Mick Sinatra: Love and Shadows Read online

  “Where is he?” Teddy asked as he violently choked Rush.

  Rush was squirming and elbowing and fighting for his life. He was fighting to break free.

  “Where, motherfucker?” Teddy asked again between clenched white teeth, as his big arms were straining to keep Rush in check. “Your ass wanna live? Talk!”

  But the man wasn’t a high-ranking official in the Mahoney crime family for nothing. He continued to fight.

  “I’m not fucking with you, Johnny! You’d better talk!” Teddy tightened his grip around Rush’s neck. “Look at these muscles, you fucking prick. Your skinny ass don’t stand a chance. Talk, motherfucker!”

  “James,” Rush finally said before his breath was gone. “He’s at the house on James Street.”

  Teddy was relieved. Killing Johnny Rush right here and right now would create more problems than it solved. And they still wouldn’t have what they wanted. Teddy released his chokehold and pushed Rush away from him just as his men got out of the SUV. “Put him inside,” Teddy ordered. “Old Rush boy is going to take us home. I’ll follow.”

  Teddy’s men opened the back of the van and threw Rush inside, with two of the men getting in the back with Rush. The third man got behind the wheel. Teddy pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his hands as he walked out of the alley, and made his way back to his Corvette. When the waitress looked out of the window and saw him walking toward his car and no longer at his table, she shook her head.

  Another wasted smile, she thought.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “You are not going to believe this,” the assistant manager said as she ran into the breakroom.

  “What is it?” her supervisor asked, and all of the ladies looked up.

  “Mrs. Mick Sinatra is in our salon.”

  The supervisor was stunned. “She’s here now?”

  “Right out front. Waiting for somebody to assist her.”

  The supervisor jumped from her chair. “Why didn’t you tell me!” she decried with grave irritation, and hurried out of the breakroom.

  “I did tell you!” The assistant manager had a puzzled look on her face, as she hurried out after her.

  One of the four cosmetologists in the room looked at the others. “Who’s Mick Sinatra?” she asked them.

  They all looked at her. “He’s the owner of this hotel,” she said. “You know the one who signs your paychecks since we are the official salon for the hotel?”

  “Geez,” the uninformed beautician said. “And his wife is in here right now?” She smiled and rose to her feet, closing up her remaining sandwich and tossing it into the waste basket. “It’s like having a celebrity at your job. I’ve got to go check her out!”

  “She’s a celebrity too,” yet another beautician said, but their colleague was already gone.

  “And she’s black,” another beautician added, gratuitously.

  Roz Sinatra wasn’t accustomed to waiting in salons. Even in Philly, they knew to immediately seat Mick Sinatra’s wife. But she wasn’t in Philly. She was in Manhattan, in New York, at a luxurious salon inside of Mick’s luxurious Carson-Benning hotel. And in Manhattan, everybody felt they deserved special treatment. That was why, in Manhattan, nobody got it.

  “Do these people realize who you are?” Giles Fortney asked. He was Roz’s agent and was seated next to her in the waiting room. Roz, looking gorgeous, Giles thought, in her Prada head-to-toe, was busy reading text messages. Giles looked at her and did one of his infamous well, girl?

  Roz looked at him. “What?” she asked.

  “You are so better than me. If my husband owned all of this, and they had me waiting like this? No ma’am! There would be hell to pay.”

  “I walked in, Giles,” Roz reminded him. “I don’t have an appointment. This is fine.”

  “I still say it’s not. Not for Mrs. Mick Sinatra. But that’s just me.”

  Roz smiled and continued to review her messages. She was in New York and had been in contract negotiations, not only for her first overseas run, but for another Broadway production next year. She wanted a fresh hairdo before she drove back home tonight.

  But before Giles could continue with his mini-tirade about Roz’s treatment, the supervisor of the salon hurried into the waiting room. “I am so sorry, Mrs. Sinatra,” she said as she came. “The girl who asked you to wait didn’t know. Please accept my apology.”

