Thanks for reading this story and leaving great comments. Sorry to have to leave this with such a cliffie. No I'm not. Bwa-ha-ha

Chapter 164.

Jess and I each made several calls to inform everyone we could think of about the guns Petey and the other drivers from Bernini Fruit had transported earlier. After each call I made, I checked my phone for any missed calls. Bev should have contacted me already about the meeting Giordano held that morning. Nothing.

Locarno sighed heavily after I informed him. "I'd hoped to avoid this. It's not the way we do things here in New Jersey, at least not in recent memory. Negotiations behind the scenes can accomplish much without bloodshed."

"It looks like that won't happen this time," I said.

The last person on my list was Bertoli. After I told him about the rifles, I asked, "Have you talked to Bev today?"

"No. I thought she planned to call you." A note of worry crept into his voice. "She hasn't yet?"

"No." Now I had him concerned. "I'll let you know when she does."

"And meanwhile we'll put every security measure we can into place," he assured me.

"Good. I don't know what they're planning, but we should be prepared for the worst."

"Thanks for calling, Doc."

Nina and Wilson arrived while we were phoning everyone, and Petey and Edgar filled them in.

"Won't they target the Locarnos first? Or Bertoli's restaurant?" Wilson asked.

"We can't take any chances. Jess, since this office is on the ground floor, is there a basement?"

She shook her head. "The office in the back is pretty secure with only one way in and out, through the kitchen." The reason they'd taken this space was that it had an area out front to meet clients, the central kitchen and the office in the back.

I looked around. The freezers were large, but couldn't hold more than two or three people each. "Too bad you don't have one of those walk-in freezers."

"Do you know how much those cost?" Nina rolled her eyes.

Edgar and Thirteen were over in a corner, speaking quietly. They returned to the rest of us. "We have a plan," he said. "In the off chance they come after this place, we'll barricade everyone in the back office, moving the freezers and other large appliances across the doorway. Hadley and I both have guns of our own."

"This is not the way I imagined our first day of operation would go," Jess murmured. "But I agree. Meanwhile, though, we have to prepare for tonight. Do you think it's safe for Petey to go to Maison Phillipe to pick up the food?" Why was she asking Edgar instead of me?

"I'll go with him," Thirteen volunteered. "I doubt we'll be long."

Jess and Nina nodded, and their brother left with my minion-turned-defender.

"The rest of our staff will be arriving within an hour," Nina said. "Jess and I will identify them. They've already been vetted."

I sneered at her. "Maybe so, but did you have a situation like this in mind?"

"No one could, but we did make sure they had no ties to our father or to Molino." She glared back. "Does that count?"

Edgar smiled. "That should be sufficient. The important thing right now is for us all to relax a little. It'll help us if we need to act quickly later." He turned to Jess. "Is there anything any of us can do to help you and your sister prepare for tonight?"

"We can always use all the help we can get. Nina, why don't you show Edgar and Wilson where the serving platters are? We need to have them out when the food arrives. And Greg, why don't you help me go over the lists of everything we'll have to transport to the party venue."

I smirked. She looked so cute bossing everyone around but with a soft touch. Very different from my style. That didn't mean I was about to change, but it was good to see that her method worked too.

I wasn't surprised that she had detailed lists that didn't only include food, plates, napkins and such, but also which person would be in charge of what and how it all had to be arranged at the other end. "Why do you need tongs?"

"For the ice, of course. Oh! Ice." She raised her voice. "Wilson, could you go out and get ten bags of ice?"

"Do you want him to sculpt it too?"

I said it facetiously, but she grinned. "That might be a good idea for the next party."

"Wilson's probably the least likely of us to be targeted by Bernini and whoever he has to shoot all those rifles." I grinned at my friend.

"I think I saw a convenience store a few streets away."

"Yes, that's the one," Nina told him. "I'd go with you but..."

"No, no. You stay here. You'll be safer." Wilson kissed her lightly on the cheek and left.

Jess bit her lower lip. "We should have given him money for the ice."

"Don't worry about it." Her sister put a hand on her arm.

The two of them finished with their initial preparations. All they needed was the food.

Wilson returned with the ice and Nina showed him which freezer to put it in.

We all sat down in the back room to wait, but after fifteen minutes, Jess frowned and stood. "Why aren't Petey and Hadley back yet?" She started to walk toward the front windows, but Edgar stopped her.

