At Peace (80 page)

Eric rocked back on his heels and said
quietly, “Yep, reckon so.”

Colt looked over his shoulder at Vi’s house.
Feb was in there and now so was Cheryl. He looked to the street,
saw Jessie’s car pull up to the curb in front of Vi’s house. Then
he looked down the street to see Josie Judd’s Jeep heading toward
the house.

“Let’s hope he goes off script,” Colt
muttered as Jessie exited her car, threw the door too and
half-walked, half-ran to the house.

“I’m already hopin’,” Eric muttered back.

* * * * *

“God dammit,” Benny muttered when the cars he
was following separated. The black caddy Benny knew was carrying
Violet went one way. The black SUV Benny guessed was carrying Cal
went the opposite way.

Benny made a decision and followed Cal. If
his cousin was still alive, they got him to where they wanted him
to be, he wouldn’t stay that way much longer. Violet had a better
chance.

Benny made the turn and his eyes went to his
rearview mirror.

Frankie was shit at a tail. He’d clocked her
outside Chicago when he’d left at four that morning.

Benny had made the decision to drive down to
Cal’s ‘burg when repeated calls went unanswered. He had no choice.
It was a hell of a drive but Cal needed to be warned.

Frankie had been following at his high
speed for the last seven fucking hours, all the way down through
Indiana and, once there, seeing what he saw, then all the way back
up. He had to spend half of his time keeping himself invisible and
half of his time making sure she was the same way.

He watched her leave him and follow the
caddy.

“
Fuck!
” he exploded, tagged his phone on the seat beside
him, scrolled down to her number which he’d meant to erase about
seven dozen times in the last seven years but he’d not only not
done it, he’d programmed her new numbers in the three times she got
them.

He was okay with her on his ass and he
left her to it. She went it alone, that he was not okay
with.

He hit go and she answered, “Hello?”

“Stand down, Frankie,” he growled.

“He’s got the woman. You’re on Cal, I’m on
her,” she said, her voice calm.

Jesus, he forgot this about her. Francesca
was a fuckin’ nut. Nothing scared her, not before life got scary.
Attitude mixed with idiot fearlessness and a whole lot of not
knowing what the hell she’s doing. Not a good combination.
Christ.

“
Stand…
the
fuck
…
down,” he repeated.

“Benny, I won’t do anything. I’ll call Sal,
he’ll send –”

He cut her off. “You get the location, you
call Sal, you get the fuck outta there.”

“I’ll just stay, keep an eye out,” she
replied.

“You’ll get the fuck outta there,” he was
again fucking repeating himself.

“I’ll hang tight and they won’t see me,” she
said.

“Woman, you have no idea what you’re doin’. I
know you’ve been on my ass since the turnpike.”

She was quiet then she said, “Oh well,” then
she stopped speaking.

“Oh well?” Benny asked, wondering if it was
possible for his head actually to explode and thinking if it was he
was close.

“Ben –”

“They’re stupid enough to let you know their
location, you feed it to Sal and you get the fuck outta there.”

“Ben –”

“I got things on my mind, babe, and I don’t
need you bein’ one of them.”

She was quiet again then she said, “He’s not
gettin’ another one of us.”

Fuck. Now he knew where her head was at. This
was about Vinnie. This was about Cal. This was about Frankie being
family even though that family turned their back on her.

“Frankie –”

“He’s taken enough from us.”

Benny’s voice went soft. “Francesca, honey
–”

“You don’t do anything stupid. You call
backup too.”

“Babe –” he said to no one. She’d
disconnected.

Fucking
hell
.

He scrolled down to Sal’s number in his phone
and he hit go.

* * * * *

“You think you mighta wanted to tell me this
shit when you saw the woman climb into that car?” Sal asked Benny
who was on his phone.

“
You made this mess. Do
you
think I was fired up to call you in to clean it
up?” Benny asked back.

Fuck, but only Benito Bianchi would speak to
him that way. Even Cal had respect. Benny played the game before
his brother bought it, since then he didn’t give a fuck.

