Reno Gabrini: A Family Affair (24 page)

At the hospital, tests were run and Sophie was
cleared to go home.
 
But Jimmy was
another story.
 
Dommi and his baby sister
sat in chairs against the wall, with Dommi holding her hand, while Reno and
Trina, and Sal and Gemma, stood at Jimmy’s bedside.
 
Both couples were holding hands too.
 
Jimmy was sleeping comfortably, and the
doctors pronounced him out of danger, but they all still felt the sting.

“Debrosiac of all people,” Sal said to Reno.
 
“He’s been with you so long.”

“That was my mistake,” Reno said.
 
“I trusted him too much when I knew you can’t
trust anybody outside of family.”

“Speaking of family,” Sal said.
 
“Tommy called.”

Reno and Trina looked at him.
 
“You didn’t tell him what went down?”

Sal shook his head.
 
“Hell no.”

“Good,” Trina said.

“He’s got his own problems right now,” Sal
said.
 
“He doesn’t need anything else on
his plate.”

But everybody’s mind was still on Jimmy.
 
Reno continued to look at his son. “Poor
kid,” he said.
 
“He deserves better than
this.”

“Thank God he survived,” Trina said.

“Oh, I do,” Reno said.
 
“I do.”

Trina squeezed his hand.
 
“Let’s pray New Hampshire becomes the change
he needs.”

“I doubt if it’ll make much difference, Tree, to
tell you the truth.”
 
Everybody looked at
Reno.
 
“He’ll still be my son, I don’t
care where he goes.
 
There’s a price to
pay for that.”

“There’s a price to pay,” Trina said, “but a wonderful
blessing too.
 
You’re a wonderful husband
and father, Reno.
 
This isn’t your
doing.
 
Don’t you forget that.”

Reno looked at her with that look that made her know
he was fighting back tears.
 
These events
had rattled him.
 
And she understood
why.
 
His daughter nearly died.
 
His youngest son nearly died.
 
And his oldest son was still fighting for his
life.
 
She knew he appreciated her vote of
confidence, but she also knew he didn’t agree with that vote.

His cell phone rang.
 
When he pulled it out and looked at the Caller ID, he answered
quickly.
 
“Speak,” he said, and moved
away from the crowd.

“You about ready?” Sal said to Gemma.

Gemma exhaled.
 
“I’m ready.”

“Ready for what?” Dommi asked Sal, then glanced at
his mother.
 
He expected her to say,
for none of your business
, or some such
thing, but she didn’t.
 
Treating Dommi
like some fifth grader now, after what he’d been through, was foolish even to
Tree.
 
She let him ask his questions.

“I have to try a case in the morning,” Gemma, an
attorney, answered.
 
“A murder case.
 
Uncle Sal is going to take me home.”

“Drive carefully, Uncle Sal,” Dommi said.

Sal didn’t know if he liked this new Dommi.
 
He was too much like Reno.
 
“You just be careful yourself,” he said to
him.

“Don’t trip,” Trina said to Sal.
 
“He’s the monster you help create.”

Gemma laughed.
 
It was the first laughter in the room.
 
And when Reno finished his call, Trina could see an uplift in his mood
too.
 
“What is it?” she asked.

“We’ve got Iceman,” he said.

Trina’s heart relaxed.
 
“Thank God!” she said.

“Need my help, Ree?” Sal asked.

“No, I can handle it.”
 
Then he extended his hand.
 
“I didn’t formally thank you, Sal Luca.
 
But thank you.
 
You saved our lives.
 
I’ll spend the rest of my life repaying you,
and I’ll still owe you.”

Sal smiled.
 
“Really?”
 
He shook Reno’s
hand.
 
“Well that’s alright then!
 
You owing me?
 
Yeah, I can live with that.”

Sophia leaned her head against Dommi.
 
“I’m tired, Daddy,” she said.

Reno looked at Trina as he walked over and picked up
his little girl.
 
“When Val gets here,”
he said, “you take them home.
 
They’re
tired and so are you.
 
Val will stay with
Jimmy until I get back.”

“Where is Val anyway?” Gemma asked.

“She was in Phoenix with her father,” Trina
responded.
 
“Reno sent his plane for
her.
 
Lee’s meeting the plane.
 
He knows to bring her straight to the
hospital.”

“Is Maddie coming with her?” Dommi asked.

“We decided against it,” Trina said.
 
Iceman Nelson was still unaccounted for when
that decision was made.
 
“Maddie is
staying with her grandfather,” she continued.
 
“But she’ll be back soon.”

 
Dommi looked
at Jimmy.
 
“I’ve been praying for
him.
 
I pray he’ll be alright.”

Reno smiled at his son as he bounced Sophie in his
arms.
 
“He will, Sport.
 
Don’t worry.
 
Jimmy is going to pull through.”

“I’m just sorry he had to suffer the most,” Dommi
said.

If he knew what Reno went through when he saw his
baby girl fall from that bridge, he’d rethink just who suffered most.
 
But he was right.
 
Jimmy got the short stick again.

Reno leaned over and kissed Trina on the lips.
 
Then he leaned down and kissed a sleeping
Jimmy.
 
Just as he was about to do the
same to his two youngest, the hospital door opened and Val ran in.
 
