Sal Gabrini: Just The Way You Are (18 page)

“Tell them
to find his ass and take him to a safe house,” Sal said.
 
“Tell them to get him there as fast as they
can.”

“Will do,”
Reno said, as he made that call.

When he
ended the call, he looked at Sal.
 
“They’re on it,” he said.

“Good,” Sal
said, and returned his attention to his wife.

After
several more minutes of visiting with Gemma, the door to her hospital suite
swung open, and Nurse Humphreys hurried in.
 
What they noticed was twofold: her face was as white as a sheet.
 
And her arms did not carry their baby.

Sal was the
first to see her distress.
 
“What’s
wrong?” he asked, looking suddenly distressed himself.

“He’s gone,”
the Nurse said.

“Who’s
gone?” Reno asked.

“The
baby.
 
The baby is gone!”

Sal, Reno,
and Jimmy didn’t wait for explanations.
 
They tore out of that room.
 
Sal
held back, told Jimmy to guard his wife, and while Jimmy stayed back, Sal and
Reno took off.
 
They were going to tear
that hospital apart with their own bear hands if that was what it took to find
Sal, Junior.
 
Even Gemma was trying to
get out of that bed, to help in the search too.
 
But Trina held her back.

“No, Gem,”
she said.
 
“You hold on.
 
They’ll find him.
 
Don’t you worry.
 
They’re find your son if it’s the last thing
they do.”

Across town,
in a small house on a quiet street, the two-car garage door lifted, and a car
drove through.
 
When the garage door went
back down, Nalla Moss, carrying a newborn baby wrapped in a blanket in her
arms, was about to get out.
 
But the man
behind the wheel shook his head.

“This is
crazy,” he said.
 
“This is like
kidnapping the Lindberg baby.
 
Only it’s
worse.
 
This baby’s daddy’s got
guns.”
 
He looked at Nalla.
 
“Are you sure he knows what he’s doing?”

But Nalla
was looking at the small, biracial baby.
 
“It was your job to drive.
 
You
drove.”
 
She looked at him.
 
“Now shut the fuck up.”

She got out,
with the baby in her arms, and headed inside the house.

They turned
that hospital upside down, but found not even a trace of the Gabrini baby.
 
They attempted to view the video at the
hospital, as well at the courthouse.
 
But
by an odd coincidence that Sal nor Reno would ever believe, both cameras at
both locations were off at the crucial times and neither camera captured what
happened in that stairwell at the courthouse, nor in that examining room at the
hospital.
 
Whatever was going on, it was
deep and wide, and Sal and Reno knew they needed reinforcements.

But while
reinforcements were on their way, the two men dropped by the safe house to find
out what was going on with this push-happy judge.

But before
they walked in, Reno pulled Sal back.
 
“Don’t
kill him, alright?” he said.
 
“We need
information.”

“Do I look
like I’m stupid?” Sal asked.

“No,” Reno
responded.
 
“You look like a man who’s
madly in love with his wife and baby, which makes you insanely angry with this
judge we’re about to meet.
 
Just keep
your cool until he tells us what we need to know.”

Sal took a
deep breath.
 
He knew Reno spoke the
truth.
 
He nodded, and then they walked
in.

Judge Tim
Dunclave was sitting on the sofa.
 
Four
men were guarding him.
 
Reno ordered them
to stand down as he and Sal sat on the table in front of the judge.

“I’m going
to tell you right now,” Reno said.
 
“Sal
Gabrini is not interested in bullshit.
 
He wants answers and he wants them straight, no chaser.”

“Why did you
push my wife down those stairs?” Sal asked.

The judge
wanted to deny all, Sal and Reno both could see it in his eyes, but he was too
smart to play that dumb.
 
They would not
have kidnapped him, and brought him to this safe house, if they didn’t already
know what went down.

“Years ago,”
he said, “before I came to Vegas, I had some dealings with mobsters.
 
Loan sharks.
  
Lowlifes like that.
 
And I racked
up a hefty bill.
 
Money I could never pay
back in my lifetime.
 
When I became a
judge, they forgave the debt provided I handle certain cases certain ways and
made sure I did whatever they wanted.
 
Then they wanted me to do what I did to Gemma.”

“Why?” Sal
asked.

“He didn’t
tell me why.
 
He just told me to push her
down those stairs or the debt would be due in full.
 
It was either try to kill her, or get killed
myself.”

