Odd Jobs (32 page)

“No, man, it was just the opposite. I know you guys have balls, but this Balducci stuff is over the top. No offense, but I didn’t want you guys involved because I didn’t want to get you hurt. I needed your help getting these businesses going so I could get Balducci and his corporation, but I wanted to keep you guys at a safe distance. After all that happened today, I’m sure that was the right way to go. I couldn’t live with myself if you guys got hurt. I fucked up because I never anticipated it could go down like it did tonight. Does that make sense to you at all?”

“Yeah, I see where you’re coming from,” Carey drawls, “but what’s supposed to happen to us after this is over?”

“Dude, you were working in a dry cleaner,” I say to Carey. “And Loot, you were a busboy in Hempstead. My plan was to give you some choices. It’s the least I can do after turning us all into scumbag crooks. The bookie and drug business will be history. We all agreed that doing this for any length of time is pushing our luck. I needed some money and I needed something to dangle as bait; and that’s what these businesses provided. I became one of these scumbags, and that could be the biggest insult to my father compared to anything else. Believe me, I’m not proud and I’m not kidding myself. I know I’m no better than any of these lowlifes right now, but I don’t have a choice. Balducci doesn’t go by any code of honor or follow any rules. He and his assholes have to be stopped, and working with the police got other people killed. Maybe I’m rationalizing, but I don’t think so. I’m determined to do this job and put it behind me. But I will put it behind me. I might not end up being much, but I won’t become this.

“I never had intentions of keeping the money. It’s all fucking blood money. I expect to have a decent chunk of dough when the dust settles, and I will try to put it to good use. My mom was a big victim of Balducci, and I will set her up better. If my plan works, you guys will be instrumental in bringing Balducci down. That’s certainly worth a lot. I’m giving you guys the rest. Maybe you’ll open a restaurant or something like that, but I hope you do something good with it. I’m not taking a dime. You ask what’s going to become of you? It’s hard to say exactly, but you’ll have some money and you’ll have some choices. My gut tells me you guys will do the right thing.”

More than anything else, I’m glad they’re going to be okay. Despite what Loot and Carey say about how much fun they are having, these guys aren’t meant for the drug and bookie business, and I should move them away from it. In retrospect, while I needed their help, I shouldn’t have involved them. It was too risky.

Loot looks me up and down and says, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. We’ll talk some more about this. But for now, it’s only 10 p.m. and I just realized that my life isn’t over after all. How ‘bout we go out and par-TEE?”

“Amen to that, Brother Loot,” Carey adds.

I look at Rocky and she glances back. She coyly smiles and then shakes her head. I recognize that coy look, and the only place I want to be is alone with her. I look at Loot and Carey and say, “Pass.”

Loot glances at me and then looks at Rocky and smiles. He nods in approval.

Loot and Carey grab their coats and get ready to leave. I look at Rocky, my eyes fixed on her face. I want to see everything and always remember it. I want to remember all
the smooth and wonderful features. Remarkably, she is gazing at me the same way. While other people see a bookie or drug dealer, she manages to see something different.

As Carey and Loot are leaving, Loot says, “Don’t think I got off track. You said you needed two armies to take down Balducci. If the first Army is Petro and the second army is not us, then where is this second army?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.” It’s all going down soon anyway. That second army? It’s commanded by Sev Reynard, the baddest man in the land. Who else would anyone want to go to war with? I thought this whole Gorilla mess with Petro could screw up my plans to get Balducci, but not any more. The train has left the station, and I’m going to get that cocksucker.

CHAPTER 24

I always knew that for this plan to work, I would need Sev on board. Although Sev put his Special Services life behind him and willed himself to blend in at Kosher World, I made the ridiculous assumption I could wake up the giant and get him to help me stop Balducci. In my more rational moments, I wondered what the fuck I was thinking. Fortunately, I didn’t have many of those moments.

Two months before the Gorillas game, Sev and I met on neutral ground. He said I could find him at a blues bar on Francis Lewis Boulevard called Crossroads. When I entered the club, I noticed immediately that I stood out from the rest of the crowd. Not because I was one of the few whites, but because I was so much younger than most of the others. Sev was seated at a small isolated table meant for customers to savor an intimate moment and enjoy the music. The room was dark, but Sev’s thunderstorm eyes could be recognized in a cave. He was part of the majority, but he didn’t blend in; I think he was the only guy in the place not smiling, laughing or talking.

Bo Beard and his six-piece band were wailing with emotion. The band had a sax, trombone and trumpet player, and they were electrifying the room. Normally, this would have been a unique and awesome experience for me, but I couldn’t focus on it. My concentration was on Sev.

Sev’s eyes caught mine and he nodded. As I moved closer to his tiny table, I kept second-guessing my idea. What if he wouldn’t get involved? What if he thought my plan would endanger the workers at Kosher World? He could blow the whistle on me and ruin everything. As I drew near, Sev stood up and we simultaneously shook hands and hugged. His hands were big and coarse and his hug was powerful. We sat down at the small table and I noticed a bottle that was already a quarter empty. Sev’s strong eyes were glassy; clearly, he’d been hitting the bottle hard.

Sev smirked at me and said, “Let’s go, motha-fucka. What was so important you needed to talk to me off-line?”

