“I won’t blame you if you do. There’s nothing in my past but darkness and nothing ahead but storm clouds. Natasha is better off without a mug like me mucking up her life.”
“I can’t make the decision for you, Mick. But I won’t ask that you leave. You’re a good man to have around, and I feel pretty confident that you’d look after my family if something were to happen to me.”
I chuckled. “You planning on bugging out, Luzzatti? Hell, you got a good thing going with this joint. You’re holed up in here tighter than a rat in a cheese factory. Folks actually seem to like you, and you’ve got your family. Why the hell would something happen to you?”
Luzzatti stared at the contents of his glass before downing it in a swig. “It happens every day in this town, Mick. I just feel better with you around. We all need to have something in life worth living for. Maybe you’re meant to be here. Maybe that’s why you have a hard time leaving. Think it over.”
He patted me on the back, and we went back to silence again. There’s a lot of talking that men do when they’re not talking. We watched the rain and let the unspoken words sink in. It was then I realized that it was the first time that Luzzatti had called me by my first name.
After a while I went back to my room and reflected on what we’d gabbed about. Sleep was nowhere to be found as usual, so all I had were my thoughts and a few shots of Jack to keep me company. My mind kept drifting back to Natasha…
I could still smell the scent of her skin and hear her moan softly in my ear. I took another shot, but the booze couldn’t banish the memory of her softness under my hands. I watched the ceiling fan spin silently and listened to the rain outside, but couldn’t keep my mind from thinking of things that I had no right to think about.
I finally gave up and tapped the datacom in my ear. “Dial La Lupanar.”
The number went through and was immediately picked up. “Hello Mr. Trubble.” The voice at the other end was so sexy that there ought to be a law against it. “We haven’t seen you in a while. Thought maybe you’d settled down with some nice girl and forgotten all about us.”
“Just been busy, sweetheart. Thought I’d check in and see if Desiree was available.”
“Then it’s your lucky night, Mr. Trubble. She’ll be waiting for you.”
“Be right there.”
I had to get outta there. Had to find a distraction. Because Luzzatti was right. I had every reason to be long gone, but I still kept hanging around. It was like sitting at the park before a thunderstorm. Everything is calm, even peaceful and you wanna stay as long as you can before the storm breaks and the bottom falls out. I knew that I had to get away from Luzzatti’s. Away from Natasha.
Before I got used to having them around.
Time passed. I got a few timely cases that kept me away from the building for a spell. I met a few skaters that took away the ache that had formed when Natasha and I danced that night. I made the proper excuses when I ran into Mr. Luzzatti. He seemed disappointed, but Mrs. Luzzatti’s relief was visible on her face. She was still determined to keep Natasha bottled up, and didn’t need a rogue like me ruining all her hard work. Suited me fine.
But our worlds collided despite my best efforts. I still hadn’t put away enough dough to buy a wheeler, so I usually used the airbus to get around. I walked in late from the zeppelin station one rainy night. It just so happened that I spotted a few bruisers pounding someone in the alley behind Luzzatti’s place. Seeing as how I still looked out for the joint, I decided to see if I could convince the lugs to take their party somewhere else.
I made sure that they saw me as I casually approached. “You boys seem to be working hard, but I’d appreciate it if you’d take your group therapy session down the street. Luzzatti don’t think much of stiffs behind his joint.”
The droppers turned with surprised stares. That’s when I got a good look at the bloody wad of meat that they’d been pounding.
It was Luzzatti.
I carried a mean piece of iron on me at all times. Seven shot mech-enhanced revolver that I affectionately called the Mean Ol’ Broad. I pulled her out and aimed faster than it takes to tell it. Faster than the droppers could even reach for their own heaters. I had them cold, and the only reason I didn’t mow them down was because killing them wouldn’t stop a thing. They were there for a reason, and it was better for me to get that info than to throw lead and get nothing. They were big lugs, and hired muscle usually ain’t too big on brains. So I broke it down for ‘em so that they could understand.
“I figure you mugs got ten seconds to squeal before I lose patience and fertilize this alley with your brains. Don’t think about being tough or being loyal. Think about being dead.”
“Ok.” One of the goons actually had enough sense to motion the other lugs back. “Don’t shoot. We’re just following orders.”
“Whose?”
“Big Louie. He sent us to just knock some sense in the old man. He owes big time and he has to pay up.”
Big Louie was one of the more notorious shylocks in New Haven and had a reputation for his murderous streak. Any mug who owed him paid up one way or the other. Why Luzzatti would be involved with someone as filthy as Big Louie was beyond me.
I gestured with the Mean Ol’ Broad. “All right, you made your case. So haul out before you get on my bad side. And remember that I had you dead to rights. I see you around here again and it’ll just be dead, catch my drift?”
They caught my drift. I made sure that they were gone before I came back for Luzzatti. He was in pretty bad shape, but I was able to get him to his feet. Blood gushed from his nose, and one of his arms was definitely broken. He moaned, but I could tell it wasn’t just the pain from the beating. His eyes were hollow; those of a broken man, someone who had seen the last bit of hope sail off a bridge and get swallowed by the river.
“What’s going on, Luzzatti? You could’ve been rubbed out by those clowns. If you were in that bad of a jam, I should’ve been the first person you called.”
He gritted his teeth against the pain. “Nothing… you can do, Mick. Got into this… before you got here. Just now… catching up to me, is all.”
I propped him up against the wall and let him rest. “You’d be surprised what I can do, Luzzatti. Now I know how these things work. They teach you a lesson the first time. The next… it’s someone you love.”
“They already… said the family is next. Have to… get them out of here…”
“You do that. In the meantime, we gotta work on getting your dues up to date. Tell me how much you owe, and I’ll work on something to get you squared up.”
“You don’t… understand. Too much…”
“You got a basement full of high cabbage collectibles just waiting to go to the highest bidder. I can get you buyers real quick.”
A little bit of spirit flared in his eyes. “No. That’s for… Natasha. So she can get… away from this place one day.”
“I’m pretty sure she’d rather have a live father than a ticket outta town from his corpse, Luzzatti. Square up and worry about the rest later.”
His heavy sigh seemed to deflate him like a leaky balloon. “No point. Even if I sold everything I owned… it would never be enough.”
“How much are we talking here? Tell me, Luzzatti.”
He told me. When he did, I knew right then that he was a dead man.
Chapter 4: The Big Fat Deal
The plate was heaped with so much spaghetti that I barely saw over the pile of meatballs and thick cheesy sauce. If Big Louie were a normal man, he’d have been lost behind that mountain of carbs and saturated fat.