"One of them's Danny Choi, and he ain't alone. He's got Ace from the Biscuit, and..."
Squinting through the contrasts between darkness and light, Tommy finally recognized the occupants of the third car. "Damn, it's those three black jabronis who were supposed to deliver to Pucci. Something's up, Guido."
Guido's retort was scornful, like Tommy should have known better than to be cautious. "What, you're worried about Danny, of all people? It's gotta be important if
he's coming to see us, so let him in!"
"Gotcha, I'm opening the gate." Tommy hung up his cell and got out a remote for the gate. With a press of a button it creaked open, and the three vehicles casually entered the drive. They stopped a short distance from the main entrance of the mansion, one behind the other. Twelve enforcers gathered around and behind Tommy, and waited with him to see what the deal was. The occupants exited their vehicles.
The first thing Tommy noticed out of the ordinary had to do with the Asian chick in black who was riding with Danny. Besides the fact she wasn't wearing any shoes, it had to do with the woman herself. She was gorgeous to look at, no doubt, but she looked...hard at the same time. Like a diamond. Then everybody else came into view...
well, almost everyone. One of the brothers stayed in the red 300C for some reason, left behind by his two running buddies. And when Ace got out of his SUV, another pretty
lady got out of the passenger side, but she didn't look as tough as the chick in black. In
fact... What, is she just wearing a robe? On the heels of that thought Tommy asked himself, Didn't I see her dance at the Biscuit a coupla times? And she seemed to be
holding...a sword in its scabbard. Horizontally, with both hands. Almost reverently.
Okay, something's a little off about this shit, Tommy realized, and got more than a little disquieted. That sensation increased when he saw that everybody, even Danny, seemed to be following the lead of the lady in black. Sure enough, they gathered around her...and then she proceeded toward Tommy and the rest of the guards, with the others behind her. She was calling the shots, he realized...for what, he had no fucking clue.
When they stopped several feet from the guards, the woman in the black dress turned
to Danny. She gave him a nod, and he came up next to her. The man in the cream-
colored suit said, "Hello, Tommy."
The capo, on-edge: "Danny, this better be important to come callin' in the morning like this!"
"It is, Tommy. We need to see Mister Roccoli."
Tommy's disquiet graduated to something bordering on nervousness. Oh yeah, something's fucking wrong, all right.
Before he could respond to Danny's request, one of his subordinates tried to do it for him. An enforcer stepped up next to Tommy, a turk with his natural brunette hair frosted blonde, trying to be stylish. His words were laced with self-importance, and more than a little hostility. "What d'you wanna see him for, Danny?" He gave a hard look to Mad Dawg and T-Bone and pointed at them. "And what'd you bring those gangstas for?"
Tommy did a slow burn at the arrorgant punk. "Hey Mike, silenzio." Back to Danny:
"Did they deliver to Tony like they were supposed to?" He spared a look at the lady in black. Her expression showed nothing. Absolutely nothing. Tommy was officially nervous.
Danny shook his head in response. "Tony is dead. We need to see Mister Roccoli right away."
Mike blurted, "What the fuck happened to Mister Pucci?!"
Danny, strangely calm: "We'll let Mister Roccoli know about that. But first, we need
to see him. Right away."
Tommy suddenly felt anger burn inside...he wasn't just going to settle for that. He sure as hell wasn't going to just let any of these people get any closer to Mister Roccoli.
"No, Danny! First you tell us what the hell happened to Tony and why! Then we'll relay your info, and then Mister Roccoli will decide if he'll see you or not!"
Mad Dawg snorted a laugh. "Fuckers think they're playing in The Godfather, man."
Mike caught that, and shouted, "Yo, Negro! You shut the fuck up!"
Tommy looked hard at Danny...and then at the woman in black. "What the hell did you bring all these people for, Danny? And who's this lady?"
Then Yuki stepped forward...she was growing impatient with this man Tommy. She
said to him, "I must speak with your employer."
Mike launched forward, closing within two feet of Yuki. "He's not talkin' to you, bitch! And you'd better step the hell back!" She looked at the impertinent turk like he was an ugly breed of bug. Mike grinned in response. "Oh, you got a problem with me,
bitch?"
Yuki's smile was cold. "No problem at all." Mike lost his grin. Fast.
"Mike." Danny, clearly defensive of Yuki. "You will not talk to her that way."
Tommy seemed to have lost whatever patience he had. His expression grew deadly-
serious as he took a step back from the visitors. The rest of the guards had similar expressions, glancing at Tommy, ready to go with whatever he decided. "Tell us what happened to Tony, Danny. Tell us what you brought this lady here for. I mean it."
Tommy touched the lapel of his suit jacket...underneath that jacket he had an H&K MP5K on a shoulder rig, and he was sorely tempted to get it out. The enforcers under his command held similar weaponry he could have them bring out and use on his order.
Danny spoke like he knew what Tommy was thinking. "None of us are armed, Tommy. You won't need your guns. Besides, you wouldn't want to use what you have
here...now, at this time of the night."
Mike, not taking his eyes off Yuki, nodded and reached under his jacket as he snarled,
"Actually, that's not a bad fucking idea -- !"
Tommy shouted, "Mike, shut your goddamn mouth!" Mike, his eyes burning at Yuki,
dropped his hand from his jacket. Unlike Mike his captain realized it was, beyond a
shadow of a doubt, a VERY bad fucking idea to use their guns here, and cursed himself
for not taking the precaution of equipping his men with silencers for their weapons.