  “No problem at all,” Roz said as she rose to her feet. Giles rose, too. “I’m just grateful somebody can see me today.”

  “Why of course, ma’am. I will personally attend to your needs. Come right this way, please.”

  The supervisor headed for one of the empty booths. Giles smiled. “The head female up in this bitch attending to you? Now that’s what I’m talking about,” he said, as they followed her.

  Once in the chair, Roz sat patiently as the seasoned stylist prepped her hair. Giles pulled up a chair in front of Roz and gossiped nonstop. Until another one of Roz’s employees, the Chief Negotiator at her talent agency, Archie Stein, walked in.

  “Thank God I found you,” he said.

  “I don’t know why you wouldn’t,” Giles said. “We’re staying right here, at Mick’s hotel. Contract negotiations are being held right here, at Mick’s hotel. It stands to reason you would find us, lo and behold, right here in Manhattan at Mick’s hotel.”

  “Anyway,” Archie said to Roz in a tone that was dismissive of Giles, “back to my concerns and complications.”

  “What is it?” Roz asked.

  “London has given us an ultimatum.”

  Roz’s heart dropped. Playing at the Aladdin in the West End would be a dream come true for her, and could propel her to international star status. But she wanted a one-week-only run. They wanted a pound of flesh. “What do they want?” she asked Archie. “A year or nothing?”

  “They finally moved off of that year nonsense, thank God,” Archie said. “But one-week-only is out of the question, too. They want six months or nothing.”

  Roz closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “That’s out of the question, too, Arch.”

  But Giles was more forgiving. “Well, now, Roz, let’s think about that. It’s not terrible, and it certainly won’t demand an entire year’s commitment. It’ll give you far greater exposure than what a one-week-only could ever give you. It could be a sweet deal.”

  Roz knew what Giles said was true. But it wasn’t what she thought that worried her, or what Giles thought. “He’s not going to go for it,” she said bluntly. Both Giles and Archie were very close to her. They knew exactly whom he was.

  “If you sell it to him hard and unrelenting, he might,” Giles said.

  Roz knew better than Giles would ever know. She knew the salesman of the century wouldn’t be able to sell her husband on any scenario that would have her away from their home, their children, and yes, his bed, for six long months. But that was her business.

  “We’ll see,” was all she cared to say about it.

  Mick’s limousine arrived near the entry point at the docks. The police were out in force, with the entire area of the massacre cordoned off, and Mick ordered his driver to keep his distance. Joey Sinatra, Mick’s younger son in charge of the docks, was already onsite and made his way, with his hip-hop dressing, gold chain-wearing goons with him, to his father. His father, in stark contrast, stepped out of the limo in his Versace suit, looking, Joey thought, so far removed from the reality of the docks that it sometimes alarmed him.

  “Hey, Pop,” Joey said. “What’s up?”

  “You tell me,” Mick said as he leaned against his limo.

  “They hit us,” Joey said. “They hit us hard.”

  “The damage assessment?”

  “Massive damage,” Joey responded. “No survivors.”

  Mick was shocked. “Nobody was able to fight those fuckers off?”

  “They came in a wave,” Joey said. “The one guy who lasted long enough to tell what happened said it was like a tidal wave.
They didn’t know what hit’em.”

  “And the guy’s dead now?” Mick asked.

  “Yup. He managed to say what he said to a paramedic who knew somebody who knew somebody who got the word to me. He died on transport.”

  “Damn,” Mick said. The idea that somebody would take out his entire crew astounded him. All of their families had to be notified and cared for. All of the pain. “What about the shipment?” he asked. “Did they take it all?”

  “That’s the crazy part, Pop,” Joey said.

  “What’s the crazy part?”

  “They didn’t take none of it.”

  Mick was floored. “None of it?”

