The Heavenly Fugitive (31 page)

When they arrived at City Hall, Jamie shouted, “Look, there’s Wes over there! Stop the car, Dom!”

“Wait a minute! Don’t go jumping out. You’ll kill yourself.”

Jamie, however, ignored the bodyguard’s instructions, hopping out as soon as the car stopped and running across the street to greet Wes.

“Jamie’s found a good friend there,” Dom said to Rosa.

“Yes, I guess it’s been good for him,” Rosa agreed. “He didn’t have anybody to talk with.”

“Well, I’ll park the car. Don’t know how long this will take. I s’pose he’ll want to take a picture of everybody in the building.”

Despite Rosa’s denial of her feelings for Phil Winslow, she
had actually come along to City Hall in the hope of seeing him. Now that he worked for the DA, she knew he frequented the courtrooms at City Hall. She moved quickly to where her brother and Wes were talking, and when Wes greeted her, she smiled at him.

“Come along, Rosa,” Wes said. “I’m going to take some pictures of the mayor first. Maybe I can take one of you shaking his hand.”

“He’d never shake hands with anybody named Morino,” Rosa said bitterly.

Wes blinked with surprise and then saw a look of embarrassment on Jamie’s face. Quickly he covered by saying, “Well, there’s lots of things to take pictures of. Come on, we’ll find some of them.”

Rosa enjoyed her trip out after her bout with the flu had kept her in for so long. April had brought refreshingly warm weather and spring flowers. The courthouse was warm inside but not overly so. She followed Wes and Jamie around from room to room, when suddenly her breath caught at seeing Phil step out of an office and start down the hall.

“Phil!” she called out and headed toward him. She saw Phil turn, and at that moment a young woman came out of the same room he had appeared from. She reached up and took Phil’s arm and smiled at him in a familiar way. Rosa recognized her at once. It was Mary Emmets, the debutante of the year. Her father was a wealthy speculator with a seat on the stock market, and the society papers considered her the catch of the moment. She was not a tall woman but well shaped, and she held on to Phil with a proprietary air.

Phil spotted Rosa just then as she approached the pair. “Oh, Miss Emmets,” he said, “I’d like you to meet Miss Rosa Morino.”

Mary Emmets stared at Rosa and did not speak for a moment. “I’m glad to meet you,” she said coldly.

Rosa knew that look. She was certain the woman had recognized the name and was disgusted. She saw Mary’s hand
tighten on Phil’s arm, then heard her saying, “We’d better hurry, Phil, or we’ll be late.”

Phil lingered for a moment, although the young woman was tugging at his arm. “Will you be around later, Rosa? I’d like to talk to you.”

“No, I’m leaving now.”

Rosa had not intended to leave just then, but the frigid look in the socialite’s eyes infuriated her. She and Jamie were both hurt by what their father was, but rarely did she meet such blatant rejection. She turned and left the building at once.

Dom was leaning against the car talking with two other men when Rosa walked up to him. “Hey, where’s Jamie?” he asked.

“He’s staying awhile. I’m leaving, Dom.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Oh yeah? Watch me!”

Rosa leaned into the street to wave down a passing cab. The driver pulled right over, and she climbed in, saying, “Take me to Twenty-second Street.”

Twenty minutes later she was sitting in a speakeasy, already tipsy from too many drinks. She had come here before but never alone, and it was only a few moments before a man came over to her and leered at her. “You all alone?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Maybe you’d like a little company.”

“Maybe I would . . . .”

****

Leo Marx was unhappy. His plan had not worked, for although his lieutenants had followed his orders to put the pressure on Big Tony Morino’s operation, Morino’s men were tough. As a matter of fact, they had hurt Marx worse than he had hurt them!

Marx had withdrawn for two days after the latest sharp battle between the two forces. He had drunk more than usual and had become obsessed with his losses. Morino wasn’t his
only problem. Lee Novak’s federal agents had hit them hard. Several of his key men were in jail, and he knew that more would follow unless something was done. Marx was not a heavy drinker, so the liquor affected him more than it would another man. After mulling over the situation, he finally sent for Jake Prado.

