The entire room went into a tense silence.  Nobody asked him to explain.  Both Hammer and Amelia took peeps at Roz at one time or another, figuring if anybody was going to break the stalemate, it would have to be her.  But Roz knew Mick too well.  She knew he would talk in his own time, but only if he wanted to.

There was a brief interruption when Teddy entered the house.

Roz and Amelia were looking at him.  Especially since he came alone.

Mick looked at Roz, saw she was looking toward the entrance, and looked, too.  “What?” he asked his son.

“I just got off of the phone.  Higgs died, Pop,” Teddy said.  “He didn’t survive his injuries.”

Mick leaned his head back.  Another fucking mistake in a series of fucking mistakes!  He ran his hands through his hair.  Then he began pacing again.

“Higgs got what he deserved,” Hammer said, “if he’s going around implicating me.”

Mick agreed.  But still that didn’t move the ball any further.  It took him several more minutes of pacing, but then he spoke.  “I used to monitor my big brother, they call him Big Daddy Charles Sinatra, before he and I reunited.”

Hammer was completely at sea on this information.  He knew Mick had a brother, and that he was a straight arrow.  He did not know they had once been estranged.

“By monitoring him,” Mick continued, “means that I had a few of my men check on him, follow him around, make sure everything was okay with him.  That’s when I found out about Arianna, his ex-wife, and what she was up to.  That’s when I found out about the shit she was pulling and what she was doing to my brother.  I found out how she planned to take my brother out.  Nobody’s taking Big Daddy Charles Sinatra out.  Not as long as I’m alive.  So I taught her a lesson.”

“How?” Roz asked.

“A murder had been committed by one of her partners.  I made sure enough evidence was there to implicate Arianna, too.  She was implicated, and convicted.”

Hammer smiled.  “Now that’s how you get a bitch.”

Everybody looked at Hammer.  He was known for using those exact tactics himself.  But Roz wasn’t smiling, because now Mick and their family were being targeted.  “But now that bitch wants to get you,” she said to Mick.

“And she’s apparently roping me in,” Hammer said.  “I know she hired Santo Vichy’s men to do her dirty work, beginning with icing Vichy himself.”

“Why Santo?” Roz asked.

“Santo did my dirty work,” Mick said.  “Given that I was a known entity to Arianna, he handled the logistics for me.  He was the one who implicated her.  He was the one who went to authorities and claimed how word on the street was that the car was rigged, and she was the one who ordered the rigging.  Her partner, he told authorities, was the man who obeyed her order.  The cops believed it.  The jury believed it.  So I’m certain Santo was on her list.”

“And she’s got Vichy’s men believing I’m the one doing the shit,” Hammer said.

“But she apparently has you doing it in the name of dead Teddy Stefani,” Roz said.  “How would she know about Mick’s connection to Teddy Stefani?”  Then Roz looked at Mick.  “And how would she know about your connection to Santo Vichy?”

Mick suddenly stopped pacing again.  He looked at Roz.  “Natalie,” he said.  “Natalie Vichy.”

“His widow?” Roz asked.

“Yes,” Mick said.

“That would make sense,” Hammer said, thinking about it.  “That would make a lot of sense.”

“Want me to bring her here, Pop?” Teddy asked.

“No,” Mick said.  “If I’m right, and she’s the one who told Arianna about Santo, what I’m going to do to her will not be done here.”

Roz and Amelia looked at Hammer.  He had once been a law man, after all.  A crooked one, but still.  But Hammer, to their surprise, didn’t seem fazed at all.  He, in fact, had pulled out his cellphone, and had stood up, moved further away, to make a call.

Roz looked at Mick.  “I’m going with you,” she said.

“Like hell,” Mick responded.

Amelia looked at Mick.  “I’m going with you,” she said.

“Like hell,” Hammer said.

Mick looked at Roz.  He could see her struggling with the fact of separating from him again after that ordeal they’d just gone through.

He went to her, took her hand, and escorted her across the room to his office.

Teddy knew what that meant.   They needed some alone time.  When his father was stressed out, Teddy knew he didn’t turn to anyone, not ever, except Roz.  She was the only human being that Teddy knew of who was allowed to see his father sweat.

But Teddy remained in the room.  He wasn’t giving Hammer Reese free reign in his father’s house, he didn’t care how charming he seemed.  He kept his eyes on Hammer Reese.

Amelia was about to go to the safe room, to check on her son, when Hammer ended his call.  He looked at her and smiled.  “And then there were two,” he said.  Then he looked at Teddy.  “And Mick, Junior.  But that’s right: he didn’t name you after him.  Did he?  His youngest son with Rosalind has that honor.  My bad.”

Amelia shook her head.  “Don’t listen to him, Teddy.  That’s one of the tactics he uses to get under people’s skin.  He’s the master at it.”

“Where’s everybody?” Hammer asked.

“Handling their business,” Amelia responded.  “Dealing with this shit in the privacy of their own thoughts.”

Hammer stared at Amelia.  She was a good sex partner.  He missed her in his bed.  She was a good woman, too.  “How’s everything been going for you, Millie?” he asked her.

A part of Amelia went hot when Hammer called her by that name.  He normally only used it when they were in bed.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been face-to-face,” Hammer continued.  “How’s it going?”

“You mean how’s it going whenever I’m not worried sick that you would get some foolish judge to declare me an unfit mother the way you threatened to do?”

Hammer stared at her.  “I was out of line.”

Amelia frowned.  “What are you telling me that for?  I already knew that.”

“But really,” he said, still staring at her.  “How are you?”

Amelia looked at him.  He was certainly an alluring man.  But she wasn’t about to give in to him ever again.  Especially since she knew where his heart truly was and would probably always be.  She decided to turn the tables.  “How’s Reggie Dell?” she asked him, instead.

