CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Sal and his big brother Tommy Gabrini entered the classroom of the small, liberal arts college in Henderson, sixteen miles southeast of Vegas, and both of them felt weird as they watched Frank Partanna’s grandson. He was acting as if he was just another young, lowly professor erasing his blackboard filled with math equations after his students had gone. But they knew better. They knew that nobody with a bloodline that included Frank Partanna could be a lowly anything. But he truly looked the part.
They split up, with Tommy moving over to the right of the classroom and Sal staying on the left. And then both men began to slowly, quietly approach the professor.
But Kenny Partanna wasn’t related to Frank Partanna by accident. He knew when he was being cornered. He had that sense just as sure as Tommy and Sal had it. And before they could get within twenty feet of him, he moved to the end of the blackboard, as if he was going to erase more equations. But instead, Kenny Partanna opened a door just beside the blackboard and ran into that room.
Sal and Tommy didn’t see it coming. They thought they had him dead to rights. But they ran after him. They pulled out their weapons as they ran through that door, assuming it to be a closet. But it, instead, led to a back stairwell that Kenny was running down as fast as his feet could take him.
“ Got dammit!” Sal yelled out as he and his brother took off down that stairwell too. Both were terrified that Kenny would get away. Both were terrified that the only lead they had was about to slip through their fingers too.
They ran as fast as they could run. But they were on the fifth floor, so it required many stairs to take. And Kenny was not only younger than them by nearly a decade, but he was far more agile. He was getting away!
And when he made it to the bottom of the stairwell, it looked as if he was going to sail through that door and be gone forever. Sal and Tommy’s hearts were pounding. They were both athletic and were both in shape, but they just couldn’t catch up.
And when Kenny reached the bottom stair and opened that door to the outside, he actually looked back at his pursuers and smiled.
“I got your smile right here!” an angry Sal yelled at him, his voice echoing in the stairwell.
But Kenny didn’t stick around. He ran out of that stairwell door, to the outside, and was just about to run across the lawn that led to where he always kept his car. But as soon as he made his first leap toward his getaway run, a big black Cadillac Escalade came charging down that same plot of land as if it was out of control, and then the front door was flung open just as Kenny was making his getaway. That door stopped him in his tracks, knocking him down so hard that it almost knocked him out.
Mick slammed on brakes, got out, and hurried over to Kenny just as Sal and Tommy ran out of the stairwell.
And Sal ran to Kenny and began kicking him. “Who’s smiling now?” he yelled at him. “Who’s smiling now, you twisted motherfucker?!”
“Get him in the truck before we get views,” Tommy ordered as he ran to get behind the wheel of Mick’s Escalade, certain that Mick wanted in on the interrogation, looking to see if anybody was watching the incident unfold.
As Tommy was doing that, Mick and Sal had grabbed up a now dazed Kenny and tossed him in the middle row of the SUV. Mick and Sal got in with Kenny, and Tommy, now behind the wheel, sped away.
And Mick didn’t hesitate. As soon as they were off campus and on the straight, isolated road that led to the city, he took out his Glock and shot Kenny in the leg.
Kenny screamed out in pain, but nobody in that SUV gave a fuck. “Why did you attack the PaLargio?” Sal asked him.
“I didn’t!” Kenny yelled back.
But Mick was about to shoot him again and Kenny, knowing who he was dealing with, quickly changed his tune. “He blackmailed me.”
“Who blackmailed you?”
“Brocco Bernardi.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew how badly I wanted him.”
“Wanted who?”
“Reno Gabrini. I know he was the one that ordered that hit on my grandfather. And I knew I was the only one in my family left that could take him out. But it was gonna take years of planning. B.B. found out about my plans.”
“How would he find out?”
“Billy told him. Billy Axelrod.”
“Since when have you and Ax been buddies?” asked Sal.
“We aren’t.” Kenny was breathing heavily and beads of sweat were on his forehead. He was in pain. But he had no choice but to tell all he knew. “He broke in my house and found the blueprints. He put two and two together and he took it to his boss.”
“Why would he break into your house?” asked Tommy, who was still driving but was taking peeps through the rearview mirror too.
“He broke in after he saw me watching the PaLargio one day and taking notes. As soon as I saw that he saw me, I left and never went back to case that joint again. But the damage was done. Ax and some guys broke into my house and found those blueprints. And they took my blueprints of the PaLargio to B.B.”
“Go on,” said Sal.
“B.B. said he’d tell Reno what I was up to unless I let him in on the plan.”
Sal frowned. “Why would B.B. wanna get in on some plan you hatched?”
“Because of Katrina Gabrini.”
Tommy looked through the rearview. Mick and Sal glanced at each other and then looked at Kenny again. “What beef B.B. got with Reno’s wife?” asked Sal.
“It wasn’t B.B. It was because of his girlfriend. Since he’s married, I guess I should say because of his mistress. And he really loved this mistress. She had this nephew named Rupert Hargrove.”
“Rupert?” asked Sal.
“You know him?” asked Mick.
“I know of him, yeah. He had a hard-on for Sophia.”
“Not just a hard-on,” said Kenny. “He supposedly was so in love with Sophia Gabrini that he didn’t know how to handle it. But according to B.B., it was Reno’s wife who wouldn’t let Rupert get anywhere near her daughter.”