The fucking Bianchis. Always a pain in his
fucking ass.

“I was in Indiana, Sal, what were you gonna
do?” Benny went on.

“
Get fuckin’
organized
,” Sal snapped into the phone then ordered, “stand
down.”

“He’s been in there the length of this call
and they’ve also got some girl. Blood on both of them, Sal, she
didn’t look too good. I’m goin’ in,” Benny told him.

“The cops and Feds just left my house. They
want this. Bad. Let me call them so they can get boys on it,” Sal
demanded.

“They need to hurry. I’m goin’ in,” Benny
returned.

“Benny,” Sal said to a dead phone.

He flipped it shut and had trouble catching
Vinnie’s eyes. He didn’t need to look at his cousin to know that he
was barely keeping his cool and his seat.

He was saved having to say anything when his
phone rang and he saw on the display it was Frankie.

He flipped it open. “
Amata
, now’s not the time.”

“Cal’s woman is at Hart’s house,” she
informed him and Sal went still.

“How do you know that?” Sal asked.

“Because I’m –”

She didn’t finish. Instead she let out a
small scream and the line went dead.

Bare Feet

Cal watched the goon toss Lindy aside, she
hit the floor and went skidding, leaving a trail of blood.

He stood, silent and still, his eyes moving
from Lindy to lock on both the boys who had them. They were in good
shape, lean and fit. Neither as big as Cal nor nearly as tall and
one was so lean he was almost slight. Could mean he was wily, could
mean Cal had lucked out.

His hands were behind his back in plastic
restraints that they put on too fucking tight and they’d done it
because they were pissed after the gunfight and pissed he’d taken
down two of their boys but they were clearly following orders so
they hadn’t taken him out with a bullet to the brain at the scene.
During the ride the restraints had dug in deep, rubbed raw,
breaking the skin.

He had bullet grazes to his right hip and
just below his left shoulder. They both had bled a lot but the
bleeding had stopped and the nagging pain was easy to ignore.

This was because his mind was focused on
three things. He needed to get out of this alive. He needed to get
Lindy out of this alive. And he needed to find Vi and take her home
to her girls.

How he was going to do all of that weaponless
and with his hands tied behind his back, he had no fucking
clue.

Why he was still alive, again, he had no
fucking clue. The only thing he could figure was that Hart wanted
to play with him.

Not good.

“On your knees,” one of them ordered, Cal
stared at him and didn’t speak nor did he move. “Knees!” the man
shouted, his eyes narrowing, jaw tight, lips puckering, giving it
away.

He had the gun and Cal was in restraints but
Cal intimidated him. He wasn’t wily. He’d survived a gunfight where
Cal took down two of his comrades. He was pissed and he was scared.
He knew Cal wasn’t going to make it easy and he wanted to get this
done.

Cal’s eyes went to Lindy. They’d shot her in
the thigh which was the reason they both were there.

No, that wasn’t the reason they were there.
He’d shot two men dead, clearing a path for her to get away and
he’d ordered her out the backdoor while he was providing cover.

She instead went to the safe, grabbed a gun
and tried to join the fight, not about to leave Cal behind with
four armed men in the office, all of them firing, two men already
down and Cal having suffered two graze wounds that looked a lot
worse than they really were, though she didn’t know that.

Then they got her before they got Cal and put
a bullet in her thigh then lifted the gun to her temple.

Then they got Cal.

The woman was a glorified receptionist and a
bookkeeper but she was also the daughter of a decorated marine who
had three sons, one daughter. It was made clear that day that
Lindy’s Dad didn’t sexually discriminate when it came to life
lessons.

Semper
fuckin’
fi
.

After he assured she was going to leave this
building breathing, he paid the co-pay for her on her hospital
visit and he knew she’d walk again, he was going to fire her
ass.

“Knees!” the man shouted again, he came at
Cal and it was now or fucking never. If he got to his knees, he’d
get a bullet to the brain.

He hoped to God that Lindy was conscious
because someone was going to have to find a way to cut the
restraints off after he somehow took them both down with his hands
tied behind his back.

