“No, you’re not in danger,” Micksaid. “But take extra precautions untilthis is over.”
“Which means it’s not over?” Brentasked.
Mick nodded, as a weary look appearedin his eyes. “That’s what it means,yes,” he said.
Bobby exhaled. “Another ordinary day in Uncle Mick’s world,”he said, and then smiled that charming smile that drew men to him. He was, Mick knew, a man’s man too.
But Charles couldn’t find thelevity. “Give us a sec,” he said to hissons.
Brent extended his hand. “Bye, Uncle Mick,” he said, and Bobby gaveMick a half handshake/hug, and headed for his family’s waiting SUV.
“What’s up?” Mick asked Charles.
“What’s going on with you and Roznow?” Charles asked him. “I saw how youwere holding her. You don’t want to lether out of your sight, do you?”
Mick wasn’t about to admit hisvulnerability, not even to his brother. “We’ll get through it,” was all he was going to say about it.
“Still going to Belarus?” Charlesasked him.
“No.”
“Still letting her go to London?”Charles asked.
“She was headed to California.”
“You know what I mean.”
Mick hesitated. “No. She’s not moving to London.”
“That’s her call, Mick.”
“Not anymore it’s not. She’s going to Philly, with me. And we will have that conversation.”
Charles smiled and squeezed Mick’sbroad shoulder. “About damn time,” hesaid. “Does she know her plans havechanged?”
Mick wondered if it would still be abattle. “Not yet.”
“And if she doesn’t agree to go backto Philly?”
“She doesn’t have a choice anymore,”Mick made clear. “Somebody targetedher. Not me, her. It’s in my hands now. She doesn’t have a choice.”
Charles nodded. “Damn right,” he said. He wasn’t adverse to slamming down the hammertoo, when it came to his family’s safety. “Just try to be diplomatic about it, Mick. Don’t try to bend her to yourwill, and none of that hard-arm shit. Roz is a strong-willed woman just like you’re a strong-willed man. That’s why you married her. Don’t hold it against her.”
Mick was about to respond when hesuddenly frowned. Everybody frowned andlooked, because they heard it too. Theyheard the sound of helicopters in the sky, and they all looked up. Four choppers were circling from the north,south, east, and west, and they were hovering over the hospital.
And just when Mick was about to ordereverybody inside, they heard the sirens. Police sirens. And when they allsaw what looked like a sea of police cars heading straight toward the front ofthe hospital, where they were standing, everybody from the men at the top ofthe steps to the women down below, braced themselves. Was there some major mob figure in thathospital that the cops were coming to get, or were they bringing some majorkiller in? Nobody knew. And not one Sinatra seemed to understand thattheir very own was a major mob figure too. They didn’t put two and two together.
Had the Gabrinis been there, they allwould have understood what it meant to have an army of cop cars, with sirensblaring, heading their way. The questionwould not have been why the cops were there, but which Gabrini were they thereto get.
It became crystal clear who they wereafter when the police officers got out of their cars, all in U.S. SWAT gear,with most of them pointing assault rifles at the family. And then four agents, two with ATF written ontheir jackets and two with FBI written on theirs, jumped out of the onlynon-squad car in the group and hurried up the steps where the men werestanding.
Their hearts were pounding, as theyall wondered why did they seem to be coming straight for them, but the FBIspecial agent in charge didn’t leave them in suspense long. He stepped in front of his colleagues and,with his badge drawn, stopped right in front of Mick Sinatra.
And it was only then did they realizethe obvious.
Even Big Daddy Sinatra, who knew allabout his brother’s underhanded dealings all over the world, was shocked.
Roz, still reeling from what happenedto her, was staring too. And she realized,in that moment, that she should have known all along what man on earth wouldcommand that kind of police response, and on foreign Canadian soil atthat! But even she still could notbelieve it. Until the agent spoke.
“Mr. Michello Sinatra,” the specialagent in charge began, “also known as Mick the Tick, also known as the boss ofall assholes, you are hereby under arrest for racketeering, for trafficking inillegal commodities, and for four counts of felonious murder. And that’s for starters. Turn your ass around!”
Mick was shocked by the way thatcopper was talking to him, but he also knew what he was up against. He slowly turned around, as they frisked andhandcuffed him, and he found himself facing his wife. Roz heart dropped through her shoe when sherealized it was no dream, and she began hurrying up those steps toward Mick.
“Get her,” Mick said anxiously to hisbrother, knowing those bastard cops would be more than happy to arrest his wifefor interference in an arrest, and Brent and Bobby both hurried down thosesteps and stopped Roz in her tracks.
And as another agent read him hisMiranda warning, Mick stood there stoically and allowed them to handcuff himwithout attempting to fight the inevitable. He knew it was a long time coming. He’d been successfully evading authorities all of his adult life. And those raids should have been a warningsign. But it still stunned him to hiscore.
The idea that their Mick was about tobe jailed, stunned every Sinatra onsite. All of the Sinatra women were out of the SUV, and Jenay was hurrying toRoz’s side, as those agents made their arrest.
Even the women knew this wasn’tsupposed to ever happen. Mick was alwaysconsidered too big to bring down. Thatwas the prevailing wisdom even in law enforcement. That was why he’d never been arrested.
But that was then.
This was now.
CHAPTER FIVE
Three Weeks Earlier
Three weeks before the Hammer Reese/AmeliaSinatra wedding, and that ambush that nearly took Roz Sinatra out, and thearrest that shook the world, the subject of that arrest, Mick Sinatra, was inhis private gym at Sinatra Industries, his corporation, bench-pressingfour-fifty without a spotter.
The sweat poured from his shorts andsleeveless shirt and the veins pierced his massive biceps as he strained torack it. He
