“I’m Dante Dombruso.”
I lowered the bed pan and asked, “For real?” When he nodded, I exclaimed, “Holy shit, you actually came!”
“I didn’t have a choice. You left a message for my grandmother, telling her a long-lost grandson none of us had ever heard of was in trouble. Of course, she insisted that we fly to Vegas immediately. Right now, she and my brother Vincent are downstairs at the vending machines, undoubtedly buying a bunch of shit she’s not supposed to eat.”
“Well, thank god you’re here,” I said, as I threw back the covers and swung my bare legs out of bed. “We need to go save Reno, before they kill him.”
“Reno?”
“That’s Adriano’s nickname. Try to keep up.”
When I tried to stand, I was yanked back by my left arm, which was tethered by a bunch of tubes. I gathered them in my hand so I could pull out the IV and whatever else was happening there, but Dante blurted, “Shit, don’t do that,” and grabbed my wrist to stop me.
“Didn’t you hear me? I need to go save him, and I can’t do that if I’m stuck in a hospital bed.”
“Just relax for a minute, and let’s talk.” Dante sat down on the edge of the bed and asked, “Can I let go of you, or are you immediately going to yank out your IV?”
“I’m definitely going to yank it out, but not this minute so you can let go.”
He released my wrist and sat back before saying, “I know you’re worried about your boyfriend, but I have four teams on the ground here in Vegas and two more back in San Francisco, and they’re all working on tracking down this Greco douchebag. At the same time, they’re spreading the word that Dante Dombruso is looking for him. My name doesn’t carry the same weight here as it does back home, but if Greco has half a brain and does a little research, he’ll realize he’s in deep shit. He’ll also realize the only way to save his ass is to return Adriano unharmed.”
“Okay, great. I still need to help, though.”
He looked skeptical. “What’re you going to do, find the bad guys and bleed on them?”
“I can knock on doors, chase down leads, ask questions. The more people we have out there digging for information, the sooner we’ll find him.”
“You’re not well enough to do any of that. Also, the police are going to want to speak to you.”
“All the more reason to leave. I don’t have time to answer a bunch of questions.”
“If you don’t want to tell them what happened, tell me instead.”
“Four big men in dark clothes showed up at the bar and shot out the window so they could get in. I shoved Adriano to the floor to get him out of the line of fire, and then one of the bullets hit me. I remember falling, and I hit my head and passed out. The floor had just been mopped, so maybe I slipped. Anyway, I think I was out for maybe a minute or two, and when I came to, everyone was gone. I didn’t see what they were driving, or what direction they went.” I glanced at my upper arm, which was all bandaged up, and asked, “How bad is the gunshot wound?”
“Not very. According to the doctor—who thinks I’m your cousin, by the way—it bled a lot, because the bullet nicked a major artery as it passed through the fleshy part of your arm. They did some minor surgery to patch you up, and you got some stitches. It’s going to hurt like hell when your painkillers wear off, but it didn’t do any permanent damage.”
“Spoken like a man who’s been shot before.”
“Yeah, once or twice.” There was a lull in the conversation, and when I frowned at him, he asked, “What?”
“You met him once.”
“Adriano?”
I nodded. “He came to find you right after he graduated from high school. I guess you were about twenty-one at the time. You cussed him out, flashed a gun, and told him to stay the hell away from you. Do you remember that?”
Dante looked surprised. “That actually happened? I was really drunk that night, and the next morning I wondered if I’d dreamt it. I’d forgotten the name he gave me…”
“It happened, and you broke his heart. I guess you didn’t want to hear about your sainted father splitting up with your mom for a while—and theyweresplit up, by the way. Paulie wasn’t cheating on his wife when he and Mandy got together.”
“I listened to the message you left for Nana, and the bar where you got shot was called Mandy’s Place. I assume that’s not a coincidence.”
“Right. Adriano’s mom owns it. She’s a really good person, and if you’re mean to her when you meet her, I swear to god I will kick your ass. Like I said, she wasn’t the other woman.”
He smiled at me and said, “I like you, Jack. You’re like a tiny, overprotective chihuahua.”
“Whatever. Do you know where my pants ended up? I need to get out of this hospital gown. I also need my phone.”