43. Johnson
Chapter forty-three
Johnson
I turn the corner into Vitale's neighborhood and slow my plain-clothes cruiser and peer out the passenger side window. I'm not sure what I expect to see from the road, but the scene of chaos is not what I'm expecting.
I'm just praying I get to Vitale's house before Rico. I'm praying I'm not about to find a dead house wife and mafia kingpin.
Guards and help are running around, shouting at each other, with no real semblance of order or organization.
It isn't until I pass the house a bit, that I notice a woman shuffling stiffly down the sidewalk. She's in a mid-length red dress, but her hair seems wrong. As I get closer, though, I notice the dress is really a sweatshirt and is only red in the front, and the woman’s face and chest are red too. She's walking like she's in a trance, eyes wide but unseeing.
Fuck.
It's Hannah, and she's covered in blood – her face, her hair, the whole front of her sweatshirt. She's in shock. I park my cop car as close to her as I can and jump out quickly.
"Hannah! Hannah! Are you alright? Are you hurt??"
I frantically dial Rico back.
She jumps back when I touch her shoulder, her eyes wide, but they're slow to focus on me. Slowly, the light comes back to them.
"It's in my mouth." She says, pointing lamely to her red-stained teeth .
Fuck!
"Okay, okay, I got you." I take off my uniform jacket and cover her with it to not arouse as much interest if someone were to see her.
Fuck.
I open the back of the car, and gently usher her into it. Before rounding the back and retrieving a bottle of water from my trunk.
Finally, Rico answers. "Johnson." He growls.
"Boss, I've got her..." I look at the back of her matted head in the back seat. "Boss, I've got her but it's not good."
“Where are you?! I’m coming.”
“No, I’m bringing her to you.”
“Don’t fuck with me Johnson! Where are you?”
“Rico,” I plead quietly. We have known each other since elementary school. Normally I would always show him the respect he deserves, but I was asking this as a friend, not an informant. “She shouldn’t be seen in public. And I can't take her to a hospital. I think she’s alright, she’s just in shock.”
It works. Rico pauses for a beat before saying “Bring her to me now.”
"Boss?" I interrupt.
"You're at the farm?"
He grunts that he can be.
"The kids can't see her like this. I'll bring her in the back entrance, but you make sure those kids are far away. Understand?"
He grunts before hanging up.
I open the back door again before giving Hannah the water bottle. She stares at it as if she's never seen one before. I open the cap for her.
"Take a sip and swish it in your mouth before spitting it out, okay? Do that three times."
She looks up at me, looking small and child-like, and nothing like the woman who handed the Fed his ass. My heart breaks for her.
But, she does as I say before giving me a fake, toothy grin so I can inspect them.
She'll need tests for hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV, but Rico's in-house doc can take care of that. I really need to get her off the streets first.
Luckily, Rico's farm is only twenty-five minutes from here.
I hit the roads, ready to navigate rush hour traffic in the city with the worst traffic in the United States.
"Hannah, can you lay down for me please? So we don't garner any attention?"
She does as I ask.
We sit in silence for a while, so I peak back at her to see if she'd fallen asleep, but her eyes are open, unseeing, and the blood on her face has begun to dry, turning a deeper brown and beginning to crack.
I want to ask her a million questions, but none of them seem appropriate.
"Did you kill him?"
"How did you escape?"
"Did he hurt you?"
I want to reassure her that everything will be okay, but I don't know that. How does a suburban mom handle being kidnapped by a rival mafia faction, murder him, clearly in cold blood, and escape, and be okay afterwards ?
Instead, I focus on getting her to Rico and her men. Getting her someone safe with the people who love her.
The farm has a "main entrance" and "farm entrance" that gives direct access to the barn, so deliveries of hay and shavings don't have to dry by the main house. I pull in, past the barn, and slowly approach the house.
"Stay down, Hannah, until I tell you we're in the clear."
Rico, and Diego rush out of the back door.
I get out.
"The kids?" I ask, rounding the back of the car in a hurry.
"In the front yard with Lauren. Now where is my woman!?" Rico shouts, his fury barely contained.
I bend down to look in the car.
"It's alright, Hannah. You're home. You're safe. You can come out now."
I offer her my hand, and she steps out of the car.
Diego stumbles to a stop, eyes wide.
Rico hesitates, but then slowly approaches her.
"Mami, are you hurt?"
At the sound of her nickname, her eyes find Rico and she lets out a deep sigh, as if she's finally home.
Unfortunately, the adrenaline and shock must have been too much, because her eyes roll back and her head begins to lull backwards. I set to catch her, but Rico beats me to it, scooping her up bridal-style. Her head lulls at an unnatural angle, but Rico manages to hitch her up a certain way so that her head rests on his chest instead.
"Diego," Rico barks, shaking him free of his trance. "Doors. "
"Boss?" I shout after them, causing Rico to pause just a second and turn towards me. "The body? The house?"
"Burn it."
I nod. I won't do it, but I can make sure his men get the order while he takes care of his family.
My heart breaks for them, and their kids, but all I can do is drive back to the scene, make sure Rico's men get in safely, and keep the actual authorities none-the-wiser.