Stuart Woods - Unnatural acts

Dino had been knocked back against the bar by the round, and his feet had slid from under him. Now he heard a shot from the direction of Viv and Rosie. Both women were walking

Viv had another eight feet to go, when the woman suddenly spun onto her back and got off another round. Viv fired, striking her full in the chest, and she didn’t move again. “Rosie, check on Dino,” she said, then continued toward the woman on the floor, her gun beside her. Viv kicked the weapon out of her reach, then got a hand on the woman’s throat. Nothing. Her chest was a mess, and the floor was slippery with her blood. The screaming continued.

Rosie turned toward Dino. “Boss, are you hit?”

“Yes, goddammit!” Dino replied, taking a hand from under his jacket and holding it up, bloody. “Call this in and get these people quieted down!”

Rosie reached for her cell phone. “All right, everybody,” she screamed at the crowd. “Police! Everybody sit down and shut up.” To her surprise, they did.

Viv insisted on riding in the wagon with Dino. The EMTs had stripped off his jacket and shirt and were applying pressure to his wounds.

“You’ve got an entry wound and an exit wound,” an EMT said to Dino.

“Fucking Armani suit!” Dino said. “Eighteen hundred bucks. I’m going to have to have it rewoven.”

“Rinse it in cold water to get the blood out before you have it dry-cleaned,” the EMT said.

“Everybody’s an expert,” Dino muttered. He looked up at Viv. “What are you doing here? You should be helping Rosie lock down Bemelmans.”

“I’m where I need to be,” Viv said. “Rosie’s doing fine. The cavalry arrived as we were leaving.”

“I hope she knows to get as many statements as she can,” Dino said. “There’s going to have to be a hearing before we’re cleared.”

“We did the right thing,” Viv said.

“We didn’t call the FBI,” Dino pointed out.

“That was the right thing.”

“We got Shelley off the street, anyway,” Dino said. Then he threw up all over himself and passed out.

“Shock,” the EMT said, elevating Dino’s feet and starting an IV.

“Is he going to make it?” Viv asked.

“He’ll be in surgery in ten minutes,” the EMT replied. “We’ve already called it in. A team is standing by. We’ll pass up the ER and go straight to the OR. Are you his girlfriend?”

“I’m a detective. I work for him.”

“Oh, sorry, you look so concerned.”

“I want to keep on working for him.”

STONE WAS just getting into bed with Marla, and looking forward to it, when his phone rang. “Hello?”

“It’s Rosie. I work for Dino.”

“Hi, Rosie. Congratulations on the Ed Abney thing.”

“Dino’s been shot.”

“Tell me.”

“Dino, Viv, and I were in the bar at the Carlyle Hotel, a setup to take down Shelley Bach.”

“Go on.”

“It was going fine, until it wasn’t. Bach went into her handbag and came up with a Glock. She shot Dino, then Viv shot her. Twice. She’s dead.”

“Tell me about Dino.”

“He took a round in the upper left chest-might have nicked a lung, I don’t know. He was bleeding pretty good.”

“Where did they take him?”

“Lenox Hill. He’s in surgery. Viv is with him; I’m just finishing up at the Carlyle.”

“Congratulations on taking down Shelley Bach. I know Dino didn’t want to do it, but somebody had to.”

“There’s going to be hell to pay, because Dino didn’t call the FBI.”

“Dino knew what he was doing. They’d have had fifty agents there and the block cordoned off. Shelley would never have walked into the place. Any civilians hurt?”

“No, just Dino and Bach.”

“That’s going to make the hearing easier. The papers are going to like this, you watch. That’ll help with the departmental brass.”

“I’d better go,” Rosie said. “I want to get to the hospital.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Stone said. “Thanks for the call.” He hung up.

“Something wrong?” Marla asked.

“I’ll give you the background later,” Stone said, pulling on his pants, “but Dino’s been shot and is in surgery. I’m going over to Lenox Hill.”

“Is it bad?”

“Bad enough.”

“Want company?”

“I’ll want company when I get back,” Stone said. “You get some sleep.” He finished dressing and ran for a cab.

VIV SAT in the recovery room and watched Dino as if she were afraid he’d flee. His color was good, she thought, and he was breathing normally. His eyelids fluttered, and he opened them and stared at her.

“Am I alive?” he asked.

“And kicking,” she replied.

A doctor in scrubs walked over and examined Dino. “You are one lucky son of a bitch,” he said. “Whoever shot you was firing hardball ammo, and it went straight through and out, along a path that avoided the heart, the lung, and the shoulder. Nicked the collarbone, but that’s okay. You’re lucky it wasn’t a hollow-point slug, or we’d still be in the OR, trying to sort out the mess. You’ve also got the constitution of an ox. I’ve never seen anybody skate through gunshot surgery like that. You’ll be back at work in a week, ten days, if we can keep you from getting an infection.”

“Don’t give me an infection,” Dino said. “I don’t need one.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” the doctor said. “Detective DeCarlo, there’s a guy out there wants to see your lieutenant, name of Barrington. Only one at a time in here, so you go out and send him in.”

“Right,” Viv said. “I’ll be back, boss.”

STONE STOOD up when he saw Viv coming; so did Rosie.

Viv gave them a thumbs-up. “He’s good and going to get better. You can go in, Stone.”

Stone pushed through the door and saw Dino, his bed sitting him up. He went over and pulled up a stool. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said.

“It’s been a long time since we met like this,” Dino said, “and last time, it was you here and me there.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know exactly. Shelley was walking toward me, something spooked her, and she came up with a handgun. Mine never cleared the holster. Viv took her out.”

“Did the denizens of Bemelmans Bar enjoy the experience?”

“You never heard such an uproar,” Dino said, smiling weakly.

“You get some sleep, pal. There’s no rush-you’ll be telling me the gory details for years.”

“You don’t have any scotch on you, do you?”

“I’ll buy you your first when you’re out of here. Sleep tight.”

Stone walked back to the waiting room and took a couple of deep breaths.

“You all right?” Viv asked.

“I’m not used to seeing him like that,” Stone said. “I feel almost as if I took the bullet.”

“I know how you feel,” Viv said.

“He’s got the hots for you, you know.”

Her eyebrows went up. “What are you talking about?”

“You may have to take a transfer to deal with it. Dino will want to do the right thing.”

“Whatever it takes,” Viv said.

Stone gave her a hug. “You go home and get some sleep. That’s what Dino is doing.”

Stone was at his desk the following morning when Joan buzzed him. “FBI Deputy Director Kerry Smith to see you,” she said.

“All right,” Stone sighed, “send him in, and you’d better get him some coffee, too.” He stood up and waited for Kerry to enter his office, then shook his hand and sat him down. “Good to see you, Kerry. What brings you to New York?”

“Was that supposed to be funny?” Kerry asked.

“It was funny,” Stone replied. “To anybody but a DD of the Bureau.”