“So you
chose yourself?” Reno asked.

The judge
didn’t respond.

“Who’s the
mobster?” Sal asked.

The judge
hesitated.

Sal pulled
out his gun and shot the judge in the arm.

Reno was
shocked, and nearly stood up.
 
The judge,
shocked, grabbed his arm in pain.
 
“What
did you do that for?” he complained.

“Who’s the
mobster?” Sal asked again.

“Scorsese,”
the judge said quickly.
 
“A guy they call
the Barometer.”

Sal was
floored.
 
He had pegged Nicky Cass as his
enemy.
 
Not Angelo Scorsese.
 
Reno looked at Sal.
 
“You know him?”

Sal
nodded.
 
“I know him,” he said.

“He’s
looking to take over Chicago,” the judge said, still holding his arm.
 
“He says he needed to keep you distracted
while he finished off your crew chiefs.
 
I guess I was a part of that distraction.”

Sal stood up
quickly.

“What is it,
Sal?” Reno asked, standing too.

“I’ve been
having trouble in Chi-town.
 
I figured it
was an inside job.
 
I was just fingering
the wrong inside guy.”

“You think
they snatched the kid too?” Reno asked.

“That would
give him ultimate power,” Sal said.
 
Then
he looked at the judge.
 
“What about the
kidnapping?” he asked.

The judge
looked at him.
 
“What kidnapping?” he
asked.
 
“He never said anything about any
kidnapping.”

Sal was
about to shoot him again.

“I swear!”
the judge said.
 
“He didn’t say anything
about any kidnapping!
 
He told me to push
Gemma Jones down that stairwell.
 
And I
did as I was told.”

Then the
judge frowned.
 
“Why did you shoot me?”
he asked.
 
“I was telling you all you
asked of me!”

Sal frowned
too.
 
“What?
 
Are you retarded?
 
You think you’re going to push my wife down a
flight of stairs and walk out of this bitch alive?
 
Who the fuck
do
you
think you’re fucking with?”

“But I’m
cooperating,” the judge insisted through his pain, as if his cooperation, not
his act, was the prevailing point.
 
“What
reason did you possibly have to shoot me in the arm when I was cooperating?”

“I didn’t
have a reason to shoot you in the arm,” Sal said.
 
“It’s what I felt like doing.
 
However,” he added as he lifted his gun again
and, to protestations from the judge, shot him between the eyes, “I’ve got
plenty reasons to kill your ass.”
 

Then he shot
him again, just because.

And then he
and Reno left, and headed to Chicago.

The private
jet touched down at the Vegas airstrip and Money, one of Sal’s men, searched
for the number on his clipboard and then talked into his walkie talkie.
 
“Mick Sinatra just touched down,” he said.
 
“The big man has arrived!”

A convoy of
SUVs drove from the back of the tarmac toward the landed plane.
 
A security detail got out of the SUVs and
awaited Mick’s appearance.

Lacey,
another one of Sal’s men, stood beside Money.
 
He was supposed to be his assistant, but Money was handling
everything.
 
“It must be big,” Lacey
said, “if Mick the Tick showed up.”

“That’s none
of our business,” Money said.
 
“You don’t
speculate about it; you just do your job.”

“I was just
talking to you.”

“Don’t talk
to me,” Money said.
 
“What are you
talking to me for?
 
I have work to do.”

Lacey rolled
his eyes.
 
Money was one of those guys
who took his job way too seriously.
 
But
when the door to the plane opened, and the steps dropped down, Lacey got
serious too.
 
Mick Sinatra, in his black
pants, black turtleneck, and long, flowing white coat, walked down the stairs,
across the tarmac, and headed for the SUVs.

“Hello, Mr.
Sinatra,” Lacey said nervously as Mick walked past them, and Money nearly
died.
 
Mick gave Lacey a glance, but
didn’t speak.
 
He got in one of the SUVs,
and then all three took off.
 
Money
looked at his assistant.

“Are you
nuts?” he asked.
 
“They don’t know you
from a hole in the wall.
 
Don’t speak!”

“Okay,”
Lacey said.
 
“Damn.”

Just as
Money was about to say more, to continue to set Lacey straight, another plane
was landing.
 
He looked at the number on
the plane and then quickly searched his clipboard.
 
Then he spoke into the walkie talkie
again.
 
“Tommy Gabrini just touched
down,” he said into his walkie talkie.
 
