Mick Sinatra: The Harder They Fall (16 page)

The driver,
Angelo, and Danny all were shocked.
 
“Yes, sir,” the driver said as he got on the phone and drove them away.

Joey was
inwardly smiling, and taking happy peeps at his father, as they rode.

“I’d give it
six months,” Frog Henry Camino said to his barber.
 
“Not even that.”

“He says he’s
turning over a new leaf,” the barber said as he cut Frog’s hair.

“He says
that every time he gets a new bitch in his bed.
 
I’ll give it six months.”

Frog was
leaned back, relaxed, enjoying his afternoon.
 
His two bodyguards were the only other people in the shop, and they were
both preoccupied: one was reading the newspaper, another one was reading the
news on his IPhone.

When the
barbershop door opened, and Danny Padrone and Angelo Jovanni walked in, Frog’s
outward demeanor didn’t change.
 
But
inwardly he was shocked.
 
“Well if it
ain’t the Sinatra twins,” he said as the men walked in.
 
His own bodyguards didn’t make any moves, but
they were on guard when they heard the name Sinatra.

“What’s up,
Frog?” Danny asked.
 
“Long time, no see.”

“What brings
you two flunkies to the Big Apple?
 
This
is my neck of the woods.
 
I own this.”

“Yeah,
right,” Angelo said.
 
“And I’m the
Godfather.
 
Where you’ve been hiding
yourself, Frog?”

“Who says
I’ve been hiding?
 
Where you’ve been
hiding, Angelo.
 
That’s the question.
 
Where the hell have you been?”

“Same place
you’ve been,” Angelo said.
 
“Hiding out.”

“What’s with
this guy?” Frog asked his barber.
 
“Tell
this jerk I’ve been all over this fine city.
 
Tell this jerk I don’t have any reason to hide out.”

“He’s been
all over this city,” his barber said.
 
“He has no reason to hide out.”

“Yeah,
sure,” Angelo said.
 
“My mistake.”

“So Danny,”
Frog said, “what brings Mick’s right hand man to my territory?
 
Why’s he sending you two clowns to scope out
my territory?”

Then the door
opened again.
 
As soon as Frog saw that
long, white coat, his heart began to have palpitations.
 
His bodyguards, as soon as they saw the coat
too, began pulling out their guns.
 
Their
every intention was to shoot first and ask questions later.
 
Mick the Tick wasn’t walking up in Shaw’s
Barbershop for the hell of it.

But before
they could fire a shot, Danny and Angelo had already drawn their weapons and
both bodyguards were shot multiple times.
 
Both were killed.
 
The barber,
terrified, threw his hands in the air, even as one of his hands still held that
razor.
 
Frog, stunned, looked at Mick.

“What you
wanna do that for?” he asked him.
 
“I
have no beef with you, Micky.
 
What’s up
with that?”

Mick walked
up to Frog.
 
He wasn’t interested in
being cute with him.
 
He wasn’t
interested in being coy.

“I never
thought I’d see you in a place like this,” Frog said as Mick approached
him.
 
“Long time, no see.”

When Mick
was in front of Frog, he spoke.
 
“What
was the reason?” he asked.

“The
reason?” Frog asked.
 
“What are you
talking?
 
What reason?”

But Mick
didn’t respond.
 
Frog knew full well what
he was talking about.
 
Frog knew full
well Mick wasn’t going to play along.
 
But his life was at stake.
 
“I
don’t know what anybody told you,” he said, “but they’re selling you lies.”

“What was
that test run about?” Mick asked him.

Frog knew he
had to give him something.
 
To buy time
if nothing else.
 
His eyes darted back
and forth as he charted his course.
 
“They wanted to see your reaction time,” he said.
 
“They wanted to see if your wife was sharp,
or just another bimbo.”

“They’re
verdict?”

“Good
reaction time,” Frog said.
 
“She’s sharp
as a motherfuck,” he added.
 
Then Frog
looked at Mick, still charting his course.
 
“Aren’t you going to ask me who
they
are?”

Mick already
knew.
 
“I know who you work for.
 
Like me, he only hires exclusives.
 
I don’t need you to tell me shit about that.”

“Then what
do you need?” Frog asked.
 
“Why are you
here?”

Mick was
about to answer, but Frog jumped up, threw the barber in the line of fire as
Danny and Angelo fired their weapons, and took off.
 
The barber was stuck several times.
 
He dropped dead.
 
Then Danny and Angelo took off after Frog.

Mick went
outside.
 
Joey hurried up to his
father.
 
“You okay?” he asked.

“He took off
out back.
 
Go get him!”

“Yes, sir,”
Joey said and ran into the barbershop.
 
Three men were dead, and he was amazed at the carnage, but he kept on
running until he was running out of the back door.

There were
dilapidated buildings and alleys back there, and Joey outran Danny, who was
running far faster than Angelo, in no time.
 
Soon, he was right behind their target: Frog.

By the time
Mick had gotten in the SUV and his driver had driven him through the byways and
alleyways, Joey had jumped on Frog’s back, knocked him down, and subdued
him.
 
Danny and Angelo made it over
there, but they were bent over in exhaustion.
 
Joey was grinning.

“Slow
bitch!” he said to Frog.
 
But he could
have just as well said it to Danny and Ang.

