CHAPTER SIX
“He died.”
Those were the first words out of Sal Gabrini’s mouth and the already depressed room deflated even more. Everybody looked at Jimmy, who leaned his head down and ran his hands through his hair. Reno, who was sitting down by the time Sal arrived, got back up. “Damn!”
“What does all this mean?” asked Trina, who remained seated beside her stepson.
“It means we’re fucked,” said Dom as Sal sat down where Reno had been sitting. “Did he die at the hospital, Uncle Sal?”
“Within minutes of arrival he was gone.”
“The cops involved?” asked Reno.
“They were called to the hospital, yes.”
“And?” Reno waited anxiously. Dom, Trina, and Jimmy looked at Sal too.
But Sal could only shake his head.
“What does that mean?” a distressed Jimmy asked. “What does that mean, Uncle Sal?”
“It means B.B. didn’t mention you to the cops,” said Reno. “It means Paulie’s old man is gonna take matters into his own hands. Which means war as sure as I’m talking to you.”
“Dammit, J,” said Sal, “why you gotta go and tangle with B.B.’s kid?”
“I wasn’t tangling with anybody!” Jimmy was emotional. “He came at me. He brought that shit to me. I wasn’t trying to tangle with anybody.”
“Okay, calm down, baby,” Trina said, rubbing his back. “It’s alright. You hear me? We got you.”
“Jimmy, you and Dom are on lockdown here at the penthouse,” Reno ordered.
“Me?” asked Dom.
“Yes you! You were there too. You think Brocco don’t know that? He’s coming after you too.”
“Damn right he is,” said Sal. “Where’s Soph and Carmine?”
“In their rooms. Sophie’s spending the night.”
“Good,” said Sal. “They’re all on lockdown too.”
“What about Maddie and Mariah and the baby?” asked Jimmy. “They’re on a two-week cruise.”
“I got my A team in Rome to get on that boat and blanket them. They’re better off staying right where they are until we find out what B.B.’s gonna do.”
“And then what?” asked Trina.
“Once we get a read on what he’s planning to do, we take them out before they take us out,” said Sal. “I already got an army out on the streets looking for his ass, but he’s in hiding.”
“In hiding?” asked a surprised Dom. “That don’t sound like Brocco Bernardi.”
“It sounds like him if he don’t want a conversation,” said Reno. “It sounds like him if he’s preparing for war.”
“Do we have a pipeline to Brocco?” asked Jimmy. “If he knew what happened and how it went down, maybe that could help.”
“I told your ass you been in the office too long,” said Dom. “You need to start paying attention to more than just those balance sheets and pay attention to what’s going on around you. That man don’t care how it happened. He don’t give a fuck that it was his son that brought that shit on himself. He’s out for blood. Your blood. My blood. Blood.”
“Maybe Mick can help,” said Trina. “Maybe we should contact Mick.”
“I already have,” said Reno.
They all looked at him. “When did you contact Uncle Mick, Pop?” asked Dom. “I didn’t see you talking on no phone after you called Uncle Sal.”
“He took a bathroom break,” said Jimmy. “You need to pay more attention to your family.”
They all knew what Jimmy meant. “We need to let Frankie know what’s going on,” said Trina. “We need to contact Frankie Paletti to see if he’s heard anything.”
“I already have,” said Reno, and they all looked at him. “Monk Paletti is a major mob boss with major connections. He might have heard something.”
“What did Frankie say?” asked Sal.
“He said he hasn’t heard a thing. He don’t know shit either.”
“What about Uncle Mick?” asked Jimmy. “What did he say when you called him, Pop?”’
“He was handling another situation, but he’s flying out right away.”
“Right away?”
Reno exhaled a distressed exhale. “Right away.”
“Damn.” Jimmy leaned back. And they all looked at each other. Because they knew, if Mick was dropping everything and showing up immediately, it meant he understood the seriousness even better than they did.
“Maybe all of the Gabrinis should be on lockdown,” said Trina, “if Mick is taking it this seriously.”
But Reno and Sal both said no. “It don’t work that way. B.B. knows he can claim some level of justification for coming for Jimmy and Dommi, and even those that happen to be around them when he comes,” said Reno. “We’ll have to fight this fight. But if he comes for everybody, all our allies will join in. He don’t want that kind of war. He can’t survive that kind of war.”
“But he can survive a war with us?” asked Jimmy.
“Hell no,” said Reno. “But he ain’t thinking straight. Paulie was his heir. His golden child. Now he’s dead. His grief has taken over. He don’t give a shit right now. He just wants revenge.”
“Which makes him an easy target once we catch up with him,” said Sal. “Grief is always easy to beat because it’s irrational. We’ll get him once we find him.”
“But what about his syndicate? Won’t his guys come after us too?”
“No way,” said Sal. “B.B. has always run a top-down organization. If the boss is snuffed out, the flunkies will scatter. They ain’t fighting against us unless B.B. is leading the charge. We get rid of B.B., the war’s over.”
They all looked at each other. It sounded promising that they only had one man to take down. But everyone in that room suspected that if it was as easy as taking out one man, then Mick Sinatra would not have dropped everything to head their way.
“If it was only that simple,” said Reno. Because he knew better.