As Jojo drove away from the scene, his reflection in the rearview mirror was just laughing his ass off at him.
“Don’t you fucking start, now,” Jojo said to the mirror. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“You really messed things up now, didn’t you?” his reflection said, chuckling wildly.
Jojo slammed his fist on the steering wheel. “How the hell did that happen? He was one guy and caught by surprise…”
A jaywalker crossed in front of Jojo’s car and he slammed on the brakes, holding his hand on the horn until the lady got out of his way.
“You forget who Jimmy’s friends with,” his reflection said. “Vinnie Blue Nose is one resourceful clown. He probably knew the Juggler Brothers were going to come after Jimmy eventually, and he knew he wouldn’t always be around to help, so he surely took the necessary steps to ensure his safety.”
“Like what?”
“Like arming him with something that would instantly take out six guys.”
“Oh shit…”
Jojo just remembered. A few months back, Vinnie ordered a custom weapon from the gumball factory. He wanted a vest made that could be worn under a suit. With just a pull of a string, like pulling a parachute cord, the vest would burst open and eight small machine guns would spring out. It would instantly fire fifty rounds in every direction, tearing through everyone within the vicinity, as long as they weren’t lying on the ground. Vinnie must have given the vest to Jimmy for just such an occasion.
“That blue-nosed bastard…”
He couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized at the time that the vest was being made for Jimmy. Had he known, he could’ve mentioned it to the Juggler Brothers so they’d know how to deal with it. Those guys were supposed to be able to dodge bullets.
“Shouldn’t you be happy your nephew’s still alive?” his reflection asked him. “Just a few minutes ago you were praying you could save him.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t want him to kill the Dupont boys. Do you know how pissed those French bastards are going to be when they find out about this? They’re going to think I’m responsible, like I was the one who set them up.”
His reflection laughed again. “Yeah. They’ll want you dead far more than they wanted Jimmy Bozo after that.”
“They’ll hit the wedding for sure now,” Jojo said. “I can’t even tell my brother about this to get his help. He’ll find out I set up Jimmy.”
“If he doesn’t find out anyway. You think Jimmy isn’t going to tell him about what happened?”
“What do you mean? Jimmy doesn’t know I set him up.”
His reflection laughed again. “You don’t think he’ll wonder why you asked him to check up on Pepper when she didn’t really try to kill herself? You didn’t even break up with her. Of course he knows you set him up.”
Jojo nearly crashed into the car in front of him as he came to a red light.
“Oh shit…”
His reflection shook his head. “The French clowns are the least of your worries now. Your big problem is what your brother’s going to do to you once he finds out you tried to get his son killed.”
Jojo had to roll down his window to get air. He pulled open his shirt and wound up his heart, then just left the key in the hole. He figured he was going to have to wind up his heart a lot during the next couple of hours.