Just as panic started to well up in me, Pete called, “We’ll be there in two minutes!” Adriano told him to drive slowly past the front of the club and then park out of sight on a side street, and Pete said, “Will do.”
Dante passed around his phone with the picture of Greco and said, “My team is on its way to back us up, but they’re fifteen minutes out. Adriano, what can you tell us about our target?”
“He’s dangerous and unpredictable, and none of you should approach him. When we get there, please just hang back and let me handle this.” Adriano looked around at everyone as he said that.
Nana stuck her huge, round glasses on her face and still squinted at the photo on Dante’s phone when it was handed to her. “He’s sexy,” she said. “Too bad he’s a dirtbag.” Dante sighed at that, just as Pete announced we were a minute out.
Dante’s phone came back around to him, and he texted his people inside the bar. Then he announced, “Greco’s still there. He’s meeting with someone in the VIP section.”
I turned to Adriano and squeezed his hand as I told him, “There’s something you need to know.”
“What is it?”
I smiled at him and said, “I’ll tell you afterwards, when we’ve all made it through this.” Then I kissed him again.
Yoshi had an idea just then and pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’m doing a conference call with all of you. That way, we can be in touch while this is going down. Somebody link in Adriano and Jack, because I don’t have their numbers.”
A lot of phones rang a moment later, and Dante linked in Adriano, who then brought me in. We all answered and dropped the phones into our pockets, as Pete called, “We’re here.”
We all looked out the tinted windows as he slowly rolled past a bar, which had a flashy neon sign above the door. I asked, “Does anyone have a knife? Greco’s car is right out front, and I want to slash his tires in case he gets past us.” Several people held out little pocket knives and multitools, and Nana held out a big, scary-looking hunting knife with a pink handle. I went with a folding pocket knife, because I wasn’t planning on brutally murdering and skinning the tires.
As soon as Pete rounded the corner and pulled to the curb, I opened the door and said, “Everyone hang back for a minute, especially you, Adriano. If Greco sees you, he’ll immediately go on the defensive.”
He got out of the limo anyway and said, “I’m not letting you go by yourself.”
Everyone was piling out onto the sidewalk, so I grabbed Vincent’s sleeve and said, “I’m not. Vincent’s coming with me.”
Vincent said, as calmly as ever, “Not a problem.”
Mike announced he and Gianni were going to stake out the alley behind the bar to make sure no one left by the back door, and they took off running with their spouses right behind them. Dante and Adriano both sighed at that, and then Vincent and I headed for Greco’s car. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Dante and Adriano holding their arms out to corral Nana and Ollie, who were trying to dodge around them.
I slowed to a stroll just before I reached the bar. Then I casually circled around to the driver’s side of Greco’s vintage Chevy, crouched down, and made like I was tying a shoe lace, even though I was wearing loafers. There were a few people around, but no one was paying any attention to what I was doing.
When I unfolded the knife and jammed it between the treads, the tire immediately began to deflate. For good measure, I stood up and casually straightened my jacket, then strolled to the next tire and repeated the process.
Vincent had been acting as lookout on the sidewalk, and I joined him and asked, “Are you going to set off the metal detector if we go inside?”
He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he said, “No. Dante and I are both unarmed, because we thought we were just having dinner with our family. If we wait for our team though, they’re bringing enough fire power to overthrow the government of a small country.”
“Let’s not wait for that,” I said, as I headed for the entrance. “An innocent person could get caught in the crossfire if your people become trigger happy.”
“What’s your plan here?”
“No idea. I’m making it up as I go along.”
There were some shrubs along the front of the building, and I stashed the pocket knife in one of them as Vincent paid the cover charge. Once we were inside, I took my phone from my pocket and told our group, “We’re inside the club.” Adriano started yelling, so I put the phone on mute and returned it to my pocket. Then I told Vincent, “Wait here in case he decides to head for the door. I’m going to do some recon.”
I strode confidently to the room at the back of the bar, which was roped off with a big bouncer controlling entry. Before I could sweet talk my way inside, I spotted our target. Mario Greco was deep in conversation with a heavyset guy whose back was to me, and he was positioned so he had an unobstructed view of the door. That was such a typical mobster move, sitting where he could keep an eye on everyone who came in.
Greco paused to take a drink. While he did that, he scanned the crowd and landed on me in the doorway. He put his glass down slowly, and his eyes narrowed as they locked with mine.
Did he recognize me? The only time we’d been in the same place, I was speeding toward him at night, wearing sunglasses, and blinding him with my headlights, right before I ran him off the road. He couldn’t possibly have gotten a good look at me.
Although…
It occurred to me too late that his compound must have had video surveillance, which filmed me and my little raiding party when we went in to rescue Adriano. Greco probably watched it back later to figure out what had happened to his prisoner.
My heart started pounding when he stood up. Fucking hell, he was huge—easily six-three, and a wall of muscle. He started walking toward me, and I took a step back and bumped into someone. It turned out to be Vincent, who’d ignored my instructions and followed me. When I glanced at him, he put a protective hand on my shoulder. Greco stopped in his tracks, probably because Vincent was just as big and scary. Since he’d also been on that rescue mission, Greco probably recognized him, too.