Gregor dove out of the back seat, he rolled and came up firing. Emptying his clip he scattered the men coming from the house. On the run, he used the parked cars for cover while he reloaded. Cass and I crawled out my door and down a small embankment that led to the pond. Moving quickly over the wet ground we headed toward the house. I pushed my way up through tall cattails. A pair of legs in wool slacks moved in front of me. I pulled the trigger on the Mossberg, the buck shot cut a wide path through the water grasses and the man went down screaming.
Springing to my feet I ran for the house. A shirtless punk spun from the porch and fired three wild shots before I blew him back through a picture window, glass and man both tumbled into the house. A huge form rose up beside me, I heard Cass’ gun go off, the man tumbled over grabbing his fountaining throat. From the porch I leapt into the ruined window. Cass was in mid-air following me when something hit her, she twisted and blood bloomed from her upper body. She fell sliding across the floor. On a wide staircase I sensed movement and fired without thought. A fat man with a bad rug slid down the stairs leaving a red stain behind him. Dragging Cass behind an obese sofa I checked her wound.
“Goddamn it Mo, they shot me.”
“Sure did baby girl.” Bullets struck the sofa, bursting the upholstery and filling the air with floating tufts of down.
“Kill Sabatini, do that for me,” she said. No organs had been hit, but she was bleeding profusely. “Leave me and go get him. Damn it, Mo.”
“Forget it kiddo, I’m not leaving you.”
Shots thudded into the sofa and floor around us. Popping my head up multiple muzzles flashed from the stairs. We were trapped between the men outside who were firing at Gregor and the men on the stairs. A bullet took out two inches of masonry next to my head.
Gregor spun across the hood of a Mercedes, blood bursting from his hip. He crawled for cover behind the car but bullets were raining down on him from the second story.
The time for choosing was over. Tearing a strip from my shirt so Cass could stanch the bleeding I said, “Don’t go nowhere baby girl.” Jumping up I let out a wild war cry and charged the stairway. Firing on the run I vaulted the steps, a young man with long jet black hair fell gripping his bleeding gut. I leapt over him and kept moving. The second story hall split off in two directions. To the left I could hear the automatic fire that was being dumped down on Gregor. I ran to the door and pumped four loads of double aught through it. Their rifles went silent. Through the grapefruit sized holes I saw a man hanging limply out the window. Racking a fresh shell into the Mossberg I stormed down the hall kicking doors open. Moving into a bedroom that was bigger than my house I found three party girls in Frederick’s best huddled in the corner. Their eyes went wide when they saw me. I tried to give them a calming smile, but in my battle blood mood it must have looked like a deadly grimace, they sank farther back into the wall. A way too skinny redhead with fake tits flicked her eyes involuntarily at the bed. I rolled to my right just as flame exploded from under the bed and bullets ripped up the wall where I had been standing. From the floor I emptied the clip of my.45. I could hear the meaty thud of bullets striking the flesh I couldn’t see. Rich red ran from under the bed, mixing the smell of iron with cordite. Dropping the clip on my.45 I slapped in a fresh one and slipped it into my belt. Leaving the trembling girls, I sprinted back down the hall. In a large bathroom I heard a sound behind the shower curtain, snapping it back I found a man crumpled up in the fetal position sobbing.
“I’m just an accountant… don’t kill me…” I did a quick pat search and came up with his wallet while he blathered on, “I have a wife and kids… I’m not one of them really…” I left him in the tub sobbing. He wasn’t Sabatini, he wasn’t even Italian. Clearing the second floor I moved back down the stairs. Outside the shooting had mostly subsided. Running to the sofa I discovered Cass was no longer there. Dread swept over me. Turning back to the room I found three bloody men aiming pistols up at me. Fuck it at least I wasn’t going out alone. Gripping my pistol in one hand and the shotgun in other I got ready for one last charge. Leo stepped out of a doorway and stood between me and the three killers. His hands were empty, palms up.
“You are one incredible pain in the ass, you know that Mr. McGuire?” Looking natty as ever, he smiled.
“What now Leo, do I start pulling the trigger and see how many die before your boys can drop me?”
“As much fun as that sounds, Mr. Sabatini and your lady friend would love to have a chat with you. So why don’t we delay the whole macho blaze of glory act at least for the moment, ok?”
I moved past the stairs and the goons with their guns aimed at me. They hated not to blow me away, their blood was as high as mine I’m sure.
I set the shotgun down in the oak paneled hallway, but kept the.45 firmly in my hand. Leo watched me without much interest. He opened the door into a large den that would have done Hemingway proud. A lion’s head stared at me from over a fireplace. A myriad collection of other dead beasts lined the walls. Cass was sitting on a leather sofa next to a fit looking dark haired man of maybe forty. He had a sharp Roman nose and intelligent eyes that made me feel like whatever I was thinking he was two steps ahead of me. He was holding a small automatic against Cass’ temple. Leo stepped out of the room, closing the door behind himself.
“Check and mate. I have your queen, now why don’t you put your gun down and we can see if there is any way to salvage your life,” he said in a soft, almost melodic voice.
“I don’t think so, no, I think I’d rather blow a hole in your ugly mug.”
“Then what? There’s a room full of guns out there waiting for you.”
“Yup.”
“Are you suicidal?”
“Yup,” I said with a slight smile, screw him if he didn’t get it.
“But you do care about her? This little skirt. This twist that has caused so much trouble. You care about her.” He pushed the barrel harder into her head.
“Kill him,” she whispered, she was pale from loss of blood and her eyes were starting to glaze with shock.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said, “I understand your attraction, our little minx is one of the best pieces of ass I’ve ever had. But she has a real problem with loyalty.”
“Shoot him Moses!” Cass pleaded.
“See what I mean?” Sabatini tapped her skull with the pistol, causing her to wince. “After all she and I have shared, now she wants you to kill me.”
“He’s lying, Moses, kill him.”
“Truth? Shall we talk about the truth?” Sabatini said, “She came to me, offered where I could find an associate who had strayed from the pack.”
“I didn’t.” Cass was losing gas.
“I paid her ten large to rat out Stolloti.”
“It was my sister.” Cass’ voice was becoming a hissed whisper. Sabatini slapped the pistol up under her chin, she let out a high gasp.
“Hurt her again, and it’s over,” I said, starting to tighten on the trigger.
“Even if it means my men kill you, which you have said you don’t care about, interesting problem we have here.” He turned it over in his mind looking for the angle.
“I just figured it out, I’ve been looking at it backwards all this time,” I said smiling at him.
“That’s a bit cryptic.”
“I was wondering why go to all this trouble to take out one girl. So what if she saw Gino get whacked. Get rid of the hitter, cover your tracks, then who cares who she tells. You kill all of these yourself? Huh, killer?” I motioned to the trophies hung on the walls.