CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The bunker was alive with activity as the young people, on their side of the expansive space, were shooting pool, singing Christmas carols hip hop style, playing video games, and laughing and dancing and making the most out of the odd situation.

Mick remained upstairs, on the phone, for over an hour. When he returned to the bunker, he made his way over to where the OGs were hanging out. They were far more subdued than the younger crowd, but they were making the most of it too.

He sat near the back of the space as they were sitting around reminiscing about the good old days, and playing Guess Who games. But it wasn’t lost on Roz that during his time upstairs, Mick had suited up. Mick was ready for combat when the fight was supposedly over. Or was it, she wondered.

“Yahweh,” said Grace in answer to a question.

“Wrong answer,” said Reno.

“She’s correct,” said Trina as she read the game card. “Yahweh is the Hebrew name for God. It is another name for God. Grace is correct.”

“Thank you very much,” Tommy said with a smile as he and Grace high-fived.

“Reno says His name is Harold.”

Everybody looked at Sal. “Say what now?” asked Charles.

“That’s what Reno said. He saw this little girl on the internet who said God’s name is Harold, and he said the kid’s right.”

“How is she right, Reno? Just tell me that.”

“It says so in the Bible,” Reno explained. “Says so in the good book. It says Our Father, which art in Heaven. Harold be thy name .”

Trina jumped up as the others burst into laughter. “I can’t,” she said. “I just can’t!” Then she looked at her husband. “Are you serious, Reno?”

“Why wouldn’t I be serious? Of course I’m serious.”’

“You’re a birdbrain,” Sal said laughing. “An idiot birdbrain!”

“What birdbrain? What did I do? I’m telling facts. Harold is His name.”

“Reno, it’s hallowed be thy name,” said Grace. “Not Harold be thy name. Hallowed. Like Holy. Hallowed be thy name.”

“Geez,” said Trina. “Next question please,” she added as she sat back down.

“I have one that even Daddy can get right,” Carmine asked.

Reno gave his son a hard look. “Watch yourself. Remember I know where you live,” he added and they laughed.

“Why aren’t you ever with people your own age anyway, little boy?” asked Sal.

“Leave my baby alone,” said Trina. “What’s your Guess Who question, Carmine?”

“Who did Voltaire say--”

“Next question!” Roz shouted out.

“I haven’t finished yet, Auntie Roz.”

“Nobody don’t know nothing about no Voltaire and we don’t wanna know. Next question!”

“Okay, I’ve got another one,” said Carmine. “Aristotle--”

“Nope!”

“Okay, okay. This is an easy one.”

“To who?” asked Reno. “To you?”

“To everybody,” said Carmine.

“We aren’t everybody,” said Trina. “Between all of us there’s barely one good brain.” They all laughed.

“Even brain-challenged individuals should be able to get this one,” said Carmine.

“Sure, Carmine,” said Jenay. “But go ahead.”

“ Stranger in Paradise , as sung by the great crooner Tony Bennett,” he began, and they all were surprised that it just might be a question they could answer. But then he continued. “It’s a derivative of what classic melody?”

“ Strange Fruit ,” Sal blurted out and everybody looked at him.

“ Strange Fruit ?” asked Roz. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Sal,” said Gemma to her husband, “ Strange Fruit is a song by Billie Holliday about white folks lynching black folks and hanging them from trees like fruit. How in the world could it have anything to do with a song like Stranger in Paradise ?”

“Strange fruit. Stranger. Could be a connection,” said Sal.

“And he calls me stupid,” Reno said. “I’m a genius compared to your ass!”

“What’s the answer, Carmine?” Trina asked.

“I’m shocked none of you got it.”

“Just give us the answer boy!”

“The answer is Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances . Specifically the Gliding Dance of the Maidens .”

They all looked at Carmine as if he was insane. “How the hell will we know something like that?” asked Roz.

“ Brains Are Us we are not!” bellowed Trina. “How many times I got to tell you that?” Then they all threw pillows at Carmine and laughed.

While the fun and games continued, Mick disappeared again. This time in one of the bedrooms inside the bunker. After nearly half an hour, Gloria, who saw her father leave the room, went in to make sure he was okay.

He was lying on top of the bed, which was unusual for him during the daytime. She sat on the edge of the bed. “You okay, Daddy?”

“Yeah.”

“Just tired hun?”

