Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 12

"What went wrong Patricia; what happened to you?"

"Stephano left me."

"I'm sorry about that, I truly am, but I have more important things to take care of right now. I need you here immediately. All your people have been contacted. It will take a maximum of two days to get them here. I want you here by noon today."

"Michael, I am not that fast. I would have to get from here to Phoenix, and hopefully catch a connection through Chicago or Dallas to Washington."

"Patricia I told you I would arrange your transportation. Be at the Sedona Airport at 6 AM, and pack only one suitcase. The plane you'll be taking to Washington is relatively small, and should be at the airport within the hour."

At 5:50 AM, Patricia was sitting at the terminal waiting for her aircraft to arrive. There was a big buzz going on outside the terminal, but it did not bother her, because she was wondering what was going on that was so important in Washington. Suddenly, an Air Force officer walked into the room carrying a flight suit. She looked at her and smiled. Ms. Parent, you are in for the ride of your life."

Patricia headed for the exit door yelling, "Like hell I am, I am going to kill that son of a bitch."

Elmore Scott and two other police officers were standing at the door blocking her way.

"I am sorry Patty, but orders are orders. Go with her, or we will have to strip you out here."

Patty turned and looked at the Major and said, "I have a request. If this plane goes down, you kill the director of the FBI, because I am staying with it."

Major Aurora Markham laughed. "You have never lived, until you've felt a rocket fired up your ass."

"I have never had anything up my ass, thank you, and a rocket is not my first choice."

"Come with me Patty, this is going to take a little while. I will brief you while I get you dressed."

"Michael said the airplane was going to be small. How small is this airplane?"

"The airplane is big, the cockpit is small. You will fit in there easily."

"I am sitting in the cockpit? There is no passenger compartment?"

After 30 minutes of complaining and foot dragging, while being dressed in her long johns, G-suit and flight suit, civilian Patricia Parent was escorted by three police officers and Major Aurora Markham to the F-15 Strike Eagle swearing at the Director of the FBI. She was hoisted up, and into the rear of the aircraft and strapped in tightly. The Major put her helmet and oxygen mask on. She said, "Patricia, if I say eject three times you pull on this yellow ring hard and everything else will happen automatically."

"Aurora, I am staying with the airplane. You kill the director for me."

The major laughed. "It would be a terrible waste of a wonderful aircraft."

Major Aurora Markham strapped herself in to the front seat; hit the engine start switches and the twin engines of the aircraft roared to life. She lowered the canopy, increased the speed of the engines to military power, released the brakes, and the jet streaked down the runway. At 3100 feet she lifted the nose off the runway and went vertical.

Patty yelled, "O my Lord!" Her body was pressed into the back of the seat. Her G-suit inflated to keep the blood from pooling in the lower part of her body and she listened to Aurora calmly talking to air traffic control giving her altitude, course, and current speed. When they leveled out at 30,000 feet, Aurora made a call to her tanker, which was 250 miles ahead of them. She said, "We will be there in ten minutes."

Patty thought she was joking. She was not. In less than ten minutes she could see the huge DC-10 on the horizon. Aurora was talking to the boom operator who was vectoring her in. At less than 200 feet Aurora opened her fuel intake boom and flew it straight into the waiting basket. The boom operator said contact, and fuel flowed from the big bird to the sleek fighter. It seemed so easy, but it must've taken years of practice, just like it took her to do things on her computer so easily. Three minutes later Aurora said, "Tanks are full, thank you very much, preparing for breakaway. The boom operator repeated, "Breakaway, breakaway, breakaway."

On the third command, the booms retracted the basket, and Amanda backed off and turned to the left to clear out of the slipstream of the DC-10. She called air-traffic control for clearance to 51,000 feet which was granted and when we got there she called again and told them we were commencing our speed run. The transmission was not acknowledged.

Aurora transferred her communications link-up to the military command net. She was vectored around populated areas for the next 1100 miles, while they were traveling at Mach 2+. In the back seat, Patricia slept. She had no idea what was going on, until she was jostled in her seat. She raised her head and saw they had landed. She thought they were going to get more fuel, and it was a good thing, because she had to pee.