“That’s a gotdamn lie,” said Sal. “I remember that knucklehead Rupert, or whatever his name was. Sophia liked Jovie. That was all there was to it. And Trina knew it. But she never tried to stop Sophie from pursuing a relationship with Rupert. Soph didn’t want Rupert. She loved Jovie.”
“Well, Rupert’s aunt didn’t see it that way. She said he tried to make it with his neighbor lady, but his heart wasn’t in it. He still wanted Reno’s daughter. The aunt believed Mrs. Gabrini didn’t like Rupert because he wasn’t attractive enough for her daughter.”
“Trina’s not like that,” said Sal. “That’s another lie.”
“But that’s what his aunt believed. And after Sophia Gabrini got married to another man, it just crushed Rupert. He couldn’t get over that. And about a month ago,” said Kenny, straining to talk through the pain, “he killed himself.”
Sal was shocked to hear it. “Damn.”
“It devasted B.B.’s mistress. She just couldn’t get deal with it. And the next thing you know, she has a heart attack and croaks too. So now B.B.’s blaming Reno’s wife for his mistress death just like his mistress was blaming Reno’s wife for her nephew’s death. But that’s why B.B. wanted in on it. I wanted revenge on Reno. He wanted revenge on Reno’s wife.”
“What did Jimmy have to do with any of that?”
“Nothing,” said Kenny. “That was just Paulie Bernardi being the jerkoff he was. But when Jimmy shot Paulie, B.B. was already in deep hiding because we were going to launch the attack that same night. It took him a minute to get over his son’s death, but then he gave the go ahead. We were going to take out Reno’s old lady first. Then, in the confusion, Reno would show up and we’d take him out too. But B.B. insisted we get his wife first. That’s why we hit the penthouse and not the casino.”
Sal leaned back and looked at Mick. Tommy, through the rearview, was looking at both of them.
“Where’s B.B. now?” asked Mick.
Kenny was shaking his head. “I don’t know.”
Mick was about to shoot him again. “A restaurant is all I know,” Kenny said quickly. “He never told me where.”
“A restaurant?” Sal had a frown on his face. “Who hides out in a restaurant?”
“Brocco Bernardi, that’s who. He got his wife and kids with him too. But I don’t know which restaurant it is.”
“Is it in Vegas?”
Kenny hesitated. Mick shot him in the other leg, surprising Sal and Tommy both.
“Yes!” Kenny screamed out. “ Please ,” he begged Mick.
“Answer the question,” Mick ordered. “Is that restaurant in Vegas?”
“Yes, it’s in Vegas.” Kenny couldn’t bear the pain, but he knew that bastard Sinatra would shoot him again. “B.B. don’t never leave Vegas. But I don’t know which one it is. I’m gonna die. This shit hurts so much. I need help!”
“Don’t we all,” said Mick.
But Kenny felt as if he was dying. “Help me, please. Sal, please. Dapper Tom? Please help me!”
But neither Gabrini had any sympathy for their family’s enemy.
Mick looked at Sal. They both had that look. They both believed every word Kenny had told them.
“Any more questions?” Mick asked Sal.
“None. You Tommy?” Sal asked his brother.
“None,” said Tommy.
“Okay,” Mick said as he opened the door while his SUV was still speeding down the long back road.
But Kenny began to panic. “What are you doing, Mick? Mick, what are you doing?”
“You were the mastermind that tried to take out my nephew and his family. What the fuck you think I’m doing?”
Then Mick and Sal both grabbed a now-screaming Kenny Partanna, and threw him out of the speeding SUV.
They watched as he rolled down the hill in a supersonic fast roll, and then he slammed into a ditch deep down in the woods. If the gunshots and the roll didn’t kill him, they knew that slam did.
Mick closed the door again.
They both were exhausted.
“What do we do now?” asked Tommy.
“Find that restaurant,” said Mick.
“Find it? Uncle Mick, do you realize how many restaurants there are in Vegas? There has to be thousands. B.B. could be hiding in any one of them.”
But when Tommy said that last sentence, Sal suddenly realized something, and sat upright.
They looked at him. “What is it?” Mick asked.
“That’s it.”
“What’s it?” asked Tommy.
Sal looked at his brother, and then he looked at his uncle. “I know where B.B.’s hiding. I know where that motherfucker is.”
Mick looked at Tommy just as Tommy was looking at Mick through the rearview mirror. And then they both looked at Sal. “Where is he?” Mick asked.
“One thing about B.B., he’s a creature of habit. And as long as I’ve known him,” Sal said, “he’s always had these quirks. He always took things literal. Always. You may not know this, Uncle Mick, but we don’t call him B.B. because of his initials. That’s too ordinary for him. He wanted people to call him B.B. because he used to love to shoot people, specifically old ladies, with bb guns.”
“And how does that make you certain you know where he’s hiding?”
“Because that’s what he’ll do.”
“Sal, what are you talking about?” Tommy asked him as he drove. “Just tell us where’s he hiding?”
“Where somebody like that asshole would hide. Kenny said he was hiding out in a restaurant. In a public restaurant. Probably in some fucking back room in that restaurant, but still in a public space.” Then he looked at his brother. “In plain sight.”
When Sal said those last three words, Tommy was so shocked that he ran off the road. He quickly swerved back onto the road and looked at his brother through the rearview. “I’ll be damn, Sal.”
But Mick was baffled. “What am I missing?” he asked.
Tommy smiled. “We know where he is, Unc. We know where that bastard is.”