"I'll go. That's the only vulnerable spot here." He strode toward the windows in the area where Nina and Jess usually met with clients. A pop came from that direction and he rushed back to us. "Someone's shooting at those windows. It's a good thing they're reinforced glass or they would have shattered."

"What about the doors to the street and the lobby of the building? They're glass, too." Nina backed away from the entrance to the central room where we stood and reached for Wilson's hand.

"I locked and barricaded them while you were arranging your trays, but I think it's time to move those freezers. If they're determined to get in, they'll find a way."

"But what about Petey and Hadley?" Jess asked. "We can't lock them out."

"Hopefully they're someplace safe."

"Them and the food," I said.

"This is no time to be thinking about food, House," Nina shouted. Her voice was shaky.

"If you're that worried about them, call 'em." I pointed to the cellphone on the desk next to Nina.

She nodded. "Okay, I will." All eyes were on her as she made the call. We could hear it ringing at the other end. After four rings it went to voice mail. "Petey, please call me when you get this and let us know you and Hadley are alright." She pressed her lips together and breathed in and out.

The pops outside continued, but still no sound of breaking glass.

Wilson put an arm around Nina's shoulders until Edgar said, "Are you going to help me move these things? They weigh a ton."

"Only when they're full." I usually don't volunteer for this kind of thing, but this time I lent my full weight to moving the large appliances toward the doorway to the back office.

Edgar started to lift industrial dishwasher. "Let's move this thing to the doorway to the front room."

Wilson helped him. "I hope there aren't any dishes in this."

"No, they're empty." Jess looked around as we each squeezed past the freezer and into the office. "I guess we're stuck in here for a while."

Edgar filled the gap with a file cabinet. "That should do it, at least until after they decide they aren't getting in here."

"What could have forced Molino to make this kind of drastic move?" Wilson asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe he got tired of waiting."

"Locarno has too tight a lock on businesses in central Jersey," Jess said. "Molino could have waited until Hell froze over and he'd never make a dent in it. Perhaps he finally realized that."

Jess was right. It was the only explanation for Molino's actions.

"But where does our father come into this?" Nina asked.

Jess put a hand on her arm and caught her eyes. "There's a connection between Father and Molino. I'm afraid it has to do with Mom's death."

Nina nodded, pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she fought the tears that wet them. "Every time you uncovered something else about Mike Morgan, I was afraid that was the case."

"Right now we have more pressing business." For Jess' sake I kept all sarcasm out of my voice.

"Greg is right," she said. "Edgar, is there anything more you can suggest that we do?"

"We've done all we can."

Wilson pointed to the front. "The shooting stopped."

"That's almost more worrying than the incessant popping sound." I wasn't going to be the first to go see what was happening. "I haven't heard any sirens, but who can shoot at a building on a busy street in the outskirts of Princeton and not have someone call 911?"

Edgar shook his head. "As long as they're not being shot at themselves, people tend to look the other way."

A voice, amplified somehow, reached us in our little hidey-hole. "We have your friends. We'll be using them for shooting practice unless the rest of you come out."

None of this made any sense. Why weren't they attacking Locarno's offices? Or Bertoli's restaurant? What did Jess and Nina ever do to anyone? "Prove you have our friends," I called back.

The next thing I heard was Thirteen's familiar voice. "House, they're not kidding. But you'll be glad to know they turned up their noses at all the food we have with us."

"And what happens when we come out?" Jess asked.

"Why, we shoot you instead, of course." There was a hint of amusement in the man's tone.

Both Jess and Nina looked grim, Wilson was alarmed, but Edgar was quite calm. "They can't know how many of us are in here."

I studied him. "What's your plan?"

"They're out in the street." He pointed. "If we can create a diversion out there, maybe when you leave they'll be too preoccupied to do anything right away."

Wilson shook his head. "How do you plan to do that? We've locked ourselves in here with no way out except through the front."

Edgar smiled slowly, then turned his attention to the two women. "How do you usually get deliveries?"

"There's an alley behind the building, and a loading dock off of it. The doors are locked except when we're expecting something. That's how we got the freezers and other appliances in." Jess stood from her chair.

"Why didn't you mention that before?" I glared at her. "We could have gone out that way."

"Not if they have someone watching the back," Edgar said. "But they don't know me. If I can go out that way, whoever is there won't know I'm coming from here, and I can create that diversion I told you about. Then you can go out that way."

"That's even better than taking our chances going out the front," Wilson said.

"C'mon, I'll show you." Jess moved to the doorway. We helped Edgar move the file cabinet again, and he and Jess slipped out.

Two minutes later a shot rang out.