CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Milo opened the back passenger door of the Bentley as Vince and Ricki came out of the hospital and got inside.
Milo closed the door, hurried around and got in on the front driver side under the steering wheel, and closed that door too.
George was on the front passenger seat and the security detail car was parked behind the Bentley.
Then Milo looked through the rearview mirror at Vince and a still-distraught Ricki. “How is he, sir?”
“He’s in ICU, but in stable condition. The doctors believe he’ll pull through.”
“Thank God for that,” said Milo.
“But what I don’t understand was how those cops found out about Ricki’s brother,” said George.
“They were probably following the Bentley around town,” Milo said as Ricki’s phone began ringing. “And they followed this Bentley right to her brother.”
“But just because he ran they shot him?” asked Vince as he shook his head. “Based on what?”
When Ricki saw that it was JoJo from Brooklyn calling her, she decided to answer. But with a quick answer on Speaker. “I can’t talk right now, JoJo,” she said.
“How’s Davey?” JoJo asked.
That surprised Ricki. “How would you know about Davey?” she asked, and they all looked at her.
“I just wanna . . . I’m so sorry. Man, I’m so sorry though.”
His voice sounded strange to Ricki. “What are you sorry for?”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes. But what are you sorry about, JoJo?”
“I couldn’t do it. I should have told you what they wanted me to do.
But I couldn’t do it. That’s why I was out of town.
They were gonna pay me to do it. But I couldn’t.
I thought about you and I couldn’t go through with it.
But they killed her anyway. And now they tried to kill Davey too. I’m so sorry, Ricki.”
Everybody was on edge. “JoJo, tell me what you know,” she said. “Tell me everything!”
But he ended the call.
Everybody in that car was suddenly tensed. “Who is this JoJo person, Ricki?” asked Vince.
“He’s a friend of mine. We grew up together.”
“He knows something,” said Milo.
“We’ve got to go to Brooklyn,” said Ricki.
“Brooklyn?” asked George. “Why Brooklyn?”
“That’s where I live. That’s where JoJo lives. We’ve got to find out what he knows.”
Milo and George looked at Vince. Despite Ricki’s insistence, Vince was still running this show as far as they were concerned.
“Call my pilot,” Vince ordered, “and get us back to Bradley.”
“Yes sir,” Milo said as he glanced at George and then drove away. But George was turned around and still staring at Ricki.
Brooklyn? That was like a foreign country to him. She’d better be worth all this trouble, was all he could think about.