Luca is already out of the bed, heading to the bathroom. I can hear him calling people as he’s in there, washing down his dick in the sink or something, because he’s back out again in minutes and gesturing at me to get the hell out of bed.
“I get whyI’mworried,” I tell him. “That’s my baby sister she’s carrying. But areyoureally so worried about Connie?”
“Yes. Like you say, that’s your baby sister she’s carrying.” I give him a look. “Alright,” he admits. “Connie is a secondary consideration right now.”
“Okay. What’s the primary consideration?”
“There’s only one reason those guards left their posts. They know what I’d do to them if they left their posts, and they know Celia always visits Saturday morning.” He pauses, waiting for me to connect the dots.
“They’ve defected,” I say slowly.
“In all likelihood.”
“And it might be a trap.”
“In all likelihood,” he says again.
“And we’re just gonna—”
“I’m not going to let that psychopath Fuscone shoot up a goddamn hospital wing just to get back atme, Finch. Get up, get dressed, and let’s go.”
* * *
The hospital is mercifullyquiet when we arrive. Of course, there are ambulances coming and going, but no more than there usually seems to be when I’ve visited before. Angelo and Marco meet us there, and we march through the corridors like the Angels of the Apocalypse, jackets flying, people leaping out of our way like we’re surgeons headed to save lives instead of, well. Criminals headed to save lives.
I hear shouting by the time we get to Connie’s area, and the back of my neck starts to tingle in fear, but then I realize who it is: Hudson. I can even make words out as we get closer.
“—and you have beentoldthat she needs to be under protection at all times—”
“Sir, I’m asking you again to lower your voice, and I’m not going to ask a third time. The guards at your sister’s room were not supplied by the hospital—” Darla the nurse tries.
“Then tell me who the fuck I should be yelling at around here!”
“That would be me,” Luca says, as we come up behind Hudson.
Oop. I know that icy tone of Luca’s far too well.
Hudson whirls around on him. “And who the fuck are you?” he demands.
Behind us, Angelo and Marco both take out their guns.
Darla picks up the phone, her finger hovering over it uncertainly.
It’s time for me to play peacemaker. “Hang on, Darla—hang on a second.” She still looks scared, but she puts the phone back down. I step in front of Luca, drawing Hudson’s attention. “Hey, Hudson. It’s Finch, remember? Yeah. Well, this is my husband, Luca D’Amato.”
“You might know him as Don LucianoMorelli,” Angelo growls from behind me, and ooh, boy. Hudson has not made a great first impression onanyof these guys. But I can hardly blame him for freaking out. I know how I’d feel if Luca was in that hospital bed with no protection.
“We’re here to make sure Connie is safe,” I say, trying to avoid Hudson laying into Angelo next. That would end fast and bloody. “So how about we all stop shouting, and focus on Connie?”
Darla gives me a grateful look, although she clearly doesn’t like the look of anyone involved in this showdown. Down the hallway near Connie’s door, I can see Brother Frank with his arm around Celia and a pugnacious set to his jaw.
“I’m sorry about all this,” I say to Darla as the mobsters trail down toward Frank and Cee. Connie’s brother stays with me, looking back and forth between me and Connie’s room. “Hudson just really cares about his sister.”
“That’s no excuse for abusing staff,” the nurse says.
“It’s not,” I agree, and I give Hudson a little kick in the ankle.
“Sorry,” he says abruptly. And then, after another kick, “Sorry I yelled.”
