Reno Gabrini: A Family Affair (22 page)

“You two were almost talking in code,” Trina
said.
 
“What is it that she wants in
return for the intel on those two agents?
 
You?”

“My dick,” Reno said bluntly, as if he was saying
she wanted his tie or his shoes.

Trina was floored by his lack of disgust.
 
“And you’re going to give it to her?”

“I’m going to make sure my guys pick up those
fuckers who want to blackmail you, and those two cocksuckers are going to lead
me to the Iceman, who wants to murder you.
 
I’m going to get every one of those assholes by any means
necessary.
 
Including Kim.
 
I’m going to send a message to anybody
listening that fuckers who fuck with my wife will get fucked, I don’t care who
they are.
 
That’s what I’m going to do.
How I get it done is my business.”

Trina stared at Reno.
 
She already knew he was a man who would do
anything to protect his family.
 
What
made her think there were limits?

Reno began heading to his office inside the
penthouse.
 
Trina and Sal followed
him.
 
He pressed a button, opening a wall
that contained his massive gun collection, and began arming himself.

“Take a crew with you, Reno,” Sal said.

“Get a crew out there,” Reno said, as he began
strapping on firearms, “but make it clear to them they will work in a backup capacity
only.
 
They stay out of sight.
 
Kim will be off the grid, but she’s not
stupid.
 
I take the lead on this one.”

“What about the children?” Trina asked.
 
“I’ll feel better if we bring them here.”

Reno and Sal both shook their heads.
 
“You never move anybody unless you have no
choice,” Sal said.
 
“I’ve already called
for additional security at Jimmy’s house, and I’ve already notified Jimmy.
 
He’ll protect them.”

But Reno could tell Trina was still uneasy.
 
She wanted their children with her.
 
“Sal is right,” Reno said.
 
“Everybody stays in place.
 
These people want that money first.
 
They aren’t trying to get into any war with
me.
 
That’s why they needed that test run
with Jimmy’s situation.
 
That’s why they
led you to believe the Iceman wouldn’t be out for another month.
 
It’s all about intimidation.
 
It’s all about keeping you in their circle of
terror.
 
They don’t want any more
problems.
 
Going after anybody else would
be too many problems.
 
Besides, my men
will be bringing them in.
 
I’ll have
Kim’s ass with me.
 
Everybody stays put.”

Then Reno, strapped and ready, kissed Trina on the
mouth, and began heading out.

Trina was about to just let him go.
 
It was tough enough.
 
But she couldn’t.
 
Because he was doing all of this, risking his
own life once again, for her.
 
And she
ran to him, turned him around, and hugged him with a mighty hug.

“That’s more like it,” Sal said, beneath his breath.

Reno’s eyes were tightly shut, as he held onto the
love of his life.
         

She arrived on time, but Reno was already there,
sitting on the sofa, a glass of wine in his hand.

Kim Galecki smiled when she saw him.
 
She was amazed at how great he still
looked.
 
“It’s been a long time, Reno,”
she said, as she sat on the sofa beside him and dropped her shoulder bag to the
floor beside her feet.
 
“A really long
time.”

“How have you been?” Reno asked her, giving her a
look over.
 
She was always older than
Reno, and her age was showing now, but she was still beautiful.

“I’ve been marvelous,” she said.
 
“And you?”

“I’m making it.”

She stared at him.
 
He was a true lost, even though she never really had him.
 
“Aren’t you going to offer me a drink?”

“Aren’t you going to tell me about the scheme?”

Her smile froze.
 
“What scheme?”

“Do I look stupid to you, Kim?
 
You’re acting as if I’m a fool.”

Her heart began to pound.
 
“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you and your flunkies attempting
to rob me out of twenty-five million dollars.
 
That’s what I’m talking about!
 
Now are we going to continue to play games or are you going to tell me
what the fuck is going on?”

Kim had forgotten how hard-edged Reno could be.
 
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Reno picked up a remote and pressed the Play
button.
 
A middle-aged white male
appeared on the television screen.
 
It
was one of the notification agents that had met with Trina.
 
He was seated in Reno’s safe house, in a
chair.
 
He was tied.
 
He appeared to have been worked over.
 
But Reno wasn’t looking at the screen.
 
