Teddy screamed out in agony when he saw a ball of fire and smoke pierce through the sky as soon as the ship went up.  It had rocked even him.  And he ran even faster.  He didn’t think he had it in him.  But he ran so fast he nearly outran himself!

When he arrived near the explosion, he could only hear people coughing and his men giving orders to try and contain the fire.

And then he saw Nikki and Joey.

Nikki had fallen halfway on top of Joey, and she appeared to have shielded his body.  Teddy felt relief, but he was not going to be completely relieved until he got up to them and saw that they were okay.

They were both okay.  But it was those first words out of Nikki’s mouth that sealed the deal for Teddy.  When she looked up, and saw him, she asked with worried eyes: “Are you alright?” she asked him.

Teddy smiled.  “Am I alright?  Yes!  Are you alright?”

Nikki smiled too.  “Yes,” she said as Teddy helped her to her feet.

“You sure?” he asked as she stood up.

“I’m sure,” she replied.

Teddy also helped Joey to his feet.  “What happened?” Joey asked, knocking the rubble dust off of him.  Then he looked at Nikki.  “She saved my life,” he said.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Nikki.

“But you did,” he said.  “But she did,” he said to Teddy.

Teddy pulled both of them into his arms.  His men, including the Bevin twins, ran over too.  “Everybody okay?” Ron Bevin asked.

“We’re okay,” said Joey.  “This lady right here saved my life,” he added.

Both twins looked at her.  They’d never seen her before.  They’d ask Joey for the 411 later because they knew Teddy didn’t play that.

“Get some guys and go over on the other side of the old docking house,” Teddy said to the twins.  “There’s a guy with bullet holes in both legs who might be responsible for these fires.  Go get him and bring him to me.”

“Yes, sir,” said Ron Bevin as he and his brother motioned for a couple guys to come with them, and then they all took off in the direction Teddy had ordered them.

“Let me get you out of here before the cops return,” Teddy said to Nikki, and all three of them began walking toward Teddy’s car.

“I am so pissed,” Joey was saying as they walked.  “We gotta hit back and hit back hard, Teddy.  This some bullshit Bovenconti’s pulled on us!  I can get the guys and--”

“You don’t get the guys and do shit until I tell you what shit to do,” Teddy said with edge in his voice.  “You hear me, Joey?”

“But we gotta hit back!”

“I know what we’ve got to do.  You think I’m an idiot?  I know we have to hit back.  But we for damn sure won’t be doing it half-ass like some street thugs!  The planning will be from my end only.  And I don’t need any help.”

“What about Pop?” Joey asked.

Teddy hesitated as they continued to walk.  “What about him?”

“He’s going to blow a gasket when he finds out.  If he hasn’t already.”

Teddy knew it too.  “Yeah, he’s not going to like it.  That’s for sure.”

“What are we gonna do?”  Joey impatiently asked again.  “I say we should hit tonight, when they least expect it.”

“Hit tonight?” Teddy asked.  “That’s when they’re most expecting it!  Besides,” he added, “we haven’t even established who the perps really are.”

Joey frowned.  “What the fuck you talking about, Teddy?  It has to be Boss B!  I told you what my guys did to his son at that hospital!”

“I know what you told me.  But you’re also talking about starting a war.”

“He started it!”

“We started it when we hospitalized his son!  Don’t get it twisted, Joey!”  Teddy calmed back down.  “If a war is breaking out, we’d better be damned sure about the intel.  Pop will want hard evidence, not just your theories.”

“That’s why we should strike before Dad even finds out what went down.  At least we’ll have a success story to tell him.”

“Let’s just see what that guy has to say about it,” Teddy said.  “I had to take him down to keep him in place.  Hopefully he’s still able to talk.”

But Joey got a phone call just as they arrived at Teddy’s car.  And the news wasn’t good.  Joey looked at Teddy.

“What is it?” Teddy asked.

“It’s Ronnie.  He says the guy skipped.”

Teddy frowned.  “I shot him in both legs.  His ass couldn’t skip anywhere!”  Teddy snatched Joey’s phone.  “What are you talking about, Ron?”

“He’s gone,” Ron Bevin said over the phone.

