CHAPTER THREE
The automatic doors of the hospital slid open and Mick and Roz hurried into the ER.
The hospital administrator had just gotten off the elevator and was rushing to greet them.
It was obvious that he had to scramble to get downstairs as soon as he got word that Teddy Sinatra had arrived by ambulance after a nasty car crash and that his father was on the way.
Everybody in Philly, including that administrator, knew Mick Sinatra as a titan of industry.
But they also knew the rumors that Mick Sinatra was the boss of all mob bosses.
He was as nervous as he was excited. “Mr. Sinatra, welcome sir,” the administrator said as he hurried toward them.
He didn’t acknowledge Mrs. Sinatra at all, but Roz didn’t care. She was terrified for Teddy. And so was Mick. “Where’s my son?” he asked anxiously.
“Right this way, sir,” the administrator said as they began walking swiftly toward the back side of the emergency room.
“How is he?” Roz asked just as anxiously as they walked. Mick realized she was struggling to keep up so he placed his hand on her lower back and moved her beside him.
“He has some bruises externally,” said the administrator, “but we’re running tests to make certain there are no internal injuries. Those test results will determine if any surgeries are needed.”
Mick and Roz both felt a sinking feeling in the pit of their guts. Teddy was the picture of health when they left him and Nikki at that restaurant. Now he might need surgeries? He might be fighting for his life? It was overwhelming to them.
But when they entered a hospital room on the backside of the ER and saw Nikki standing at the window wiping tears from her eyes, their sinking feeling only sank lower. “Nikki,” Roz said as she hurried to her.
Nikki hurried to Roz and they hugged each other tightly. Mick went over to Nikki too and rubbed her back. She was anguished. He’d never seen her so shaken.
“Nikki, what happened?” he asked her when she and Roz stopped embracing. He handed her his handkerchief. He needed to know if it was an accident or, given their line of work, an attempted assassination.
Nikki wiped her eyes. “I was heading to your house to take Roz’s car, I mean to take Mrs. Sinatra’s car home.
Teddy was following me and I was constantly looking out of the rearview mirror.
I saw when he was hit by an SUV as he tried to make it through the intersection and his car lost traction and went airborne and . . .”
She started dropping tears again and shaking her head as if she couldn’t continue. Mick rubbed Nikki’s back. He could feel her pain. He could just feel it! But he had to know. “Keep going.”
“And it flipped in the air and it landed upside down with such a hard crash. Then it started spinning. It was just terrible to see,” she said as she began sobbing again.
Mick pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. Roz had tears falling from her eyes too.
Then Mick pulled her back and held her by her shoulders. “Was he conscious at all, Nikki? Was he conscious?”
“They had to use the jaws of life to get him out of the car. And no, he wasn’t conscious. But I haven’t seen him since they put him in that ambulance. They wouldn’t let me ride with him.”
“Bastards,” Roz said.
“By the time I drove here,” Nikki continued, “they were already running tests.”
“Just an awful situation,” the hospital administrator said. Mick turned and looked at him. They had forgotten he was in the room. “From the looks of his car, it was just an awful accident.”
But Mick looked at Nikki. “Was it an accident?” he asked her. The administrator at first found that an odd question. Of course it was an accident! But then he remembered who he was dealing with. And his flippancy left. Fear replaced it.
But Nikki was nodding her head. “It was an accident, yes sir. The light was turning red when I was going through that intersection, so I knew it was red when Teddy drove through it and got hit.”
“What about the driver of that SUV?” asked Roz. “Did he stick around?”
“Oh yes.”
“How did he behave?”
“Devastated. He was certain he’d killed Teddy. But I was certain he couldn’t have. He couldn’t have.” Nikki’s voice cracked as tears returned. Mick ushered Nikki and Roz to the sofa in the room and they both sat down and hugged each other again.
Mick began leaving the room and motioning for the administrator to follow him.
Once in the corridor, Mick opened his suit coat and placed both hands on his hip. He was so tired he could barely stand up. “Was the driver of that SUV brought here too?”
“The police brought him here. He had a cut on his lip so they wanted him checked out. He’s being prepared for release. He’s fine.”
“Take me to him.” Mick wanted to eyeball that driver to determine for himself that it was as it appeared.
The administrator didn’t want any funny business in his hospital. “I assure you, sir, it was an accident,” he said. “The police interviewed the driver and your daughter-in-law as well. They said all the witnesses confirmed it was a red-light violation on the part of your son. It was an accident.”
Mick’s jaw tightened. He was unaccustomed to anybody lecturing him. “Take me to the driver,” he said again.
The administrator saw his jaw tighten. He remembered that his nickname was Mick the Ticking time bomb because of his explosive temper.
But before he could make a move to take Mick to the driver, four men that looked to the administrator like beefy Italian mobsters were rushing toward the hospital room with a small nurse hurrying behind them.
“Sir, I told them they couldn’t come back here,” the flustered nurse said to the administrator.
