CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Angel
DANTE WAS IN an examination room, getting the gash across his forearm stitched up, but was otherwise fine. At least on the outside. The devastation on his face spoke volumes about what was going on inside him.
"What the fuck happened?" Father asked.
Mamma gripped his arm, glaring up at him, before breaking off to stand beside Dante's bed and grab his free hand.
The nurse finished stitching Dante up, and then hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"I broke it off." Dante's voice cracked. His eyes were red, and he looked ten years older than he had just hours ago when I'd introduced him to Markie while we were shopping. "Dumped her, just like Angel told me to. But she asked me to stop by. One last time, you know?"
We all looked at Mamma, knowing we shouldn't be talking about this in front of her.
"It's like you all think I was born yesterday." She shook her head. "So, you slept with the girl again. Then what?"
"She was hungry. Asked me to take her out for something to eat. We were walking toward the car when Uncle Carlo called me. I headed to the side of the building to take the call, while she kept going." He swallowed. "The car blew up as she got to it."
"How long were you in her apartment?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Maybe an hour?"
"Didn't Angel tell you about the bombs? Why the hell didn't you scan the vehicle?" Father asked.
"Because I fucked up!" Dante snapped. "You think I don't know that?"
"Everyone just calm down," Mamma said, rubbing Dante's back while she cast a warning glance at Father. "What's done is done. Now we've got to move forward."
"We'll get those bastards, Dante," I said.
"Of course we will," Father agreed. "We'll get every fuckin' one of them."
His voice had a deadly edge, sounding like he was already preparing for war. The last time the Vegas families were at war, I was just a baby. That war had killed my grandfather and crippled my uncle, and I wasn't looking forward to the next one. Regardless, I knew my old man was right, and we'd have to strike back. This time the Pelino family needed to be wiped from existence.
An alarm went off on Father's phone. The sound filled me with dread.
I stood. "What is it?"
"Something's haywire with the house alarm." He dialed a number and then put the phone up to his ear. "Tech, why the hell is my house alarm showing as offline?"
Pause.
"What do you mean it's been disabled?"
Pause.
"I got that system because you assured me it couldn't be disabled. How could someone hack into our system?"
Pause.
"Nonna and the twins are there. Have they been contacted?"
I stared at my father straining to hear Tech's response.
"What? What about the guards? How the fuck could you lose all contact with my house?" Scarlet crept up Father's face, and that tell-tale vein throbbed out of his forehead.
Mamma stood on wobbly legs, and I grabbed her, steadying us both.
"Try Markie," Mamma said.
I dialed Markie's number. It rang once, and then went to voice mail.
"You get her?" Father asked, ending his call.
"No sir."
"I'm coming," Dante said, standing.
"You haven't been released yet," Mamma argued.
He glanced at his arm. "Really? This is nothing."
"You're both staying here," Father barked at them.
"Like hell!" Mamma shouted back. "I can shoot twice as well as most of your guards. Dante and I will lag behind and watch your backs."
I could tell Father wanted to argue, but their marriage hadn't lasted this long from him underestimating her. He pulled her against him and kissed her deeply. Dante and I both looked away.
"Be careful," Father said.
"You too," Mamma replied.
The instant we stepped out of Dante's room, guards surrounded us. Everyone was on high alert as we hurried through the waiting room, out the doors, across the sky bridge, and into the garage. The place was pitch black. Despite the late hour, it had been well-lit when we'd parked. Immediately, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Glass crunched under my feet and I glanced up, squinting until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. The lights had been busted out.
Bones closed in on my right, his presence reassuring me I wasn't alone. Mamma and Dante held back, drawing their guns. On my left, Father kept his hands firmly in his jacket pockets, stepping over the glass without breaking stride. In the dim light, I could barely make out the vicious grin spreading across his face. The old man was looking forward to this.
A chill went up my spine. I squinted into the dark, searching for whatever had put that gleam in his eyes. Figures emerged from the shadows in front of us, and chaos erupted. Gunfire shattered the silence. I tried to duck, but someone grabbed me from behind, yanking me backwards. The hard steel of a pistol jabbed into my ribs.
It wasn't the first time I'd had a gun pointed at me--not by a long shot, thanks to Father's drills--but this time was different. It made me desperate and angry at the distraction keeping me from Markie and the twins. I spun and threw a punch at my attacker, hearing the satisfying crunch of impact before his gun went off. Fire burned through my side as I hit the ground, drawing my pistol. Father's guards fell in, swinging at each other. Dark-suited men jumped, kicked, and swung to the thunder of bullets bouncing off the cement walls. The fray looked like an out-of-control mosh pit. Ears ringing, I searched for Bones. His fist slammed into the face of my attacker. The dirty guard flew backwards and slapped against the cement floor. Bones followed and kicked him in the ribs.
I raised my weapon, but couldn't get a clean shot.