He was looking at Kim.
 
And from the sudden sullen look on her face,
he knew he had her.
 
“Sticking by that
story?” he asked her.

She was shocked.
 
She never dreamed he would have assumed her involvement.
 
She had been so careful!

“It started with that female, didn’t it?” Reno
asked.
 
“What’s her name?”

Reno continued to surprise Kim.

“What’s her name?” he asked again.

Kim knew she had to stop bullshitting him to stay
alive.
 
She knew she had to come clean on
the small stuff, and lie like hell on the matters that could get her
killed.
 
“Felicity,” she said.

“Yeah, her,” Reno said.
 
“Felicity.
 
My wife had been out of town for ten days, and suddenly a dead ringer
for my wife shows up in my casino.
 
She
work for you, too.
 
Doesn’t she?”

“She’s a hooker I occasionally hire.”

“What was her angle?”

“She was supposed to distract you.”

Reno stared at Kim.
 
“Distract me?
 
Why?”

“I have my contact.
 
After you dumped me, I kept a line of communication open.”

“Who?” Reno asked, although he already knew.
 
“Quinn, right?”

Kim just stared at him, refusing to answer, but her
non-answer told Reno all he needed to know.
 
It was Quinn.
 
But he decided not
to push it.
 
He had Kim exactly where he
needed her to be.
 
She still thought she
stood a chance.
 
She still though she was
getting out of this alive.
 
She still
thought she could tell part of the story, and that would be enough to keep him
guessing.
 
She thought wrong, but that
was Reno’s business.
 
“Why did you need
to distract me?” he asked again.

“I heard how you kept your oldest son under your
thumb at all times, and always knew his every move.
 
But we needed Jimmy that night.
 
We hired one of his friends---”

“Finn?”

Kim nodded.
 
“Yes.
 
Finn.
 
His friend and coworker.
 
Jimmy should never hire friends.
 
You told him not to, over and over, but he
kept doing it anyway.
 
He’s a very loyal
young man.
 
But we knew his
weakness.
 
His wife Valerie wasn’t giving
it up the way a young, virile man had to have it.
 
So we paid Finn to set him up.
 
Then we paid Finn to get lost.
 
Finn gladly did both.
 
My friend, or you might say my mole at the
PaLargio, handled that particular transaction.”

Reno couldn’t wait to get his hands on Quinn.
 
Trina never liked her and always wanted her
out, but he didn’t feel justified in firing her.
 
She worked too hard.
 
She was one of the best assistants he’d ever
had.
 
He never dreamed she’d turn on him
like this.
 
But he miscalculated.
 
He felt as if he was miscalculating too much!

“Jimmy’s hooker was our test run,” Kim
continued.
 
“We needed to see how you would
respond if we blackmailed your son before we made contact with your wife.
 
We needed you out of the way so we could set
up your son.
 
Felicity was supposed to
keep you busy while Jimmy did his thing.
 
But she failed me too.”

“Where’s the tape?” Reno asked.

“What do you want from me?
 
You have Cameron, the notifications
agent.
 
I guess you have Jamison too.”

“Smart guess.”

“So what do you want from me?”

“Give me the tape of my wife.
 
The original with the date and time.”

“Twenty five million is the price, Reno.”

“Fuck that.
 
Give me the tape.”

“Give me a counteroffer,” Kim said.

Reno stood up quickly, pulled out his gun, and shot
her in the arm.

She screamed, grabbed her bleeding arm, and looked
at him, stunned.
 
“What have you
done?
 
I could lose my arm!”

“Give me the fucking tape or you’ll lose a lot more
than an arm.”

But Kim was in agony.
  
“How could you do this to me?”
 
She was looking at the blood.
 
She was removing her scarf from around her
neck nervously and wrapping her right arm.

But Reno was unimpressed.
 
He aimed his weapon at her left arm.
 
“Do I need to do it again?”

“Okay!” she cried.
 
“I’ll get it!”
 
Then she looked up
at him.
 
“Promise me you’ll let me go if
I give it to you.”

“You’re in no position to bargain.
 
Who the fuck do you think you are?
 
Give it to me, Kim.”

“Promise you’ll let me go.”

Reno grabbed her bag and upturned it, all of her
things flying out.
 