Aurora said, "You're awake, sleepyhead. It's lonely up there with nobody to talk to."

"Are we going to be here long, Aurora. I'd like to get out and use the bathroom, before we leave again."

"Leave for where Patricia? We are in Washington. Actually we are in Maryland; a helicopter will take you the rest of the way."

"Fuck him, why can I take a car like a normal person."

"Apparently Patricia, you are not a normal person. You are someone special, and you are being treated that way."

"You have no idea how badly I want to be normal again. What time is it?"

"In Arizona it is 9:40 AM. In Washington it is 11:40 AM. He wanted you here by noon, and you made it."

"I am still going to kill him."

"Why, you slept the entire way just like you would have on a commercial jet. Next time, I will fly you here upside down, just to show you what this airplane can do."

"I am sure you love your airplane and the marvelous things it can do. However, if you need anything marvelous done on a computer, you call me and I will show you how I can get a computer to stand up and dance."

"How can you look like you do, and be a nerd, Patricia? I'd like to get to know you better. I am stationed here. Give me a call sometime and we will go out for a drink."

"Thank you Aurora; I would like that."

It was a 14-minute helicopter ride from Andrews Air Force Base to the helipad where Michael was waiting for her. Still bedecked in her flight suit she said to him, "Michael, I hate you."

"I told you I wanted you here by noon; how else was I supposed to do it?"

"What is so important that you flew me here in a military jet?"

"Several things Patty; there was break-in at the Attorney General's office, the building in Sloan, Nevada blew up, just like you thought it would, and I think someone is piggybacking our computer lines at the FBI. Too much information is getting out to the bad guys, and we don't know how it is happening. That's why I wanted you and your friends here so quickly. I am sending my people for training on a new computer system that will be coming in. While they are out of the building, I want you, and your group to take apart our current computer system; find out what is going on, and if possible, find out who is sending the information and who is getting it. You have six days to do it Patty; I can't give you any more time than that."

"Michael, what are we going to do with the other five days?"

"Dammit Patricia, you have no idea how much I hate you, because I don't know if you're joking or not."

"When do I meet your daughters?"

"You will meet them, when I let them out of jail." ****************************************************************************

With 20 days left until the deadline, the old guard of the Valentino family had decided that Anthony Arcado would be their new leader. The younger faction had not yet made its decision.

A 'Meet and Greet' was arranged, with Don Jim Barbara, the head of the Staten Island Family. The location was secret, and Anthony Arcado was picked up by one of Barbara's men to escort him there. The meeting was held in an upscale Italian restaurant on a hill overlooking the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. While the meeting was going on, the entire building, and part of the hill that it was perched upon blew up. Everyone inside was incinerated in the blast. Federal, State City, and company investigators said the cause was a ruptured 6-inch natural gas line that ran under the site.

Joe Lombardo and Mike Caifano did not believe it for one second. Two Mafia Don's and a man that could have been the next Don of the Manhattan Family had perished in 10 days. These were not accidents; they were hits, and the Bosses wanted to know by whom and why. They were not shy about trying to find out who it was. The word hit the street like an advertisement for a Fortune 500 company: $1 million for information leading to the leaders of the plots to assassinate Dominic Oliveto, James Barbara, and Anthony Arcado. Telephones rang from local police precincts to Michael Free's desk within minutes of this announcement hitting the streets. No agency thought of these deaths as murders, but if this type of money was being offered, someone knew something they did not know. A war was brewing and the law enforcement agencies had to be prepared.

Joe Lombardo called 21-year-old Niccolo Oliveto, who had taken over for his father Dominic. "Niccolo, you are not ready for this. Listen to your counselors very closely. Your father was a very smart man and they got to him. How they got to Barbara no one knows, but it was a highly professional job. Send your wife and children out of town, check into a hotel, and prepare for war. That is what Mike and I are doing. We will keep in touch by cell phone."