  “None of it. Nothing. Nada. Which is a good thing and a bad thing,” Joey added. “Good because there’s twenty million dollars’ worth of guns riding on that boat in that harbor right now. But bad because there’s twenty million dollars’ worth of guns riding in that boat in that harbor right now, and right under the noses of all of these cops. I can only imagine how many palms I’m going to have to grease to keep that shipment under wraps. That’s the bad part.”

  “You don’t grease shit,” Mick said. Joey was improving day by day, but he still had a long way to go. “You let Teddy handle that. He’s on assignment right now, but that won’t take all day.”

  “So, what am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

  “I’ll get my lawyers out here,” Mick said. “If any cop demand to search our ship, tell them they will have to get a search warrant first. The lawyers will take it from there.”

  “And what’s Teddy gonna do? These cops are looking to get paid.”

  “They’ll get paid. Just don’t you promise them shit. The organization has a dossier on all of those fuckers. Teddy can recite every name on that list. Let him handle that.”

  “Yes, sir,” Joey said. “But the heat is on out here. How are we gonna unload?”

  “We aren’t,” Mick said. “I want you to move it as soon as the cops get out of here. Take it to a different port of entry and have the trucks pick up from there. And I mean have those trucks ready to roll. The sooner we have it unloaded, the better. But not here.”

  “Yes, sir. But where can we take it to?” Joey asked. “Allentown maybe?”

  But Mick was shaking his head. “No. That’s too close. Too much heat will be there, too. Move that baby out of state. To Jersey.

  “Yes, sir.”

  But Mick was still baffled. “And nobody saw a damn thing?” he asked.

  “Not a thing,” Joey said. “It’s cold like clams around this bitch, and I know some of’em saw it. But I’ve got our people busting ass. We’ll find the fuckers behind this hit and take care of them.”

  “We’d better find them,” Mick warned. “And I’m not waiting all year.”

  “Yes, sir. But Pop, this is puzzling as hell. Why take out manpower if you don’t take out what the manpower is guarding? It’s always about the money.”

  “Yeah, it is,” Mick said, baffled too. “Except when it’s not. Get my shipment out of here.”

  “Will do,” Joey said, and Mick got back in his limousine. His chauffeur/body man closed the door.

  One of Joey’s goons smiled. “When I grow up,” he said, “I wanna be just like your daddy, though.”

  Joey felt that surge of pride. But he didn’t show it. “Whatever,” he said with a frown, and got back to work.

  Inside the limo, Mick leaned his head back. They take out his men, but keep twenty-million-dollars’ worth of hardware in place? Either they’re stupid as hell, Mick thought, or smart as a motherfuck.

  Mick picked up his car phone, and phoned his son. “Where are you now?” he asked him.

  “I’m on my way to see Mahoney.” Teddy was driving his Corvette behind the SUV.

  “What’s your best read?”

  “Johnny Rush can get me to the door,” Teddy said, “but I’ll probably have to shoot my way inside.”

  “Are you certain Mahoney’s there?”

  “Certain?” Teddy asked. “No. I can’t say that. But Johnny Rush is saying he’s there.”

  “If he’s there,” Mick said, “don’t kill him. Feel him out. Find out if he knows anything about the dock hit.”

  “The dock hit?” Teddy asked. “What dock hit?”

  Mick was astounded that Joey hadn’t already let Teddy know. Teddy was Joey’s boss. He reported directly to Teddy. “A hit went down early this morning apparently. They took out all of our men.”

  “All of them? Damn! How much hardware did they seize?”

  Mick exhaled. “They didn’t. Didn’t touch it.”

  “Are you serious? Why the hell not? They didn’t know why our men were out there? Or did they know they were our men?”

  “Those fuckers knew,” Mick said. “This wasn’t some random hit. It was a mob hit. But find out what you can from Mahoney. If you so much as have an inkling his ass knows something, haul him in.”

  “Yes, sir,” Teddy said.

