Chapter 23
Noble kicked open the interior door to the large abandoned office that had once housed his childhood friend's thriving business. The place looked nothing like Johnny's operation; cheap modular workstations filled the middle of the room with an odd number of old rolling chairs and mismatched desks scattered around the perimeter, left behind by whatever failed business last occupied it. The building was dark except for the bright street lights streaming in through the large windows along the mostly vacant north wall.
Noble adjusted his grip on Jamie's waistband while tugging on the other man's arm as he dragged him along to their second stop of the night. "Poor Leah...you really made a mess of her car, Jimmy. And of yourself too," he commented with a look of disgust. "I'm surprised you had anything left in you."
Jamie had ridden over in the trunk again, in complete darkness while Noble had taken extra steps to make sure his erratic driving didn't draw any unwanted attention but was still bad enough to cause his passenger some added misery. And it did just that, Noble couldn't help but smile at every curse and groan that reached his ears when he would intentionally drive through the potholes New York was famous for at full speed.
Try as he might, Jamie couldn't focus right now; his mind was stuck on his Eddie, not wanting to believe she was gone like Noble claimed, while flashes of white hot pain ran through him. And while earlier his body had been on fire, now he was unable to control the shivers racking his frame. Jamie was in his own kind of hell, both physically and emotionally. "Where...Eddie?" he slurred.
Noble sighed tiredly. "How many times do I gotta go over this, man?! She's gone! You saw her! Know what? Just don't worry about her for now, we got a lot of other things to talk about."
Jamie couldn't accept that, despite the violent image ingrained in his mind. He tried shaking his head to rid himself of that grim notion and to argue Noble's claim, but only ended up slamming his eyes shut when it caused the room to wobble more than it already had been with each unsteady step he was forced to take.
Noble snorted at Jamie's feeble response. "Yup, she's gone," he replied, wanting to make sure he was still stuck in the same hallucination he'd worked so hard to develop. Noble stopped near the windows and assessed the large room, remembering a time when his mere presence commanded respect by everyone who'd worked here...those otherwise afraid to cross the younger Sanfino.
Tired of carrying all of his buddy's weight, he decided this was a good spot before dropping Jamie into the nearest chair. "You remember this place, right? Seems like you have a pretty good memory," Noble said as he took a few steps away to scan the room. He had no concerns about turning his back on his captive, no longer seeing him as any kind of threat because of the state he put him in.
Jamie looked around in confusion from where he sat slumped in the chair, still trying to make sense of everything. It was taking all of his efforts to focus on Noble's words over Eddie's cries echoing in his mind. Jamie pressed a hand to his chest as he willed his racing heart to settle down.
Noble approached the window and stared out across the vacant parking lot thoughtfully. "Everything with Johnny makes a lot more sense now," he commented softly. "You really were the one to get the client list out of here weren't you?"
The mention of that name transported Jamie back to this very room, to a time when he was under Tesla's constant scrutiny and he became lost in those memories.
Noble spun around angrily when he doesn't get a response. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"
Jamie slowly turned his head to meet Noble's glare, tired of the games and distraught over Eddie, he muttered what first came to mind. "What do...you want?" he asked with a hopeless and tired tone.
Noble stomped toward Jamie, pulling him up by the shirt and attempted to shake the truth right out of him. "Answer me! Did you take the client list out of here?!"
Jamie stared back into Noble's fierce green eyes and some of the fog cleared momentarily, seeing the man whose life he'd saved twice only to have him come back years later to torment him and his wife...his wife who'd he'd shot right in front of him, the cause of all of this pain. Jamie clenched his jaw and gathered all of the strength he could muster to shove Noble away from him. "Yes! I took the God damn list!" he spat back, grasping the chair to keep from falling.
Unprepared for the outburst, Noble stumbled back, landing on his backside with an painful grunt. He glowered at Jamie, angrier now that he actually admitted to what he'd done and got up quickly to confront him. "You killed him! He knew you took it and told Uncle Phil just as much, but they didn't believe him! You're the reason they killed him!"
Feeling he had nothing else to lose at this point, Jamie refused to stand down, adrenalin and rage now fueling him. "They killed him! Because you're all a bunch of psychopaths!"
