Peril

CARUSO

Caruso glanced back to where Labriola sat sprawled in the backseat of the car. “Batman wants to have a meeting,” Caruso said, the cell phone held a couple of inches from his right ear. “Wants us to come over to his place.”

Labriola laughed. “You hear that, Tony? The guy I hired to find your wife, he wants to have a meeting. Ain’t that interesting?”

Tony said nothing, but merely sat, tense and agitated, like someone who’d set upon a course he now doubted.

Labriola chuckled. “What’s the matter, Tony? You don’t look all that sociable.”

“I just want to talk to Sara,” Tony answered weakly.

“Sure you do.” Labriola laughed. “But first I want to see the guy I forked all that cash over to.” He turned to Caruso. “Tell him okay. Tell him we’re on our way.”

Minutes later they were rumbling over the Brooklyn Bridge, the skyline of Manhattan a glittering wall before them.

Labriola drew in a long breath. “I hate Brooklyn,” he said quietly. He leaned forward and squeezed Caruso’s shoulders. “I hate Brooklyn, Vinnie.”

“Yes, sir,” Caruso told him.

Labriola dropped back in the seat, his gaze curiously lost and bleary. “Tremont was nice,” he added.

Ten minutes later, Caruso guided the Lincoln over to the curb on West 19 Street.

Labriola rolled down the window, thrust his huge head out into the night, and glared at the building, his anger returning suddenly, burning off the oddly meditative mood that had briefly settled over him. “I ain’t walking up five fucking flights to meet this asshole,” he snarled.

“He lives on the first floor,” Caruso told him quietly.

Tony jerked open the back door. “Come on, let’s get this over with. I just want to talk to Sara.”

“Talk to her,” Labriola laughed, his great bulk still slouched in the backseat. “You need to fuck her is what you need.”

Tony whirled around. “Why do you talk like that?” he asked fiercely. “Why do you say things like that to me?”

Labriola’s eyes caught fire. “What a worthless piece of shit you are, Tony,” he sneered.

Tony’s face stiffened, and for a moment the two men stared silently at each other. Then Tony turned around and headed up the stairs.

Labriola watched him briefly, then turned to Caruso, grasped his shoulder and gave it a painful squeeze. “Don’t fuck up.”

“I won’t,” Caruso promised.

Labriola jerked open the door and surged out into the night, his heavy bulk lumbering up the stairs.

Caruso sucked in a troubled breath, pulled himself from behind the wheel, and headed up the stairs behind Labriola. The buzzer was already ringing by the time he joined him on the landing.

The door opened and a tall man in a dark suit appeared, his blue eyes ghostly in their icy glint.

“You Batman?” Labriola laughed.

“What?”

Caruso released a nervous little chuckle. “That’s what I called you,” he explained. “Mr. Labriola don’t know you by no other name.”

The man’s eyes shifted over to Labriola. “Leo Labriola,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Labriola said gruffly. “And this is my son, Tony. It’s his wife that’s missing.”

The man in the dark suit nodded. “Stark,” he said.

“So,” Labriola said, slapping his hands together. “We gonna stand in the fucking street all night, or what?”

Stark smiled quietly. “Please come in,” he said.

Caruso trailed along, following Labriola and Tony into the shadowy interior of Stark’s apartment, where Mortimer stood silently in a far corner of the room.

“Would anyone like a drink?” Stark asked.

“We ain’t here to socialize,” Labriola said. He stepped forward, leaving a space between Caruso and Tony. “I paid you a lot of money, but you didn’t find my son’s wife.”

“No, I didn’t,” Stark replied evenly. He nodded toward Mortimer. “But my assistant, Mr. Dodge, did.”

“Mr. Dodge,” Labriola bellowed. “You trust your… assistant?”

“Yes.”

“You trust him like I trust Vinnie?”

“I would trust him with my life,” Stark said.

Labriola laughed. “Okay, so this fucking guy… Mr. Dodge… he wouldn’t short you, would he?”

Stark smiled. “I said I’d trust him with my life. Not my money.”

Labriola’s eyes seemed to leap with canine joy. “So you already know about this fucking guy? How he was gonna short you?”

“I know that he found the woman you’re looking for,” Stark said. “And I know that you’re going to forget that he found her.”

Labriola seemed unable to process Stark’s response. He glanced back and forth between Caruso and his son, then leveled his eyes on Stark. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about a woman,” Stark said coolly. “Her name is Sara, I believe. And she no longer exists for any of you.”

Tony stepped forward slightly. “I’m not looking for her,” he said. “You see her, you can tell her I’m not looking.” He turned to Labriola. “Let’s go, Dad.”

Labriola didn’t move. His eyes remained on Stark. “Who the fuck you think you’re talking to, asshole?” he sneered.

Stark’s voice turned steely. “Here’s what’s you do,” he said. “You. Leave. Sara. Labriola. Alone.”

Labriola squinted hard, as if trying to bring something very small into focus. Then he glanced unbelievingly at Caruso. “You hear this fucking guy?” he bellowed. “You hear how he talks to me?” He laughed, but edgily, as his gaze shot from Caruso to Tony, then back to Stark. “You a fag?”

Stark faced him silently.

“I asked you a question,” Labriola said. “Are you a fag?”

Stark gave no answer.

“ ’Cause you must be a fag if you think you’re gonna fuck with me. ”

Stark stared at Labriola without expression.

“Or maybe you think I’m a fag,” Labriola sneered. He stepped forward and with surprising speed yanked a thirty-eight snub-nosed pistol from his jacket pocket and aimed it at Stark. “You ready to die, fuckhead?”

Stark said nothing, but Caruso saw a dark gleam come into his eyes, as if something important had suddenly occurred to him.

“I asked you a question,” Labriola said.

Stark faced him silently.

Tony eased forward and stretched his hand toward Labriola. “Give me that, Dad,” he said.

Labriola jerked the gun from his son’s reach. “Shut the fuck up, Tony,” he barked, his eyes still on Stark. “You look a little fucked up, Batman,” he said. His eyes slid over to Caruso. “This guy look a little fucked up to you, Vinnie?”

Caruso nodded.

Labriola thrust his hand forward, snapped back the pistol’s metal cock, then stepped forward and pressed it against Stark’s forehead. “Check this asshole out, Vinnie.”

“Stop it, Dad,” Tony said.

Labriola paid no attention. “Do it, Vinnie!”

Caruso came around behind Stark and began patting him down, then suddenly stopped cold and drew a nine-millimeter automatic from beneath Stark’s arm.

“Gimme it,” Labriola snapped.

Caruso placed the pistol in Labriola’s outstretched hand.

Labriola stepped back and smiled at Stark. “Nobody fucks with Leo Labriola.”

“What now?” Stark asked coolly.

Labriola laughed. “What now?” he asked mockingly. “Now we go for a little ride.”