CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The doors opened, the airstairs dropped down, and Teddy and Marco hurried off of Mick’s private jet and rushed across the tarmac to the waiting SUV. Their driver got out, opened the door, and father and son hopped onto the back seat.
Teddy tried to phone Nikki again, but her phone was still turned off.
“When did you last talk to her?” Marco asked his father.
“This morning. I took her to the airfield and she took my plane here to New Orleans. Since Ma wasn’t going with her she decided to fly.”
“You didn’t check to see if she landed safely?”
“I was dealing with this shit with Cleo and our container issues in Madrid. When did I have time to call anybody?”
As they were driven away, Teddy phoned his best friend and fellow mob boss Frankie “The Monk” Paletti, who hurried to Philly as soon as he got the word. “Any new news on Pop?” he asked him.
“He’s still in surgery. Man, I didn’t know there was a hospital that catered only to billionaires and mobsters. Comes in handy in our line of work.”
“And it keeps the press away. Mick Sinatra is on an operating table fighting for his life and nobody outside of the family knows a damn thing.”
“It’s strange that all that craziness in that small town isn’t getting any play either.”
“Strange to me too. How’s Ma and Duke holding up?”
“They’re just devastated like everybody around here. It’s like we’re all walking wounded. He was shot so many times they don’t know how many bullets are in him. That’s heavy, man.”
Teddy leaned his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose. Marco could see the strain all over his face. He could also see the singular tear drop down that Teddy immediately wiped away.
“What about Nikki?” Monk asked. “Any word from her?”
“We just got here, but she’s still not answering her phone.”
“She didn’t have any security with her?”
Teddy frowned. “Why would she need security? She’s the underboss of the Sinatra syndicate. She’s her own security.” Then he realized he was being defensive. “Keep me updated, Frankie. I don’t wanna disturb Ma right now.”
“I hear you, brother. I’ll keep you in the loop.”
“Okay thanks,” Teddy said, and ended the call.
“Why don’t you have GPS on Nikki’s phone, Pop?” Marco asked him.
“What I need GPS on her for? She doesn’t have GPS on me. Nikki can take care of herself.”
“Ma can too,” said, “but Big Pops has GPS on her. That’s how he found out she was in that jail in that hellhole town in the first place. You can never be too careful when it comes to your wife.”
Teddy gave Marco a hard glare. But then he looked away. He knew his anxiety had nothing to do with his son, and everything to do with the fact that he failed Nikki. Like Pop told him more than once, he was giving her too much rope.
He phoned her one more time. And one more time it went straight to voice mail.