Fantasy Man (16 page)

“Yeah? And Quinn’s
my
sister.”

“If you’d just let us explain—” Quinn started.

Her father turned on her with such venom in his eyes she shrank back. “I will deal with you later. Not another word.”

Rocco inserted himself between Reif and Tony. “Is this true?” he asked his son. “You abandoned your friend’s sister, knowing she was pregnant?”

Tony was beside himself. “I didn’t know! I had no idea until just now. And I didn’t abandon her.”

“She thinks you did,” Reif said.

“I was working undercover. I had to keep her safe. Which is more than you did for my sister.”

“She’s here isn’t she? Still in one piece. If you hadn’t fucked up this whole undercover operation you’ve got going, none of this would have happened.”

“Who you calling a fuck up?” Tony came after Reif with Rocco still in between them.

“STOP IT!”

They all three paused momentarily and stared at Quinn.

“First of all,” she said, addressing her brother and father, “Reif did not seduce me. I seduced him.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Reif objected, but she put her hand up to silence him.

“I’m in love with him. He’s in love with me. Don’t look so surprised,” she said to Tony when she caught him rolling his eyes. “You don’t get to tell me what to do any more. And the fact is
we are married
—”

“But a wedding. In a church. Your mother would want—”

She’d never raised her hand to her father before. She’d never shushed him. But it was long past time she did both.

“This isn’t about what you want or what Mom would have wanted. This is my life.
Mine.
Not yours. And not his.” She jerked her head in Tony’s direction. “You don’t have to like or agree with my choices, but you will respect them. Or by God I will show you what
I
think Mom would have done to you both if she were still alive.”

There was a second of silence before someone started clapping. Reif was looking at her with pride in his eyes.

Tony sneered. “Why are you applauding? Did you put her up to this? All we ever did was look out for her.”

“Gee, I wish you’d extended that same courtesy to
my
sister,” Reif retorted.

Quinn knew her father and brother. They would swear and bluster and threaten. They would yell and curse and harangue. She knew Reif, too. He’d give as good as he got. Eventually they’d all run out of steam and listen to reason. But that could be awhile, and she had better things to do than put up with their machismo.

She glanced at the clock. She had to get ready for her court appearance. She wanted this trial over, Benny Strollo behind bars and herself off the mob’s radar. She gathered her clothes and went to the bathroom to change, only to realize she didn’t have her makeup kit with the few basics she’d brought. It must still be in the car. Even with mascara and lip gloss she wouldn’t be looking her best.

She picked up the car keys Reif had left on the dresser and circled the still arguing men. “Hey, could one of you—I need my—it’s in the car.” She was used to being ignored by Tony and her father on occasion, but even Reif was so intent on asserting himself, he didn’t even acknowledge her.

Screw it.
She cut across to the adjoining room. She was as sick of the male blustering as she was of being sequestered in a motel room.

The ferrets were nowhere to be seen. They weren’t in their carriers, but their food and water bowls were full. Tony had probably done that. Her father barely tolerated Bubba One.

Fudge and Pudge had probably chased each other to exhaustion then curled up under one of the beds. She wondered if there was any chance at all that Reif would let her keep them. The real Bubba would be moving in with them anyway. That much was non-negotiable. There were many fine allergy medications available Reif hopefully wouldn’t mind taking for the rest of his life. But she had more pressing issues to deal with right now.

She put her eye to the peephole. No one was about this early. She moved the curtain aside an inch to peek out. She saw the unmarked car on the other side of the lot exactly where Rocco had said it would be. She unlocked the door and let herself out. The air here was so different from the dry LA climate. Here the humidity made the early morning air soft and heavy, sweetly scented by the jasmine that grew along the walkway.

She hoped the cops on watch had seen her even though she remained half-hidden behind the door. All she needed was for one of them to come and get the keys from her and retrieve what she needed from the Escalade.

“Quinn?”

