COOL JOE Chapter 19

Family Saga

COOL JOE

Chapter 19

 

PETE

I knew it, that b*****d Boss; he sets up the whole thing, scares Sylvia and Simone to death, threatens their lives, kills the body guard, and is after them, so that he will wipe his hands clean and will not have to face authorities, possibly prison; unless she rats on him which he knows nothing about, we hope. He does have his special contacts, so he might know something, but the F.B.I. is involved now, so he’ll back off for a while. However, to cover his a*s, he may be after me. I miss them already; happy they didn’t get killed.

 

In the meantime, I get my last phone call from Sylvia. God bless her, she did the right thing.  She calls me from the F.B.I., which can’t be traced, to let me know they’re safe, but with sweeping changes in their lives. All she is allowed to tell me, as the F. B. I. listens in, is that she will be a new person, in an undisclosed place. We both cry on the phone; I will miss my family so much I can’t hang up. She hands the phone to Simone, and strangely enough she is calm, probably in shock; she speaks in weird phrases, not making a lot of sense. Then Sylvia gets back on the phone to say her last goodbye and she hangs up. I feel so empty now, like a chunk of our family is gone forever. I’m thinking of retribution before the Boss men kill me.

It’s going to be tough, but my soul tells me to do something. I mean there’s been two murders, and two attempted murders, enough! If I’m gonna do something, it’s got to be right.

 

“Hey Viv, how about pouring the old man a drink; just got off the phone with Sylvia for the very last time, and I’m feeling kind of sad, angry and scared.”

“Oh Pete, of course I’ll make you a drink honey, the same concoction?”

“That’s fine, I gotta take a load off, so I’ll be sitting in the living room.”

I’m thinking of different plans, thoughts swirling around my head.

“You look like you’re in a trance”, says Viv, as she walks towards me with a glass of red wine.

“You need to relax Pete, you’re all rolled up into a tight ball after these horrible ordeals”

“I know Viv, but I can’t help it; if I don’t get some revenge, I’ll never sleep another night. So, I’m sort of thinking in my head what to do.”

“Pete, with this mob family, well known to police and the F. B. I., you’ll never get to the Boss, I mean you’ll never put him down right? So why are you obsessing over this?”

“I’m not going after the Boss, Viv, but I might go after someone else, easier to get to, you know what I mean?”

“But who?” say Viv in an inquisitive voice.

“I’ve got two in mind, but I don’t want to say the names just yet; first I want to talk to Frankie and Tommy, maybe Ted too. I want to bounce some ideas off their thick heads, just kidding.”

“You mean I’m not worthy of knowing?”

“Of course you are worthy my dear, but my bros would be offended if I didn’t discuss it with them first, you know kind of men’s talk; but then you’re next, my sweet.”

“Okay, okay, I get it.”

My wife is so understanding, it just makes me smile.

“How about we go out to eat tonight, maybe that will calm me down a bit and a treat for you Viv.”

“Sounds wonderful, my sweet, I’m delighted. Where should dine?”

“Are you up for fish?”

“Anytime my dear.”

“How about Monty’s Fishery?”

It’s a short walk to Monty’s and we both order bourbon and soda. After my third drink I’m totally relaxed until tomorrow when I gotta make some important plans.

 

NEXT DAY

 

I didn’t sleep that well last night, tossing and turning, my head spinning, but I’m awake and it’s 6:00AM. I try to go back to sleep, but can’t; so, I make a strong cup of coffee, search the fridge for some stale doughnuts that Viv bought last week. While I’m eating, I get a call from Frankie.

“How ya doing pal? says Frankie in a cheerful voice; top of the morning to you. I thought you might be awake and just wanted to know how your last goodbye to Sylvia went?”

“Very sad and tearful buddy; we’ll never see them again.” Tears form in my eyes.

“I’m glad you called Frankie, we need to talk about some kind of revenge on the Mob Family, not Johnnie, but I have a few ideas.”

“Shoot”, says Frankie, I’d love to hear them.”

“I can’t; it’s not fair; we need to have Tommy, Danny and even Ted around too.”

“I got it; so, why don’t we meet at THE BAR, we’ve all been there before, so we know the place. How about tonight, after work; I don’t have the kids so all is good. Do you want me to call the bros?” says Frankie

“No, it’s okay, I’ll do it”

 

We meet at THE BAR at 5:30PM, order our drinks and some nibbles.

“Okay bros, we got a big problem on our hands.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” says Danny smiling.

“Listen, you know damn well what it is”, says Tommy with a smirk. Tell him Pete, he’s just joking around.”

“Okay guys, get serious now. We gotta make a plan to get revenge on the Boss; we’re losing too much family. Now, we can’t knock off Johnnie, that’s for sure, but we can knock off Alex at the cement plant or Garcia at the dump. They are in cahoots with Johnnie to get these murders done and send our dear Sylvia and Simone away forever. We gotta think carefully about who to kill first or maybe both, and what are the consequences? Any thoughts from you guys?”

