ outta time!”
“Let’s go, man.” I waved toward the door and reached for Tia’s hand. He’d had his arm hooked around her neck. He instantly let go of her and she grabbed me and we went to move out. I turned around and shot the fucker in the face.
Tia screamed as he dropped.
“Shh,” I pulled her with me back out into the alcove.
My eyes were still fucking burning a little but it was dissipating.
I heard sirens moving in. I called Nino. He answered on the first ring.
“T! Fuck man.” I heard sirens even louder in the background. Good.
“Nino, third bomb happening in less than five minutes. Maybe much less. Don’t know from where.”
“Fuck. I’ll tell the fire department.”
I was at Dex and my sister. Two guys were pulling the boards off Dex and he was now free. But he wasn’t moving.
People were moving a little. Some, anyway. I didn’t know where this bomb was detonating from or how bad this was gonna be. I needed to get us the fuck out. I saw we were clear to get behind the bar. There was shit on the floor. Broken bottles and glasses, light fixtures dangling, two people lying on the ground looking dead or unconscious but there was still space to get around them. A couple people had their phones on and the space was illuminated a bit.
“That way; there’s a fire exit by the bathrooms on the other side of this bar.” I hoped I was right. I’d toured the place twice so I was pretty sure.
Dex was in rough shape but I hauled him over my shoulders, fireman-hold style.
“Athena, hold the back of my jacket. Don’t let go. Contessa, hold Tia’s hand.”
Tia was bawling and rubbing her eyes but she followed my directions and grabbed my jacket and my sister’s hand and I moved through the area behind the bar at the same time as firefighters moved in through the area over there at that emergency exit, their helmet lights illuminating the space even more. The place was a fucking mess and there were definitely casualties above and beyond the fucker I’d shot.
I called behind me, “Everyone who can move, move out this door.” I called to the two firefighters, “A guy over there told me there’s a third explosion happening and it could be any minute, ten minutes after the second explosion.” The firefighter’s back straightened and his eyes went wide.
And then with Dex over my shoulder, Tia and Tess at my back, we moved outdoors.
Paramedics moved to us immediately, pushing a gurney. Someone helped me get Dex onto it. He was now unconscious.
Nino moved to me.
“Where is he?” I muttered under my breath.
“Got ‘im,” Nino said low, his face stone as he took in the wreckage that was visibly coming out of Fete in the arms of firefighters.
Tia was still holding my coat. Tess was still holding Tia’s hand.
I turned around to face them. They both looked a little bit disheveled but otherwise fine. Thank God Tia being out of the way for the first and second explosions was a part of that fucker’s plan.
“Good,” I said to Nino and turned around and took my wife into my arms.
She was still bawling. She was also shaking. I took my filthy tux jacket off and put it on her shoulders as she cried into my chest.
Nino put his arms around Tess and hugged her. She was crying, too, watching Dex get wheeled toward an ambulance. More ambulances were coming.
“Move away from this building,” I said and we all moved back. I didn’t know whether John, Kate, Ben, Olive, or any of our other investors were still in there but there were more emergency vehicles arriving.
This place was rural, it’d take time, time we might not have. I wanted the girls away from this area. Our limo was still here so I moved the girls to it and led them inside.
“Don’t. Don’t go back in there!” She grabbed at me frantically when she realized that I wasn’t getting in.
“I won’t. I won’t, baby. I’m just seeing what’s what. Gotta talk to the cops. You okay? Anything hurt?”
Her hand moved to her stomach and she grabbed the fabric of her dress there, “No. No I’m not hurt. My ribs a little from his gun that he pushed…but no. The room shook and we heard the booms but I didn’t get hurt. That guy that grabbed me was rough with me but I’m… I’m okay.” Tears streamed down her face. I kissed her on the lips. Her hand moved up to her ribs. I put my hand on hers a second and kissed her on her nose and then her mouth.
Thank fuck.
“Pull out to the main road, “I said to the driver, “Fast. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“No, Tommy. Wait. If it blows…” she started but I shut the door and stepped back. I saw her looking at me through the window. She looked frantic and pounded her fist on the window as the car moved out of the way. I saw her shouting at the driver but he was following my orders to move her away.
We were about eighty feet from the building and people were being pulled out. There were a lot of people outside the place already, people who’d obviously been evacuated already and several people had their phones, filming.
Firefighters started moving the crowd back and unrolling yellow tape.
I saw a gurney come out with Johnny on it, oxygen mask on his face. He was unconscious and not looking good. Fuck. I ran my hands through my hair.
Nino jogged to where a couple cops and Ben stood. He was all right. Good. His wife was with a group a little further back. I told them all to move back some more and we got behind the fire truck.
Minutes ticked by and I watched from what I hoped was a safe distance with Ben, Olive, and two other investors who hadn’t been in the bar area during the explosion.
A third bomb had not gone off. Either it wasn’t happening or Leo Denarda had to give the order but he couldn’t give any orders because my guys had him. Multiple ambulances were on the scene. All of my people were okay. But I felt sick to my stomach when I heard Olive say to Ben that they hadn’t seen Johnny’s wife Kate.