Quinn jumped. Deputy Colin Howe, dressed in plain clothes, strolled into her line of vision on the walkway in front of her.

“Everything okay?”

“You startled me. I thought you were in the car with Dave.”

“Bathroom break. Figured I’d do a perimeter check. Been quiet all night.” He strained, hearing the commotion inside. “Everything alright in there?”

“Macho bullshit, is all.”

“That sounds like Rocco. And Tony, come to think of it. You need something?”

“Oh. Um.” She hesitated, clutching the keys in her hand.

“You’re not thinking of making a run for it, are you?”

“What? No. I just left something in the car. Would you mind? It’s a little black cosmetic bag. I think it’s in the back seat.”

Colin took the keys. “I live to serve.” He gave her a wink and headed to the Cadillac.

She watched him from the crack in the door until she felt something touch her ankle. She looked down just as Fudge and Pudge tumbled over themselves in a race out the door to freedom.

“No! Wait!” she cried. She had no idea what would happen to them outside. She ran after them, making a wild grab for them but they were both too wily, scampering across the walkway and into the bushes like lemmings who just realized they’d slept in and were late for their date with a cliff.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. She lost sight of the ferrets. She saw Colin at the Escalade. He turned toward her, his eyes widened and he drew his gun. She barreled into a large man who grabbed her effortlessly in a choke hold and held the barrel of a gun to her head.

For one crazy moment, the only thing she could think was that she’d broken her promise to Reif about taking unnecessary risks. And now she was going to die because of it.

Of all the things for him to be right about.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Was that Quinn? Where is she?” Reif looked around the room, noting both the open bathroom and connecting doors. He grabbed his Glock and elbowed his way past Tony and Rocco into the other room, yelling her name.

Reif shoved through the door to see Vinnie Pellegrino holding a gun to Quinn’s head and backing toward a black car with tinted windows parked at the end of the walkway. The driver’s side door was open and the engine was running. If Vinnie got her into that car and took off, Reif would never see Quinn alive again.

He quickly ducked back, keeping Quinn in sight and blocking the doorway. “They got her,” Reif said to Rocco and Tony who were right behind him. “The guy from LA’s got a gun to her head and a car running.”

Tony peaked over Reif’s shoulder to assess the situation. “Shit. It’s Vinnie.”

“Where are Dave and Colin?” Rocco asked. “How’d he get past them?”

Tony lifted the curtain to check the parking lot. “Colin’s near the Escalade for some reason but he’s got Vinnie covered. I don’t know about Dave.”

“I’ll call for backup,” Rocco said.

“Where’s Vinnie’s car?”

“Right at the end of the walkway.”

“Is he alone?” Tony asked.

“How the hell should I know?”

“Okay. Listen. I know how The Nose works. He’s focused, but he can be blindsided. I’m going to go out the back window and come up behind him before he gets Quinn into the car.”

“He’s got a gun. To her
head
.”

Reif swore he saw Tony almost smile. “Yeah. I got that. You get out there and keep him talking. Keep him distracted. If it looks like he’s going to get in the car, shoot the tires out before he drives away. You can do that, right?”

“Of course,” Reif assured him, though he didn’t feel confident about it at all. This wasn’t target practice.

Reif darted across the walkway and edged around behind the stucco-enclosed stairwell.

Quinn’s eyes bulged in panic. Vinnie was choking her. She dug her fingers into his forearm. “I can’t breathe,” she gasped. He let up on her a little.

“You’re my ticket out of here,” he informed her, “so don’t die just yet. I’ve got a score to settle with your smart-ass brother first.”

“I’m going to be sick,” Quinn said, making the most god-awful gagging noise she could think of.

“Nice try.” Vinnie repositioned himself. “Get in the car and don’t try anything. I can shoot you without killing you. You wouldn’t like that.”

