No Room for Mercy (67 page)

The
thing that troubled Tiva was how could she marry the man who’d
killed her father? A man she’d loved once upon a time and had
given birth to his children. Their life was set in her eyes.
Together, there was nothing she and Junior couldn’t conquer.
But the hard truth for Tiva was the fact that she’d married a
snake. A man who’d attempted to annihilate those she loved the
most. Her father was running the Chicago Gang, and she, Dawk and Bay
were moving up in the ranks quickly.

Junior
wouldn’t go so far as to kill the mother of his kids, but he
had it in for his wife’s family. He’d tried to vanquish
all three simultaneously in order to become Boss. If it weren’t
for her wanting to tell Bena about those jeans, and her battery being
dead on her cell phone, Junior may have very well gotten away with
his treachery and Tiva would’ve still been in love with the
very man who’d killed her father. The thought was sickening to
her stomach as she sat beside Francine, the two women now clutching
one another’s hands tightly and drawing off their individual
strengths as they awaited the inevitable.

Mendoza,
meanwhile, stared at his grandson with disappointment as Flacco drove
slowly across the land. Eighty years of La Cosa Nostra. Eighty years
and there had never been a mole inside Twenty-Third Street Mafia;
never been a man who’d turned on his own family. It was bound
to happen given the times because everybody was either talking to the
feds or backstabbing the ones who trusted them the most. The crew
DeeDee and Mendoza had constructed, however, was built for the day.
Solid men, who through training and over a period of time, had only
grown stronger despite a few blunders, which could be attributed to
going up against a band of experienced and malicious cowboys and
cowgirls—Carmella Lapiente` and her bunch.

Mendoza
never thought his grandson would sink to the depths he’d
traveled. He gave his grandson too much credit. Too much leeway while
putting the plan together and it had cost Doss his life. For that,
Mendoza knew he had to set matters straight for the family because it
was on his end, that the gross act of betrayal had originated. It was
a gut-wrenching decision. Mendoza could have taken the money and run
off to Italy. Taken his family and disappearred. Honor would not
allow that manuever, however; Mendoza would never be able to face the
sun nor the moon knowing he had betrayed those who never waned in the
business. He knew full well that what he was preparing to do on this
day, was the right thing to do for the family and all invloved.

“
For
a while now I’ve been meaning to take care of this fuckin’
ass,” Mendoza said dryly as he eyed Junior.

“
Where
the hell is the fuckin’ jackass you keep mentioning, granddad?”
Junior asked as he looked towards the back of the jeep.

“
I’m
staring the son-of-a-bitch right in the eyes,” Mendoza replied
as he pulled out a .38 snub-nosed revolver, old school to the death
of him he was.

Junior
eyed his grandfather and right away he knew. He turned and looked
straight ahead and said, “I have a family.”

“
That
has been your problem ever since you lost your father—thinking
about yourself. You know what? You’re no more useful to us than
them fuckin’ puny ass dogs I got in the kennel beside the home.
When you was staring and making fun of them mutts? You was looking
yourself directly in the eyes you worthless piece of shit! They were
euphemisms for what a weakling you’ve become, Faustino! But
they’ll be around! They’ll be around long after you’re
dead and gone!” Mendoza yelled.

“
Granddad?
Let me live and I promise, I promise I’ll stay here and no one
will hear from me again,” Junior said, still believing he could
stop the inevitable. “I’m your grandson and you do this?”

“
How
did you get close to those Somalis?” Mendoza asked. “That
is the only thing I have not figured out.”

“
Kathyrn
Perez,” Junior said lowly. “I paid somebody at the DMV in
Missouri, got an address and matched it to a number through some
phone company.”

“
You
went through a lot to betray your own,” Mendoza scoffed.

Junior
said nothing. He merely stared out the windshield as she shook his
head somberly. “Hey, look, if Toodie never answered, I would
have done nothing, alright? I just got in over my head and was unable
to back out.” Junior blurted out in defense of himself.

“So that makes it, all right?”
Mendoza asked rhetorically.

“It was the only way. What the fuck do
you want from me?” Junior yelled as he turned and eyed Mendoza
through watery eyes.

“
I
knew Doss Dawkins Junior long before you had the gumption to swim
through your mother’s womb, mutherfucka! You beat out all the
rest of ‘em with your fortunate ass! Now look what you make me
do!” Mendoza cried as he rocked back and forth in his seat and
punched the roof of the jeep in frustration. “‘Not my own
I said’ when your wife told me! ‘Not my flesh and blood!
He would never go against family’! But I was wrong! Dead damn
wrong!”

“
Tiva
gave me up?” Junior asked in dismay.

“
With
ease. She did it with ease. That woman has more balls than you could
ever hope to have! So I says, I says to myself, ‘For as long as
I am in the business—in this thing of ours—will I never
respect the shit—my grandson has done—to
this
family’!
That’s what I told myself. I have to honor that, dammit!”
Mendoza screamed as the jeep cruised across his land.

“
Mi
si è fottuto, Mendoza! ERO da capo! Vi fate un mazzo di, negri
prendere su di me? Fuck 'em!
(
You
fucked me over, Mendoza! I was to be boss! You let a bunch of niggers
take the lead over me? Fuck ‘em all!)

