Page 24 of Bad Medicine
Francesca followed me down several more flights of metal industrial grade stairs, along the original crew passageway and past the living quarters, full of bunks, and then through the armory. Seeing her eyes light up when she glanced at the rows and rows of weapons gave me a chuckle; you’d have thought I’d taken her to a jewelry store from the way she was window shopping.
Finally reaching our destination, I spun the handle to open the stupid-thick hatchway door, but when I entered the room, all hell was breaking loose.
Enzo had three guys tied to chairs—pretty standard, as far as things in The Shed went—and his knuckles were already bloody.
Fucker was supposed to save some face bashing for me.
I noticed Benny, standing silent against the far wall, glaring around the room like the brooding fucker he had become.
What was unusual, however, was the woman crying in the corner, Trick standing guard over her like a pit bull.
I didn’t have a chance to ask any questions, however, because the second Enzo spotted Francesca, he pounced on her, the two of them kissing like he’d just come back from the war or something.
I tried to ignore the niggling feeling in my gut that tried to tell me kissing someone like that wouldn’t be half bad, and instead focused on the three stooges, wondering which one I was gonna get a chance to pummel for information.
Cracking my knuckles in anticipation, I put all thoughts of hot doctors and desperate kisses out of my head and prepared to get my hands dirty.
The night was really looking up.
Chapter ten
Rocco
“Please,”theguymoaned,holding one hand to his face where Francesca had just roundhouse kicked him like a goddamn ninja. “Someone stop her.”
Yeah, nah. There was no way in hell anyone was gonna stop her. Enzo was looking at her like she was a goddess, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he watched his wife work. As the piece of shit we were questioning crawled toward his chair, Francesca moved up behind him, grabbing him by the hair and pressing her gun to the underside of his chin while he cried.
Damn. This woman was nuts.
I mean, she was cool and all, but I was glad she was Enzo’s problem and not mine. I liked the woman, but I wouldn’t want to be the man responsible for tryin’ to rein her in. But looking at my friend now, I had a feeling he was looking forward to the challenge.
“What now, Andy?” Francesca taunted, the gun digging into the soft flesh on the underside of the guy’s jaw. “You have anything to tell us now?”
When the guy—Andy, apparently—began to cry, Francesca shook her head, biting her lip in an effort not to laugh.
I had no such qualms, however, and let out a rough chuckle at the scene before me. Hell, even Enzo looked amused, and he really had no reason to be. Not one of these assholes had provided any information on what the hell was going on in this city.
No word on who was after Francesca.
Nothing on the mysterious Chemist who was selling his product on streets that we controlled.
Just a whole lot of snot, which was both gross and hilarious.
Francesca opened her mouth, surely to deal Andy-boy another emasculating blow, when the sound of shouting reached us through the thick door. Moving quickly, I drew my own gun from the back of my pants, stepping to the side of the doorway to prepare to cover the room if our guest needed to be dealt with quickly.
Francesca had taken up position on the other side from me, her own gun at the ready, while Enzo stood in the center of the room, arms crossed, just waiting to see who would dare interrupt his business.
The door opened, the hulking figure of Massimo, one of our inner circle, taking up nearly the entire space. I relaxed, watching as Masi shoved a struggling teenager through the door ahead of him, the kid’s long hair and gangling arms flailing around as he struggled.
“Get your fuckin’ hands off me, man.”
“Watch your mouth,” Masi growled at him, his deep voice threatening.
“You have no idea who you’re messin’ with, man,” the kid continued, completely oblivious to the actual danger in the room. “When Frankie the Wolf finds out what you did to me, you’re gonna regret it, man. Just you wait.”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Enzo snarled, and this time I did laugh. Enzo had literallyjustfound out today that Francesca had started her own criminal empire in the week she had been in town, recruiting followers and making contacts under the name Frankie the Wolf. He was clearly still coming to terms with the fact that she had pulled a fast one on him, and this kid knowing more than he did was likely to put him over the edge.
Hearing the menace in Enzo’s voice, the kid looked back toward the now closed door behind him before turning back to Enzo, his bravado just a little less than it was a second ago.
