“Hello,” I said.
“I thought we were playing golf?” Ty asked.
“Business never sleeps,” I reminded him.
He groaned, but then again this guy at the age of fifty probably still worked more than me.
“There is a problem.” The voice on the line belonged to Ranier.
My heart sank.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, we went to talk to the Scarlucci’s and they didn’t really take too kindly to us trying to meddle with their business. We expected they’d try the tough routine, but then they wouldn’t back down, no matter how hard we pressed. I thought we were going to end up in a firefight, which we were prepared for. At least until they outnumbered us. Vinnie and I got out of there as quickly as we could.”
“Glad you guys made it out. I’m sorry I asked you to do that,” I said. “I should have thought of another way.”
“Nah, I think you did the right thing. But now these guys have probably expedited their timeline and I’m afraid all we did was pour a fire hydrant full of gasoline on a forest fire. It’s going to get intense. Word is out that this woman has ties with us and so now she is fair game. It’s open season. You should get that girl into hiding fast.”
“I hear you,” I said.
I quickly hung up. “Ty, I’ve got to run. I’ve got a family emergency.”
Without even waiting for Ty to respond, I hopped in the golf cart and sped off like crazy leaving him stranded on hole eight with a very confused look on his face.
When I got back to the parking lot I left the golf cart parked and sprinted to my car, jumped in, and sped off out of the country club parking lot like a bat out of hell.
Ignoring virtually all traffic laws I sped down the road towards Libby’s house. I was about ten minutes away. I just prayed I might make it in time.
I quickly dialed her number. She answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Libby! You’ve got to get out of there,” I said.
“What?”
“Listen to me. You have to pack what you can and get out of your house as fast as possible. Drive to my place; no one will discover you there.”
“Mason? What are you talking about?”
“Libby! Just do it. They are coming! Do you get that! They are coming!”
I instantly heard glass breaking, followed by the unmistakable roar of machine gun fire.
Libby screamed in my ear. And then there was silence. The line was dead.
Libby…
“Libby!” I screamed.
I floored the accelerator.
CHAPTER 12
Libby
I dropped the phone and hit the floor.
My face planted right into the hardwood smashing my nose and sending pain rocketing through my head, but I didn’t dare make a sound or move. What was happening? This was some alternate reality nightmare; it was not real. I refused to believe it was real. Because if it was real then I was right in the middle of it. And I had only seconds to live.
I’d been reading quietly on the couch, enjoying a nice Saturday off when Mason called. It was so much easier to get into a story and remove yourself from the real world when you didn’t have to worry about dying. The irony was almost amusing. I was really starting to believe that I was going to be ok.
Then the phone rang. Mason was frantic, screaming at me to pack up and leave. What he was saying almost didn’t make sense and at first I hadn’t even realized it was him. I didn’t check the caller ID.
And then the windows exploded with rapid gunfire. Instinctively I dove to the floor, dropping my phone. And now I was still there, waiting for the nightmare to be over and hoping I was still ok when I woke up.
But this was no dream. This was reality and I had to move.
The gunshots were growing louder. Was there more than one person shooting? I had zero experience with machine guns or the damage they could do, but it sounded to me like at least two or three people shooting at me.
They’d come to kill me. Something pushed them over the edge and the Scarlucci family decided I was just too much trouble to meddle with. And now I was going to be taken out in a hail of bullets. This was not the way in which I thought I might one day leave this earth. I had it all mapped out. I was going to die in my warm bed surrounded by chubby grandchildren and loving family.
That’s how everyone was supposed to go. Why was my world being cut short? I hadn’t done anything that terrible in my life.
The tears began to fall, but I tried to snap myself out of it. I had to move. I couldn’t lie there like a fish and just wait for them to kill me. If I was going to die at least I was going to die trying to fight, trying to save myself.