Tears
ran down Mendoza’s cheeks as he held the gun on Junior. “
STO
Mendoza ora?”
(
I’m
Mendoza now?) he asked in a heartbroken manner. “
Le
persone con cui abbiamo fatto affari con per decenni…questo è
quello che sono nei vostri occhi si pezzo di merda?”
(The
people we’ve done business with for decades are…that’s
what they are in your eyes you piece of shit?)

“
Ci siamo
fermati in famiglia molto tempo fa. Mio e figlie è importante.
Tiva ha i miei discendenti. Send me home old man!”
(
We
stopped being family a long time ago. My daughters is all that
matters. Tiva has my offspring. Send me home old man!) Junior said
coldly as Flacco brought the jeep to a halt on the most northern edge
of the property where the horizon shielded them from sight.

“
Get
out!” Mendoza hissed towards Junior as the men all exited the
vehicle.

“
No
matter how many years you have left, old man, you kill me here? I’ll
forever be a part of this land and this family! I did what was right
in
my
eyes!”
Junior screamed as he threw his fedora and scarf to the side.
“Through my daughters I will live, mutherfucka!”

Mendoza
spit at Junior’s feet. “You’re wrong, son,”
he said coldly. “Malaysia and Malara? They, they won’t
even know of your real existence. We’ll, we’ll make up
stories about your life. Tell them what a great man you were. How
much you cared about family. How you gave your life for those you
love. And I’m sure your family in Saint Louis will tell those
whom they love, just how much you loved them and how they loved you
even more. See the big picture? Nobody that really matters in this
big scheme of things will give a fuck about Junior no more. But, I’m
sure you’ll be remembered well by your so-called friends back
in Fox Park. You fucked up! Fucked up big time by going against the
family, dumb ass!”

Junior
spat into the snow. “It’s what’s here,” he
said as he pounded his heart. “It’s all in here. I die
with honor today!”

“
I
bought those dogs for a reason you know? Thought you would read the
play and spare me the agony of having to force your grandmother to
live with the fact that she approved of me doing this job.”

The
look on Junior’s was worth a million dollars to Mendoza. Junior
was a hard ass. A man willing to die on his feet, but learning that
his grandmother knew of his impending death was crushing. Junior had
a last recant, however. “I should’ve used more arsenic on
that bitch the day I sent the cops at Eddie,” he said
nonchalantly.

Mendoza
said nothing as Flacco pushed Junior before a six foot hole dug into
the ground. “Fuck all y’all!” were the last words
Junior would ever speak. His voice echoed across the land, mixed in
with one gunshot that’d slammed into his forehead.

Mendoza
then went and stood over his grandson’s corpse, which lay
inside the hole in a crumpled heap, and emptied the five remaining
bullets in the chamber into his skull. He then stood in silence for a
moment staring down on Junior, imagining what could have been before
he placed the gun inside his wool trench coat and turning towards
DeeDee.

“
Has
my debt been paid, il mio amico?” he asked.

“
In
full,” DeeDee responded lowly as he and Mendoza stared one
another directly in the eyes and shook hands, thereby closing out the
deal that would allow the family to move ahead into the next episode
of their drama-filled lives. “The family believes he will turn
himself in on a drug charge for now.”

“Okay, Doss.
Flacco,”
Mendoza then said wiht wet eyes, “burn his remains before you
cover the body. Me and DeeDee, me and DeeDee will walk back to the
home.”

“
See,
Senor Mendoza,” Flacco responded as he went to the back of the
jeep and grabbed two four gallon plastic jugs of diesel fluid and two
fifty pound sacks of lime in order to begin his task, his first job
that would solidify his position within the family.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

HOLDING POSITION

Three ambulances had just turned onto the family’s ranch in
early March of 2007, five months after
Junior’s
execution in Montana.

Inside the first medical carriage was Bena Holland. She was now off
life support and able to breathe on her own, but she was immobile for
the time being and had no control over her bodily functions. She
slept most of the time and also had to be fed because she had little
control of her extremities. Bena’s speech was slightly
impaired, too, she could barely talk.

DeeDee and Mary believed it was too early to bring Bay home and Naomi
did also. Obadiah Wickenstaff had reassured the family, however, that
being home, around family would be of great benefit to Bena as she
was in the clear as far as infections and complications were
concerned. He did suggest that Naomi hire a full-time home healthcare
staff along with a Nurse Practitioner so Bena’s progress could
be monitored properly and the family would have someone on hand to
treat her should any complications arise, which were highly
improbable to Obadiah. The bottom line was that Bena only needed rest
and time in order to make a complete recovery. After receiving a
referral from Obadiah, Naomi hired a medical staff, put a Nurse
Practitioner on the payroll full time, and the family left Saint
Louis and brought Bena home.

Fifteen year-olds Spoonie and Tyke were eagerly awaiting their
sister’s arrival along with Walee, Kimi and Koko. They all ran
out the front doors of the home and waited while Bena was unloaded.
She lay on a gurney, slightly woozy as she’d been awakened upon
arrival. Her head was wrapped and her face was slightly swollen
around her cheeks. She was heavier than her normal weight, but
Obadiah said it was a good thing because that meant Bena’s
metabolism was returning to normal and she was able to sustain a
regular dietary regiment.

The girls stood on the stairs as Walee went and helped Dawk and the
medical staff carry Bena up the stairs. When Bena caught sight of her
sisters before her, her weakened eyes perked up. She’d even
managed to smile a little. “Hey,” she whispered as she
slowly placed her right hand onto the rail.