  “And then get over here to the docks. I’ll get the lawyers in place. Joey wants to pay bribes, but I don’t want him handling that. He may approach the wrong motherfucker.”

  “Will do, Pop.”

  And Mick ended the call. Only this time his look turned pensive as he prepared to contact his attorneys. Because this shit was baffling. Because who, he wondered, would pull some stupid shit like this?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Gloria Sinatra entered the lobby of her father’s corporate headquarters building and took the elevator up to her office. She had only just walked around her desk, sat her briefcase on top of it, and was picking up the mail to read when Will Flannigan, her father’s Chief Operating Officer, walked in and closed the door. “You’re late,” he said when he entered.

  Gloria didn’t bother to look up. “And why is that your concern?”

  “Tomorrow’s the day,” he said as he made his way to her desk. “Bright and early tomorrow morning we will do this. You can’t be late.”

  Gloria shook her head. “Don’t start, Will. For real. I’m not feeling it. Not today.”

  He considered her. “What’s the matter?”

  Gloria frowned. “What do you think? I’m going to make an aggressive move tomorrow that could cause many of my father’s most trusted lieutenants to lose their jobs.”

  “And it’ll cause you to move up the ranks at lightning speed. Don’t forget the big picture here, Gloria. You’re going to be in charge of every aspect of S.I.. There’ll be no one left to stop you.”

  “Except you,” Gloria said. “You’re be in an even better position than I will. Your prospects will improve immensely, also.”

  Will walked around her desk and placed his arm around her waist. “This isn’t about me, sweetheart. This is about you. Just think about it, Gloria. Your father lives a very dangerous lifestyle. You need to position yourself now, or guess what? If something were to happen to him, the board will decide who runs S.I. And they aren’t going to bestow that honor on some middle manager like you. You have to position yourself now to take over this company.”

  “But my father has probably already made provisions for who would take over.”

  “Yes, he would have,” Will agreed. “But do you seriously think he would select you? You aren’t even in senior management yet. You have a lot of learning to do. He’s not going to turn over a company of this caliber to an unseasoned kid like you, I don’t care how much he loves you. But if that kid has positioned herself properly; if that kid is in senior management herself, that’ll change. He’ll change his will to include you as head of S.I., I’m convinced of it! But you’ve got to move and move now. You’ve got to have time to show him what you’re capable of. Right now, if something were to happen to him, he probably has it set up that someone from outside will be hired. But once he sees your talent, the kind of talent I already know you have, then he’ll give in. You’ll be a shoo-in.”

  “And you?” Gloria asked, eyeing Will. “What’s in it for yo
u?”

  Will smiled. He was a much older man, and it showed. “We’ll be together. That’s all I want.”

  Gloria stared at him. The idea of them having any kind of happily ever after was as foreign to her as their secret affair was familiar. Besides, he wasn’t even free. “What about your wife?” she asked him.

  He pulled Gloria against him. “Everything will work out, my darling, don’t you worry about that. I’m only with her because of the children. We don’t even sleep in the same bed.”

  Gloria pulled away from him. “Tell it to the birds,” she said. “Don’t pull that shit on me. We’re business people who happens to fuck on the side. Let’s not pretend it’s anything more than that.”

  But he could see the hurt in her eyes. “You should have told me you were married before I fell for you, Will.”

  “I didn’t tell you because I don’t consider myself married. It’s you I love, Glo. It’s you I want. I don’t want her! Everybody knows our marriage ended long ago.”

  He kissed her. “We’ll be together. It’s you I want. And once we show your father that we are a power couple that can run this company, he won’t replace us. You’ve just got to trust me, honey. You’ve got to trust the process.”

  Again, Gloria pulled out of his embrace.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “You’re talking trust? I should trust you? You mean other than that bullshit you’re telling me about your marriage? You mean other than the fact that you created this scheme to take over my father’s company?”

  “It’s not bullshit,” Will said. “My marriage is in shambles and I’ve already looked into a divorce.”