Inside Out

90

Sam Manelli handed the cell phone to Russo and stared out through the grimy office window into a warehouse filled with vending machines.

“It's a setup,” Sam announced.

“You think so?” Russo asked, seeing a faint light at the end of a long tunnel. “That would sure explain a few things.”

Sam's hooded eyes studied his protege, then he nodded slowly. “Feds using her to get me. If she thinks I've been trying to kill her she's too smart to show up here all of a sudden. No telling what they told her. FBI birds probably got her backed in a corner on this Richmond thing she told you about.”

“There was a big shoot-out in a hotel there. They could have staged that themselves to fool you.”

“Well, that's possible. We don't have time to check it out, do we?”

“What she told me is just what I told you. Word for word. Forget the meeting, then,” Russo said, seeing an opportunity to appear like he was acting out of concern for the older man. “Sam, what they got at this point? Nothing. Keep it that way. You stay away from her a few days or whatever. There'll be time when this is all cooled down to get her.” Russo knew Sam wasn't about to start taking his advice now. When it came to that bitch, he was beyond reason.

Sam shook his head. “I'm gonna handle this right. This is one of those loose ends that could get all unraveled if I don't knot it up quick. I'm not gonna sit back and wait and see what's gonna happen. Something about this whole mess is all wrong. You can't get in touch with Herman, and I don't like that one bit. I go back a long time with Herman. I've given him a lot of money over the years, and maybe he's up to something-gone squirrely from plugged-up brain vessels or something. Maybe somebody killed him.”

“Let me take some of the guys and handle it, Sam. I'll get her for you. Don't risk yourself this way. Far as they can prove, you're clean.”

“I already decided.” Russo saw a new level of coldness behind Sam's eyes. “I want you out at the place in an hour and a half. We gonna have a long talk with her so you and me can get all this figured out.”

Johnny shrugged. “You know what's best.”

Manelli locked his hands behind his thick neck and studied Russo. “I'm puzzled about why that bird Dylan pulled this crap in the first place. It never did make sense. It's like that thing about an iceberg being mostly where you can't see it, but you still know it's down there.”

“What can I say I haven't said a million times? Devlin fooled everybody. He totally checked out. I should know.”

“Yeah,” Sam started, seemingly puzzled, “you checked him out personal and you gave him a clean bill. And always before that, you was so good at sniffin' out rats.”

“I knew how important it was that he was the real deal, Sam. I want this straightened out as much as you do.”

Under his shirt, sweat streamed down Russo's back. This was the suspicious Sam before him. Until he acted, it was impossible to know what was on his mind. Usually, the people that Sam decided were betraying him first learned of his suspicion in their last moments. Sometimes, depending on his mood, those last moments had been known to be hours. Age had only hardened the brickbat that served as his heart.

“Well, at least take the radio Herman gave you with the fed frequencies on it.”

Sam rose suddenly and Russo winced, thinking Sam was going to grab a steel pinball machine leg from a stack near the desk and pulverize him with it. Johnny had seen Sam do just that in this very room. Sam left without saying anything. Johnny's smile withered. He figured that, unless Herman's cutouts did this thing right, crabs could be dining on his eyes before dawn.

A figure blocked the doorway and Russo flinched, afraid for a second that it was Sam back to finish him off. “Boss?” Spiro said.

Relief filled Russo. “Spiro, Sam's gone?”

“Yeah. They all gone. Everything cool?”

“Close the door a minute.” Johnny lifted his cell phone and pressed the digits. There was a strange clicking sound which was the encrypting device on the other end, which scrambled the signal on both ends.

“Johnny,” the familiar cutout's voice said. “Is everything clipping along?”

“You were right, Lewis. She's here now,” Russo said, fighting the panic he felt. “He's picking her up in a hour.”

“Good. Sam has the radio?”

“Yeah. What should I do?”

“Do exactly what you'd normally do. We're on top of this, like I told you.”

“Sam figured the FBI is using her to get him. It's like he's psychic. I don't like it.”

“Of course he did. Sam's a genius, Johnny. He'll get her and we'll get him and the FBI will clean it all up. That's all settled.”

“If your guys had done what they were supposed to do, she would be history and we'd all be winners already.”

“What's Sam's plan?”

“All I know is he wants me at his lodge in like ninety minutes. You know where it is, right?”

“We'll be there. Don't worry about it.”

“You just make sure this time.”

“Trust me on this.”

“‘Trust me' is what Herman said. I still don't know why he didn't tell me Sean was alive. I found that out when she called me out of the blue. So if we're going to work together in the future, I got a bone to pick with him. Because there's not going to be anybody but me for you people to work with. Right?”

“Herman has been retired because this didn't go as he'd planned. He messed up, not me.”

Russo wanted to scream. Just as he was starting to relax, the world tilts off its axis. “Who's taking his place?” Russo was already thinking about an alliance with Herman's replacement, hoping for somebody younger, sharper. “I think him and me should meet after this is over.”

“You'll love his replacement, Johnny.”

“Just remember, Lewis. If you don't get this right, I'm dead. If the men think I might fail, they see any weakness, they'll turn on me like jackals.”

“I'll see you in a little while. By the way, you might want to keep your head down when we come in. You make sure your guys don't start shooting at us, or we'll respond and you'll be recruiting their replacements for the next six months.”

“Remember, none of my guys get whacked accidentally.”

“We'll be completely surgical. It's what we do.”

Johnny felt better. Lewis was an amazing individual, and Johnny had no choice but to trust him as he had before. What Sam didn't know was that his bodyguards understood that their futures lay with Johnny-that Sam's rule was done. Sam was dying but, as strong as Sam was, that could take another couple of years, and Johnny wasn't nearly as patient a man as Sam was.