“Dapper Tom has arrived!”

A second
convoy of SUVs drove from the back of the tarmac and waited beside Money and
Lacey.
 
But unlike Mick, who walked
briskly off of his plane, Tommy ran down the stairs of his plane and ran across
the tarmac.
 
Even if Lacey wanted to
speak, he would not have had a chance.
 
Tommy was in the SUV and whisked off so fast, there was no time for any
conversation.

“What is
this?” Lacey asked jokingly.
 
“A mob
convention?”

Money looked
angrily at his assistant.
 
“Get away from
me,” he said.

“Why?” Lacey
asked, confused.

“Because when
they kill your ass, I don’t want to take a stray bullet!”

Lacey looked
at Money and laughed.
 
But Money was dead
serious.

For security
precautions, Mick and Tommy had Gemma transported from the hospital to her and
Sal’s estate by the time Sal and Reno made it back from Chicago.
 
She was sitting up in bed, with Trina sitting
beside her, while Mick and Tommy were sitting in chairs against the wall in the
bedroom too.
 
Jimmy, under heavy
security, was at the PaLargio watching out for his daughter and younger
siblings.
 
Mick’s wife had their twins,
and Tommy’s wife was in Seattle with their daughter.
 
All under heavy security too.
 
Everybody was on alert.

When Sal and
Reno entered the room, Tommy stood up.
 
He was just getting in from overseas, and he had been anxious to eyeball
his younger brother.
 
But while Reno
greeted the two men, Sal only had eyes for Gemma when he walked into that
room.
 
He hurried to her bedside.

“Still
nothing?” Gemma asked.

“Nothing,”
Sal said.
 
He had already phoned and told
her so, but he knew she was still hoping against hope.

Tears
returned to her eyes.
 
She had been
crying her eyes out as it was, now she was crying even more.
 

Sal sat on
the bed and pulled her into his arms.
 
Trina, wiping her eyes too, rubbed her back.

“What are we
going to do?” Gemma asked.
 
Then she
looked at Sal.
 
“Who would do this?”

“I’m working
nonstop, baby,” Sal said.
 
“Every one of
our men dropped everything and are working nonstop too.
 
We’ll find him.
 
You hear me?
 
I’ll chase those motherfuckers to hell before I Iet them harm our
child.
 
You hear me?”

Gemma
nodded.
 
“I believe you,” she said.

“I won’t let
you down, Gemma,” Sal said.
 
“I’ve made a
lot of mistakes in my life.
 
I’ve done a
lot of terrible things.
 
And who knows?
 
Maybe this is my punishment.”

“Sal,” Tommy
said, heartbrokenly.

“Don’t say
that,” Gemma said.
 
“You haven’t done
anything to deserve this.”

But Sal’s
mind kept remembering that time in Seattle, when he was a sergeant on the
police force, and a little boy died in a house he ordered to be burned
down.
 
He could still see that child
begging for his life as if it had happened yesterday.
 
He even ordered a crew to Seattle, to find
out if there were any relatives of that child out there, who might be seeking
revenge.

“You hear
me, Sal?
 
You don’t deserve this.
 
Nobody does.”

“I know,” he
said, to reassure her rather than himself.
 
“I know.”

“How did it
go in Chicago?” Tommy asked.

It was
obvious that it didn’t go well, if Sal’s anguished eyes were any
indication.
 
“Nothing about our child,”
he said.
 
“Scorsese knew nothing about
the kidnapping.
 
He was just trying to
take over my Chicago operations.
 
He
failed.”

“Where is he
now?” Tommy asked.

“Dead,” Sal
said.

“Good,” Mick
said.

“And still
nothing about our child.
 
He didn’t know
anything.
 
Nobody knows anything!”

Gemma looked
at Sal.
 
He was under such pressure, and
it showed.
 
She placed her hand on the
side of his face.
 
“Stop beating yourself
up, Sal,” she said.
 
“You’ll find
him.
 
I know you will.”

Sal nodded,
as he, too, fought back tears.
 
Tommy
walked over to him and placed his hand around his waist.
 
Sal leaned against his older brother, and
then turned into his arms.

Tommy held
him tightly, and Sal held onto Tommy.
 
The
idea that his child was out there somewhere and he wasn’t able to protect him,
his newborn baby he hadn’t even laid eyes on yet, terrified him.
  
