Omorphi (63 page)

A soft gasp escaped Anna’s lips.

Ms. Whitman pleaded, “Yes, but why not a mental institution?”

Michael’s phone vibrated in his pocket at the same time Nero’s cell phone rang. Worried it was Christy, he ignored Ms. Whitman’s question and answered it.

“You’re going to die this time, motherfucker!” Jason laughed like a feral hyena and hung up.

Jake leaned around Mac on the couch. “Holy crap, what was that? I heard it all the way over here.”

Michael’s parents looked stricken. They’d heard every word.

“Jason.”

“My Jason?” Ms. Whitman sat forward. “What did he say?”

Nero shook his head at Michael as he rose from his seat and paced while he spoke quietly into the phone.

“I think you need to go,” Michael said as he stood.

“I want to know what my son said!” Ms. Whitman demanded.

Nero shook his head again.

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.”

“Did he threaten you?”

Nero nodded.

“Yes.”

“With what?”

“Death.”

Ms. Whitman collapsed into Ms. Simmons’s arms.

Michael looked from Ms. Whitman to Ms. Simmons. “Take her home.”

Jake stood. “I’ll walk you out.”

Michael put an arm around his mom’s shoulders and one-arm hugged her again as he dialed Tad’s number. It went to voice mail. His anxiety rising, he tried John’s number and was monumentally relieved when he answered. “Hi, John, I just received anoth—” He glanced at his parents. “—a death threat. It was from Jason. Is Christy okay? Okay… okay…. Thanks. What…? No, he’s on the phone. Oh, okay. Thanks.” Michael hung up as Jake came back into the room putting his phone to his ear. Michael beat him to the punch. “Hang up, bro, I just checked. She’s asleep.”

Jake quickly hung up. “Everything’s okay?”

“Yeah. They even have two guards posted in the area between the main house and Christy’s cabin. They went to bed right after we left, and Jerry’s in the main house.” Michael hugged his mom again. “It’ll be okay, Mom. They’ll get him.”

She withdrew from his arms and petted his hair. “You’re so brave.”

He gave her a small smile. “So are you. I’m sorry we’re being terrorized.”

“Oh, honey, it’s not your fault.”

Jake ran a tired hand through his hair and blew a long breath as he sat down on the end of the couch next to Anna and reached for her hand. “What’d Jason say?”

Mac’s eyes flicked to Bobbie, and he shook his head nearly imperceptibly at Michael warning him not to repeat what Jason said.

“Nothing new.”

Nero hung up and resumed his seat next to Anna. “There is no easy way to say this. That was Detective Davis. Jason purchased another bomb in the city. He’s somewhere in the subway system, and they’re trying to locate him now.”

Bobbie made a small noise and downed the drink in her hand. Michael and Jake exchanged worried looks and began to ask questions at the same time. Nero’s phone rang and Michael’s phone vibrated again, silencing them. It was Lisa. “Hey, Lisa, what’s up?” Michael listened intently and glanced at Nero. “That’s great. Thanks, Lisa. Great, let me give you a call back.”

Jake raised a brow.

“She just wanted to tell us that Gav was doing okay.” Michael rubbed his mom’s back. “Why don’t you go to bed, Mom?”

She turned to Mac. “I think I might do that.”

Michael petted her soft hair. “We’re all going down to the waterfront tomorrow afternoon to celebrate now that Christy and Jerry are out of the hospital. Why don’t you come with us? We’ll make it a family thing. You and Mrs. Santini can sing songs for Christy.”

Jake turned to Anna. “That sounds like a great idea. Would you and Papa like to come?”

Anna, who’d been silent throughout the evening, smiled at Jacob. “We would love to.”

“Okay, Mom?” Michael pressed.

Bobbie made crossed eyes at him. “I think I can handle that.”

Michael smiled warmly. “Go get some sleep.”

“Why don’t you go get some sleep too, Mama?” Jake suggested.

She studied Jacob for a moment. “Come, Bobbie. The men need their time together. We’ll have our girl talk.”

When they’d left the room, Michael turned to Jake. “Who’s your dad talking to?”

“Security.”

“Lisa said that Smitty’s snitch called right after Jason bought the bomb in East Harlem, and Smitty’s got two guys tailing him now. They’re going to get him before the police do. She says they’re listening to everything over a police scanner and through Smitty’s guys’ wireless headset.”

Mac looked stunned. “Who’s Smitty?”