Niccolo replied, "Joe, we know who did this. We would have to be stupid not to know. It is the young faction from the Valentino family. They are the only ones that stand to gain from this disruption. If they force us into a war, the police come down on us and it's bad for business. My dad used to say, "Do anything except what's bad for business." With the reward out for their heads, they will run for cover, leaving their families alone. Let's take their families for a nice vacation. Take them to the mountains, down to Washington or Virginia. All we have to do is keep them from speaking to their husbands for three or four days. After that they will come crawling to us, begging for mercy."

Lombardo said, "We still would have to find out who the ringleaders are, and how deep this conspiracy runs."

"I will bet you a dollar we will have that information by tomorrow morning."

The US Attorney for Lower New York, Fred Fielding called the director of the FBI and asked, "Michael, if a war breaks out, I think I will root for the Italians. There will be less blood on the streets in the long run."

"That's not even funny Fred, but if they knock off Lombardo and Caifano, there goes your big trial."

"Yeah, wouldn't that be a shame. Just think, Michael, there is no death penalty in New York State."

"You also have to remember you got rid of the snitch in your office."

"Montrose; I still can't believe it was him. He was my right hand for so many years. He had the highest conviction rate of all my attorneys, and those he lost, were against the best attorneys in the state."

"What else is on your mind Fred?"

"I think this take over move started from outside New York. There has been a lot of talk coming out of Rikers Island about Columbian's making a big move in the city. Heaven knows they have the money to do it, I just don't know if they have the muscle. The unions will be a hard nut to crack for them, and getting contracts will be a bitch with this new legislation that came out of Albany and Washington. If they try it, there will be blood on the streets, an awful lot of blood."

"I don't like the sound of that Fred. I'm going to check with the AG and then I may try something back channel, to head this off. Keep listening to what's coming out of Rikers for me, and let me know if anything new comes up."

Stephano and Bruno Valentino were walking along a trail at Fort Polk Army base, when Stephano said, "Dad, I'm going to move some money down to Argentina. I have made my decision. I would rather live alone and happy, then live with someone I am going to be fighting with every other minute."

Bruno replied, "If that is what your heart is telling you to do, by all means make your arrangements and do it. When do you plan on leaving?"

"I was not going to leave until after mom goes back to New York. She is supposed to arrive the day after tomorrow and be here for a week. So I will make my reservations for two weeks from today to fly down to Buenos Aires."

"Live in the northern part of the country my son. It has some of the most beautiful scenery on earth."

"Thanks dad, I knew you would understand."

"I didn't say I understood your decision. I just told you to live in the northern part of the country. Be prepared to defend your decision when your mother gets here."

"Maybe I should leave now."

Sharon asked the nurse how Fred was doing. She said that it appears that he is phasing in and out of coma. He opens his eyes, he gazes around, but I don't think he really sees anything yet. He seems very confused so he closes his eyes and goes back to sleep or just rests. Why don't you talk to him and see what happens.

Sharon walked over to the bed and could not decide how to approach him. It had been six long days since he'd been shot, and although he had been responsive with his hand pressure movements, that's all he had done. She wanted him back, the girls wanted him back, his boss wanted him back, badly. Maybe tender loving care was not the way to go. She would try another tack with him, now. She leaned over the bed towards his ear and yelled, "God dammit Fred, I'm tired of this shit. Wake up already. This lying down on the job is getting boring. You have not rested this much since you were 15 years old, and the Attorney General is tired of telling all these old stories. Wake up Fred, open your eyes, and talk to me."

Fred opened his eyes slowly and tried to focus on the voice that was yelling in his ear. He turned his head towards the voice and said, "Water."

Sharon would have given him champagne if she had it nearby, but she poured him a cup of water and put it to his mouth with a straw. Sharon called the nurse and told her that he had asked for water.

The nurse came over and checked his vitals but more importantly she checked his pupils for his reaction to light, which was good. She went through a series of tests with Fred to see if he can tell how many fingers she was holding up at a time and he did well. She said, "Mister Hastings is there anything I can do for you."