“Jake, it’s not Tony that’s hurtin’ us. We can take care of him. It’s that agent Lee Novak.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s always been Novak.”

“We’re just not safe with guys like that around. We got to set ’im back, Jake.”

Prado was as tough as a man could be and as unfeeling. He was shrewd, however, and shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know about that. Takin’ out anybody that even looks like a cop is dangerous. You know how it stirs ’em up.”

“That’s right. We hit ’im, but it’s got to look like somebody else did it. As a matter of fact, it’s got to look like it’s some of Big Tony’s guys.”

Prado stared at his boss. “How would you do that? You tell me.”

“All right. Here’s the way it’ll play out. We can find out about the next big delivery that Morino’s going to make. As soon as we find out, we set him up with Novak.”

“We blow the whistle on him?”

“That’s right. And when Novak’s men close in, they’ll think they’ve got a lead pipe cinch, but they won’t because you’ll be there, Jake, and every man we got. When Novak’s men move in to make the arrest, you blast ’em. Everybody will think it’s Morino because that’s who they’re gonna nail. With Novak and his crew out of the way,” he grinned, “we can easily take care of Morino before the feds have a chance to train and send in fresh recruits. Set it up, Jake. If we do this right, we’re home free. We’ll hurt Big Tony, and we’ll take the feds out at the same time. Don’t spare the ammunition.”

“Right, boss, I’ll take care of it.”

The trap set by Leo Marx took place exactly a week after
Prado’s conversation with Marx. Prado had arranged for an informant to leak the information to Lee Novak that the biggest shipment of illegal alcohol ever moved in the city would be coming in. Then Prado had hired enough gunmen to wipe out both Morino’s men and Lee Novak’s crew of special agents.

****

Lee Novak was elated. Phil had never seen him so excited. “Are you sure this information’s right, Lee? It sounds too easy.”

Lee had contacted Phil to alert him as to what was going down shortly. He wanted the DA’s office to be prepared to handle all the indictments that would be pouring in after his special agents captured the city’s biggest warlords.

“We’ve got it straight, and we’ve checked on it. It’s coming in all right. Five big trucks. We’ll pin them down, and that’ll be the end of that. This’ll put Morino out of business for good.”

Phil was naturally cautious and concerned for the safety of Lee and his men. He shook his head. “I don’t know, Lee. I hope it works.”

“It’ll work all right,” Lee said confidently. “I have the utmost trust in my men.”

****

Dom Costello was accustomed to organizing the shipments of bootleg alcohol, but this was the biggest haul yet. He had worked hard on it to be sure nothing went wrong, and now he felt fairly comfortable. He was just getting ready to leave to receive the shipment when he got a call from a friend of his, a saloonkeeper. “Hey, Dom, this is Chick.”

“What do you want, Chick? I’m busy.”

“You’d better look into this. You know your boss’s daughter, Rosa? She’s down here, and she’s drunk, and there’s a guy here that means her no good.”

“She’s at your place?”

“Yeah. I tried to get her to go home, Dom, but she wouldn’t do it. I’d feel better if you came for her.”

“Okay, I’ll pick her up.” Dom slammed the receiver down and shook his head angrily. He was upset with Rosa. But he still cared for the girl a great deal and knew he had to do something.

Dom ran outside, got into his car, and drove as fast he dared to Chick’s place. It took him fifteen minutes, and when he got inside he saw Rosa seated at a table. Across from her was a smooth-looking middle-aged man whose hand was on her knee. Dom walked over, reached down and grabbed the man by the neck, then jerked him to his feet. “Beat it,” he said, “or I’ll kill you.”

Rosa’s admirer did not argue. He turned pale, swallowed hard, and made an almost magical exit.

“Come on, Rosa. You need to go home.”

“I’m having a good time,” Rosa said drunkenly.

Dom wasn’t about to argue. Reaching down, he grabbed her arm and lifted her up. “You’re going home,” he said harshly. “Deal with it!”

