‘Strike before they strike back.’ Those were the orders Leroy Jesus Bauls received from Dukey K. Williams. Which was why he was now on the road to Miami. It was a long drive, but it would have been too dangerous to fly with the equipment he needed. All the security at airports today, luggage being searched and people being frisked. He wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near a plane.
His black Mercedes roared down the highway at a steady pace. Leroy was completely at ease, his mind clear and able to deal with the job ahead.
He’d thoroughly inspected Enzio Bassalino’s mansion a few days previously, before the family had arrived. Enzio was in New York, so the grounds had not been as closely guarded. With no family present it had been a relatively simple matter to gain access to the house posing as a telephone engineer. The oldest trick in the world, but once the telephone went dead it always worked. Cut the lines, wait twenty minutes, then appear. ‘Telephone engineer, fault reported on your line.’ Guards check the phone, check his phony credentials, and nod agreement that he can come in. At first someone follows him everywhere, but then they got bored and he’s on his own. Ready to do whatever he wants.
He’d set the house up exactly as he wanted it. Only the finishing touches were needed. He was well aware of the guards at the gates, the alarm systems, the dogs.
It was an exciting job, a challenge, and Leroy looked forward to challenges.
* * *
Mary Ann August purchased a long black wig. It covered her blondness nicely. Next she bought jeans, a T-shirt, a man’s shirt, and tinted glasses. Hurrying to the ladies’ room, she washed off her makeup and put on the new clothes. When she emerged she looked like a different girl.
A cab took her to the airport, where she got herself a ticket for Miami.
She was extremely jumpy. There had been a lot of money in Claire’s purse, and she was sure that someone would come after her if just for that. But they wouldn’t find her—she didn’t even recognize herself in the mirror.
After buying a selection of magazines she boarded the plane.
* * *
Nick was in charge. The old man had gone to pieces, his age suddenly and surprisingly catching up with him.
Angelo sat around, restless and manic, until Nick finally got one of the boys to fix him up with a couple of joints to calm him down.
After the meeting Nick phoned Los Angeles to check on business. Everything seemed okay. He had good people working in L.A. Men he could trust.
He kept on thinking about Lara. April was a distant memory. So he wasn’t going to be Mr. April Crawford. Big deal. So what?
The old man was resting, and Angelo was playing cards out by the pool.
Nick called the gate. No problems. He’d put an extra man out there. Now there were three of them on constant alert, and no one was allowed through unless they got his personal okay.
The Bassalino family was under fire, and Nick was taking no risks.
Picking up the phone, he dialed Lara in New York. He couldn’t help himself.
She took her time answering.
‘Listen, lady. You’re lucky I didn’t kill the sonofabitch,’ he said threateningly. She didn’t answer, so he added, ‘If I catch anybody in bed with you again their number is up. Do you understand what I’m sayin’?’
‘You broke his nose,’ she said quietly.
‘Yeah? That’s a shame.’
‘It’s not a joke. He’ll probably sue you.’
‘I’m shakin’ in my boots.’
‘Why are you calling me?’
‘I wanted to.’
She was ridiculously pleased to hear from him, and yet she couldn’t just give in and fall into his arms because April had married Sammy and Nick was now on the loose.
‘I’m in Miami,’ he said. ‘I want you to go straight to the airport an’ catch the next plane here. We have a lot of talking to do.’
Breathlessly she said, ‘Are you crazy?’
‘Yeah, I’m crazy,’ he replied recklessly. ‘Crazy about you. I need you here, Lara. It’s got nothing to do with April and Sammy. I want you. Don’t let me down, baby.’
‘I can’t, Nick, I—’
‘Don’t fight it, sweetheart. We belong together, and you know it. I’ll have a man at the airport to meet you—he’ll bring you straight to the house.’
She felt lightheaded. He needed her. He wanted her. ‘Okay,’ she whispered. What the hell, she’d never made a spontaneous decision in her life. Now was the time to take a risk and do something just for Lara.
Before she changed her mind she began throwing things into a suitcase, humming softly to herself until suddenly Cass’s words hit her. Words she hadn’t really listened to before were now very clear in her head.
‘Let Dukey do it his way. I’m not sure what he has planned, but whatever it is, I don’t think ifs safe to be around the Bassalinos.’
She experienced a moment of panic. Quickly she phoned Cass. ‘What did you mean when you said it’s not safe to be around the Bassalinos?’ she asked urgently. ‘What does Dukey plan to do?’
‘I don’t know,’ Cass replied. ‘I guess he’s going to finish off—’
‘Finish off what?’
‘I don’t know.’
Slamming the phone down, she tried to reach Dukey. There was no reply at his apartment.
Oh, God! She had to get to Nick, tell him the truth, and warn him.
Finishing her packing, she called down to the doorman to find her a cab.
Miami was her next stop. And as quickly as possible. There was no other way of warning him.
* * *
Sitting in her room, Rose Bassalino brooded. She had no tears left to cry for her oldest son. Her tears had all been shed many years before.
It was Enzio’s fault, of course. Everything was always Enzio’s fault. Basta! Bastard! Big man with a big cock.
He had taken Frank away because he knew Frank was her favorite.
If she closed her eyes, she could picture in vivid detail that night so many years ago when Enzio and his men had sliced Charles Cardwell to death in front of her. Like a piece of beef they had sliced and carved and hacked.
Animals!
And all the while Enzio had held her, his hands on her breasts, his body stiffening with excitement.
Rose stifled a scream as the memories came crowding back. She stared out of her window. The pool was still there, the grass, the trees. She had trained her mind to go blank, shut out everything, concentrate on the scenery. Over the years she had even managed to ignore Enzio’s succession of whores.
Today it didn’t work. Today the sun-drenched garden and bountiful greenery did nothing to calm her.
Rose Bassalino was not crazy. She was as sane as anyone. But to hang on to her sanity she had shut herself away, and now she could feel the fury building in her body, a fury giving her new strength.
For her children’s sake she had remained in her room for years. It spared them the agony of what she might do if she ever returned to the real world.
Now it didn’t matter. Frank was gone. And it was Enzio’s fault.
Rose stood up and stepped away from the window.
She knew what she had to do. Her mind was clear for the first time in seventeen years.