CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Alberdeen Arms was an apartment complex on the outskirts of Philly. One-half boarded up and the other half dilapidated and all but abandoned too, it seemed like an unlikely hideout for a man that would dare to target Charles Sinatra and, in so doing, kill his wife. Which made it, in Mick's view, a brilliant hideout.

Mick was behind the wheel of his Escalade. Big Daddy was on the front passenger seat. Nikki was on the middle row as they made their way to the very back of the complex.

Mick glance over at his brother. "How do you want to play this?"

"I thought we already decided."

"Not that."

Big Daddy let out a long exhale. "If what that guy said was true, that means I'm about to come face to face with the man that murdered my wife. The cafeteria had no cameras, and the hospital cameras were too hazy to make out any features. And he had that baseball cap down on his forehead.I don't know what that fucker looks like. He knew where those cameras were and didn't look up at them not once. Now I may just see him."

"What will you do when you see him?" Nikki asked.

Big Daddy hesitated. "You don't wanna know, young lady," Big Daddy responded. But Nikki already knew. And they arrived at apartment 169.

They got out, went around to the trunk, and Mick pulled out a battering ram for himself and one for Nikki. Then they headed to the ground floor apartment.

Mick and Big Daddy went to the front door, while Nikki went further over - to the front window. Once they all were positioned, Big Daddy used his fingers to count to three. The goal: confuse their target.

On the silent count of three, Mick violently slammed his battering ram into the front door as Nikki, further away but able to see Big Daddy's count, slammed her battering ram through the front window. The front door flung open, the window shattered, and Mick and Big Daddy, firearms in hand, ran inside.

Just as they had hoped, Sugar Rossi was spotted standing in the middle of the room as if trying to decide which threat to respond to first: the front door kicking open, on the front window shattering. But it only gave them a second because he didn't respond to either threat: he took off running toward the back of the big apartment. Mick fired a warning shot but they wanted him alive. He and Big Daddy ran after him.

But as soon as they hit the hallway, a flurry of gunshots rang out, forcing them to retreat.

"Back up!" Mick yelled out as he pulled Big Daddy backwards and back around the wall.

"I'm shot, Micky, I'm shot," Big Daddy cried out.

"So am I," cried Mick.

And the shooting stopped.

"Can you move?" Mick asked his big brother.

"No, can you?"

"No! We need backup.

And that was when they heard the sound of footsteps running toward them. their estimation based on the sound: Three gunmen were coming to finish them off.

As soon as the gunmen eased their way around that corner where they believed Mick and Big Daddy were laid out from bullet wounds, Mick on his butt and Big Daddy on his butt, too, fired in rapid succession before the men could realize they had been had and neither Mick nor Big Daddy had been hit. And all three gunmen sustained numerous bullets and dropped dead.

Then they heard a voice. "Did you get those motherfuckers?"

The voice had apparently assumed the gunfire had come from his men, which was exactly what Mick and Big Daddy wanted him to assume.

"Yeah," Big Daddy yelled back in a deep voice as they stepped over the downed gunmen and positioned themselves in the hall. When Sugar Rossi stepped out of the backroom, he was met with Mick and Big Daddy aiming squarely at him. "Don't even try it," Mick said, but Sugar ran back into the room and attempted to slam the door shut.

But Big Daddy stunned Mick by how fast he ran down that hall and then lunged himself at that door. But it had already slammed shut. But that didn't stop Big Daddy. He lunged himself violently against that door and shouldered it so hard that the lock broke, and it flung open.

But as soon as it opened, they saw the man they assumed was their target run out of a back door. They ran after him.

But as soon as Sugar Rossi ran down the steps, he stopped in his tracks when he saw Nikki standing there, her gun aimed squarely at him. "Drop your weapon now!" she yelled at him.

Sugar immediately dropped his gun and placed his hands in the air. Mick and then Big Daddy ran outside and then down the steps too. And that was when Big Daddy grabbed Sugar by his collar, pushed him violently against a broken down car.

"I didn't shoot her!" Sugar Rossi cried out and as soon as he did, they all heard a loud, single gunshot that slammed through Sugar Rossi's head, jerking it back violently.

Mick knocked Big Daddy and Nikki to the ground as Sugar Rossi fell face first into the dirt.

But no other gunshot was fired.

Mick, Big Daddy, and Nikki were looking around frantically. But they saw no one. They heard nothing. They got up.

Nikki quickly checked Sugar's pulse. He didn't have one.

"They could be in any of these buildings," Mick said. "Or miles away from here. Let's go."

They hurried to the Escalade and hopped in, with Mick behind the wheel. "Damn!" he said angrily as he punched the dashboard, and then he sped away from that apartment complex.

"They all claim they didn't do shit," said Big Daddy as Mick was about to turn onto the highway. "But I don't know," he added. "Something seems wrong. Something seems off."

And as soon as he said it, Mick slammed on brakes. And he started looking around at his surroundings, and at that complex behind him.

"What is it, Boss?" Nikki asked him.

"Just two blocks away," Mick realized.

"What's two blocks away?" Big Daddy asked him.

"I'll be damn."

"What is it, Mick?"

"When they show you who they are, believe them."

Nikki frowned. It was weird to hear her boss quoting Maya Angelou.

"He was showing me all this time."

"Who was showing you?" Big Daddy asked. "What was he showing you?" he asked when Mick didn't answer his first question.

"They raped Bella four times."

"Right," said Nikki.

"They stabbed Ursula four times."

"Jenay was shot four times," Big Daddy said, although he had no idea where Mick was going with it.

"And they put four million dollars into those offshore accounts," said Nikki. "But what does four stand for?"

"Jumbo Fourtaine," said Mick. " Four -taine," he added, as if he was still working it out in his mind too.

"Who's Jumbo Fourtaine?" Big Daddy asked.

"He owned a strip joint Bella used to work at. I was driving into an ambush when Bella warned me."

"The ambush by Vito Costantino and his guys?" Big Daddy asked.

Mick nodded. "Yeah. I plotted and planned it inside Jumbo's strip joint. A strip joint that's two blocks from this apartment complex. That's what made me think about it again."

"You think he was leaving his calling card by ordering those guys to do everything in fours?" Nikki asked.

Mick nodded. "That's exactly what he was doing. He was showing me who he was, but I didn't put two and two together."

"Why not?"

"Because I never had a beef with Jumbo. We were supposed to do business together, but after that ambush I never went back. We never did business."

"Could that be his motive?" Big Daddy asked.

But Mick was shaking his head. "Jumbo was doing well. He would have survived just fine without my business."

"Then what's the motive?"

"I don't know," Mick said irritably. "But I'm about to find out," he added as he looked both ways and then sped out onto the busy highway.

Big Daddy glanced back at Nikki. It seemed like a weak connection to him if they weren't beefing, but it was better than nothing. The way Nikki looked back at Big Daddy told him that she knew it too.