Noble pulled back his arm, delivering a quick, satisfying punch to the left side of Jamie's face that sent him to the ground and took a few quick steps to hover over him menacingly. "You deserved the beating he gave you! He should have killed you when he had the chance!" he snarled, stopping as a dark laugh burst from his lips. "I actually felt sorry for you, man! You disappeared after Bianca told me what he did to you. I tried looking for you! Meanwhile, you were nothing but a rat...no, a snake in the grass, slithering back under some rock after you got what you wanted. I felt guilty...I even tried smoothing things over with Johnny like some idiot."
Jamie sat up, wiping away the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "You are...an idiot," he muttered softly, not caring about the painful consequences.
Noble's eyes widened at his words, turning away to try and stifle the urge to beat the crap out of the other man...but he was never very good at controlling his impusles. Noble spun around and landed a swift kick to Jamie's stomach that he never saw coming.
"You ruined everything for everyone! You killed Johnny and you got me shot! You are the reason my family wants me dead so that I'm stuck in some hick town for the rest of my life!" he seethed as Jamie clutched his abdomen, sputtering for breath.
Whether it was the drugs or the grief or Jamie's unwillingness to let Noble carry on with his twisted view of reality, he lost all sense of self-preservation and laid back into Noble. "You all did this...to yourselves! You are...not the victim! You never were! And you looked...for me...remember!?"
Noble picked Jamie up by the shirt again and threw him across the nearest desk while releasing an enraged growl.
Bruised and bloodied, Jamie refused to stand down and rolled over onto all fours. He didn't care what Noble did to him anymore, not if Eddie was gone, but he wasn't going down without a fight either. And that was what was prompting this unexpected surge of energy. He'd make Noble pay for what he did or die trying. Jamie got to his feet using the desk for support as he said, "You're going to get yourself killed just like they wanted. They're going to kill you when they find you, you can be sure of that. You should have never come out here but your stupid ego always gets in the way. You deserve whatever you get."
"I've been careful. You didn't even know I was here," Noble countered, feeling the need to prove him wrong as his hands opened and closed continuously at his sides.
"It's not in your nature to be careful. You're selfish and impulsive...always were," Jamie spat back.
Noble lost any remaining control and charged at Jamie who was too slow to avoid the attack, choosing instead to bring Noble to the ground with him. The violent impact robbed Jamie of his breath while shaking the gun loose from the waistband of Noble's pants and it bounced on the thin carpeting only to stop several feet away from the melee.
Noble threw two quick jabs that Jamie barely felt. Instead he drew his legs up to kick the taller man off of him. Noble stumbled back allowing Jamie a chance to jump to his feet. They danced around each other before Jamie went in, landing a right hook, then quickly parrying Noble's next few punches with the practiced ease of the trained boxer he was. Surprised by his sudden agility, Noble lunged for Jamie, but he was unprepared for the check hook that came his way. Stunned, Noble groaned as he suddenly found himself staring at tiled ceiling, the left side of his face throbbing rhythmically.
Jamie remained in fighting stance, waiting for Noble to rise to his feet just so he could knock him back on his ass. He hadn't missed the gun laying on the ground and shuffled over to get closer to it.
Meanwhile, Noble was slowly getting to his knees, one hand pressed firmly against his aching jaw. "Looks like you got some moves there, Jimmy," he laughed. "So do I, buddy." Noble charged him low, taking them back to the ground. He straddled Jamie quickly and instead of throwing another punch, he wrapped his hands around Jamie's neck, trying to choke the life out of him once and for all. "I'm gonna kill you...I should've done this weeks ago," he hissed down at the man that had ruined his life.
Jamie's hands unsuccessfully pulled and scratched at Noble, wheezing as he struggled to suck air into his lungs. Desperate, his right hand fell to the floor, searching for anything that might help him. Noble began speaking just as Jamie's fingertips brushed against the cold, hard steel of his gun.
He couldn't help himself, Noble wanted the last thought in Jamie's mind before he finally died to be of the one thing that caused him the most pain. "It was fun playing with you and Eddie. And I could have had a lot more fun with her if I hadn't shot her dead tonight."
Jamie continued to stretch his arm out to the right until his hand closed around the familiar form of a gun. The mention of his wife's name set him off and his hand arched across the air to solidly connect with Noble's skull with a hollow thud. Dazed but conscious, Noble fell way and the two men traded positions, Jamie reaching down to pin Noble to the floor by the neck as he pressed the barrel of the gun to the side of his head. Noble's only reaction was to clutch at Jamie's arm, attempting to loosen the pressure on his neck.
Jamie was seeing red, Noble's face a reminder of everything that happened back at the bar, of what he did to Eddie. "I'm gonna kill you!" he vowed.