As he suspected, the
tape wasn’t there.

“Reno, promise me,” she begged.

“Where’s the tape,
got
dammit!
 
I’m not fucking
with you!”

“Promise me!”

“I promise.
 
Now turn it over.”

Kim hesitated, but Reno had always been a man of his
word.
 
With her good arm, she reached
inside her jacket and pulled out the small DVD.

Reno grabbed it from her, and walked over to the DVD
player.
 
He put it in and pressed
Play.
 
It was the original, date-stamped
to prove it, showing a very young Trina Hathaway grabbing a lamp and slamming
it over Stokey’s head.
 
He stopped the
tape, took it out, and put it in his own jacket pocket.
 
Then he looked at Kim.

She stood up.
 
“You promised me, Reno.”

“You terrorized my wife.
 
You blackmailed my wife.
 
You set up my son.
 
And you think I’m going to promise to let you
walk out of here to continue to terrorize them?
 
I promise you alright.
 
I promise
I am going to end your shit right here.”

Kim was devastated.
 
“But you promised!
 
You promised
to let me live!”

“I promise you won’t be getting out of here
alive.
 
I promise you that.
 
I don’t leave stones unturned.
 
You picked the wrong one when you targeted my
wife.
 
What did you think I was going to
do?
 
Let you walk away from something
like that?”

Kim, knowing the end was near, panicked.
 
And she ran out of options.
 
So she tried to make a run for it.
 
She didn’t even make it to the front door.

Reno lit her up.
 
Three shots.
 
Her knees bent, and
then she fell.
 
Just like that.

He walked over to her, towering over her dead body,
and stared at her.
 
They had a
history.
 
They had some good times.
 
But he had no regrets.
 
She decided to play games with his wife’s
life.
 
He decided to play for real with
hers.
 
He pulled out his cell phone, and
ordered his cleanup crew to get to the scene and clean up.

Reno sat quietly in his car and waited for his
cleanup crew, the backup crew that was within a couple minutes of the cabin, to
arrive.
 
He and Kim had a lot of memories
in that place, and he was sorry it had come to this.
 
But nobody was going to blackmail his wife,
and so much as threaten to send her away to prison for life, without facing his
retribution.
 
But that didn’t mean it
wasn’t vile.
 
That didn’t mean he took
pleasure in payback.
 
He didn’t.
 
He was a man who believed in God, who
believed in heaven and hell.
 
He was no
bloodthirsty psychopath.
 
But when sharks
were circling his wife, he either had to kill the sharks or let them take out
his wife.
 
Reno wasn’t that kind of
man.
 
They weren’t touching his wife.

When his crew finally arrived, he drove away from
the cabin and pulled out onto the long, quiet road that led back into the
city.
  
And then he phoned Trina.

“Reno?” She said his name as soon as she answered
the phone.

Reno smiled.
 
“I’m okay.”

“It’s done?”

Reno nodded, and then a frown appeared on his face.
“It’s done.
 
We have the two agents in
the safe house.
 
They’re refusing to
talk, but that’s where I come in.
 
I need
to find out where Iceman Nelson is hiding his ugly mug.
 
Once I track his ass down and do to him what
he thought he was going to do to you, it’ll be over.”

“Be careful,” Trina said.

“What, do I look like I don’t know how to be
careful?
 
I will.
 
You just remain at the penthouse with Sal.”

“Don’t worry about that.
 
Sal won’t let me go anywhere even if I
tried.”

That was exactly why Reno was thankful to have Sal
on his side.
 
He could handle a stubborn
lady like Tree.
 
“Have you checked on
Jimmy and the kids?” he asked.

“I just called them.
 
They’re fine.”

Reno nodded.
 
“Good,” he said, as he drove through an intersection.
 
He looked out of his side window and saw the
SUV coming up to the stop sign, certain it was going to stop.
 
But when it accelerated instead, and was
coming straight for the side of his Porsche, Reno’s instinct kicked in and he
knew he had to act.

“Motherfuck!” he said out loud.

“Reno?” Trina asked, when he said that word.

But Reno couldn’t answer.
 
He floored it.
 
He gave it his all to speed his Porsche away
from that speeding SUV, and burned rubber getting away.
 
And he almost got away.