CHAPTER 8: A MOMENT OF REST
After driving around for a few minutes, Louie parked the cruiser in front of a small bakery in an old, dilapidated neighbourhood. Many of the buildings on the street had slime splattered all over them.
"What are we doin' here?" asked Jimmy.
"You didn't know?" said Louie, "Carmelina's is one of our fronts!"
"No kiddin'," Jimmy said, "Used to come here a lot when I was a kid."
The duo stepped out and escorted the babbling Lenny into the bakery. The first thing Louie did was jump over the counter where a panino and some sliced capicola lay abandoned.
"Nice," he said, "My lucky day!"
"Louie," Jimmy whispered, "The fuck are you doing?"
Louie assembled the capicola and bread into a sandwich and took a big bite.
"Really?"
"What?" said Louie, "I ain't eaten anythin' all night! Here, wanna bite?"
Jimmy scoffed and rolled his eyes, then headed for the back room.
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As Jimmy and Louie climbed the stairs, they kept their guns at the ready, expecting resistance. Instead, they found the corpses of both Bernucci mobsters and NRPD officers.
"Fuckin' Roark!" snapped Louie, pocketing his weapon, "He's really cleanin' house, ain't he?"
"We need to put a stop to this shit soon," Jimmy lamented, "Or none of us won't live to see morning."
"Oh, I agree…"
Without warning, Louie grabbed Lenny by collar and slammed him into a wall.
"Alright," he warned, "Time to start talkin' bucko. We nearly died bustin' you out, so you better have some answers to this shit."
"So many, many, eyes," Lenny said, tearing up, "All watching…Every move. The Alpha sees all, it knows all…"
"The fuck you talkin' about? What's an Alpha?"
"Lenny," Jimmy intervened, "You had mentioned seeing people with black eyes in the past. Did you know that all of this was gonna happen?"
"Eyes," Lenny continued, "Always watching, always judging…We are its puppets, the Slime, its strings…"
"Whose strings?" demanded Louie, "Lenny, look at me!"
Louie then slammed Lenny into the wall again, causing him to break down in tears.
"Louie," said Jimmy, "Enough! We ain't helpin' him this way. Maybe he just needs – I don't know – Some time?"
"Bah!" said Louie, releasing Lenny, "What a fuckin' waste! Pino died for nothin'."
Lenny slumped to the floor and continued sobbing.
"Come on," Louie continued, "Let's take whatever we can find and get the fuck outta here."
Jimmy searched a nearby corpse. He confiscated the man's M1911 handgun along with several mags. Louie, meanwhile, broke open a locker in the corner, which held shotguns.
"Here," he said, tossing one to Jimmy, "Should be loaded."
"Listen," Jimmy said, "Whatever happens, I just wanna say…Thank you."
"For what?" asked Louie.
"For savin' my ass time and time again. You and Manny could've left me to die at the Hiromoto warehouse, or in the woods. Hell, you were even willing to sacrifice yourself for me at the hospital."
"It wasn't for you, kid. We couldn't let the Yakuza kill you, 'cause the Don absolutely adores ya – Ya know, for bein' Tony's nephew? – And I only did what I did at the hospital 'cause we needed to find Lenny and get some answers, which in hindsight was a bad idea. So stop bein' all sentimental, alright? We ain't buddies or nothin'."
"Alright," said Jimmy, sounding unconvinced, "I got ya."
After a brief pause, Louie sighed.
"But I am impressed, kid," he said, "Anyone else who did what you did would've gotten their asses killed, so…There's that."
"Thanks," was the most Jimmy could say.
After leaving the bakery and returning to the parked cruiser, the trio heard the unmistakable crackling of static. Louie checked the police radio in the dashboard, but it had been turned off long ago.
"My radio," said Jimmy, "I left it in the back earlier."
"Grab it!" Louie commanded.
Jimmy reached into the backseat and grabbed the radio he left behind. He raised the volume but the reception was so poor, they could not fully make out what was being said.
"Sounds like Manny," said Louie, "Fucker's alive!"
"Drive around," Jimmy, "See if we can get in range."
With that, Louie started the car and hit the streets once more. As he drove around, the signal strengthened, allowing the duo to better make out what was being said.
"Guys?" Manny said over the radio, "Anyone? I need help here…We're…"
"Manny?" Jimmy said, "It's me, Jimmy. I'm with Louie and Lenny the Loon."
"I-I take offence to that nickname," Lenny said from the backseat.
"Shaddup!" snapped Louie.
"Am I fuckin' glad to hear youze!" said Manny, "I found Lucia at Armando's. The boys I sent to keep an eye on her…They didn't make it, but they kept her alive long enough for me to arrive. She was holed up in the parkin' garage by the time I got there."
"Good," said Louie, "Glad to hear that."
"We wanted to come find youze," Manny continued, "But the Slime was fuckin' everywhere, so we took refuge in the old mill near Stockton. It was mostly safe...Up until now."
"I know where that is," said Louie, "We can be there in a few minutes. How much longer can you hold your own against the Slime?"
"It ain't the fuckin' Slime that has us…It's the cops! You gotta get here, quick, 'cause it won't be long 'fore they find us!"
"The cops?" said Louie, "Aw, fuckin' Roark!"
"We have to go," Jimmy pleaded, "We have to save Lucia!"
Louie stared blankly at Jimmy.
"Er," Jimmy continued, "And Manny."
Louie chuckled and shook his head.
"What?" asked Jimmy.
"Nothin'," said Louie, "Come on, let's go save your girlfriend, eh?"
"She ain't my…"
"Yeah, yeah. Save it!"
With that, Louie drove off.