Hammer smiled, but then his smile slowly evaporated.

 

In his office, Mick and Roz were standing inside his gun room.  Mick was loading up, with various weaponry.  Roz’s arms were folded and she was leaned slightly away from him, against the wall.

“If I go with you, Mick,” she said, “I’ll have your back.”

“And who’ll have yours?” Mick asked her as he loaded one of his guns.

“You will.”

“Not if I’m shooting the bad guys.”

Roz looked worried.  “What bad guys?  I thought you were going to one of your safe houses to confront Natalie Vichy.”

Mick smiled.  “I am.”

“Then what bad guys, Mick?”

Mick snapped a magazine onto another gun and then looked at Roz.  “I know you’re worried, babe,” he said, “but I can take care of myself.  You know that.”

Roz nodded.  “I know.  But it’s just that we’ve had so many close calls.”  She said this and looked at Mick.

Mick laid the gun on the countertop in the room and went over to Roz.  He pulled her into his arms.  He rested his chin on the top of her head.  “I know how you feel,” he said.  “It’s been too close for comfort for me, too.  I feel like I’ve made so many mistakes!”

Roz looked up at him.  “You?” she asked.  “You haven’t made mistakes, Mick.  How are you to know what these people are up to?  There’s no way!  But at least you’re figuring things out.  The rest of us don’t have a clue.”

But she could still see the doubt in Mick’s big, green eyes.  He was beating himself up inside, she could tell.  “You protected me, Mick.  You put your life on the line time and time again, and you protect me.  You never make any mistakes when it comes to being there for me.”  She shook him.  “You hear me?”

Mick looked at Roz.  He still felt he should have put two and two together sooner.  “I hear you, mother,” he said, and they both smiled.  And then kissed, long and passionately.  Mick’s eyes were hooded when they stopped kissing.  Roz knew what he wanted.  But she pushed him away from her.  “You need your strength,” she said.  “We’ll get around to that afterwards.  Right now, Daddy,” she said with a smile, “get your guns.”

Mick laughed, and continued to load up.

But Roz continued to stare at him.  When he realized it, he looked at her, knowing something else was on her mind.  “What?”

“You trust Hammer Reese?” she asked.

“Trust is a powerful word,” Mick said.  “But as far as it goes, yes.  I would not have brought him into our home if I didn’t.”

Roz nodded.  “Yeah, I felt the same way.  In my gut, he’s right.”

Mick nodded.  “My gut is saying the same thing.  And remember what I told you: your gut never lies.  Your eyes might.  Your heart might.  But your gut?”  Mick shook his head.  “Never.”

“Take him with you,” Roz said.

Mick looked at her.  “May I ask why?”

“For backup.  You’ve already had security breaches.  If you won’t let me go, at least he’ll be another top gun with you.”

Mick smiled.  “Fancy yourself a top gun, do you?”

Roz smiled.  “Yes, I do.”  Then her look turned serious.  “I was taught by the best.”

Mick’s heart felt a connection to this woman that made him feel as if, with her by his side, he could conquer the world.

“Take Hammer with you,” Roz said.  And she said it as if it was final.

 

“I’m going with you, Pop,” Teddy said when Mick and Roz reemerged in the living room.

But Mick was shaking his head.  “You’re staying with the family.  Hammer’s going with me.”  He looked at Hammer Reese.  “Right?”

Hammer nodded.  “Damn right.”

“But Dad,” Teddy said, “you’re going to expose one of your . . . locations to a former Fed?”

 Hammer laughed.  “You mean those safe houses that belong to your father?  Which one are you referencing, Theodore?  The one on Kirkland?  Or the one on Davis Street?  Or the one on Breckenridge?”

Even Teddy had to smile at that.

“Mick Sinatra is my son’s Uncle,” Hammer made clear.  “I have a stake in knowing all I need to know about him.  Don’t worry, I’ll have his back.  He doesn’t need me to have it, but I’ll have it just the same.”

Roz felt reassured.  Amelia already knew that about Hammer.

So did Mick.  “Let’s go, Ham,” he said, and began to head for the exit.

Hammer looked at Mick.  “Ham?” he asked, following him.  “I hate that name.  You realize that?”

“Why do you think he said it?” Roz asked.

Hammer smiled.

“Interrogating somebody, for CIA guys, is like milk for a baby, right?” Mick jokingly asked him.

“I’ll bet you I’m better than you at it, motherfucker,” Hammer responded, jokingly too.

“Or is it torture you’re good at?” Mick asked.

Hammer laughed, as they left.

Teddy was shocked.  He looked at his stepmother and his aunt.  “Dad joking around with Hammer Reese?”

“They may not agree with each other’s tactic.  But they probably respect each other,” Amelia said.

“He saved our lives,” Roz said.  “Mick won’t forget that.”

“But what if he’s the enemy like Higgs claimed?” Teddy asked.

“He’s not,” Amelia said.  “He’s an asshole in the good guy department.  But he’s a man of his word.  You can trust him in that respect.”

“Besides,” Roz said, “your father knows an enemy when he sees one.  He does not see Hammer that way.  Hammer Reese he sees as his equal.”

Teddy took note of that characterization.  “Dad has only put a very few men, that I know of, in that category: Reno Gabrini, Tommy Gabrini, and Sal Gabrini.”

“Don’t forget Big Daddy,” Roz said.

But Teddy was shaking his head.  “Big Daddy’s not Pop’s peer.  He’s above that.”

Amelia smiled.  Big Daddy Charles Sinatra, Mick’s big brother, was her half-brother, too.  “Amen to that,” she said.