COOL JOE Chapter 28

Family Saga

COOL JOE

Chapter 28

FRANKIE

 

NEXT DAY

Boy, am I freakin out! Between the gun shots, the phone calls and the extra money for protection, I’m gonna have to think of a black money scheme, Pete too, and maybe Ted and Mark. I’m glad we didn’t tell the rest of the family, though they may find out from somebody’s big mouth. It’s possible that Lopez can help us earn extra money; we’ll probably be in touch with him soon, gotta talk to Pete first.

This turned out to be such a mess, with the Boss demanding his money and Eddie of course gets a piece of it, and who know who else. Lately, I’ve been going to church at night and just sittin there staring at Jesus and Mary; I’m not really praying, but it makes me feel good to be there, like someone is watching me. Sometimes I think I’m in the wrong business; the Boss owns, or has his hands in, a lot of businesses around New York. God help me find some other way to make money.

 

“Pete’s calling me. Hello, oh hi Pete, just left church, didn’t really pray, just sat there and stared; it made me feel better. How about you? you doing okay?”

“Not really, Viv keeps bugging me about the firecrackers; she’s smart and doesn’t believe me, but I have been able to keep her quiet for a few hours now. I’ve been thinking about how to pay off our loans and also money for specially trained bodyguards.”

“Oh yea? Tell me please, cause I’ve been thinkin too.”

“Why don’t we meet after work at Tony’s Bar at 6:00PM, and we’ll compare notes?”

“Great Idea”, says me with a broad smile on my face; “I’ll see you there, gladly.”

“Okay kid, see you there; we’ll figure something out.”

 

We meet at Tony’s; the place is packed with young people sitting at the bar and smoking. We move to the rear where it’s a bit quieter.

“What are you ordering”, says Pete, wait don’t tell me, bourbon and soda right?”

“Actually, I think I’ll have just straight bourbon this time, I need it like hell!”

 

We order the drinks and then we settle into an important conversation.

I really don’t want mention this to Pete, but I’m pretty damn scared at this moment. We have to find ways to make money, even if it’s not legal; we’re not so clean anyway, so it wouldn’t matter.

“Well Pete, what are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we should all pack up our stuff and disappear, just kidding of course.

We know we can’t work with the Bellini Family to make money; we owe them too much already. I think we should get in touch with Lopez, who might have a smaller operation, but may have some ties and suggestions for us. I’m not even sure if he launders money or does protection work, is into drug trafficking or isn’t into anything except knocking off people. But we should definitely contact him. I’ll call Mark to get his contact information.

“Hey Mark it’s me Frankie, remember me? Well, Pete and I would like to be in touch with Lopez again but for another reason. Maybe you could join in too, cause we need a lot of us doin different things ya know?”

“Actually”, says Mark, Lopez is big into black money as a side business, so he will likely give you lots of information, cause now you’re a customer. Actually, here in New York there’s lots of black money in different businesses.”

“That sounds awesome, Mark; can you give us Lopez’ number and we’ll call and tell him you sent us; that way you get a piece of the action; whatever action that is.”

“Sure thing, let me know how it goes.”

 

“Wow, that’s just the person we might need, and now we have the number, great!” says Pete with a big smile on his face. “It’s about 6:00PM, you think we should phone Lopez now?”

“Why not, at least we’ll get a yes or a no.”

“I’ll call him,” says Pete, “he might know me better than you; actually, he knows Ted pretty well too. If we have any specific meetings, we’ll include Danny and Tommy but not our sisters or sisters-in-law, their too emotional and will automatically start questioning everything, can’t say that I blame them. Okay I’ll try Lopez now. Line is busy; I’ll keep trying. Come on Lopez pick up the phone!”

“Hello Mike, sorry to bother you, this is Pete, friend of Ted and Mark, remember me?”

Oh yea, how ya doin?”

“I’m doing fine Mike; I want to thank you again personally for the amazing job you did for us.”

“Aw, that’s a small job for us, tho I’m glad you are happy.”

“Mike, I have some things I want to discuss with you, not about knocking people off, but something pretty important.”

“Well Pete, do you want to meet in private with me?”

“That would be perfect. Would you be okay with my brothers joining me, because it pertains to all of us?”

“No, I wouldn’t mind at all. Let’s set up a date to get together. How about Thursday at 6:00pm? Where would you like to meet?”

“That’s’ really kind of you Mike; I’ll call my brothers and let them know it’s this Thursday at 6:00PM at my place.”

“Sounds good to me, hope I can help”, says Mike.

