Cure

25

March 26, 2010

Friday, 12:15 p.m.

Louie was in seventh heaven. He’d not had such fun for a good decade. From the moment Brennan had suggested they kidnap Laurie Montgomery’s kid to the moment he’d just slid into his favorite booth of his restaurant, he’d been totally engrossed in planning the operation. The kidnapping idea had been pure genius, and Louie gave Brennan full credit. First, it was a great way to kick the woman in the teeth for having been instrumental in putting Paulie in the slammer for more than a decade. Louie hadn’t heard that story and had been surprised by it. He’d also been surprised by Paulie’s prohibition of killing the woman. But in many respects, this was going to be better in that she’d suffer more. In Louie’s mind, when a person got killed, they didn’t suffer at all.

Second and foremost, the kidnapping would surely take the pesky woman’s attention away from investigating Satoshi, which would be to everybody’s relief.

And third, it could result in serious pocket change. Louie’s last kidnapping, more than fifteen years ago, had netted for the Vaccarro group more than ten million dollars, making Louie eager to try another go-round. Unfortunately, Paulie wasn’t of the same mind, and despite the success, nixed another. In Paulie’s estimation, from hearing some horror stories, kidnappings were just too dangerous despite the potentially big payoff.

Louie shook his head and laughed. There was a certain irony about the fact that he was now about to mount his second kidnapping, partially based on retribution for Paulie, who had kept him from doing a repeat years earlier. This time he knew it wouldn’t bring in quite the same money. The first one had been a Wall Street type whose net worth hovered around a hundred million. This time, the principals were a couple of salaried doctors, and he knew he couldn’t count on more than a million or so, but worrying about that was premature and even secondary. The reason for taking the kid was to get Laurie Stapleton out of the picture.

“Hey, Benito!” Louie yelled at the top of his lungs, causing his own ears to ring. No one had come out of the kitchen, and Louie didn’t know how long he had for lunch, since he was counting on getting a call any minute from Brennan. At that moment Brennan, Carlo, and two younger guys who had been working for Louie for close to four years, Duane Mackenzie and Tommaso Deluca, along with Hisayuki Ishii’s two lieutenants, were sitting in a stolen white Dodge van outside Dr. Laurie Montgomery-Stapleton’s house on 106th, waiting for their victim to appear.

Over the previous hour Brennan had more than fulfilled his promise to glean information about Laurie from the Net. Carlo had made himself useful by obtaining the stolen vehicle, which they planned to dump. All was ready for the snatch.

In response to Louie’s sudden yell, which had rattled some of the glasses hanging over the bar, Benito came crashing out of the swinging door leading into the kitchen. He was full of apology, explaining that he’d heard nothing of Louie’s arrival, as he usually did.

“I had no idea you were here, boss. Believe me!”

Louie reached out and gently laid fingers on Benito’s forearm. He was, after all, in a gracious mood the way everything was going. “It’s okay,” he said, trying to calm the overexcited man. “It’s okay,” he repeated, before asking what was for lunch.

“Your favorite!” Benito said with alacrity, glad to have something on hand to make amends. “Penne Bolognese with fresh ground Parmesan.”

Louie watched Benito retreat into the kitchen. Still thinking about the upcoming kidnapping, he’d come up with yet another one of its benefits. With Hisayuki’s acquiescence and participation, he felt more certain that the oyabun would have no reason to suspect that Louie had any complicity in the disappearance and murder of Susumu and Yoshiaki.

Suddenly the phone at Louie’s elbow jangled. Louie grabbed it as his heart skipped a beat. It was Brennan, as he expected.