Deep(19)

Nick didn’t know how they’d managed it, with Jimmy on the Navigator all night, but he knew who. This was the sequel to his father’s funeral. He was going to peel Alvin Church’s skin off in a single sheet and turn it into a goddamn coat.



He’d had his attention off Beverly for only a couple of seconds. Now she shifted under him, and he felt her moan sharply—he felt it rather than heard it. “Easy, bella. Don’t move yet.”



There was a weird flashing light all around. He couldn’t make sense of it. Like a strobe without a predictable pattern.



Chi-Chi and Matty ran up then, and Chi-Chi dropped to his knees at Nick’s head. “Oh fuck, boss! Oh fuck! What the fuck!”



Chi-Chi wasn’t the brightest bulb in their box, but he was all in and followed directions well. Sirens began to overwhelm the sounds of trauma. Nick estimated that less than a minute, definitely no more than two, had passed since the explosion. “Shut up, Chi, and listen. If you’re carrying dirty, dump it now.” Though a few soldiers in the family had felony records, none of his crew did, and all had concealed carry permits. The Pagano Brothers kept a tight seal on their relationship with law enforcement. The right people were paid in the right way, always, and the Paganos kept a clean profile.



They used unregistered weapons for their wet and dirty work, however, and Chi-Chi had had some dirty work to do earlier in the day.



“Just my clean piece, boss. You need help up?” Chi-Chi reached his hand out, but Nick shook his head. He didn’t want to leave Beverly lying alone on the sidewalk.



“You and Matty—look sharp. Get a read on who’s around here, especially at the edges. And what the fuck is that—shit.” It had taken his rattled brain a minute to understand it, but now he did. The strobing light—flashes from smart phone cameras. People everywhere were taking ghoulish pictures. Probably video, too. And now the red and blue swirling lights from police and ambulance took it over. There was no point in trying to get control of all those damn cameras. Footage was probably online already.



Chi-Chi jumped up to do as he’d been bidden, and Nick looked back down at Beverly, still stunned and gasping. When his eyes met hers, though, she asked, “Are you hurt?”



For the first time, he really thought about how he felt. Sore and still half deaf, but no, not hurt. “I’m okay. You’re going to be okay, too.” From the corner of his eye, he saw dark pants and rubber-soled shoes running toward him and knew paramedics were here for her. He looked up and then, finally, reluctantly, pulled away from her, rising to his knees.



Her hand clamped onto his arm. “Don’t…” She cried out in pain and didn’t finish.



Without thinking about it, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “These men will take care of you. I won’t be far. I’m here.” Then he looked up at the paramedic who’d just knelt at his side. “She’s having trouble breathing.”



The paramedic nodded and then asked, “How about you?”



“I’m okay.”



He stood and knew for certain that he wasn’t hurt. But Brian was unconscious now, being worked on by two other EMTs. And Jimmy was dead. And they were all trapped in a ring of public spectacle.





~oOo~





Nick stood as Uncle Ben came into the E.R. waiting room, with Bobbo a few steps ahead. The cops had come and gone and would be back, but not tonight. He wasn’t worried about the local P.D. But a bombing would bring the Feds, and soon. Their reach with the Feds wasn’t quite as long. He still wasn’t overly worried. They were the victims here. The biggest legal problem was the attention now turned their way more sharply.



Now well past midnight, the hour was not one in which the don was at full strength. He was limping badly, arthritis pain obviously wracking his body, but Nick knew better than to offer help.



As he came to the empty corner in which Nick had been sitting, Ben nodded at the chairs. “Sit, nephew.”



They sat, and Bobbo stepped away, on watch. When Ben got himself as comfortable as possible, he said, “Tell me.”



Nick described the scene, choosing his words carefully. They were not in a secure location. When he was finished, Ben nodded. “Brian will pull through?”



“He’s in surgery now. First and second-degree burns, and the shrapnel did some damage. He’ll be sore and working with one arm for a while, but they say he should come back almost one-hundred percent. His mother is upstairs, waiting there.”



“Is someone on her?”



“Chi-Chi is up there. Matty’s down here, on the door.”