CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
When Tommy and Sal entered Tommy’s home office, Mick was seated behind Tommy’s desk, Big Daddy was seated on the edge of the desk in front of the chairs, Reno and Robby Yale were seated in the chairs, and Hammer and Amelia were leaned against the side wall.
Sal went and sat beside his underboss. Tommy stood at his desk.
If any breakthrough happened that fast, he was certain it had to have come from Hammer’s office or from Mick.
That was why he was looking specifically at those two. “What we got?” he asked them.
“We found the boarded-up diner they took him to,” said Hammer.
“Anything there?”
“Nothing. Not even a lick of DNA.”
“That’s it?”
“We also have in our custody one of the men that snatched TJ,” Hammer said.
Tommy was surprised. “You have him? Based on what? TJ’s description?”
“We have more sophisticated ways of bringing descriptors and eyewitness sketches to life, so yes. He was close enough for us to take it from there.”
“Who is it?”
“Barry Sedaka ring a bell?” asked Robby.
Tommy frowned. “Barbell Barry? The guy that used to run whores for Luddie’s gang?”
Robby nodded. “That’s the one. Loved to rough up women. Couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag, but he could beat up on a woman.”
“I’ve never had any dealings with him at all. I only knew him through Luddie. Why would he have anything to do with me or my family?”
“That’s what we wanted you to tell us,” said Hammer.
“There’s nothing to tell. I don’t know him like that. But you’re sure it’s him?”
“We’re certain,” said Hammer. “We went to TJ’s room and showed him a lineup of six men. He pointed out Barry Sedaka easily. Said he was certain that was one of the two men that snatched him.”
Tommy now realized it was probably after TJ saw Barry’s face again that he came and got in bed with him and Grace. Barbell was going to pay for that. Tommy would see to it. “Where is he now?”
“He’s at one of Sal’s safe houses,” said Hammer. “He has several in your town.”
Sal didn’t like the insinuation. “How would you know what I got, Hammer? What I got ain’t got nothing to do with your Fed ass.”
“My Fed ass got your nephew’s kidnapper in custody,” Hammer shot back. “So watch yourself, Sal Luca.”
Sal wanted to zing him back, but Hammer had too much power.
The kind of power out of the reach of every mobster on the planet: He had the law on his side.
And not just on his side. He was the most powerful lawman in the country, and he never hesitated to use that power to help the family.
His reach kept all of their asses out of prison at one time or another.
Sal knew it too. He knew not to push it. Not with Hammer Reese.
“If you know where he is,” Tommy said, “then why are we still here talking? I need to find out what he knows and who hired him.”
“Not so fast,” said Hammer. “My guys have to interrogate him first. They’re questioning him as we speak.”
“What they go to do with it?” asked Sal.
“That’s what I wanna know,” said Reno.
“Anybody with implantation capability is a national security threat. When they finish with him, he’s all yours.”
“What’s left of him you mean,” said Mick, and everybody looked at him. Trina called Mick the E.F. Hutton of the family. Not just because when he spoke, people listened. But because he spoke so rarely that whatever he had to say was usually impactful. Was usually right on point.
“Uncle Mick’s right,” said Tommy. “What if they go too far?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You think this is my first rodeo, Tommy? Your ass need to be thinking about what connection Barry Sedaka could have to you rather than what my men are doing. Because they know what they’re doing.”
“And we don’t?” asked Sal. “That’s what you’re trying to say, Hammer?”
“I’m not trying to say shit,” Hammer said.
“Okay that’s enough,” said Amelia. “Tommy has enough on his plate than to worry about egos.” Then she looked at him. “How’s TJ and Destiny? I saw them go upstairs at different times. I assumed they were going to you and Grace.”
Tommy exhaled. “They were. They’re asleep.”
Amelia shook her head. “It’s a shame what happened to them. If I ever get my hands on those pricks,” she began saying.
But Hammer looked at her with eyes that didn’t brook debate. “You stay out of this.”
But Amelia brooked it. “You don’t tell me what to stay out of when it’s my own family.”
“You know what I mean,” said Hammer. “And I still mean it.”
But Tommy began pacing the floor and running his hands through his hair. “I still can’t figure out why they released Destiny with no demands. I still can’t get past that shit.”
“There’s only one answer for it,” said Mick.
Tommy, and everybody else, looked at Mick. “What answer is that?”
“They plan to do it again,” he said.
When he said those words, Tommy’s heart dropped.
“You heard something, Uncle Mick?” asked Sal anxiously. But Mick wasn’t saying. Not with Hammer Reese in that room.
Then Hammer’s second phone, his secure-line phone, began ringing. He answered it. “What did we get?” he asked.
Then he spent nearly five minutes listening. Then he exhaled. “Okay,” he said. “Turn it back over to Sal Gabrini’s guys and get out of there.” Then he ended the call.
Sal, Reno, and Robby stood up. They were ready to have at the guy.
“What did they find out from him?” Amelia asked Hammer.
Hammer looked at her as if she’d taken leave of her senses. “On what planet do you expect me to share with you intel we received from a national security interrogation?”
“Let’s just go,” said Tommy.
“Everybody can’t go,” said Big Daddy. “Now that’s a fact.
We’ve got to have family here to protect the family.
Those days of relying on paid guys, or even made guys, are over until we get to the bottom of this.
I’m staying. Reno, you stay too. If they stage a sneak attack, they may get through that barrier outside.
But they won’t get through the two of us. ”
“You got that right,” Reno said proudly.
“Then let’s go,” said Tommy, as he began heading for the exit.
“I’m going too,” said Amelia, attempting to head that way as well.
But Hammer took her arm and pulled her back. “Over my dead body,” he said.
“That can be arranged,” she fired back. But although she fired, she didn’t defy Hammer.
Which surprised the Gabrinis. They knew Mick and Big Daddy had that kind of authority over Amelia.
Her ass, like their asses, were afraid of them.
But she was increasingly ceding that ground to Hammer too.
Which was so not like Amelia that they knew if it continued their marriage was going to be, once again, in serious trouble.
She stayed, but Tommy and Sal, along with Mick and Hammer, and Robby Yale, who would act as their driver, took off.