“Oh yeah?” I said. “You’re going to call the cops?”
“Yeah,” he said with a growl in his voice.
“Good,” I whispered. “I can give them the evidence I brought with me. Wouldn’t you the love to be the douche bag that got Paulie locked up for murder? That might not sit too well with his father.”
I cracked my neck, and even though I looked calm and collected on the outside, I was terrified on the inside. I was terrified I would get killed before even getting back there. I was terrified that Josie was already dead, and I was terrified that maybe I did actually have the wrong place.
“Wait here,” he grumbled.
I watched as he shuffled to the back, presumably to fetch Paulie. I looked over at the guys eating in the deli and noticed that every single one of them had a gun on their hip. They nodded their head at me but kept a close watch, knowing I wasn’t one of them. I heard footsteps and expected to see Paulie, but instead, a large woman whose face matched the mugshot of Harry the Hammer came rushing from the back, holding her gun straight at my face. I put my hands up in the air and groaned as she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the back.
As soon as we were in the back of the store, Harry pushed me in front of her and shoved her gun into my back. The guys working in the back looked over at us and stared as we moved through the kitchen area and into an office. Straight in front of us was a gray door that looked like an old meat locker. She grabbed my arm and shoved me to the side, pointing the gun at my face. I looked over at the empty desk and realized there were no computers or filing cabinets. This was nothing but a front for the mob, and it was so ob
vious. Harry stepped up to the door and pounded with her fat fists, a gleaming stream of sweat coming from her brow.
“Fuck off,” a man’s voice shouted from inside.
“Boss,” Harry shouted. “We got company, and you ain’t gonna like it.”
We stood there as I heard shuffling on the other side of the door. Slowly, the doorknob turned and the door flew open. The man I recognized from the FBI photos as Paulie stood there looking at me. Harry grabbed me by the arm and brought me into the doorway. Paulie started laughing, his voice high-pitched and evil.
“Well, well,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “The boyfriend shows up. Won’t you come in?”
Paulie stepped to the side, and I saw Josie strapped to a chair, her head hanging down and blood dripping from her mouth and lip. She tried to pick her head up, but it just fell back down, swaying from side to side. Her blouse was torn open, and there were red marks on her skin. The ropes were tied so tightly around her ankles that skin was turning red and purple. Her hair was matted, half from sweat and tears, the other from blood. It fell loosely around her face. Immediately, my blood began to boil, and I gritted my teeth. Harry lifted the gun to the side of my head and grunted. I was going to kill both of these motherfuckers by the time the night was through, no matter what I had to do. They had hurt Josie, and now all I could see was red.
My first instinct was to punch Paulie, but the cold barrel of a gun kept me from lifting my hands. I tightened my fists at my sides and gritted my teeth, not knowing what to do at that moment. I ran forward toward Josie, but before I could get there, Harry pistol-whipped me in the back of the head, sending me down onto my knees. My head throbbed, and I felt Paulie lean down and grab me by the hair.
“I was just in the process of feeling her up,” Paulie said, laughing. “But hey, I like an audience. You can fucking watch.”
He threw my head back down, and I lifted it toward him, gritting my teeth. I stared at him for several moments, picturing myself strangling him where he was standing. He snapped his fingers in front of my face and laughed, walking back over to Josie and stroking her hair.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I said.
“Sure,” he replied sarcastically. “You know, I’m thinking it’s actually going to be the other way around. In fact, you can now be a part of the murder-suicide that I’m planning. The two lovers are racked with guilt over the murder that the boyfriend, that’s you, set up, and Josie carried out. It’s all very romantic. You can both write suicide letters, and when they find the bodies, you can be the one holding the gun. Don’t you think that’s sweet? You put her out of her misery and guilt.”
I could feel the wires pulling at my chest, and I knew that the FBI had heard everything. However, they didn’t have all the details, so I decided it would be a good idea to get as much information as possible. Paulie seemed like a complete idiot that would spill the beans without checking for a wire, and there wasn’t much more they could do before killing us. I took in a deep breath and fell back on my ass, rubbing the lump on the back of my head.
“Whose death are we supposed to have masterminded?” I asked.
“Not that it matters, but if it’ll make you feel better, it was this two-timing bookie who was skimming off the top,” he explained, taking the gun from his belt and waving it around. “Nobody steals from our family, so we sent Harry to take care of it. Unfortunately, some nosey old lady saw her, so we were forced to use your beautiful girlfriend here to take the fall. It was all too fucking easy in the end.”
I knew that the FBI had everything they needed to come in and take this operation down, but that meant that I had to keep us alive a little bit longer until they moved in. Paulie laughed and put his gun back in his belt, lifting Josie’s face up and then dropping it. He shrugged and stepped back, putting his hand to his chin again and staring at her. I knew what was coming, and I needed to brace myself. He leaned down on one knee and grabbed her tits, squeezing them hard. He moved his hands all over her body and I grimaced, wanting to do something. Harry walked back over and grabbed me, lifting me to my feet, and putting the gun back to my face. Josie screamed out in shame, twisting in her chair as much as she could. I gritted my teeth as he reared back and slapped her hard, watching her head drop down again.
I couldn’t stand any of it, not for one damn second. I couldn’t take the sounds of her screams, and I couldn’t take the vision of another man’s hands on her. I glanced over at Harry, who was looking around the room. There was a sound behind us, and I knew that was the perfect moment to make my move. As Harry turned her head to look at the doorway, I grabbed her wrist, twisting it so hard I could hear the bones popping inside and knocking the gun from her hand. She screamed and fell to her knees.
I lunged forward and tackled Paulie, throwing him to the ground and punching him repeatedly in the face. He groaned and reached for his gun, so I kneed him in the balls and threw the gun to the other side of the room. I reared my arm back and punched him hard in the face. Blood poured from his nose and mouth. Suddenly, I heard the cocking of a gun, and I froze, feeling the barrel pressing against the back of my head.
“Stop,” Harry said angrily. “Or I’ll blow your fucking brains out.”
“Freeze,” voices shouted from behind us. “Drop your weapon, and put your hands in the air.”
I slid off Paulie and leaned back against the wall, watching droves of FBI agents flood the room. I looked down at the broken skin on my knuckles and then back over at Paulie, who was laying in his own pool of blood, barely conscious. I stood up quickly and showed the agents my wiretap before bending down in front of Josie and untying the ropes from her ankles and wrists. She slowly picked her head up and smiled, rubbing her wrists. The paramedics moved me to the side and immediately starting to tend to her wounds. She looked worse than she actually was, but still, the sight of blood and bruising made me want to turn around and kick Paulie another couple times.
I sat back down against the wall as another paramedic came over to me, wiping the blood from my hands and checking out the bump on the back of the head. They said neither of us had to go into the hospital, but we were welcome to get some x-rays if we were worried. Both of us refused and decided we just wanted to get back to the headquarters so we could get all of this taken care of. I was proud of Josie, and I could see that she was more than proud of me.
Chapter 32
Josie