Noble looked up into Jamie's dilated eyes, almost completely black and empty, and for the first time since that day years ago when he'd been shot and left for dead by his own family, a part of Noble Sanfino was actually frightened. But he'd studied his prey well enough to know he wouldn't kill him. "No you won't. You don't have the guts," he wheezed.
Jamie strengthened his grip around Noble's neck while pressing the gun harder against his temple. "I'm going to kill you!" he repeated. It was the only thought on his mind.
"Do it!" Noble dared him.
Jamie struggled between vengeance for his wife and the decent part of him that could never willingly take a life, no matter how worthless it was. But vengeance was winning out as his finger curled around the trigger.
"Jamie! Drop the gun!"
Jamie didn't respond, barely hearing the familiar voice of his older brother.
Danny approached the two men cautiously, his gun drawn but held down low as he motioned the other officers to clear the rest of the building. Maria came around the other side, letting him take the lead as she kept an eye on Sanfino.
"It's okay, kid," he soothed. "We're here. Just drop the gun and we'll handle him from here."
Jamie didn't budge, still intent on wiping the smug look he kept seeing off of Noble's face. "No!"
"Jamie -"
"He killed her!" Jamie barked. If Danny knew what he did, he'd let him finish Noble off and help him hide the body.
"No, Jamie -"
"I saw it!"
"He's out of his mind!" Noble groaned.
"Shut up!" Danny ordered as he took a few steps closer, trying to draw his brother's attention. "What you saw wasn't real, kid. I was just with Eddie, Jamie. She's fine. Dad's taking care of her. She's just worried sick about you," he explained.
Jamie's eyes teared up at the memory from the bar. "I saw it," he whispered.
Danny glanced at the gun in Jamie's hand and holstered his weapon as he crouched down next to his brother and held his own hand out cautiously. "What you saw wasn't real. It was nothing but the lies and drugs this animal shoved down your throat. I wouldn't lie to you, kid."
Jamie shook his head, but began to waiver. Danny wouldn't lie to him, yet he couldn't deny what he saw.
"Give me the gun, Jamie," Danny pleaded softly. "I'll take you over to see Eddie as soon as we lock him up."
Jamie's face began to crumble.
"Told you you couldn't do it," Noble snarked.
"Shut your mouth before I shoot you myself!" Danny sniped just as his hand closed over the trembling gun.
"Make one move, Sanfino, and I'll shoot you first," Maria warned.
"Please, Jamie. You don't want to do this. This is not you. You're not like him and his family."
Jamie hesitated for a moment before he let his brother take the gun, breathing heavily as the adrenalin began to wear off.
"Told you you couldn't do it, Jimmy," Noble taunted just before Jamie threw a vicious right hook. The sound of bone crunching against bone echoed through the room, the momentum of which carried Jamie to the floor.
Danny moved quickly to catch his brother while Maria stepped in and flipped an unconscious and bloody Noble Sanfino onto his stomach to cuff him.
"Kid, you alright?" Danny frowned at Jamie. He laid motionless in his arms aside from the tremors that rolled through his body. Danny knew he wasn't, not with what Eddie had reported to them already, but to actually see him now, on the verge of killing Sanfino while stuck in some crazy delusion, it scared the hell out of him.
"Eddie's okay?" Jamie asked weakly, not sure of what to believe.
"She's fine, Jamie, I swear." Danny gave him a minute to let that sink in, but Jamie didn't respond. "You think you can get up?"
"Don't feel...so good, Dan," Jamie admitted as the nausea settled in his belly once again and his limbs grew heavy and uncooperative.
Danny was becoming more concerned about the crap Noble force-fed him and looked over to his partner. "Call a bus."
Always on top of things, Maria nodded, already on the phone doing just that - one for Jamie and another for their scumbag.
Danny dropped his chin onto his brother's head and wrapped his arms a little tighter around him. "Everything's going to be fine, I promise."
Jamie let himself sink back against his brother. "She's okay?" he asked again.
"I told you she was. She's jumping out of her skin to see you," Danny assured him.
"He shot her...saw it, Danny," Jamie said in confusion.
"It wasn't real, I'll prove it to you," he said as he pulled his phone from his suit pocket and hit a button, waiting for an answer on the other end. "Dad...yeah, I got him right here...Right now I need you to put Eddie on the line...just trust me, dad."
Jamies's now the one on the protective arms of his older brother, but he's not completely out of the woods yet. Next, he'll be reunited with Eddie and Frank has a face to face with a Noble.