by Earl Nelson
She wanted to see it. I told her I would try to get us down there.
We checked in with no fanfare. Roger had charge of our luggage. I had one suitcase while Nina had seven.
A three-bedroom suite had been rented, I think Roger had taken care of that. I had just expressed a need in his general direction and it happened. I think he was working beyond his brief and I should up his pay.
I asked him about that. I was surprised when he told me all he had done was relay the needed to my London office. There was a staffer that took care of those arrangements for me. Live and learn.
We all had separate bedrooms. I respected Nina too much to try to crawl into her bed. She must not have respected me completely because she knocked on my door right after we retired.
We made out for a bit then she returned to her room. I had to take a cold shower. What a witch I thought, or is it what a wench. Maybe it is which wench?
She knew how to keep me interested!
The next morning Roger ordered room service for us while we talked about our day. Nina was being picked up for her photoshoot in an hour.
Roger wanted to go shopping on 5th Avenue. It seems he and I were lacking in some necessities. He didn’t tell me what they were, and I didn’t ask.
That left me at loose ends for the day.
After they left I thought about the trip over and what had transpired. I was uncomfortable on one issue. Who was I to decide that Nina’s mum could keep that money and was I that bad of a person?
The more I thought the more I realized I had made a terrible decision. I had to make it right. Since I had convinced Nina and her mother that it was her mum’s money legally I was going to have to bear the loss.
Mr. Norman had given me the insurance companies name. Their head office is here in New York City. I called them, identifying myself. This got me up the food chain quickly.
I explained to the Vice-President in charge of loss recovery about Victor Lustig. He was aware that Lustig is in custody, he was locked up as he didn’t have enough money to cover his bail.
I told the VP I had a lead on where he stashed his cash. I was told in no uncertain terms they had no interest in the money ever coming to light.
The tax benefits to the far outweighed the almost million dollars. If that money would be returned they would have to give up the tax benefits.
I thanked him and assured him it was now a dead issue. I let out a sigh of relief, I had done the right thing and it ended up costing me nothing. Life should always be so kind.
Still, at loose ends, I called the front desk and after identifying myself asked to be connected to President Hoover. They transferred me and his man asked the President if he would take my call, he would.
I told the President I was in town for this one day and had nothing to do. I then had to explain how this happened. He got a chuckle out of me flying my girlfriend across the Atlantic on a whim.
I was invited to his suite for some coffee and conversation. I of course accepted as this is what I had been angling for.
Chapter 35
I went directly to the President’s suite. It seemed odd to call a man by that title who had left office long before I was born, but that was the etiquette.
Knocking gently on the door I was let in and taken by his guard or secretary of whatever function it was called to President Hoover.
He welcomed me warmly.
“It is nice to talk to someone who doesn’t something or who cries about what could have been. Good to see you Rick, or is it Lord Blackhoof now?
“Rick will do, Sir.”
“Can I offer you a refreshment?”
“Do you have any Coco-Cola?”
“I believe we might have some.”
His factotum, love that word, delivered a bottle with a glass of ice in short order. We settled into our chairs. Mine was the softest leather I had ever touched. I hoped I could keep awake.
I should have known better than to think that I would drift off while having a conversation with President Hoover. He was an educated man, engineer by degree, and had a world of experience.
He started by telling me that he had a good laugh about my pie-throwing escapade and subsequent expulsion.
“College gives a good background but doesn’t assure success. I was a mediocre student at best and did well for myself.”
“I have found that many who teach have their theories and will never let them go no matter what the facts prove to be. Unlike High School, they go at their own pace instead of the slowest student. In many cases, their pace isn’t conducive for anyone learning. Add to that some of them are so boring you can’t stay awake. It is a wonder any learning can occur.”
I had to nod my head yes at that, I had seen it in action at Oxford. I also had met enough people to realize that self-made people used this to justify their lack of a degree. I resemble that remark.
After that tear down of higher education, we moved onto world affairs. It was pretty mellow right now, there were some conflicts but nothing like a war.
President Hoover thought that someday Europe would unit. It would achieve that by first developing a common market. From there the international differences would be eroded until it would seem natural to use a common name.
I wasn’t too certain about that, nationalism was pretty ingrained. When the subject got to China he surprised me.
