Crap!
It took me a moment to pick myself up off the floor after the guy hit me—again. Ivan delivered one hell of a smack. My right cheek throbbed, and I was pretty sure I was going to have a bruise.
Sal would not be happy.
Oh, Sal.
I dug my phone out of my pocket, dialed Sal’s number, and then held the phone to my ear. I really needed to find out if he was coming or not.
“What are you doing?”
I glared at Ivan. “Do you mind? I’m trying to call my husband.”
The guy’s lip curled back in a clear display of his disgust. I remember reading something one time about the mob not being very understanding of gays. That, combined with the way these guys were acting and the way they were dressed, led me to believe they might be up to no good.
We both panned to the left when the ring tone “Wild Thing” started to play on the other side of the partial wall used to hang artwork.
Ivan snapped his fingers again and pointed. “Go!”
He seemed to do that a lot.
Three of the guys with Ivan took off. One stayed behind. I had the impression he was Ivan’s bodyguard, which left the other three as muscle…muscle that was headed right for my Sal.
“Watch out, Sal!” I shouted as I jumped onto Ivan’s back.
It was a stupid move and I knew it before I did it, but what else was I supposed to do? Stand there and let them hurt Sal?
Wasn’t going to happen.
I held on to Ivan with my arm around his neck and hit at him with the other. It was a futile attempt to hurt the man, but at least it distracted him from going after Sal.
It didn’t keep his bodyguard from going after me, though.
I screamed as I was grabbed, pulled off Ivan’s back, and thrown onto the floor. And that hurt. I felt as if I had been thrown into a brick wall…or onto a marble floor. Before I could get up, a foot was slammed on my back, keeping me pinned to the hard marble floor.
Gunfire exploded on the other side of the art wall. The foot holding me down didn’t move, but I could hear Ivan begin to talk. Apparently, he was muscle, too. He was reporting to someone else.
“Yeah, it’s me. There’s been no sign of him,” Ivan said, “No, but shit is going down. You need to do whatever you plan to do, and you need to do it now.”
I don’t know what the person on the other end said, but it pissed Ivan off. His face flushed and scrunched up as he began to yell.
“Hell, no. You don’t pay me enough for that fucking shit.” Ivan snapped the phone closed and turned to look at the man above me. “We’re leaving.”
“What do you want me to do with him?” the guy with his foot on my back asked.
“He can identify us,” Ivan said. “Bring him along. We’ll dump him in the river on the way.”
Holy crap!
They were blatantly talking about killing me.
“Sal!” I screamed as I fought to get away. There was no way I was going to just go along with whatever plans Ivan had for me. I’d fight…well, to my death.
God, that was a frightening thought.
“Sal!”
“Shut him up, damn it!” Ivan shouted.
