Quinn said, “I got this way from eating shrimps. No offense.”
Looks were exchanged between the two.
“You want a piece of me?” Hugo snarled.
“Looks like that’s all there is.”
“Hey,” I said, “we’re all on the same team here.”
Hugo noticed the architect and his wife tied up in the back seat of Quinn’s car. “Who are they?” he asked.
“They’re going to tell me two things: the layout of Joe’s house and how to breach his panic room.”
CHAPTER 46
I’d completed my chat with the architect and his wife and just begun the final run-through with the circus army when Sal Bonadello called.
“Joe’s making a move on your wife and kid.”
I’d expected that. In a normal world, I would have had Callie take Janet and Kimberly to my headquarters for safekeeping, but this wasn’t a normal world; it was Janet’s world. I trusted Callie to protect them, but I feared Joe might firebomb the house from a distance.
So last night I’d placed a call to Kimberly and explained the situation. I told her to find a way to get her mom out of the house until I called. I told her wherever she went, she’d be safe because Callie would follow them.
“You got enough guys to handle the threat?” I asked Sal.
Besides getting me into Chris Unger’s office, this was the part of the plan where I needed Sal’s help. I wanted his men guarding Janet’s house in case anything went wrong.
“DeMeo put a contract on you for a million bucks. Told all the families, then called me, said grab your family and hold them hostage.”
“You think he sent some of his guys anyway?”
“I do. It would be just like that rat bastard not to trust me.”
“You running that charity and all.”
“The Mothers of Sicily,” he said. “So, did you get your family somewhere safe?”
“I hope so.”
“Is your wife pissed at you?”
“Ex-wife. And yeah, she’s pissed. Like always.”
“Ain’t they all,” he said.
I finished briefing the circus performers. Quinn checked their equipment. Hugo and I called Victor and gave him an update.
Next, I called Kathleen.
“How’s it hanging, cowboy?” she asked.
“Boring stuff , these Homeland conferences,” I lied.
“Anyone famous there?”
“Besides me? Not really.”
“You’re probably hanging out with one of those pretty high school girls who couldn’t get into the movies.”
“Like, that’s so totally random,” I said.
She laughed. “Don’t work too hard, lover boy. I’m expecting the full treatment when you come home.”
“And you’ll get it,” I said.
“Speaking of which …”
“Can’t say yet. Sometimes these things last a couple days, sometimes more.”
“Until then,” she said, and we hung up.
And so it was time.
CHAPTER 47
There was no getting around the noise. Between the Hummer and the Winnebago, we were screwed if we tried to drive within a mile of the chain link fence.
That’s why I needed the PEPS weapon.
Hugo, Quinn, and I were in the Hummer. The architect and his wife were in the trunk of Quinn’s rental car, and the little people were in the Winnebago. Quinn was a tight squeeze in any car, and tighter than normal in the Hummer.
“Try not to breathe on me,” Hugo said to Quinn.
“Why did you bring a Winnebago?” Quinn asked. “There are only ten of you. I thought you could get at least thirty in one of those little clown cars.”
“We could,” said Hugo, “but where would we fit the net and trampolines?”
“Good point,” Quinn said.
I drove slowly to the highway, the Winnebago close behind me. Then I headed south while the clowns sat tight. I drove past the dirt and gravel road that led to Joe DeMeo’s place, and Quinn caught a glint of something: a belt buckle, gun barrel, or cigarette butt. Whatever it was, there were probably two of them guarding the
