CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
After picking up Robby Yale to be the driver, they made their way to the restaurant. When Mick saw the name of the restaurant, he realized what they meant. The restaurant, called In Plain Sight , made Mick smile. “You have got to be kidding me,” he said.
“Go around back, Robby,” Sal ordered his underboss, as Robby drove around back. Then Sal looked at Mick. “Kenny Partanna said he was hiding in a restaurant. Which meant he was attempting to hide in plain sight because that’s what B.B. would try to do. He thought he was clever like that. But B.B. would also pick the restaurant that literally described what he was doing. That literally described it. Because that’s B.B. too,” Sal said. “That’s B.B.”
“Fits him to the letter,” said Tommy.
Mick shook his head as he began checking his gun. “Hiding in plain sight in a restaurant called In Plain Sight . Thought I’d heard it all. Let’s hope you’re right.”
“We are, Uncle Mick,” said Sal. “I know his ass. But we don’t know how much security he has, so be prepared.”
Robby parked around the backside of the restaurant where there were no cameras in sight, nor windows. The four men got out fully loaded with Ak-47s and Glocks too. Robby had a battering ram.
They had the advantage of the restaurant not yet open, so they were able to go to the backdoor undetected. But instead of knocking, Robby used the ram to bang the door open with force and then he dropped it as all four ran in, their guns aimed and ready to fire.
But nobody was there.
Mick motioned for them to split up. He and Robby went down the left hall and Sal and Tommy went down the right hall. They all began kicking open doors as they went. There were several down those halls.
But it was Tommy who kicked in the right door. When Tommy whistled, Mick, Robby, and Sal looked at him, and then they hurried to the door he stood in front of.
And that was when they saw Brocco Bernardi’s young wife and three small children. They were huddled together on the floor in a room fit for a king: beds and sofas and frig and TV and computers galore. But nobody else was in the room with them.
“Where’s Brocco?” Tommy asked.
“He’s not here.” His wife had an Eastern-European accent.
“Where is he?” Sal asked.
“He left. He said he will be back soon.”
“Where’s his men?”
“They left with him.”
Sal and Mick looked at each other. The only reason B.B. would leave his wife and children alone, without even token security, was if he felt he needed every man to do the job. He had none to spare.
Mick looked at the man’s wife. She was young enough to be Brocco’s daughter. He should be ashamed of himself, Mick thought. “Where did he go?” he asked her.
“I do not know.”
“You’re lying,” said Sal. “Where did he go? Don’t make us force you to tell us the truth because the truth will be told.”
The wife looked distressed.
“We won’t harm you or your children,” Tommy reassured her, “if you tell us where we can find your husband.”
She seemed to be debating within herself. Mick, tired of it, hurried into the room and put a gun to her head. The children began screaming. Sal and Tommy hurried behind him and tried to pull him back.
“There’s children here, what’s wrong with you?” Tommy yelled.
But Mick was unmoved. “Where’s B.B.?” he asked the wife, his gun still aimed at her. “You got three seconds to tell us where that asshole is.”
“Who are you threatening?” the wife asked with equal bravado. “His mistress died because of Reno Gabrini’s wife. My stepson was murdered because of Reno Gabrini’s son. He shall get his revenge on Reno Gabrini!”
“Where is he?” asked Sal. He was beginning to panic.
“They found him.”
Their collective hearts nearly stopped beating. “They found who?”
“He knows where Reno Gabrini is hiding out.”
Sal frowned. “How would he know that?”
“While Reno had a tail on Kenny Partanna, Kenny hired guys to tail all the Gabrini men. For years that went on. They just found all the details on Kenny’s laptop when they couldn’t figure out where Reno could have hidden.”
“What did they find?” Sal asked, still doubtful.
“They found out that you brought a safe house and businesses in a really remote town. They know you would have only brought that shit to go in hiding. It took five years, but they know you’re using it now.”
Sal’s heart dropped. He looked at Mick and Tommy.
“And he’s on his way to collect his debt,” the wife said bitterly.
But Mick needed more. “What remote town?” he asked her.
“It’s in Mississippi,” she said, and when they heard the name of the state drip from her tongue, they all took notice. “It’s in Whitewater or some kind of town with the name water in it. I know what I’m talking about!”
When Sal heard her description, his heart began hammering. “When did they leave?”
“They just found that report. You just missed them.” Then she smiled. “You got here too late.”
When they heard it, they took off, with Sal yelling for Robby to stay back and safehouse B.B.’s wife and kids.
They knew in their hearts of hearts she was telling the truth.
They knew they didn’t have a second to waste.