22. Mario
22
MARIO
V ivid images flash through my mind, gunshots, blood, anger in my brother’s eyes. I’m restless, my fingers reaching and my mouth mumbling words I don’t understand. I swear I hear the priest praying for me, as if God himself watches over me, mending my inward parts back together again so I can be whole. Not just the wounds in my body from the gunshots, but the broken parts of my soul that have so long gone buried and ignored.
The whir and hum of a machine wakens me, and I blink my eyes open. My gut is on fire and screaming at me. I stare up at the ceiling and know exactly where I am. I remember the ambulance ride vaguely. Father Thomas leaned over my body while I passed from conscious thought to darkness over and over. He prayed for me, holding his pectoral cross over me and mumbling things.
I also remember parts of being here in the hospital, fighting to stay awake when the doctors had to put me out. They told me how bad it was, but I forget, except for the part about my spleen and removing a bullet .
“You’re awake.” The voice is Ervine’s, but even turning my head to look for him causes pain. I wince and grunt, but I manage to shift until I see him standing on the right hand side of the bed.
“How long?” I ask, barely able to make those words come out without screaming in pain.
“You’ve been out for about twelve hours, but you’ve been here for about seventeen. Between triage and the surgery, they had you pretty sedated.” Ervine holds my clothing in hand. I see the blood all over it. He’s been waiting for me, knowing when I woke that I’d be restless and wanting to move out immediately.
“And Alice?” I ask, but I already know what he’ll say. When I saw the priest in the ambulance on the way here, I knew they’d gotten to her.
Ervine’s expression says it all. He looks away and sighs and returns his eyes to meet mine. “The men are ready to move at your command, but I strongly suggest you stay here, sir. We can handle this and bring her to you here.”
I grit my teeth and growl through a scream as I force myself to sit up. It doesn’t appear that they had to cut through very many of my ab muscles to remove the bullet, so it must have been high. The pain, however, is so excruciating, I can’t hold back and I find myself howling out another growled scream.
“Fuck, Mario…” Ervine is right here, putting his hand on my shoulder, attempting to hold me into the bed. “At least let your blood pressure adjust and move slowly. How the fuck are you going to fight if you’re like this?”
I clench my jaw and clamp my eyes shut as I duck my head. The dizziness is overwhelming, and I know he’s right. But I can’t lie down and let Paolo win. I’m not going to do that. There is a reason he didn’t just kill me. He is expecting me to come for him and he thinks I’m going to be weak. I’m not going to be weak. I’m going to be so drugged I can’t feel a fucking thing .
“Look… at the… machine,” I grunt between painful breaths. When I think I can manage to speak more, I tell him, “See if you can… turn it… up.”
I wait, but Ervine dicks around like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. When I hear the machine beep, I look up and see he’s adjusting something. I’ve visited enough patients in the hospital as a priest that I know what to do, but the machine is too far away. I also know there are other tricks. I just need him to help me out.
“Now… I need to sit on… the floor.”
I’m near passing out, not from the drugs but from the pain. Ervine is by my side in an instant, helping me slide off the bed onto the ground, thus stretching out the tubing to the IV to make it drip faster. I could have him hold the IV bag even higher to get it flowing faster, but this is good enough. I already feel the medicine kicking in.
When I catch my breath, leaned back against the side of the bed with my eyes shut, I tell him. “Now, get me… caffeine. An energy… drink.”
In an instant, Ervine is out the door on the search for what I’ve ordered, and he leaves the clothes with me. Every single breath is a struggle, but they slowly get easier to manage. The trouble is, the drug is kicking my ass too, making me want to sleep so badly I doze off after getting my filthy shirt back on. It’s cut in the front, but I just need to look normal. I’ll have Ervine give me his jacket.
The slacks are another story. I have to wait for Ervine to get back. He is able to tear the damn hospital gown off me and help me get my pants to my thighs. He says nothing about my going commando, wisely, because I’m not in the mood for wise cracks. I swallow down the energy drink as quickly as I can, and while the medicine is in full strength, I have him hoist me to my feet and yank my pants back up.
I tug the IV out of my arm, aware that when these meds wear off I’m going to be in a hell of a lot of pain, and then with shoes in hand, I follow my new right-hand man into the hallway. A few nurses rush up to me with hands waving, and I don’t even have to say a word. Ervine takes his jacket off and puts it around my shoulders, thus brandishing the weapon tucked into the front of his waistband, and they back down. Word has clearly gotten out that I’m Mario Gatti and I’m not to be messed with.
Every step is heavy, every cell in my body resisting my movement, but I can’t give up. They have Alice, and I promised her I’d keep her safe. She must be terrified. If Paolo has done anything to her, anything at all, I will kill him with no mercy and not think twice.
“I’ll have Tony bring the car up,” Ervine says and has his phone pressed to his ear as we enter the elevator. Four minutes later, I’m slumping into the back seat of the black sedan against Ace and Sam, two men I can fully trust to have my back.
I doze off instantly, and when I wake up, Sam is checking my bandage. I scream and startle him, but he doesn’t shy away.
“Mario, you’re bleeding through the bandage.”
“Are we at the church?” I ask, looking out the window. “Why the hell are we at the church?” I see the stained glass window overhead, and anger surges through me, enough so that I can sit myself upright and glare at them.
