That feeling of having been somewhere before is a very hard thing to shake when it hits you. It is particularly hard to shake if you had actually been there before, and not just in the respect that you happen to be standing in the exact same spot where you stood a year ago or the last time you were in town, but the actual fact of existing within the exact same moment as you already had. this is the precise feeling that Leer now was busy experiencing without letting anyone else in the room know it. Fortunately, two of the people in the room were absorbed in their wounds, though remarkably less than one might have imagined given the severity of the injuries they had received at the hands of Victor. Max was in the process of stifling the urge to go for round three with Victor after seeing him move so flawlessly, not only managing Sal's goons but handling Sal himself by barely acknowledging the attack Sal had ordered upon him. Sal was quiet, pensive and absolutely glued to Victor's facial expressions and body language. He was waiting for Victor to explain what he meant when he said that Tommy Levito didn't have the missing JumpJuice. Leer returned Sal's piercing gaze. Instantly, he remembered what was going to happen next.
"Excuse me," Victor said politely as he quickly moved to the far side of the room. There, a full set of armor was displayed complete with a full length shield. He deftly removed the shield from it's mount in the display and just as nimbly changed direction back toward a large double glass door. Victor opened the door with his right hand as he raised the shield with his left precisely as a projectile, the approximate size and weight of a large shot put ricocheted off of the shield. Immediately, he lunged back inside the room, slamming the doors closed as he dove for the floor yelling,"DOWN!" just as an explosion rocked the clubhouse blowing the glass from the doors and separating them from their hinges. The curtains, the rug and a chair near to the doors were on fire. Sal was surprisingly quick to his feet and was extinguishing the flames before they had a chance to spread.
After the smoke had cleared a bit, Max, Sal and Victor surveyed the damage to the outside of the doorway and the face of the building below. The tiny balcony had been blown off except where the supports were strongest, two points where the balcony attached to the outer wall, now clinging to what remained of the narrow floor, the shattered remnants of the guardrail. The facade of the building was blackened and the grounds had a whole the size of an inverted VW Beetle carved out from the blast.
"How did you know?" Max asked Victor as she held him by the hand. Sal's eyes, taking it all in belied an uneasiness, she noticed, though it would be hard to determine the exact cause, the blast or the intimacy.
Leer knew far more than he was going to share anytime in the immediate future. "I had a source, but that's not what's important right now. Sal, it was one of our own," Victor said as he turned back into the room."It's Bobby." Leer paused to get a good look at Sal's reaction, nothing. "But I don't think he's in on this alone. Obviously he didn't take the shipment without help, but that's not what I mean. Someone else, a little smarter, maybe not much, but at least a little, came up with the plan." Leer noticed a little twitch in the corner of Sals lips as he said this, then he finished with, "but don't worry Sal, I'll find him. Then, I'm going to show you what I do to guys who double-cross me. Leave it to me Sal, I'll handle it, I promise." Victor's eyes were focused directly on Sal's as he said this.
"I know you will, Victor," Sal responded, then quickly dismissed both of them saying,"let me know if you need anything from me, anything. And Victor, don't let my little Maxie distract you too much, we've got another shipment rolling out tomorrow, remember." Reaching into his pocket, Sal retrieved a small handful of peanuts." Let's not lose two of them." With a single flick he tossed two nuts from their shell, into the air and caught them in his mouth as he approached the door. He did not look back.
No comments:
Post a Comment