“Gone how?”

“When we got here, two guys were putting him in a car.  Then they got in, too, and sped off.  He’s gone.”

Teddy couldn’t believe it.  “Fuck!  Fuck!  Fuck!” he yelled.

Nikki began rubbing Teddy’s back, comforting him in public.  Joey was shocked.  And the way she looked so worried, as if she really cared about his brother.  He stared at her.  Who was this lady, he wondered?

But Teddy, at that moment, didn’t have Nikki on his mind.  Nor his kid brother.  His old man was on his mind.  And how angry he was going to be when he realized the full extent of Teddy’s fuck up.

“Let’s get out of here,” Teddy said, and placed his hand in the small of Nikki’s back as he walked her around to the passenger side of his car.

Teddy walked back around to the driver side and handed Joey’s phone back to him.  “Call the suits,” he said.  “And shut the fuck up until they get here.”

“I know what to do, Teddy, damn!  And what are you still hanging around yapping about?  You’d better take off before the cops arrive.  One ship explosion might be a mistake.  But two?  They just might try to take you downtown for questioning.”

Teddy knew it too.  The job of the underboss of any syndicate was to never allow himself to be held in police custody.  That was especially true for the underboss in the Sinatra Crime Family.  It was the first thing his father taught him before he gave him the job.

“Wait on the suits,” Teddy warned Joey again, as he got into his car, pressed the Start button, and then sped off.

As Teddy was driving away, Joey was calling the law firm, ordering the lawyers back to the docks.  And just as he was hanging up from ordering them back on scene, the Bevin twins arrived back on scene themselves, and made their way over to Joey.

“Another fucking explosion,” Big-Eye Bevin said.  “They’re really playing our asses today.”

“Tell me about it,” Joey said.  “My old man is going to be so pissed.  And the only witness we had got away.”

Ron Bevin smiled.  “Did he?” he asked.

Joey looked at him.  “What the fuck that’s supposed to mean?”

“Did he get away I’m asking.”

“What are you asking that for?  You told Teddy he got away.”

“I know what I told Teddy,” said Ron.

Joey frowned.  “What the fuck you’re talking about?”

“He didn’t get away, Joey,” Ron said.  “That’s what I’m talking about.  He didn’t get away!”

Joey knew where this was going, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to play that level of hard ball.  “Where is he?” he asked.

“We hid him away at the docking station.  We’re waiting to see what you wanna do with him.”

“But you told my brother--”

“This is your chance, Joey,” Ron said.  “Your father is already going down on Teddy like a ton of bricks.  Teddy’s ass is already cooked.  But you can get the intel.  You can be the hero.  No telling what you can do with what we find out from that joker.”

Joey stared at Ron.

“You said yourself when you got here this morning that Teddy was already making noises about firing you for what happened with Khake,” Ron continued.  “Imagine what he’s going to do after these explosions!”

“Imagine what he’ll do to my ass if he finds out we lied about that witness!” Joey shot back.

“Why would he find out?” Big-Eye Bevin asked.  “Who’s telling him?  You?”

“You don’t know my brother.”

“It’s done now, Joey,” said Ron Bevin.  “You can either punk-out and run to big brother, or you can stand up and take your rightful place as your old man’s real heir-apparent to this organization.  This is your chance, Joe!  It’s the only chance you might ever get.”

Joey knew what Ron said was true.  He knew he could be fired as soon as his old man returned to the country.  Then where would he be?  Another broke-ass also-ran with nothing to show for his daily sacrifices for the family.

Joey made a decision.  It was now or never.  “Get him to a safe house,” he ordered.  “The last thing we want is for the cops to find him.  And what’s his condition?  Teddy said he shot him in both legs.”

“He’s in pain, but we figure he’ll live,” said Ron.

“Have Doc meet you at the house.  We don’t want his ass dying on us.”

The Bevin twins smiled.  “Will do,” said Ron, and they took off to finish what they started.

Joey pinched his nose.  Damn if he did and damn if he didn’t, he thought.  Always the story of his fucking life!  But he also knew the twins were right.  He might as well shoot for the star, before that star started gunning for him.