“They’re with me,” Mick said.
The nurse looked at the administrator. He nodded. “It’s okay, Nurse. You can go back to your station.”
The nurse glanced at Mick. She knew him from press reports too. She went back to her station.
“Boss, boss, how is he?” It was one of the four capos asking. He seemed nearly out of breath.
“We don’t know yet. They’re running tests. Is there coverage inside and out?”
“Yes sir. I tried to call Nikki to see what she wanted to us to do, but she wouldn’t answer my calls.”
“Nikki’s in no condition right now to give any orders,” Mick admitted.
The capos glanced at each other as if their belief that a husband-and-wife tag team in the mob world was always a bad idea. “Yes sir,” the capo said. “I assumed as much. That’s why I kept it four in and four out. Do you think we’ll need more men?”
“Not at this point, no. But I want two of you to stay with Nikki and my wife. Guard this room. Nobody goes in or out without my authorization.”
“Yes sir.”
Then Mick looked at the administrator. “I want two of my guards to remain at my son’s side at all times.”
“But he’s in Xray, sir.”
“I don’t give a fuck if he’s . . .” Mick calmed back down when he saw the terror in the administrator’s eyes. “Two of my men will stay with my son at all times.”
The administrator exhaled. What had he gotten himself involved with? This was unprecedented! “Yes, sir,” he said. “I’ll take them to Xray and give the order.”
“Where can I find the driver?”
“Down this hall, the second room on your right. I can take you there first.”
“No. Escort my men to my son.”
“Yes sir,” the administrator said, and he and two of the capos left.
Mick followed his directions to where the driver’s room was located inside the ER. When Mick opened the door, he saw a thin black man seated on a gurney buttoning his shirt. His eyes were in a wild stare as if he was still reliving the incident. Mick entered the room.
“Are you the driver that hit that Porsche?”
“I am. Who are you?”
“I’m Mick Sinatra. My son was driving that Porsche.”
Mick purposely said his name to assess the driver’s reaction. And there was a definite reaction. Mick could see him tense up.
And for good reason. A man in Philly saying he was Mick Sinatra was like a man in New York saying he was John Gotti when Gotti was alive and king of the hill: There would immediately be fear in the room.
I couldn’t stop, sir,” the guy started saying. “He ran that red light and I was already going full speed. I couldn’t stop.” Then his face revealed his inward torment. “He dead, ain’t he? Is that why you’re here? Because he died?”
Mick exhaled. He was satisfied. “No sir,” he said. “He’s not dead.”
“Oh, thank God!” Relief filled the room. “I don’t want nothing like that over my head ever. I couldn’t live with something like that over my head.”
“Are you okay?” Mick asked him.
“I’m fine. Just a few scratches, that’s all.”
“Okay.” Mick extended his hand. The man jumped down from the gurney and shook it.
But Mick jerked him so hard that his thin body slammed against Mick’s big frame.
And he whispered in his ear. “If I find out that your golly gee, woe is me routine is an act and there’s more to this story, I will track you down like the animal I am and rip you apart.
Limb by limb.” Then he looked the driver in his eyes. “You feel me?”
The man swallowed hard. And started nodding furiously. “Yes sir,” he said.
Then Mick released his hand and left the room.
But Mick didn’t go back to Teddy’s room.
He went outside to make sure the capos out there were all made men and no newbies, which was who they were.
He also made several phone calls, including ordering a detail to round up all the CCTV cameras they could find in the area of the accident.
It seemed innocent enough, but he was taking no chances.
By the time he made it back into the hospital room with Roz and Nikki, Mick felt overwhelmed with relief.
Teddy had returned from Xray and was wide awake, alert, and sitting up in his hospital bed.
Other than a few abrasions on his face and arms, he looked okay.
But what helped Mick was that Nikki and Roz were smiling.
Mick had been waiting to exhale, and the look on their faces allowed him to do so.
“All the tests are negative,” Nikki said.
“Thank God,” said Mick.
“But they want to keep him overnight for observation.”
But Teddy was adamant. “Observation my ass. It’s called a shakedown. They aren’t shaking me down. No overnight. I’m getting out of here.”
“The police still need to talk to you and most likely ticket you for reckless driving first, Teddy. You know they’re on their way.”
“Reckless driving. Sure buddy.”
Mick looked at him. “You didn’t run that red light?”
“Yeah, I ran it.”
Mick frowned. “Then what’s your problem? You don’t argue about a ticket you know you deserve or they’ll be more than happy to slap your Sinatra ass with a resistance charge. And you are staying overnight.”
“But I hate hospitals, Pop. They creep me out.”
“Nikki will stay and hold your hand,” Mick said, and Nikki and Roz fought hard to suppress their grins.
“Fuck you, Pop,” Teddy said, and they couldn’t hold back any longer. They laughed.
But even Mick knew it was a laugh born more out of great relief that Teddy had dodged a massive bullet, than joy.