“Is it okay if I throw up first? Or would you rather I did that in the car? We enjoyed the Escalade, by the way. Thanks for letting us borrow it.” She wanted to keep Vinnie talking and anything else she could do to distract him. Because if he forced her into that car, she could kiss goodbye
the life she’d finally claimed as her own. Or any life at all for that matter.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten that.”

“And your ferrets. Don’t forget about them.”

“I haven’t, believe me.”

“They’re really cute. I named them Fudge and Pudge.”

“They already have names. And I want them back. Get in.”

“Uh oh…” Quinn pretended to retch again, surprising herself by actually throwing up on Vinnie’s forearm. It wasn’t much, but it got a reaction.

“Jesus! This was a new jacket. Are you done?”

“I don’t know,” Quinn said. “Having a gun to my head during an abduction attempt is apparently making me nauseous.”

“Well, it’s only gonna happen once. You can sit in a pool of your own sick until we get where we’re going.”

Quinn refused to give up, or give in to the fear. “Can we stop at McDonald’s first? I’m pretty sure a vanilla milkshake will settle my stomach.”

Reif saw two deputies pick their way through the brush that surrounded the back of the parking lot. Neither would have a shot from that angle, nor would Tony coming up from the other direction.

Vinnie’s eyes darted around nervously but he had to know no one was going to try to shoot him while he had a gun to Quinn’s head. For all her delaying tactics, his gun hand had never wavered.

That left it up to him. Reif was about to do either the bravest or the stupidest thing he’d ever done in his life. He held his gun like he’d been taught, using both hands to form an isosceles triangle. He said a quick prayer and eased himself around the corner, sighting on Vinnie’s head.

“Let her go, Vinnie.”

“Mr. Fucking Duct Tape. This is just icing on the cake. All my favorite targets in one place.”

“Miss your eyebrows much?”

“Go ahead. Take your shot,” Vinnie taunted loud enough for everyone to hear. “And I’ll take mine.”

“How you going to do this, Vinnie? You put her in the car first? You’re a wide open target.”

“I’ve got a couple of my guys coming.”

“Yeah? Like your backup in LA? What happened, Vinnie? Stuck in traffic on the 405?”

“How’d you know?”

“You think your guys are going to walk into this setup? Four cops and me. All armed. More on the way. Face it, Vinnie. They’ve left you out to dry.”

Vinnie seemed to be thinking.

The last few days had taken its toll on Reif. He knew he couldn’t stand here indefinitely holding a gun on the guy.

Quinn grinned at him. He couldn’t believe it. She had a gun to her head and she mouthed the words, “I love you” to him, like this was all some big adventure.

What, he wondered for about the thousandth time, had he gotten himself into when he’d married her?

Something rustled in the bushes near the stairwell. Out of the corner of his eye, Reif saw one of the ferrets. “Fudge,” he whispered. “Over here.”

To his surprise, Fudge listened. He stood on his hind legs next to Reif, nose sniffing. Holding the gun in his left hand, Reif bent down to pick him up. Fudge seemed delighted with the attention, sniffing the gun just in case there were treats to be found.

“Snitch!” Vinnie cried at the same time Quinn squealed, “Fudge!”

Reif wasn’t taking any chances. He kept his gun pointed at Vinnie. “You want your ferret back, Vinnie? Just let her go.”

Vinnie looked momentarily torn, but then he must have remembered who and what he was. “Yeah, like
that’s
a fair trade. Try again.”

“Look, Vinnie. The truth is, I can’t stand here much longer holding a gun on you. But this ferret has been the bane of my existence for three goddamn days. So getting rid of him is not going to be a problem for me.”

It was an idle threat. What he was really doing was buying them time, but Reif hoped Vinnie didn’t know that. Quinn did though. She gave him a subtle thumbs up.

Sirens wailed approaching fast. “You’re not driving out of here with her, Vinnie. You know that. So what’s it going to be?” Reif held Fudge closer and suddenly felt a sneeze coming on. He knew he couldn’t stop it. His nose tickled. He bent forward and let Fudge go. He lowered the gun and began to sneeze violently.

