It was those same situational ethics he lived by his entire life, and they lived by their entire lives, that caused Carmine to be in the perilous situation he was now in.
But at least, they all hoped, he was alive.
And on that note of hope they rode the rest of the distance in silence.
CHAPTER THIRTY
It was a small, wooden-framed house well off the highway and nearly two miles from any other property. And as they drove up to the house, a plane flew over that caused them all to look and make sure it wasn’t a cop copter. It was just a plane. But that was how on edge they were.
Reno and Von were looking straight ahead just in case trouble was brewing inside that house. But Mick and Sal were looking through the woods: Mick looking on the right side, and Sal looking on the left side. They were looking for any ambush. Reno was more businessman than mobster now, but Mick and Sal were the opposite. All was never well was an instinct they carried around like a second skin.
And their instinct was right. Because as soon as the car stopped in front of the small house, Mick saw cars on his side of the woods. “It’s a set up!” he yelled. “It’s a fucking set up!”
“Get out of here!” Sal yelled to Von and Von quickly put the car in reverse, pressed on gas, and was spinning his wheels before speeding backwards. But just as he did, a van drove onto the property and blocked them in. And then the men jumped out.
“Ram’em!” Mick ordered and Von kept driving until he drove straight into the back of the van, causing some of the men to get crushed, and the others tried to make a run for it.
But Mick and Sal got out and began firing on each and every one of the survivors. But Mustafa jumped out of the SUV and tried to make a run for it too. Only he wasn’t running away from the scene, he was running toward the house.
“You kill me,” Mustafa was yelling at Reno, “and you’ll never find your boy! You’ll never find him!”
“He’s not here?” Reno asked. “He’s not here?”
But Mustafa didn’t answer because, just as they were running toward the house, Mustafa’s wife came out of the house with her rifle drawn. “Kill him, Bea,” Mustafa was yelling to his wife as he ran toward her. “This is our chance to kill Reno Gabrini!”
But Bea had a different agenda. She was sobbing and pointing that rifle. “You killed my son,” she said angrily to Mustafa. “You killed Alphonso!”
Alphonso was Von’s half-brother, and Bea was not Von’s mother. But he had text her. He had to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid for his father’s sake. He made sure she understood who her husband truly was.
And Mustafa was shocked. He stopped in his tracks. They all did when they saw that rifle. “How would you know about that?” he asked her.
“Because I text her and told her!” Von said.
Reno looked at him. “You were texting while you were driving us?” he asked him.
“I had no choice,” Von said. “She needed to know the monster she was dealing with.”
Reno nodded. “Damn right,” he said. “Where’s my son?” Reno asked Bea, but Bea was too bitter to hear him.
“He didn’t commit suicide,” she was yelling at Mustafa. “You killed him!”
“Bea, I can explain,” he said but she wasn’t interested in talking. She cocked her rifle.
“No!” Reno cried and jumped in front of Mustafa. “He knows where my son is!”
And she fired that rifle just as Reno jumped in front of Mustafa, and Von leaped over and knocked Reno down and went down to the ground with him. They bullet barely missed them. But it hit Mustafa. He went down hard. And then Bea took that rifle, aimed it at herself, and fired. It knocked her backwards, against the door.
Reno and Von jumped up. They ran to Mustafa. Mick and Sal, hearing the gunshot, came running back toward the house after chasing and taking out the rest of the men in the van.
But it was all too late. Mustafa was dead. Von, still stunned by the turn of events, sat beside his father’s body.
But Reno was panicking. He ran up to the porch, and grabbed Bea. “Where’s my son? Is my son in there? Where’s my son?”
But Bea was gone. She was dead too.
And Reno, Mick and Sal, ran into the house,