“Geez,” says Danny,” If we knock off one or both, we are putting our families at great risk, right?”

“Right”, says Frankie, “but they have to pay in some way for what they did, you know.”

“Maybe we should hire a killer”, says Ted in a quiet voice. I may know someone who is a friend of one of my helpers at the Pawn shop.”

“Really Ted, that would be amazing” says Frankie. “But first we gotta check out this guy and plan with him how we do this so that Johnnie doesn’t come for us.”

“Ted, tell us about this hitman; this is serious business”

“Okay guys, this fella that helps me out sometimes is really a criminal, meaning that he has a record of drug possession, vehicular homicide, and driving without a license. But I hire him because he has served his prison time, goes to drug rehab and manages to get back his driver’s license. He belongs to a small gang, not associated with Johnnie’s large clan. This guy, Mark Estes, knows the game, you know what I mean. He’s very sneaky and his friend, Mike Lopez, takes care of people and has a good record, as far as I know. We first have to talk to Mark, my guy, who will then put us in touch with Lopez.

“Will your guy talk to us?” asks Danny.

“I think he will, and I think his buddy may too, if we present the facts the right way”, say Ted.

“Pete, what do you think?” asks Tommy, with a curious face.

“I think we should go for it, my feeling is we just can’t let the mob get away with knock-offs every time, and it’s our family that got killed and taken away. Why don’t we let Ted take the lead, that is if he agrees? Is this job too heavy for you Ted?”

“No, I think I can pull it off, but let me talk to my guy first and see where it goes. If he agrees to work with us, great!”

“Thank you, Ted, for helping us get our revenge. When you contact this guy Mark, please give me a buzz”.

“Sure, will do, Pete.”

“Is everyone ready for a second round?”

“Yeah, let’s do it; I agree with Pete, we just gotta get our revenge. And, if this Ted thing works out, we may even save our asses”, says Frankie. The last thing we want to do though, is hurt our families. And, to tell you the truth, I’m still a little scared.”

“Frankie, I think we’re all scared, but it’s on our conscience, and if we don’t act, we’ll never erase it from our minds. I’ll admit, it’s a gamble and we all have to agree.”

“You’re right, Pete, and I think we all agree, though with some fear in our hearts” says Tommy as he takes a deep breath.

“Okay then, let’s agree to let Ted do his thing and we’ll hear back soon enough, right Ted?”

“Yes, I’ll get on it right away. Tomorrow I’ll speak with Mark and get the ball rolling.”

“Then let’s have a toast to our new plan. I hope this works or else we’ll all be knocked off.

We clink our glasses, and guzzle down our bourbons. Ugly thoughts are spinning around my head, but I don’t say a word to them.

“I wonder how Sylvia is doing in witness protection?” asks Tommy.

“At least she’s safe and away from Johnnie and his gang”, says Danny.

“I’m getting a call, I guess I should take it.

“Hello?”

“Hello Pete, this is Eddie, remember me?”

“Of course, Eddie, how are you?”

“Well, not so good, aches and pains and the boss has me very busy collecting money.

“What does that mean?”

“Well Pete, remember that loan on your house? That’s due the end of this week. Time flies doesn’t it Pete?”

“I got it on my calendar Eddie, so no worries, you’ll get it.”

“The Boss is angry and he wants his money.”

I hang up the phone, take two aspirins for a headache and head home to talk to Viv. With all that’s been going on, it doesn’t enter my mind. I walk head down, worry to death about the future. I don’t know where to begin. It’s going to be a long night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Lorry]

Ahh vengeance, karma be thy name. God to see they have a plan to give the boss a taste of his own medicine. And who knows, he may do the fbi's work for them and react, straight into a cell he so richly deserves.
Am picturing Hilary Swank or Emily Blunt in a lead role, with perhaps Mark Ruffalo as one of the brothers. Might need a big budget to get the while cast I want, but it'd be so worth it.
Now if only they can stay alive long enough to put the plan into motion. Let's find out, shall we? 😊
Loving it Al so far.

[Betty Hermelee]

Lets' hope the plan works! Thanks again Lorry for your loyalty to my first (and probably only) book!!!
You're an angel!
B

[Dave Brown]

You ask ME how I come up with 'this stuff'
How do you keep track of all the players here?
One reason I rarely read anything like a story is that I can't remember what happened three sentences back.
All very interesting
My unwanted advise is that you've got to chop off the snakes head!!
Yes! I know! Who asked you?

[Betty Hermelee]

Thanks Dave, it’s hard to keep track of who’s married to who, I have to go back and look at previous chapters!!!
My loyal reader!!!
Best
B