"You're surrounded Mariani. Give up and step down, and we'll let the kid live. All your kids."
The familiar voice came from the shadows in front of us. I peeked around a car and squinted into the dark. Several dark shadows walked toward us.
"Bruno Pelino," Father said, his tone dripping with condescension. "You want me to trust a bunch of cowardly bastards who attacked a house full of women and children?"
"We thought you were home."
"Is that what you plan to tell the other families? That you blew up my son's car and expected me to hide in my house?"
Bruno laughed. "You think the other families will step in? Ha! The borgatas are sick of being tied down to your rules, old man. The wolves want to be unleashed. They would have pulled your ass down years ago, but they're just a bunch of bitches... not enough balls between them to attack. Well, my father's just crazy enough to do whatever needs to be done."
Father twitched. A little red beam raced across the shadows, ending in the center of Bruno's forehead. Before I could register what I was seeing, a shot rang out. The Pelino heir apparent crumpled to the ground. His stunned guards took a few seconds too long to react, and the little red light traveled down the line.
Bam. Bam. Bam
Bodies fell in its wake. I aimed and fired off a shot. A bullet whizzed past my head and I ducked back behind the car.
"You cocky son of a bitch; this is my city!" Father roared. He ducked down, slammed another magazine into his Glock, and the little red beam resumed its deadly dance. I thought the old man was crazy when he'd tasked me with adding a laser sight to his Glock, but in that darkened garage he was a genius. In fact, if we made it out of this alive, I fully intended to get myself a gun just like it.
For now, my Desert Eagle would have to do. I peeked back around the car and took a few blind shots. The fighting behind us began to die down, and more of my father's guards joined us in the frontal attack, Mamma and Dante were with them. The Pelino men started retreating. One guard slung Bruno's body over his shoulder before the entire group turned and ran, weaving through cars and dodging our bullets as they disappeared deeper into the darkness.
My father had lost several guards. The remainder of the force piled into one SUV, leaving the second in the garage. Bones, Mamma, Dante, and I followed in my Hummer. I drove while Bones fumbled with the first aid kit.
"You're gonna need to take off your jacket so I can get a look at your side," he said, tugging bandages out of the kit.
I stopped at a light and struggled out of the ruined coat, stinging the hell out of my side with every twist of my stomach. The bottom right quarter of my T-shirt was soaked with blood. Bones tugged it upward and swore.
"How bad is it?" I asked. The light turned green, so I focused back on the road.
"You got a chunk of meat missing; needs stitches."
I chuckled. "Yeah, we should probably call the Pelinos and ask them to chill the fuck out so I can get back to the hospital. That gash on your cheek could probably use a stitch or two as well."
Bones pulled down his mirror and snorted. "I've cut myself worse shaving."
"Yeah? They probably have classes to teach you how to do that..."
"All right, wiseass, let me get that bleeding stopped."
* * *
The street in front of my father's house was lined with cop cars and ambulances. Father's SUV parked behind a police cruiser and I pulled up behind them. What was left of the old man's guards surrounded us as we made our way past the cruisers and into the mayhem.
The mansion looked like a battlefield. Bodies were strewn from the broken security gate to the front door, currently hanging from its top hinges. Authorities clearly hadn't been there long, because they were still checking for pulses and bagging and tagging the dead. A fallen man moaned and writhed on the ground. The guards around us tensed, but an EMT hurried over to deal with him. I scanned the faces of the fallen as we passed, searching for faces I recognized.
Where are Markie and the twins?
My father saw my blood-soaked shirt and hurried over to check out my wound.
"I'm fine," I said, waving him off. "It grazed me. We'll deal with it later."
"You should let me have a look at that," one of the EMTs said.
"Yes," Mamma agreed. "You should."
"Not now," I replied, walking past them.
Renzo and his team met us in the driveway. He let out a relieved sigh and hugged my Father. "Uncle, I'm glad to see you're okay."
"Where's my family?" Father asked.
Renzo's gray T-shirt was darkened with sweat and he held a semi-automatic in his hands. "Nonna's inside. She went to Dr. Monte's house. Said she had Markie get the twins out of here. We're still lookin' for them."
Nonna chose that very moment to come waltzing out of the house, raising a fist at any of the EMTs who tried to stop her.
"I was slowin' Markie and the kids down, Dom. I had her take them on as I went to the doc's house. She had a good lead and I took down two of those bastards to make sure she stayed ahead of them."
Mamma took care of Nonna, leading her back into the house, while Father pulled me aside.
"Get to Tech's office," he told me. "I want you both staring at that goddamn wall of screen of his until you find the twins. I'll get teams all over the city so we can move the instant you two have a visual."
I nodded.
"Good. I don't know who to trust right now, Angel, but I know I can trust you. You do whatever you need to do, you hear me?"
"Yes sir."
With that, Bones and I headed out to infiltrate Tech's mysterious lair.