“It’s snowing. Snow slows me down.” Then he studied his daughter. “How are you?”

She nodded her head. “I’m good.”

“Even though Oz Drakos isn’t here.”

“I’m so used to him not being around lately that it’s not even funny.”

“No, it’s not funny. Haven’t been funny for a long time. And you should never get used to that. My goodness, Gloria, it’s Christmas time. When did he plan on coming home? After Christmas?”

“If even then. He’s been camped out in Greece. There are some issues there, but he won’t say what they are.”

“What is Alex Drakos saying about his brother’s now-routine absences?”

“He doesn’t like it. He and Oz argue all the time about it. But what can he realistically do? Oz is his own man. Always was. Always will be.”

“How do you feel about it?”

“I’m over it, Dad. I’m weighing my options.”

“To include?”

“Everything.Divorce.separation.Therapy.Everything.”

“I’m surprised Charles didn’t order you and Oz to this so-called marriage retreat.”

“He said it’s for the senior members of the family, although he made Teddy and Nikki come. But he wasn’t going to be able to get in touch with Oz anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

Except it did, and Mick could see it in her beautiful eyes. He put his arm around her, and she laid on the bed beside him. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.

And within a few more minutes after she had fallen asleep, Roz and Amelia came in checking on him too. And then Reno and Trina, and Tommy and Grace, and Sal and Gemma, and Charles and Jenay came in too.

They brought in chairs and sat around the room talking softly, about little of nothing, until Gloria woke up. Startled that so many power couples had assembled in the room, which made them laugh at her reaction, she yawned, stretched, and went to be with her own age group.

As soon as she left, they got down to business.

“Gonna tell us?” Roz asked Mick.

When Mick looked into her soulful eyes, that feeling of dread overtook him again. That same feeling he felt when he saw Teddy had been injured, and that feeling that he was constantly putting his family in harm’s way because of his own actions, reemerged. That guilt was kicking his ass. “Tell you what?”

“Why you dragged the whole family into this bunker when the threat was supposed to have been neutralized? When it was supposed to be over. Is this your way of saying it’s not over?”

Mick knew they needed answers. He sat up and moved over to the edge of the bed, his feet stretched out across the floor, his arms folded. But he fell, once more, into that brooding, taking his own counsel look.

“Is it over, Mick?” Amelia asked him more pointedly.

Mick exhaled. “It doesn’t feel that way to me, no.”

This concerned them all. “Why not?” asked Reno.

“How it all started. I can’t get past that.”

“How did it start?” asked Amelia.

“It started with Jonah.”

“Jonah? Jonah Tella?” asked Sal. “Please don’t tell me you’re talking about Jonah Tella.”

“That’s who I’m talking about.”

“I thought that fucker retired.”

“What retired?” asked Charles. “There’s no such thing in you and Mick’s line of work.”

“But who is this Jonah?” asked Reno.

“You know him, Reno. They call him The Whale on account of he was a kind of big man, and because of his first name.”

“Oh him! The guy that used to have one of the largest syndicates in the country.”

“Until Uncle Mick got a hold of him. Now his syndicate’s one of the smallest.”

“But what about him?” asked Reno.

“Jonah Tella was the man that first told me about Nails and what he was up to,” said Mick. “He came to me with that shit. And it was something he said that stuck with me for some reason.”

“What he said?” asked Sal.

“He said Nails was back. Said he went to Turin to see the guy he de-nailed. To make sure it was Nails’ m.o. Then he said he knew it was Nails’ who did the job because he knew the man’s work like he knew the palm of his hand.”

“The palm of his hand?” asked Charles. “Like those Zs you found in the palm of those hands.”

“Right. I thought about it after Nails croaked. When Jonah said it that day, it didn’t sound like something he’d say. It was as if he was toying with me then.”

“And that’s the only reason you don’t think it’s over?” asked Reno. “You think Whale might be involved?”

“I think so, yes. But that’s not the only reason. My gut is telling me it’s not over. That’s the main reason.”

“Not over?” Roz exhaled. “This is getting crazy.”

Mick nodded. “I know. But I’m hoping . . .”

BOOM !

It was an explosion that rocked the bunker. Children began screaming. Babies began crying. Tommy and the ladies ran out to calm the children while Charles grabbed the iPad from the dresser and pulled up the security cameras. The men hurried around him to see too.

And what they saw shook them to the core. Even men like them.