“Climb onto the stool,” I commanded, waiting for him to follow instructions.
He took a seat on the stool and I jumped onto the bar, pulling the second duffel bag across the wood and dumped the contents of it onto the bar.
“Time for your reward,” I said, grabbing the rubber band. I pulled the hand he was using to hold his maimed one and wrapped the rubber around his arm, tying the knot tight before I flicked his skin and found the vein. I stuck the needle into the vile and filled it with pure heroine.
“You about ready to tell me where my brother and my woman are?”
“I thought you said you weren’t going to kill me,” he cried.
“This shit didn’t kill Blackie did it? It won’t kill you,” I insisted.
He dropped his head, stared at his hand and watched the blood drip onto the floor.
“You’ll pay for this,” he swore.
“I can’t wait,” I retorted.
“I’m the boss!”
“No, I’m the motherfucking boss,” I corrected.
“They’re in the cellar of Vic’s café on 18th Avenue,” he said.
“I find out you’re lying I will kill you,” I promised.
He lifted his eyes to mine.
“That’s where they are,” he cried. “Enjoy them while you can, someone will find them, and everything you’ve done to me, you’ll watch be done to them,” he vowed, struggling with his words.
I stared into his eyes and saw defeat fill them.
This is for Blackie.
I plunged the syringe into his arm and emptied the vile into his veins.
Swim. Take him away.
There was one more score to settle, and I saved the best for last.
I jumped off the bar and dragged the stool to the center of the room and reaching into my bag one last time and pulling the container of lighter fluid out and a box of matches.
This is for Reina.
I circled him, emptying the bottle of lighter fluid around him creating a perfect circle before I pulled one match from the box. I stared into Jimmy’s eyes as they fought to remain open. I leaned close, making sure I still had his attention before delivering one last message.
“Tell Vic I said hello,” I whispered and swiped the match across the bar.
I stared at the flame and remembered Reina’s scars, the ones she gave me freely, the ones that would forever mark the woman I loved. Then I dropped the match and watched the ring of fire form.
Dance motherfucker.
I gave myself a minute to watch the beauty of it all, to watch as the flames slowly chased Jimmy, crawling up the legs of the stool, capturing his feet first and traveling up his legs. The heroine was doing its job, and he was helpless against the torment of the flame.
Just like Danny.
Just like Reina.
I grabbed my duffel bags and turned around; Jimmy’s whimpers filled my ears as I strode out of Temptations to the men standing outside waiting for me.
“I got the location,” I said, dropping the duffel bags to the floor. “Give it a minute or two. When he screams put the fire out and leave the drugs next to his body. Then call Jones.” Pipe’s eyes widened in realization. Jones was the cop he kept on the club’s bankroll, the same cop that fixed the mess with Blackie’s truck yesterday. The cop that would make the front page of the newspaper for taking down New York’s next notorious mobster. “He and his partner are waiting on word to make the arrest,” I said, making everything perfectly clear.
I turned to Bianci. “Tell Vic, a deal is a deal and when I give my word, I don’t go against it,” I said, removing my gloves and shoving them into my pocket.
“Riggs, gonna need a hand,” I said, as I straddled my bike.
“I got you,” he said hoarsely.
I revved my engine, closed my eyes for a moment, and as Jimmy screamed I peeled away from Temptations.
I’m coming to take your last scar, Sunshine.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I forgot what the world was like before it slipped from beneath my feet. I waited for my life to flash before my eyes, the poignant moments I was never supposed to forget, but they didn’t come.
Maybe it wasn’t the end.
I took deep breaths through my nose, fighting the dryness of my mouth and repelling against the handkerchief that threatened to choke me. I didn’t know how much more I could take and wished for peace. So, when the sound of the door crashing against the wall came I didn’t dread it. The twenty-four-hour mark had to have hit by now and it would all be over.
It was my time.
Goodbye, world.
Goodbye, Jack.
“Holy shit,” said a voice I didn’t recognize as one of my three captors. It was huskier, gravely and vaguely familiar but I didn’t dwell on it. If I put a face to the voice, then it was just one more person I’d have to say goodbye to.
“He’s barely got a pulse,” the voice said.
Fading.
Goodbye.
Then it came to me. The sense of touch. Someone else’s touch. Strong hands touched my shoulders, calloused fingers traveled gently up my neck and paused on my cheeks. The fingertips pulled the tape from my mouth, prying my dry lips further open to remove the handkerchief.