“Ervine is making sure things are set up, Boss. When we go in to take Alice back, your brother’s going to come after us hot and heavy.” Sam pushes on my wound, and I shout and grab his hand. It’s excruciating. “I have to put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. You could be bleeding internally.”
His steady pressure continues until I feel the door next to me open. I lay my head back on the headrest behind me and see Father Thomas standing over me with his beads. He has a nasty black eye, but he’s in good spirits.
“Mario, please, let me pray for you,” he says, and before I can respond to him, he’s muttering over the rosary for healing over me. The simple habit of it, something I’ve done a few times a day for years now, is soothing. I’m not sure whether I believe in all of this or not, but I begin to feel more calm, more centered. If it does nothing other than remind me of my penance, it’s done enough.
“Thank you,” I tell him as he finishes up, and he nods at me. “Please make sure this place is empty. I know he’s coming back.” My warning meets his agreement, and he steps back.
“The church is closed until the investigation into this morning’s attack is complete. The church will be empty.”
Ervine nudges Thomas aside and shuts the door, and I realize I’m in for a long night. The pain meds are making me see double now, but it still won’t stop me. I force myself to raise my head as I hear Ervine climb into the car. I watch him hand Sam a gun, and Sam puts it in my hand. I’m going to get one shot at this, and if I fail this time, I die. And I’ll end up losing the four men who are with me and any others Ervine has on the way to meet us.
I rest my eyes until the car stops again, and this time, I know it’s a showdown. I muster all the strength I have left by thinking of Alice and how she depends on me, and I open the door. This time, I hold all the pain in, not even letting a peep squeak through my lips with my teeth clenched together. It moves me, forcing me up and out of the car, stumbling toward the old rag-mop factory. It’s my brother’s hideout, where he keeps his women, which is the only logical place I could imagine him bringing Alice. If I’m wrong, then we’ll blow our cover, but I don’t think I’m wrong.
This time, every step I take seems to go more smoothly. I don’t know if it’s the priest’s prayer working or if my rage is kicking in and making me forget the pain, but I’m moving. And I’m like an unleashed freight train. I lead the charge toward the building with my gun raised, and I hear the footsteps of at least a dozen men behind me. We move as one unit until we enter, then a few men follow me while the others fan out .
This time, my object isn’t Paolo. I know he’s not here. My aim is to get Alice and get out, and I know exactly where she’ll be if she’s here. I move swiftly up the hallway toward the stairs, and we ascend one flight. It’s hard to breathe, but I keep moving. I won’t stop now. I blink my eyes rapidly to keep them focused and let one of the guys move first through the door to the second floor. He begins firing immediately, so I and the others walk through with guns raised and ready to go. I’m amazed that in my condition, I manage to hit anyone, but I take out a few guards and we move closer.
As we do, I hear screaming from women, several of them. It only boosts my confidence that we’re in the right place. I move faster, but not fast by any means. Every foot of ground we take is a step closer to her, to knowing she’s safe.
Firing off a few more rounds, I manage to reach the door and pull it open to find exactly what I expected. Alice clings to the chain link enclosure, weeping and screaming my name. She reaches for me, squeezing her arms through the barrier.
“Mario, oh, God! I knew you’d come.” She moves as I do, but I am barely holding on now.
“Stay back,” I tell her, and I don’t wait for her to move. She scurries away as I point the gun at the lock on the door and fire. It hits squarely on the lock and the metal spins in a circle. The blast is so loud, she covers her ears and cowers, but when I open the door, she wraps her arms around me. “Fuck!” I shout, but she doesn’t let up. I gently put my arm around her as I listen to the other women screaming.
“Mario, we gotta go, man.” One of my guys is at the door cautioning me, but I won’t leave these women here, especially when Alice pleads with me.
“Please, Mario, we have to take them. ”
We don’t have time, but she’s right. I limp over to the cage, and Ervine’s jacket falls off my shoulders. I feel the blood seeping out the bottom of the bandage into my slacks and press against the wound. I’m out of breath, wheezing and groaning, and they all move away from the lock in a herd.
“I… Alice…” I lean against the fence, and she takes the gun from me, gripping it with both hands.
“Cover your ears!” she shouts at the women and then fires at the lock. It takes her two shots to hit it, but it too breaks loose and the women are free.
The next thing I know, Sam is by my side, forcing me to lean on him, and Alice is doting, pressing on the wound. They lead me back into the hallway where Tony and Ervine lay cover fire for us and the ladies. We weave our way down the stairs toward the exit, stepping over bodies and puddles of blood. I want to stay and fight, to put this thing to rest now, but if I don’t get out of here and stop my bleeding, I’m not going to be around long enough to hear Alice’s voice tell me she loves me.
My vision begins to dim, darkness creeping in from my periphery toward the center until I’m heaving just to breathe. Sam gets me to the car, and Alice opens the door. I bang my head on the roof as I collapse inward. I don’t even know where the women go, but I know Sam and Ervine will take care of them for me. When Alice climbs into the seat next to me, sobbing and going on about how badly I’m hurt, I lay my head on her lap.
“Shh,” I tell her, trying to comfort her, but she’s so strong. She holds a finger to my lips.
“Baby, I’m here. Stop talking. Please, save your strength. I need you.” Her lips push against my temple, and I focus on breathing deeply.
When Ervine gets into the car, I say, “To Agnus… fast. They’ll be on us so on.” And then I pass out again. But at least I know she’s safe. What happens next is anyone’s guess.