Frog, too,
was too exhausted to speak.
 
He just laid
there.

“Get him,”
Mick ordered.
 
His men hoisted Frog to
his feet.

“What,
boss?” Danny asked.
 
“He’s going to take
us to his leader?”

“No,” Mick
said.
 
“He’s going to bring his leader to
us.”

The front
gate gave him passage through, and Stu drove all the way up to the main
house.
 
It would be the first time he was
invited to the Sinatra estate, and he was excited.
 
But nervous too.
 
He knew he had Roz’s confidence.
 
But that husband of hers was another story.

Roz opened
the front door as Stu walked up to it.

“Glad you
could make it,” Roz said.
  
“Come in.”

Stu walked
in.

“Mick has me
on lockdown until these allegations blow over,” Roz continued.
 
“So I have to handle my business from home.”

“I don’t
think the public is going to fall for their story,” Stu said.
 
“You’ve made a good name for yourself.
 
You have an upstanding reputation.
 
I think it’s a bunch of b.s. and the public
will see right through it.”

“I sure hope
so,” Roz said as she began escorting him through the foyer and toward the
downstairs.
 
“But we’ve got to prepare
for the fallout just in case.”

“I agree,”
Stu said as he followed Roz.
 
“We’ve
gotten more clients asking to cancel their contracts.
 
They claim that moral turpitude clause
applies to you too.”

“And their right,”
Roz said as she pushed open the office door downstairs and walked in.
 
“That’s why I say let them go.
 
When we land on our feet, they’ll want to
come back.”

“But will
you take them back?” Stu asked.

“Hell no,”
Roz said, and Stu laughed.

But it wasn’t
a laughing matter anymore when, as soon as he walked into the downstairs
office, Teddy Sinatra came up to him from behind and wrapped a rope around his
neck.

Stu fought
for his life.
 
He was devastated.
 
But Teddy was too muscular and powerful for
any fight worth fighting.
 
Then Teddy let
him go.

Stu grabbed
his neck and turned around, stunned.
  
When he saw it was Mick’s oldest son, he looked at Roz.
 
“What’s this about?” he nervously asked.

“This
meeting is all about you,” Roz said firmly.

“
Me
?”
 
He was still holding his raw neck.
 
“What have I done?”

“I checked
the background info on all three of my accusers,” Roz said.
 
“I checked every single piece of information
they put on those resumes.
 
And guess
what I realized?”

Stu was more
hesitant now.
 
“What?” he finally asked.

“I realized
that all three of them listed different talent agencies they had worked
for.
 
And these were prominent agencies
from here to California.
 
That’s why I
hired them.
 
And they had the names of
their various supervisors that Tee contacted.
 
But it was handled brilliantly.
 
Because my three accusers weren’t hired at the same time.
 
One was hired one month.
 
Then a second one a second month.
 
Then the third one in month three.
 
And each listed a different major agency,
with a different supervisor.”

“So what?”
Stu asked.

“But Roz
found something strange when she looked even closer,” Teddy said.

Stu turned
to him.
 
“What?”

“I found
that all three of my accusers,” Roz said, “listed the same phone number for the
major agencies they worked for.”

Stu’s heart
dropped.

“Each one of
them listed a different major agency,” Roz said.
 
“Each one of my accusers listed a different
contact person at their various agencies.
 
But they listed the exact same phone number.
 
And when I researched that number, lo and
behold I found out that you were its’ owner.”

Stu began
shaking his head.
 
“You’ve got to believe
me, Roz,” he begged.
 
“I had nothing to
do with those allegations.”

“Who hired
you?” Teddy asked.

“I promise
you,” Stu began, but Teddy punched him in the gut, causing him to bend
over.
 
“Who hired you, prick?
 
I’m not playing with you!”

“Roz!” Stu
cried.
 

Teddy was
about to put the rope around his neck again.

“Okay!” Stu
yelled.
 
“Al Zanetti,” he said
quickly.
 
“This guy named Alphonse
Zanetti.
 
He needed an inside guy, and he
chose me.
 
He paid me more money than I
make in a year working for you.
 
So are
you going to condemn me because I took the money?”
 
Tears were in Stu’s eyes.
 
“I have a sick son at home.
 
I needed the cash, Roz.”

“That’s bull,”
Roz said.
 
“I checked your background
too.
 
You don’t have a son.”

“But,” Stu
said, realizing he was cooked.
 
“Roz,
please.
 
Don’t let him do this.
 
Roz, please!”

Roz stared
at him.
 
She never counted him as a
friend, but she never knew him to be an enemy either.
 
But Mick had taught her well.
 
If they’re not for you, they’re against
you.
 
Be as cut throat as they are or
they’ll come back to cut your throat.

Roz nodded
to Teddy.
 
As Stu begged for his life,
Teddy placed the rope around Stu’s neck and pulled as hard as he could.
 
Roz didn’t want to watch it.
 
She wanted to turn away.
 
But she knew she had to.
 
This was on her.
 
This was her call.
 
Mick would beat her ass if she looked
away.
 
It was hers.
 
She had to own it with all she had within
her.

Frog hurried
to the door at the safe house he had planted himself in, looked through the
peephole, and then quickly unlocked and opened the door.
 
Two men, Lenny D’Amato and Al Zanetti, walked
in.