“Shit. Papa, get off the phone.” Jake rudely interrupted Nero, and he hung up, not bothering to hide his irritation with Jake. “Tell him, Michael.”

Michael repeated what Lisa had told him.

“Michael, can you call her back and ask if we can listen to this as well?”

Michael returned a wary look. “I’ll ask, but I don’t know.” He dialed Lisa back. “Hey, Lisa, sorry, I couldn’t talk. I was sitting right next to my mom…. Yeah, sorry. Hey, do you think there’s a way that we can listen to what you’re listening to…? Okay, great! She’s gonna leave her phone open so we can hear it.” He quickly put his phone on speaker so they could all listen in.

The first thing they heard was the police scanner and the announcement of several more police units in the area. Then they heard a quiet voice say, “He’s gettin’ back on the 1-line train at 191st Street station, heading south.”

“Don’t let him get over the bridge. We’ll lose him in Jersey,” a deep, resonant voice commanded. A voice Michael guessed belonged to the one and only Uncle Smitty.

“Passing 181st Street station.”

“Stay with him.”

“Off at 168th Street station. Headed to the C-train.”

The police scanner spouted static and loud gibberish that made no sense and caused all of them to jump. Then a clear voice came over the scanner. “Subject spotted on C-train at Cathedral Parkway station.”

“The police spotted him on the train at 110th Street. Try to run him straight to them,” the deep voice droned calmly.

Michael gripped Jake’s arm. This was the closest they’d been to catching Jason in a week.

“Passing 72nd Street station,” the quiet voice said.

They waited.

“He’s off at 50th Street station, headed east. Shit, he spotted the cops. He’s gettin’ back on the C-train.”

“Don’t lose him.”

“The kid looks real skittish, like he’s high. Gettin’ off at Times Square. Shit, he’s gonna run!”

“Don’t lose him!”

“Up the stairs,” the quiet voice panted. “Headed to 10th Avenue. Lincoln Tunnel.”

A loud crack broke the silence.

“What was that?” the calm, deep voice droned.

“They took the kid down! Single shot to the head!” The quiet voice was now a guttural whisper.

“Get out of there,” the calm, deep voice commanded.

The scanner went crazy with garbled commands and confused statements. “Hold fire! Hold fire!”

“Shot fired, shot fired. Repeat, single shot fired. Subject down.”

“Not, repeat
not
, friendly fire!”

“Ambulance in route, ETA three minutes.”

“Above the theatre company! Up there!” someone shouted from the scanner.

Jake looked at his dad. “The cops didn’t shoot him?”

“I don’t know.” The line suddenly went dead. Nero quickly retrieved his cell and dialed.

A
DARK
-complected man dressed in a dirty, gray janitor’s jumpsuit walked calmly down 10th Avenue as chaos rained down around him. The evidence was now property of the theatre, smashed against its brick parapet, the parts dropped into the fan casing on the roof save for the serial-numbered barrel tucked safely into his pant leg. When the air conditioner resumed, there would be nothing left of the rifle. He was pleased with himself.

T
HEY
listened intently as Nero spoke with Detective Davis but couldn’t interpret the one-sided conversation. Nero finally hung up. “Jason is dead.”

Michael didn’t know what to say. He was 100 percent relieved that Jason wasn’t a problem anymore, sad that he was dead—he’d never wanted that to happen—and thoroughly confused by what he’d heard over the scanner. He looked at his dad. “I’m going upstairs to tell Mom.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Be right back, bro.”

“S
HE
may not wake,” Mac said as Michael patted her cheek.

“Yes, she will. Mom? Come on, Mom, wake up.”

She stirred, only half-aroused.

“Go call Christy. I’ll tell her, Michael,” Mac encouraged.

“Wait. Mom? Come on, Mom, wake up. We have news about Jason.”

Her eyes fluttered open. “What?”

“The police got Jason.”

“What?”

“I said the police got Jason.”

“I heard you.” She looked at Mac.

“They did,” he confirmed.

She began to cry.

M
ICHAEL
trotted down the stairs and back into the parlor just as Jake asked, “What do you mean, the cops can’t tell who shot him?”

“Everything is pandemonium right now. We’ll know more in the morning.” Nero looked at Michael. “How did your mother take the news?”

“She cried, but it was a good cry. She’s asleep again, and Dad and Mrs. Santini are with her. Are they sure Jason is dead?”

“They’re transporting him to the hospital, but it was a single gunshot wound to the head. I doubt he survived.”