Lee Jones was behind her, with Maddie in his
arms.

“Maddie!” Dommi said and jumped out of his seat as
Val ran to Jimmy.
 
“That’s my grandbaby,”
Dommi said to Lee.
 
“I’ll take her.”

“Your grandbaby?” Lee asked with a chuckle.
 
“Boy please!”

“That’s what daddy calls her,” Dommi said, failing
to see what was so funny.

Val, however, was totally focused on Jimmy.
 
“Is he going to be alright?” she asked as she
took his hand.
 
Her face was a mask of
concern.

“He’s going to be fine,” Trina said, putting an arm
around her narrow waist.
 
“The doctor
said he should make a full recovery.
 
They, thank God, were able to get every bullet.”

Val was horrified.
 
She looked at Trina.
 
“
Every
bullet?
 
How many were there?”

“Four,” Reno said, sitting Sophie back in her
chair.
 
“But he’ll pull through.”

But Reno and Trina could tell Val had just about had
enough.

“It’s going to be okay, Val,” Trina assured her.

Val nodded.
 
“I know.”
 
Then tears welled in
her eyes.
 
“I just love him so much,” she
said.
 
“I haven’t been showing it lately,
but I really do love him, Ma.”

Trina pulled her into her arms. “I know you do,” she
said.
 
“And after he recovers, you can
show him how much.” She pulled back and looked Val dead in the eye.
 
“He needs you,” she said.

Val nodded.
 
“I need him too,” she said.

Dommi sat down beside Sophia, and it was only then
did Lee hand him little Maddie.

“I’ve got to run,” Reno said, as he kissed his
grandbaby, kissed Trina again, gave Jimmy another look, and left.
 
He still had a job to do.

Reno drove slowly to the safe house.
 
He could still feel his hands trembling.
 
Sophie came out of it with a clean bill of
health, but she wasn’t unscathed.
 
She
was young, but she knew how close she had come.
 
She knew, if it wasn’t for her uncle Sal, she would have left this
world.
 
And, Reno thought as he drove,
took her father’s heart right along with her.
 
And Jimmy.
 
He couldn’t wait to get him out of Dodge.
 
He’d been through so much!
 
But he was a great kid.
 
He was going to make it.
 
But that didn’t mean Reno could relax.
 
He was still shaken.

But when he arrived at that safe house, and saw the
men responsible for putting his baby girl, his wife, and his sons in the
predicament they had been in, he refocused that energy.
 
It was payback time.
 
Reno didn’t want to hear any more bullshit.

The two notification agents were in the side room,
along with Iceman Nelson.
 
Reno walked
in.
 
All three men were tied to their
chairs, and both had been seriously beaten.
 
And both of the agents were defiant.

“We’re federal agents,” one pronounced, as if they
had the upper hand.
 
Reno knew
better.
 
He not only knew they worked for
an agency in contract with the FBI, he knew they were actually Fed wannabes
rather than the real thing.
 
But he
wasn’t going to argue with either one of them.
 
He didn’t give a shit.

“We’re federal agents,” said the other one just as
boldly.
 
“You can’t kill a federal
agent!”

As soon as he made that bold statement, Reno was
done.
 
He pulled out his Glock and shot
both of them through the head.

Iceman quickly leaned away, as their blood
splattered toward him.
 
He knew he was
next.
 
But he also knew his mission
wasn’t accomplished.
 
Because every day
he dreamed of getting that bitch.
 
That
dream kept him going.
 
The money was
going to be his life after killing her, because he knew she was a Gabrini now
and he would have to get lost.
 
And it
was all slipping away?
 
It couldn’t end
like this.
 
It couldn’t!

But when Reno looked at him, he knew it was
over.
 
All he had to do was point and
shoot the same way he had done those agents.
 
But he didn’t.

“I heard you want my wife,” Reno said.

Did Ice stand a chance?
 
Would Reno understand if he explained what
that bitch had done to him?
 
He had
nothing left to lose.
 
He decided to try.
 
“I spent all those years in prison,” he said,
“for a crime she committed.
 
She called
the cops and told them I was the one who had knocked Stoke over the head.
 
She called anonymously, but I knew it was
her.
 
I had ordered Stoke to take her to
my crib and wait for me.
 
She was all
upset about her friend, and I didn’t want her doing something stupid: like
telling the cops about my little pimp operation, or my drug operation, or my
other crimes.
 
And yes, I committed some
horrific acts.
 
But I didn’t kill
Stokey.
 
She did that.”

“Now she’s got to die?” Reno asked him.

Ice stared at him.
 
Did Gabrini understand?
 
“Now
she’s got to die,” Ice responded.
 
“There’s no other way.”

Reno motioned to one of his men.
 
The man went over, and untied Ice.
 
Ice was pleasantly surprised.
 
He began flexing his hand.
 
Ice even smiled, as if Reno was fully in his
corner.
  
But even Reno’s men knew better
than that.
 
They looked at Ice as if he
was the fool of fools if he thought Reno wasn’t going to defend his wife’s
honor.

“That’s where we differ,” Reno said to Ice.
 
Ice’s heart dropped.

Reno placed his Glock on the table.
 
He began walking up to Ice.
 
“You can have my wife,” he said.
 
“You can have her.
 
But you’ll have to go through me first.”