The man got close and Cal was fucking
thrilled beyond belief that he did it stupidly, moving in front of
the other one. Cal let him get close and at the last minute he
dipped a shoulder and hauled ass. He took the man in the gut with
his shoulder, the man let out a surprised, winded, “oof,” and went
back into the other one. When they hit the second man Cal kept
right on moving. Both men hit the wall, Cal pulled back then moved
again, catching the one in front with a sharp knee to the
balls.

He dropped his gun, made that winded noise
again and this time it even hurt Cal to hear it considering why he
made it. His hands went between his legs and he instantly went down
to his knees.

The other one recovered and started to lift
his gun but Cal was faster. Moving in, he head butted him. The man
took the blow to the head twice, front from Cal and then against
the wall at the back.

He let out a yowl even as he blinked but Cal
moved again, whirling, he planted a foot and lifted the other leg.
Connecting with his boot, Cal roundhouse kicked him away from the
wall.

Going fast, Cal recovered, got close then
twisted his lower body. He clipped the man with a calf around his
knees and the man went down. Then Cal kicked him, boot straight to
the face and watched his head and neck jerk back, as did his torso.
The gun went flying but Cal stayed focused and aimed a boot to his
crotch. This connected, also sharp but this time vicious, and the
man groaned as he curled forward immediately, knees up, forming a
man-sized ball.

Cal’s attention turned to the other one who
had yet to recover but Cal didn’t hesitate. He needed them
incapacitated. Cal landed another kick then another, the force of
the blows sending the man rolling. Arms, face, spine, gut, ribs,
any target he could get, again and again, Cal following him as he
rolled.

He heard a gunshot, his body jolted and he
whirled around.

Lindy was up, balancing on one foot and
holding a smoking gun in two bloody hands.

“
Don’t
fucking move!
” she shrieked, her eyes were wild and they were
on the other man who was up on a forearm, the other hand still
cupping his crotch but his eyes were glued to the gun that she had
right in his face.

They’d been stupid to sexually discriminate.
They should have restrained her too. Then again, captured she’d
gone docile and acted scared. She’d even managed a few terrified
whimpers on the long drive to Chicago. Clearly these were
bullshit.

Christ, he had GI Jane as his
receptionist.

“Jesus, Cal, you didn’t leave me anything to
do,” Cal heard Benny’s voice and he, Lindy and the man down but not
whining all looked at Benny who was strolling casually into the
room like he was walking through his Pizzeria except he had a gun
in his hand and a crazy motherfucking grin on his face.

“What the fuck?” Cal whispered but Benny
lifted his gun and pointed it at the roller.

“Think you should stay still,” Benny
suggested to him and came to a stop close to Cal, his eyes not
leaving the man on the ground.

“Like I said, what the fuck?” Cal ignored the
man and stared at Benny.

“Frankie came callin’ early with info.
Couldn’t get you on your phone so I moved out. I been on your tail
since Indiana,” Benny answered, his hand went into his front pocket
and he came out with a small army knife. “You,” he said to Lindy,
“limp over here and cut Cal loose.”

Cal watched Lindy do as she was told and limp
toward Cal and Benny, keeping her eyes on her target and her gun up
as she dragged her leg with her. She took the knife, opened it and
cut Cal loose. The minute he was freed, he pulled the gun out of
her hand and trained it on her man.

“
Next time bullets are flyin’ and I say the
words, ‘leave out the backdoor’, you
leave
out the
fucking
backdoor
,” Cal
ground out.

“If there’s a next time, Joe Callahan, I
quit,” Lindy snapped back.

“Can’t quit seein’ as your fuckin’ fired,”
Cal returned.

“Kids, can we have this domestic somewhere on
the way to Violet?” Benny asked and Cal’s head swung to him.

Then he walked to man one who took one look
at his face and started crab walking backwards on all fours.
Without hesitation, Cal drilled a round in each of his thighs which
made him stop crab walking and start screaming in pain.