Sev is not a guy to play games; he knows what he wants. But I couldn’t just blurt out my reason for coming. “Wow, this place is rockin’. You come here a lot?”

“Let’s go, asshole. What’s on your mind? You got something to say, so why don’t you?”

Wow! I’d thought I saw a smile before, but he wasn’t fucking around. I was concerned so I asked, “Sev, you okay?” It’s easy to get defensive when someone barks at you, but I meant the question because I was worried. He really had an edge. Sev hadn’t gone after me like that since he sent me into the Tongue Room way back when.

Sev saw my concern and lightened up. “Yeah, I’m okay.” He paused and said, “No, I’m not okay. I’m actually far from fuckin’ okay. But that’s not your problem.”

“C’mon, Sev,” I urged him. “What’s the matter?”

Sev took a shot and chased it with a swig of beer. He looked at me and said, “You remember me telling you about Hector Pinto the other day on the phone?”

“Sure. How can I forget? You said he found a better job back in his home country, but Balducci’s not letting anyone quit. Sev, did Balducci chop up Hector Pinto like he did Georgie?”

“No, because when they chopped up Georgie, Kosher World had to close for the day and that was bad business,” Sev said. “Instead, Balducci had Hector skinned. He literally had his skin ripped off of his body like a carcass of beef at Kosher World. Then Balducci had some of his goons wheel Hector over on a long handcart and leave him to be discovered by people leaving the Locomotive Breath. Imagine the mob scene that caused.”

“Holy fucking shit.”

“Holy fucking shit is right,” Sev echoed me with a sigh. “Everyone is walking around like zombies at Kosher World. This is no way to live. This guy Balducci is a worse tyrant than any dictator we tried to bring down when
I
was in Special Services. I hate that asshole. If there was anything I could do to bring that son of a bitch off his horse, I would do it.”

I
poured a shot of Jim Beam into Sev’s shot glass. It looked like a good time to float a far-fetched idea in front of him.

Surprising Sev is not easy. Yet surprise him I did when I told him how I want Balducci more than he did. Bear in mind, up to that point Sev thought Balducci was someone I grew up around. Sev thought it was a matter of time before I became part of the corporation. That is until I asked him, “Remember telling me how Balducci sent Bino and Zog out to kill the DA before he could do major damage?”

“Yeah, when we were in the warehouse.”

“Sev, that was my family. My father and my sister. I was 50 yards away and I saw Bino’s big fucking red hair streaming from the open window. Every fucking day since you told me that story, I’ve been thinking how to get Balducci, and I know how I can do it.”

It was a lot of information for someone to absorb, but Sev had seen and heard everything, so he wasn’t completely shocked. He asked a few questions and soon we were on the same page. “Okay, let’s hear this plan.”

“Balducci’s got something really big that’s going down, and we can fuck it up big time. I’m not talking about just bringing Balducci down. I don’t want to leave a vacuum where any asshole can jump in and take over. We need to take down the whole fucking corporation, and I’m telling you we can.”

Sev asked, “We, like in you and me, are going to take down the corporation?”

“It starts with us, but we’re going to need some help. Sev, you’re the only one who can pull this off.”

Sev looked at me for a full minute, then said, “Don’t worry about my end. Do you know the consequences of what you’re talking about?
I
know you want the results, but are you prepared for the consequences?”

“Hell, yeah. Sev, this is all I’ve been thinking about.”

“I’m
not asking what you’re thinking,” he said. “Are you prepared for the consequences? Me, I’ve been in Kosher World 25 years now. I was your age when I didn’t think I had anything to lose. The thing is, you think you have nothing to lose, but there’s always something to lose. Are you sure you are ready for the consequences?”

“Yeah, Sev, I’m telling you I was put on this planet to bust up the corporation and I’ll do anything to do it.”

“Good,” Sev said with a stern nod. “I’m interested. Now tell me what you got.”

I thought I would have to sell Sev on the idea; well, that part was easy. “We all know Balducci is more than a typical mob guy; he’s way beyond that now. He’s gone international and he’s taking over things like factories and construction in places like Uganda, Croatia and even Vietnam.”

“C’mon,” Sev said. “How can he?”

“I’ve been spying from inside his own fuckin’ house and I’ve seen some things that will blow you away. He’s not doing it on his own, though, and that’s where we have an opportunity.”

“Who’s he doing it with?”

I told him I wasn’t sure. I’d come close to finding out a few times, but the trail went cold. There was some huge money backing Balducci, some big and powerful groups. “But here’s our in. While Balducci is making a ton of money, this group is taking a big chunk of the results and the group maintains control. Balducci feels he’s moving mountains and giving it away.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Balducci don’t like sharing his toys in the sandbox. He’s got something really big on tap, and this time it’s just him and one partner.”

“Who’s the partner?”

“I don’t know yet, but it’s someone who can open doors.”

“Don’t you think finding that person is important?”

“Yes, but you didn’t expect a perfect situation, did you?”

Sev leans back in his chair a little and rubs his chin. “Where’s this sandbox?”

“A little place called Iran.”

Sev grimaces. “That’s a big motha-fuckin’ sandbox.”

“He’s betting it all on Iran,” I said. “His partner seems to have plenty of money, but more important, he’s connected. Balducci, on the other hand, is really reaching. This can put him in a different stratosphere and he tastes it. It’s not about money anymore. He’s leveraging every penny he has to go at this.”