Rosa resisted him, but it was useless. Dom’s strength was proverbial, and when he put her in the car, she slumped down.

Getting back into the driver’s seat, Dom threaded his way through the traffic. It was late now, almost midnight. He thought about taking Rosa home but decided there wasn’t time. The shipment was due at an old warehouse any minute, and he needed to be there. He parked the car a block away and said to Rosa, “You wait here. And don’t you dare think about getting out of this car!”

“Where you going?”

“A little business. You stay put.”

Dom walked quickly down the street. He saw that the trucks were already pulling into the warehouse. He hurried forward, and just as he reached the entrance, he heard light footsteps behind him. Turning quickly, Dom saw that Rosa had followed him. She was unsteady on her feet, and
he furiously shook his head. “Rosa—” he started, but then there was a sudden shout and a shot rang out.

Instantly Dom ran toward Rosa and pulled her toward the shelter of the doorway.

From everywhere, it seemed then, shots were ringing out. Dom gasped, “We’ve been set up!” He jumped behind the doorframe for protection and set Rosa down behind him. Then he pulled his gun, knowing full well it was Leo Marx’s men. He shot at a shadowy figure and drew fire in return. The ferocity of the gun battle was terrible, worse than anything he had ever experienced.

Rosa, terrified, jumped up and began running away.

“Rosa, get back here! Get down!”

But Rosa never heard Dom’s voice in the chaos that filled her ears.

****

Phil had insisted on going along with Lee on this raid. Though it was not standard protocol for someone from the DA’s office to attend a raid, in this case he couldn’t stay away. Lee Novak was a close friend as well as a collaborator in the law’s pursuit of New York’s worst thugs. The two men had different jobs in the process now—Lee on the streets making arrests and Phil prosecuting the criminals in court—but their jobs were two sides of the same coin. They shared the common goal of cleaning up the city to make it safe for its law-abiding citizens. This one raid could be the turning point they’d all been waiting for.

Lee had not wanted Phil to come, but since he was there anyway, he ordered him to stay out of sight at a safe distance and keep down. So Phil hunkered down behind a car across the street, watching as Novak and his men closed in. So far it had gone according to plan, but now as they moved toward the building, attempting to surround it, rifle fire erupted.

“Behind us!” Lee shouted at his men. “Over there on the roof!”

Phil turned to see the blinking fire of rifles, and then he yelled, “Lee, take cover!”

Lee shouted orders to his agents. “Get everybody out of here! Pull the men back!” He hobbled across the street with blood streaming from his legs. He was within a few feet of the car where Phil was hiding when he was driven to his knees.

“Lee, are you hurt bad?”

Novak ignored Phil and continued shouting orders to his agents. Phil kept his head down as Lee dragged himself behind the car and fired at every target he saw.

Phil heard the dying groans of men fallen in the street in the midst of the gun battle, and he kept his head down. But at a slight lull in the shooting, he could not resist the urge to peek over the top of the car. His eyes met a gruesome sight—bodies strewn in the street in dark pools of blood. He thought he saw Dom Costello’s big body slumped in the doorway of the warehouse, but he couldn’t be sure. Then in an instant a shock ran through him. Rosa was standing in the middle of the street in the direct line of fire!

“Rosa!” he cried, leaping to his feet without thought and running toward her. Even as Phil rushed forward, a bullet struck Rosa full in the chest. She made a slight cry and was driven backward.

“Rosa!”

Oblivious to the bullets that filled the air, he reached down and scooped her up. The front of her dress was stained with blood, and as Phil’s heart wrenched at the sight, he knew that this war had claimed a casualty he could not spare.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Casualties

The darkness was cold and silent . . . frightening. More than simply a lack of sound, the silence was tangible. Her first conscious thought was,
I’m dead.

She heard a tiny sound, unrecognizable. Yet a sense of relief washed through her at the knowledge that something existed other than the silence. She seemed to be at the bottom of a deep pit—lifeless, airless—cut off from everything alive and warm. She tried to cry out for help but had no voice.