 

“Well, Frankie, we got a start. Mike is willing to meet with us here at my place on Thursday at 6:00PM.”

“Yea, I hope he can help us, cause he doesn’t know yet what we want.”

“Frankie, you always jump to conclusions, just relax, will you? you’ll know soon enough!”

 

We part ways and I go to my little apartment. All the way home I’m thinkin that Mike won’t have any jobs for us; I cross myself and hope that we’ll get money somehow. After all, we have to support our loved ones.

 

As I return home and put the key in my lock, I hear gun shots outside, but it’s pitch black and I can’t see clearly. I open the door, and slowly go to my gun case, which is under the bed. I open it and take out my .45 semi-automatic hand gun. I shove it in my pants and look around my apartment first, then stick my head out of the door. The shots stop, so I go back inside and sit on my couch; then I get up and pour myself some bourbon. I pace the floor, a bit flustered, all the while drinking my booze. It’s too late to call anyone and the kids are with Anna, thank God. As I drink my bourbon, I think to myself that those shots are warnings from the Boss, I’m sure. This is the second time, we gotta get these sharp shooters to protect us, but we gotta earn some money first. Hopefully Lopez will have some good ideas.

 

As I’m about to enter my bedroom to undress, the phone rings in the kitchen.

“Hello Pete? How come you’re still up? I’ve been drinking bourbon and thinking for the past hour or so. What’s up?”

“Frankie, the Bosses  are definitely warning us of bad things to come  I heard gun shots outside, but they seemed to be pretty close to the house. Even Viv heard them and freaked out. I keep telling her it’s the kids down the block shooting off firecrackers, but now she really doesn’t believe me.

“Slow down, Pete; I just heard them in my neighborhood too. I check outside but can’t see anything; I did smell gun powder though, and that shakes me good. We know who it is, but there is nothin we can do about it, cause we can’t find them. This is really gettin creepy.”

“Yea, it sure is”, says Pete, “Thursday is still three days away; by then we could be dead; you think Lopez can push up the date to tomorrow night?”

“I don’t know his schedule. You know he’s a busy man, knockin people off and God knows what else he does.”

“Should we call him in the morning to see if he can meet us earlier? We can tell him about the gun shots and maybe he’ll feel sorry for us”, says Pete.

“I think you have his number. Maybe check with Ted or Mark to make sure it’s okay. We don’t know this guy that well, but Mark does.”

“Okay”, says Pete, “I’ll call Mark in the morning and get him to change the date.”

“Sounds good to me Pete; look, when we decided to knock off Alex and Garcia, we knew at that time the boss would eventually miss them at work, even though they’re not the higher ups. So, now we’re getting his revenge; we’re trying our best to protect our families, but we’re all broke from owing more money that we thought. Mark tells us that he has other businesses, so let’s see what comes up.”

“How about we speak in the morning after the phone calls; we’re both exhausted and a bit scared at this point”, says Pete.

“Okay then bro, just relax and try to get some sleep, okay?”

“Yea man, have a good one, bye now.”

 

Now, I’m really worried; the boss seems to be pickin on me and Pete, maybe because he knows it was our idea to knock them off.  Well, I think I’ll turn in for the night. My bourbon is starting to calm me down. I’m getting in my pajamas and BOOM, another gun shot. I’m sleeping tonight with my gun by my side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Lorry]

Well, now they know they're playing with the big boys now, so they better get their thinking heads on to try figure out a way to strike first before, well... someone becomes a reminder not to mess with the messier.
MY heads already running chapters ahead, thinking it won't be someone who owes the boss too much, so I guess it ain't looking good for the ladies, or even worse, kids.
So glad I didn't just fly through the chapters, I would never have caught my breath 😊

[Betty Hermelee]

MY dear Lorry….finding a way out of this ness is definitely a problem…. They need money and protection…. Will Mike help out?😊thank you my loyalist reader! B

[John the Baptist]

Back to Frankie again, and one begins to think these brothers may not be the sharpest knives in the drawer. Challenging a Mafia boss on his own ground without considering what he might do in retaliation is not the wisest of ventures, and going into vast debt to do it only compounds the problem. Most of the interaction in this chapter is between Frankie and Pete, as they try to think of ways they can come up with money. They conclude that Mike Lopez, the hit man they hired, might be able to help them, so they set up a meeting with him. Before that meeting can be held, though, both brothers hear gunshots outside their apartments again. They decide they need to talk to Mike sooner and agree to try to get an earlier appointment. One gets the feeling Mike is not your basic Good Samaritan, so it looks as though the brothers might be sliding into deeper sewage. More to come.