Michael turned to Jake. “You know who shot him, bro. Someone who didn’t need him anymore.”

“What do you mean to say, Michael?” Nero interrupted.

“Yosef. He’s been helping Jason all along. I’m guessing he got pissed off when he damn near killed Christy with the Molotov cocktail and decided to get rid of him.”

“Don’t be so certain. If that were the case, Yosef would have dispensed with him after nearly killing you both with the car bomb.”

Michael shrugged. “Unless someone catches Yosef, we won’t know. Can I call Christy and tell him about Jason?”

“I would wait until the morning when we know more. These are unusual circumstances.”

“Are you going to tell my parents about Yosef?”

“It would serve no purpose at this time. Let them enjoy the relief and comfort of knowing Jason is no longer a threat.”

“Okay, what do you want me to tell Christy? When he sees the newspaper, he’s going to know something’s up.”

Nero sighed, appearing to feel more aged by the moment, and shook his head. “Say nothing.”

“He’s already afraid some of the people from Europe will come here to get him.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I asked him if he was still afraid of them the night my car was bombed.”

“He knows that you know that there were multiple assailants?”

“He told me about them when he showed me the brands on his thigh. His paintings also show men waiting in line to… to….” Michael swallowed hard. “To use him.”

Nero’s face rouged a near purple with rage. “Are you certain?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Are the faces of the men clear?”

Michael had to think about this for a minute. “They’re clear in the paintings, but I don’t know if they represent the people who hurt him. Doesn’t matter. We decided it would be a good way for him to give a statement to the police, so he’s going to paint everything that happened to him that he can remember.”

Nero looked at Michael for a long moment. “So we are careful, Michael, what are the specific things that Christy
doesn’t
know that you know about him?”

“Who he is, that his dad was involved in the abuse, that Yosef is here, and that he and Sophia might be siblings.”

“He doesn’t know that you know that I work for him?”

“Oh. I guess that’s secret number five.”

Nero ignored Michael’s sarcasm and turned to Jake. “Sophia?”

“I’m dumb like a fox, Papa. Why?”

“I spoke with Ariel, Sophia’s mother. She did not welcome my gentle inquiries about Alexis, Christy’s mother, or about the children. It’s almost as if she believes Christy’s father will haunt her from the grave.”

“Or maybe his business partners threatened her,” Michael said softly. Then he shrugged when he saw Nero’s angry eyes. “Maybe Yosef made contact with her.”

Nero’s dark eyes bored into Michael. “I would say that I don’t appreciate your speculation, however, you could be correct. I will speak with General Sotíras to see if he has learned anything new of Christy’s assailants. In the interim, we should simply be thankful that Jason is no longer a problem despite the unfortunate circumstances of his death.”

“How would the general know what’s going on here?” Michael asked.

Nero sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. “General Sotíras tracks each of Christy’s assailants. We lost track of Yosef, and Tad is trying to locate him now and, though General Sotíras has a trace on his cell phone, the information isn’t immediate.”

Well, that explained where Tad was.
“So you have no idea where Yosef is?”

“No. He checked out of his hotel five days ago.”

Great.
“When are you going to speak to the general?”

Nero looked at his watch and let his hand fall to his side. “I’ll call this evening.”

“What’s the time difference?”

“Nine and a half hours.”

Michael looked at the time on his phone. “It’s almost eleven in the morning over there.”

“It’s Sunday. He’ll be in church.”

Michael nodded in understanding as Nero rubbed his eyes again.

“Tell me, who is this Lisa, Michael?”

Completing each other’s sentences, Jake and Michael told Nero of Lisa and her sometimes-shady Uncle Smitty.

“Interesting,” Nero said when they finished. “So, we know who Detective Davis’s informant is.”

Michael’s phone vibrated, and he looked at it before answering it. “Hey, Lisa…. No problem. I figured. Do they know…?” Michael met Nero’s eyes. “He didn’t die…. Oh….” He turned to Jake. “You did…? He did…? Yeah, of course you can come…. Sure, bring George… and Jorge too, if you want. My parents and Jake’s parents are coming too…. About being gay? Naw, you kidding? They’re fine with it…. You can bring Gavin and Noah too.” Michael rolled his eyes. “Lisa, invite whoever you want to. We’re just going down to the waterfront. If people get bored, they can go off on their own…. No, it’s not a private date.”
At least, not anymore.
“Yeah, it’s like that. Okay, hang on. Jake, what time are we going to the waterfront tomorrow?”