"Yes, get rid of my fiancée she yelled at me, and she didn't even kiss me."

Sharon smiled bright enough to light up the entire intensive care unit. She could have jumped into bed with him and smothered him with kisses but she knew that she would have hurt him more than helped him. She took out her cell phone and called her Uncle Clark. When he answered she said, "I have someone who would like to say hello to you." She put the phone to Fred's ear and told him it was his boss.

He spoke into the phone and said, "Hi dad, I want hazardous duty pay. I will be back at work Monday. What day is today?"

Clark Atwater was crying at the other end of the phone. He could not control his emotions. He said, "Sonny, if you try to get out of that bed, I will not let you marry my niece."

Sharon took the phone from him and said, "Uncle Clark that was a little too much for him, he dozed off. However, you can see that he knows us and that part of his memory is sound. I could not be happier."

"Call Julia, and have her bring the girls to the hospital. They will be so happy; they will be over the moon."

"I will call them right now, and then I will ask the nurse if she contacted his doctors. I want to know what they think about this."

The hospital called Fred's parents, in New York, to advise them of his change of status. They were thrilled and said they would be down on Saturday to see him. This would give Fred two extra days to gain strength.

That evening the girls and Julia Atwater showed up at me hospital and Fred recognized all of them. The girls were ecstatic and only wanted to kiss and hold him. They were not allowed to do anything but touch is leg or arm. They were unhappy he was only able to stay awake for 15 minutes but their dad was awake enough to recognize, say hello, and tell them he loved each of them. They would sleep soundly from that night on.

Saturday afternoon the Attorney General's limousine picked up the Hastings at the Amtrak station and brought them directly to the hospital. They were escorted to the intensive care area, where they met Sharon for the first time. Sharon walked them into the room and woke Fred up from a nap. She said, "Fred look who is here to see you."

Fred's eyes fluttered open and Sharon kissed him. She repeated, "Look who is here to see you."

Fred turned his head and saw two people standing next to her. Blandly he said, "Hello."

Sharon recognized his confusion and said, "Fred do you know who these people are?"

"No." His mother was crushed and his father had to hold her steady.

"Fred, this is your mother, think hard try to remember her."

Fred looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, I just can't place your faces. Do I have any siblings?"

His mother replied, "Yes Fred, you have a younger sister. She is married and lives in Ohio with her husband and two children."

"Is she happy?"

"Yes Fred, she is very happy."

"I would like to remember her, and get to meet her one day. Sharon, I am tired, can I go back to sleep now."

"Yes Fred, go back to sleep. You have had a long and tiring day."

Sharon escorted to Hastings out of the room and told them how sorry she was that Fred didn't recognize them. She said it was very early in his recovery, and the doctors were amazed that he had progressed this far so quickly. Initially they thought it could take six months to one year for him to recuperate. They should not give up hope that he will remember them in a short time.

Fred lay in bed, hating what he had just done. He recognized his parents, but he was trying to lay a framework to get out his contract with his other parents. If they thought he did not recognize his own parents, he would be of no use to them any longer. If the Attorney General kept him on, they would think it would be out of a sense of pity, because Fred had saved his life, not because Fred was still doing the great work he had been doing before. They would never be able to trust his judgment in that office again. He might be set free at the age of 33 instead of age 50. He did not know what would happen to his father's contract with them, but that could be renegotiated later.

When the Hastings returned home Sunday afternoon, they received a phone call from Joe Lombardo.

"How is your son doing Hastings? I want to know everything that went on down there."

"He is very weak Mister Lombardo, but worse than that he did not recognize my wife or my- self. He even asked us if he had any siblings and said he would like to meet them one day. He has no memory of us at all. His young lady friend said the doctors believe he is on his way to recovery but it could take another six months or more for him to recuperate. We spoke with the Attorney General, who was very kind to us. He does not know if Fred will return to his office, because of his head injury. He is looking for new assistant now."