CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Nikki was leaned against her car outside of their office at the docks as Mick's big black Cadillac Escalade drove up. She didn't know what it was about. She just knew it was late, she was sleepy, and Teddy was on assignment handling the Monk and Trevor issue for his father. The only good news was that she didn't have to worry about their daughter: she was already spending the night at her grandfather's house with the twins, who, at their young age, were her aunt and uncle.
Mick saw Nikki standing there in her jeans and blazer, her hair long and flowing in a style that made her look badass to Mick. Every time he saw her his heart was pleased. She had what it took. Whatever it was, she had it. And truth be told, Mick knew that had she been Italian, and had she been male, she would have given Teddy a run for his money to become boss of Mick's entire outfit.
She hopped up on the front passenger seat of his SUV. When she saw that he was suited up in his long, tricked-out white coat, his black trousers and black turtleneck, she knew this wasn't going to be a simple assignment. "Hey."
"How are you?" Mick asked as he began driving away.
"I'd be better if I knew what this is about."
"I need to pay a visit to somebody I thought was still locked up."
Nikki waited for more details, but he didn't give them and she didn't have the nerve to ask. She was a tough cookie. She knew she could hold her own against anybody on this planet. But when she was around Mick, it was a different story. He was a hard man to please and an easy man to piss off. It was like walking on eggshells around him. Even Teddy, who was tougher than she'd ever be, felt that way too. And he was his father! They rode in silence all the way there.
He drove down a wet, mold-infested back alley on the southside of Philly. Mick parked his SUV about fifteen feet away from a door in which two bodyguards stood beside. And although Mick got out of the SUV and made his way to that door without giving Nikki any instruction, she knew instinctively that he didn't bring her there to follow him around. But to back him up. She immediately moved her body from the front passenger seat to the driver seat and got behind the steering wheel. When one of the guards opened the steel door and allowed Mick passage through, Nikki drove the SUV further into the alley, to see where the exits were, and to find another door.
Inside the door Mick had entered, the sound of loud, festive club goers could be heard upfront. But Mick made his way to the back where the private rooms were. And when he turned a corner, he could see the man he came to see in one of those rooms, sitting alone on a couch. His body was bent over the coffee table in front of the couch, as he snorted a line of cocaine. When it went up his nose he leaned back and closed his eyes: to take it all in.
"Carlton Rickie in the flesh," said Mick. "You did your dirt and disappeared. I thought they had you in the witness protection program."
When Carlton opened his getting-high eyes and saw a man talking to him, his reflexes were slowing. But when he finally realized that it was Mick the Tick, who hadn't changed in decades, his eyes stretched in horror. "Motherfuck!" he yelled out, and then immediately jumped up to run away.
But Mick hurried into that room and grabbed Carlton and tried to punch him hard, but Carlton was a fighter too. He blocked Mick's punch and instead punched him in the gut. It nearly took Mick's breath away, but it enraged him too. He grabbed Carlton by the neck, kneed him in the chin, and then had the leverage to begin a flurry of punches that connected every time. It was blow after blow. It was devastating. Carlton was throwing punches too, as hard as he could, but he was only connecting with air.
Now Carlton wasn't trying to fight anymore, because he knew he couldn't win. He was trying to get away.
But every time he tried, Mick threw him against a wall and started punching him even more. When he hit the floor, Mick was kicking him like he was a dog and stomping on him. But he saw a baseball bat when he hit that floor and he grabbed it, turned onto his back, and hit Mick hard on his leg.
The pain shot through Mick's body so completely that it gave Carlton just enough time to get up and run out of the back door.
Mick grimaced because of the excruciating pain, and then he limped out of the back door too. As soon as he hurried out, he saw Carlton running across the alley just as Nikki sped up in his Escalade and knocked Carlton down. And that was why he always preferred her as his backup: she knew what to do and where to be.
He hurried over, grabbed Carlton up from the ground, and then threw him onto the middle row of his SUV. He got in behind him, slamming the door. Nikki sped away.
