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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.
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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.”