All around him everything happened at once, but between the sneezing, the watery eyes and the filling sinuses, he missed almost all of it. He heard a scuffle. A gunshot. Then Tony’s voice. “You know what’s good for you Vinnie, you’ll stay right there.”

Then there were running footsteps. He looked up, and his vision cleared just as Quinn pounced on him, hugging him like she’d never let him go. Over her shoulder he could just make out Vinnie face-down on the pavement surrounded by what looked like the entire police department.

Fudge rejoined Pudge next to a potted plant near the motel room door. Pudge yawned.

* * * * *

“So Reif’s holding the ferret in one hand and his gun in the other and Vinnie doesn’t know what to do.” Tony’s laughter was infectious as he retold the story to his new fiancée. It had been a crazy week, but he’d straightened out everything with Emma and with Reif, as well as the task force. “And he’s like, ‘Let her go Vinnie, or the ferret gets it.’”

“Reif!” Emma exclaimed.

“For the record, I never actually said that and I had absolutely no intention of making Fudge pay for Vinnie’s crimes,” Reif assured her.

“What were you going to do if Vinnie called your bluff?” Tony asked.

“I have no idea. I was just stalling, hoping you’d get your ass in gear and take him down.”

“So I’m creeping up behind Vinnie the whole time,” Tony continued. “He’s got a gun to Quinn’s head, and I don’t know whether to laugh or be furious. My sister’s being held hostage and Reif here is acting like it’s a Warner Brothers cartoon. And then Reif sneezes. Not an ordinary sneeze. More like a category four hurricane. I see my chance. I charge Vinnie and at the same time Quinn does a couple of her self-defense moves. The kind that hit
below
the belt.”

“Thanks for teaching me those by the way,” Quinn said, ruffling Tony’s hair as she returned to the table with a glass of wine. “Of course my big brother here thought I’d use them on drunks at frat parties. I doubt mafia kidnappings ever entered his mind.”

After the showdown at the motel Quinn wasn’t even late getting to the courtroom. She’d given her testimony and been dismissed, just like that. Summations in Benny Strollo’s double murder trial were due to begin tomorrow.

A relieved Emma had arrived yesterday morning and accepted Tony’s proposal—after a sufficient amount of explaining, apologizing, begging, and promising no more undercover work. According to Tony’s sources, the boss in Jersey had pulled the plug on Pops’ operation. Everyone involved had scattered and it was going to be tough to get any indictments.

“So Quinn’s grappling with Vinnie’s…” Tony gestured downward, “You know, while I’m charging him. His gun goes off, hits a tire, and I’m all over him. Dad, Colin and Dave are running at him just as our backup arrives. We’re all shouting, ‘Police! Drop your weapon! Get down on the ground!’ It’s crazy.”

“Thank God no one was hurt,” said Emma.

Reif smiled. “Just Vinnie’s pride.”

“Well, not exactly,” said Tony with a smirk. “When I showed up with a search warrant, Pops keeled over and died of a heart attack right there on the spot. Poor old guy. Didn’t even have the chance to tell him he was under arrest.”

“I feel kind of bad for Vinnie. And for Pops, even though I never met him,” Quinn said.

Three sets of eyes turned on her with equally horrified expressions. “Why would you feel
bad
for them?” Tony asked. “Pops is the one who ordered the attack on the safe house and Vinnie was going to dump you in a canal somewhere!”

“I know, but…” She looked at Reif. A smile played around the corners of his mouth. He knew what she was going to say. “I know they were bad guys, but if it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t have sent me to LA—”

Reif grinned. “And you wouldn’t have driven me so insane that I had to marry you.”

Tony and Emma exchange a look of understanding, holding their hands tight.

“Yeah,” Quinn said. “It’s like some sort of wild fantasy—”

“—That turned into reality,” Reif finished.

Quinn leaned over to kiss him. “Something like that.”