But Mick didn't waste any time. He gave him another beating that dislocated Carlton's eye socket. A move Mick knew would force Carlton to willingly give up intel.
"Why did you hire that bastard to rape my wife?" he asked him angrily.
Nikki glanced at Mick through the rearview mirror. Teddy told her about the attempted rape. Mick was talking as if it had actually happened. But she remembered who was involved. Mick didn't play when it came to any of the family, but especially when it came to Roz. An attempt in Mick's eyes, whenever it concerned Roz, was just as bad as the real thing.
But Carlton Rickie, who was holding his eye in excruciating pain, wasn't willing to go that far. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you lie to me!" Mick yelled as he punched him again.
Carlton knew then that he was going to get his other eye socket dislocated if he didn't come clean. "I didn't hire him," he blurted out, but before Mick could strike him again he quickly added: "But I know who did."
Nikki looked at him through the rearview.
"Who?" Mick asked.
Mick could tell Carlton didn't want to give up the name, but he gave it up. "Hammer Reese's kid brother. Trevor Reese," he said.
Nikki's already big eyes stretched wider. She knew that was insane, just like she knew it was crazy when Monk Paletti was implicated in the intercept scheme.
But Mick was staring at Carlton. "How do you know it was Trevor?"
"I was in the room when it was decided."
"In what room?"
"A hotel room. They had the guy to do it. Some arrogant Broadway director. But they needed to figure out what they wanted done to her."
"To my wife?"
"Right."
"And what did they decide?"
"Rape. Four million bucks for four rapes back to back to back to back. They wanted it just like that."
Then Mick asked the question he never asked right away: "Who's they? Who else was in that room?"
"It was me, Trevor Reese, and Monk Paletti," Carlton said.
Nikki looked at Mick through the rearview when Carlton named those names. Mick looked deflated.
"But why?" Nikki blurted out. She couldn't help it.
But Carlton wouldn't answer her. "You let your help interrupt your conversation?" he asked Mick.
Mick gut-punched him. "Answer her question," he ordered.
"Why they chose that Broadway producer? Because he and your wife were flirty with each other. They knew each other. Which meant easier access to your heavily guarded wife. And he was a terrible gambler who owed too many people big bucks. He needed the money."
"Not why they hired him," Nikki said, "but why would Trevor Reese and Frankie Paletti want Mrs. Sinatra harmed?"
Carlton looked at Mick with his one good eye. "Because she was a good target. The Monk is a powerful man now. He's consolidated all of the Bonaducci fractions around his leadership. Now he's not satisfied anymore. He wants to move up that mountain. You're standing in his way. But needed to get you distracted before he came after you."
Nikki wanted to ask more questions, but she could see that Mick was thinking it through as he continued to stare at Carlton. Then Mick spoke. "What's your relationship with Monk Paletti?"
"I want to help him dethrone you," Carlton said honestly and easily. "You know the routine: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Because I'll never forget what your ass did to Alfonse," he added.
And as soon as she said it, a knife blade appeared from inside Carlton's shirt sleeve. And as he was saying those words and had Mick paying attention to those words, he tried to slash Mick's stomach with that blade.
But at the last second, Mick saw the flash of the knife and grabbed Carlton's wrist.
Nikki quickly pulled over to the side of the road as the two men tussled for control of that knife. Mick was attempting to keep the knife away from his stomach while also attempting to turn it toward Carlton's stomach, while Carlton was keeping the knife within an inch of slicing Mick. It was a battle of brute force.
But in the end, Mick had more brute. He not only kept the knife away from his stomach, but he turned it toward Carlton's stomach and sliced it until he nearly sliced it in two.
Nikki was amazed when she turned and saw Carlton stunned by how deep Mick went in on him. And then, as if his shock was enough, he slumped over dead.
Nikki looked at Mick as if her eyes were asking if he had to be that brutal.
But she didn't know the backstory. It was payback for Mick. From a long, long time ago.