And Tommy understood how he felt.
 
Whenever it hit home, it hit like a ton of
bricks.
 
He held his brother tighter.

When they
finished hugging, Sal wiped away tears and nodded toward Mick.
 
Sal wasn’t touchy-feely either, but Mick took
it to new heights.
 
“Thanks for coming,
Uncle Mick,” Sal said.

“We need to
find that bastard,” Mick said firmly.

“I know.”

“We don’t
have much time.”

“The fact
that the Feds are involved isn’t helping either,” Reno said.
 
“They’re just in our way.”

“At least
their investigation is keeping them at the hospital,” Tommy said.
 
“At least they’re staying at the scene of
crime.
 
But they won’t for long.
 
Uncle Mick is right.
 
We don’t have much time.”

“Is there
anybody you’re overlooking?” Mick asked Sal.

Sal ran his
hands through his hair.
 
“I have gone
over it and over it in my head.
 
It
doesn’t make sense!
 
I’ve got my entire
crew on it.
 
Reno has his entire crew on
it.”

“I have my
entire crew on it,” Tommy said.

“And we’re
still turning up blanks,” Sal said.

“And you’re
certain that inside guy wasn’t involved?” Mick asked.

Reno
nodded.
 
“We’re certain.
 
We killed his ass, but we worked him over
before that.
 
He told us everything he
knew, which was nothing about the baby.”

That sinking
feeling overcame Sal and Gemma again.
 
They looked at each other.

“What about
you, Gemma?” Mick asked.
 
He needed them
to think, not feel.

But Sal disagreed.
 
“Don’t disturb her like that,” he said,
admonishing Mick.

Mick looked
at him. “Your baby is missing and you don’t want me to disturb your wife?
 
Are you insane?”

As soon as
Mick said it, Sal realized that he had a point.
 
Gemma already knew that he had.
 
“I’ve been racking my brain too,” she said.
 
“We’ve had some things to happen, but they
don’t rise to anything like this.”

“What
things?” Tommy asked.

“My office
was vandalized by a former client who was paid to do it.”

“Paid by
whom?”

“Scorsese
was behind that one,” Sal said.
 
“My
inside guy?
 
He admitted that one.
 
It was all about distracting me.”

“What about
Shaun Merriment and that video?” Gemma asked Sal.
 
“Did he put Mark Price up to that?”

Sal shook
his head.
 
“No,” he said.
 
“At least he said no.”
 
Then Sal became frustrated.
 
“Who the fuck knows?
 
Maybe we’re going about this all wrong.
 
Maybe I’m chasing my tail and that’s exactly
what they want me to do.”

But Mick
needed them to think, not feel.
 
“Tell me
about this Mark Price and Shaun Merriment,” he said.
 
“Who are they?”

“Nobody,”
Sal said.
 
“Mark worked at Gemma’s law
firm.
 
I figured he had a thing for her
and wanted to destroy our marriage.
 
He’s
dead now.”
 
But then Sal thought about
something.

“What is it,
Sal?” Reno asked him.

Sal looked
at Reno.
 
“What if she didn’t miss?” he
asked.

Reno was
lost.
 
“What if who didn’t miss?”

“That woman
we found with Mark Price.”

“The one who
tried to shoot us but ended up shooting Mark?” Reno asked.

“Yeah,
her.
 
But what if she wasn’t trying to shoot
us?
 
What if she meant to shoot Mark all
along?”

Reno thought
about it, as everybody else in the room were looking at them.
 
Gemma was looking intensely.

“You know
she did shoot him just as he was about to come clean with us,” Reno said.
 
Then he looked at Sal.
 
“You think she was trying to shut him up?”

“Permanently,”
Sal said.
 
“It’s possible.”

“It’s
possible,” Reno agreed.
 
“I’ll have my
men check her background,” he said, pulling out his cellphone.
 
“We’ll see what we can turn up.”

Sal
nodded.
 
“Good,” he said.
 
“You never know.”

It took less
than an hour before the word came down.
 
When Reno got the phone call, he was floored.
 
He hurried to the bedroom, where everybody
was still assembled.
 
“Her name was
Pamela Ross, Sal,” he said when he entered the room.

“Anything on
her?”

“Yeah,” Reno
said.
 
“She was a prostitute.”

“That’s no
news,” Sal said.
 
“I already scoped her
out as a hooker.
 
So what?”