“She likes to wear green or red usually. But if you spot her in yellow with purple polka dots, don’t just assume it ain’t her. Take a pic with your phone, and send it to me. I’ll make the call. If you find her, stay with her ‘til I get there...but if she gets all hostile, RUN.”
The guy gave me a look. I knew that look; I didn’t even need to be in his head. I held up a hand to cut him off before he got started. “Shut the fuck up, I’m serious. You just THINK you’re a bad motherfucker. Mel’s the real deal. Piss her off, and you’re a corpse. Capice?”
To his credit, my informant didn’t argue the point. He just shrugged, “Your money, your rules, boss.”
I nodded approvingly. ”Smart man. Keep an eye out. With any luck, it’ll be the easiest fifty large you ever made, y’know? Now scram.” He doffed his hat, and sauntered out of my office. I leaned back in my chair, laced my hands behind my neck, and stared up at the ceiling. It was old, and beginning to crack. I frowned. Even the cracks reminded me of her now.
For the thousandth time, I kicked myself. Piper was a lot more worried the other night at the D than I’d been. My reasons were still the same. I mean, yeah, if the Titan soldiers were anything like Brook, then they were no joke…but still, this was MEL. Ever since she left me, I never thought of her as needing help, really. She was so damned strong, and batshit crazy to boot. I’m a powerhouse myself, but even I wouldn’t want to square off with her.
I sighed. Time to tell the truth, Tommy. As much as I’d gotten over her, she still had a place in my heart. I don’t know if you’d call it love, but I did care about her. Even if it hurt to. I should’ve acted sooner. I should be doing more. I should….but I couldn’t.
My resources were limited right now. It hadn’t been a good couple of weeks. The Bonannos had allied with the Kong Tsoo from Martial, and some Triad crew out of Oakes. You didn’t have to be a genius to know what they had their eyes on. The Bonannos wanted me in the ground, and as much of my business as they could grab. I guess they were even willing to split that pie three ways if it meant I was finished.
I doubled the security on all my holdings, and even still, I was fending off daily raids. This shit was costing me too much, and their little syndicate was too decentralized for me to break it with one shot. Not that I wasn’t trying. Joss had suggested I try to turn them against each other, but I’d already had that idea. Problem is...it wasn’t working. I’d approached a few of the Kong and Triad’s enemies in the Isles, and offered an alliance of my own, but they were playing hard to get. Shit, they probably smelled the blood in the water, too.
Enough. One thing at a time. Mel first. My money had bought a good number of eyes and ears. I hoped it’d pay off. In the meantime, I closed my eyes, and ‘pushed’ outward, calling out to her. Sometimes I thought I felt her. Little flickers of her, here and there. Never anything concrete. Where the fuck WAS she? I refused to consider that she might be dead. Not Mel. No way.
“Anything you need outta me, Tommy?”
I near jumped out of my chair in surprise. “Godddamn it, Calabrese, how in the fuck do you keep sneaking up on me?” Tony just smirked at me, the smug bastard. I had to chuckle.
“All right, Tony. Lunch time. Order us a pizza, would you? You know what I like. We’ll sit and figure our next move.”
He nodded, “Sure thing, boss.” He walked out in the hall and started dialing on his phone. Good old Tony. Always there when I needed him. He’d always helped me to think, to get things straightened out in my head. He was constant as….well, metaphors were never my strong suit. Still, a don could do a hell of a lot worse as consiglieres went.
I looked back up at the cracked ceiling. For the moment, the Bonanno/Kong/Triad mess was the furthest thing from my mind.
Mel used to call me her knight. Sure, we weren’t together anymore, but that didn’t mean I was going to just shrug and let her fend for herself. Not if she actually needed help.
I whispered, “Hang in there, Mel. I promised I’d be there if you needed me. And I keep my promises.”
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