A Bomb Built in Hell by Andrew Vachss Read Free Book Online Page A

in the morning. Tell the desk clerk you got a message for Israel.”
    â€œLike the country?”
    â€œYeah, like the country—but Israel is a man, a black man. You tell him you’re Carmine’s son and you’re there to pick up what he left. You say that, and Israel, he’ll give you the name of someone to hit. And on this one you can’t say ‘no,’ you understand? You can’t say ‘no.’ ”
    â€œI won’t.”
    â€œOkay. After the hit, Israel is going to give you a package. You take what’s in there and go back to New York. You go to Mamma Lucci’s—it’s a restaurant near the corner of Prince and Sullivan, just north of Houston. You ask to speak to Mr. Petraglia, okay?
    â€œYou tell
him
you’re Carmine’s son, same as you told Israel. You give him the package Israel gave you. Then he’ll know who you are for sure. This man, he’ll show you a building to buy.”
    â€œHow am I going to—?”
    â€œYou’ll
have
the money. After you buy the building, you fix it up the way it needs to be. Pet’s gonna live there, too. He’s the last of us, kid, and one of the best. He can do things with cars you wouldn’t believe. But he’s not going with you on jobs. At least, not too close.”
    â€œBut … what if Israel’s dead when I get there? Or Mr. Petraglia?”
    â€œYou got two years, four months, and eleven days to serve out. They’ll both live that long. They been waiting for you—they won’t leave before you show.”
    â€œBut if—”
    â€œ
If
Israel is gone, go back to New York and call my wife at that number I gave you. Tell her Carmine said to get out of the house. Take a
vacation
for a couple of weeks and tell you where she’ll leave you the key. Make sure you say ‘vacation.’
    â€œIn the basement, the fourth beam from the door holding up the ceiling is hollow in the middle. Cut it down. There’s fifty thousand dollars in clean bills there. Take it, and go see Petraglia, tell him what you had to do. But if Israel is in Cleveland, don’t call my wife. She has her own money coming, you understand? The basement, that’s your case money—it’s safer there than anyplace you could find on your own.”
    â€œWhat’s case money?”
    â€œJust
in
case. Get it?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œAll right, there’s just one more thing. You know why you’re going to do all this?”
    â€œI know why, Pop.”
    â€œWho taught you why?”
    â€œYou did.”
    â€œThat makes you my blood, understand? And my blood’s gonna keep on flowing even after they all think they’re safe. I’m going out, but you’re going to pay back every last one of those traitors for me.”
    â€œI will.”
    â€œI know. I waited years for you to come. Remember I told that judge that they couldn’t kill what I stood for? Well, this is perfect revenge. They buried me in hell, all right. But I built a bomb right down here, and it’s going to blow their yellow hearts right out of their chests.”
    â€œI’ll see you soon, Carmine.”
    â€œI guess you will, son. But make it count for something while you’re out there.”
    â€œPop, was I the best of the lot? Or was it that you couldn’t wait any longer?”
    â€œNo! You were the one I
wanted
. You are my
son
. I could have waited a hundred more years.…”
    Carmine’s last words trailed off as he slumped back against the Wall.
    Wesley walked away. Even though he was known to be the old man’s partner, he was never a suspect. There wasn’t a mark on the old man, and the autopsy showed a massive aortic aneurysm. The only thing that confused the doctors was that the burst vessels showed that the old man had been dead for more than an hourwhen the guards found him. But medicine is an imperfect science, and