“You will be the Chinese Armand Hammer.”
I knew a little about Dr. Hammer and that he was considered a friend of the Soviet Union while at the same time a good American.
Mr. Hoover told me about Dr. Hammer's career and how it started with him selling medical supplies to the newly created Soviet Union. Since then he has been the go-between for Soviet leaders the US president.
I could see how my business relations with China could be construed that way, but I wasn’t an unofficial Ambassador by any stretch of the imagination.
I stated that but he begged to differ with me.
“China will be undergoing great changes in the coming years. There will be a struggle for power after Mao dies. Then the new leadership will have to face the reality that TV and Radio communications will prevent them from keeping their people in the dark.”
“This will lead to them having to open China for trade to raise their standard of living. The first group in power may not understand that but there will be revolutions until the new leaders get it.”
“Your providing them modern port facilities is one thing, feeding their people is another.”
“I’m doing that to make a profit, sure I don’t want people to starve but the object is to make money.”
“The Chinese wouldn’t respect you if you didn’t want to make a profit. They are very pragmatic people. They play the long game. Mark my words it won’t be in mine, and maybe not yours but they will have the largest economy in the world someday.”
That was a lot to take in. He wanted the details of my rescuing those children. He had a different take on my being raised to a peerage.
“Queen Elizabeth is going to be recognized as one of the great leaders of our time. She can see that you are headed to greater things and that she wants you to be associated with the Crown. Any good that you do will reflect on her and the Crown.”
I was about to get on my high horse when I stopped and thought. If Mum had made that statement I would have agreed wholeheartedly.
Why wouldn’t the Queen want to have a success attached to the Crown? Not that I saw myself as that sort of success. I had done some things that were viewed as heroic and made a lot of money, so what, many people had done that.
Well, maybe not as much.
We turned the conversation to sports which I didn’t follow very much. It turned out that President Hoover didn’t follow them either.
We both had a good laugh when we both turned to his Secret Service agent for confirmation on which team was doing what. The agent was his factótum.
/> It must be nice having an armed guard. That is when I remembered that I had a 38 in my shoulder holster. I wore it so much I didn’t give it a second thought anymore.
That also reminded me that I needed to spend some range time as I needed the practice. It would wait until I got back to England. As an active member of the military and Queens Messenger, I could go armed at my discretion.
My discretion told me always to be armed. They were out to get me.
It was a pleasant two hours and Mr. Hoover must have felt the same way as he invited me to drop in whenever I was in town.
Entering the elevator I met General McArthur coming out. He nodded at me. I nodded back while restraining a smile as I remembered him retreating into this very elevator from a crowd of teenage girls.
It was still early enough that I decided to take a walk outside. The fifth avenue shops weren’t that far so I could do some window shopping.
FAO Schwarz had an interesting display. The main window had toy puppies; stuffed and mechanical. What was interesting was that they were dressed in ‘Save the Puppies,’ shirts.
I suspected my avaricious sister was making a few coins from this. Of course, most of it would towards saving puppies so it was all good.
Strolling further on down the street I saw Roger coming my way with his arms full of bags. I waved to him and hurried up intending to help him.
We were almost together when a man came running out of a jewelry store. I knew he was up to no good because he had a gun in hand. A guard came running out after him also armed.
The robber had the advantage as his weapon was up and pointing at the guard. Before the guard could raise his gun he was shot. He went down hard.
During the seconds this was occurring I drew my 38 and shouted, “Stop Police!” I am a US Marshal after all. In response, the man turned and fired at me.
Almost as a reflexive action, I fired at him. I hit him center mass and he fell. As I was taking the half dozen steps towards him he raised and aimed again.
I had kept my weapon aimed at him and pulled the trigger before he could bring his completely up. This time he stayed down.
Stopping at him only long enough to kick his weapon beyond his reach, though from the hole in his forehead I was certain he was beyond anyone's reach.
I moved over to the guard. He had been hit in the leg and was bleeding profusely. It was a gusher like a femoral artery would be, but serious.
I used my belt as a tourniquet to slow the bleeding. Events kept moving around me. A policeman who had been on the corner came running over.
He had his weapon drawn and understandable aimed at me as I was now the only one-armed. I set my pistol down and raised my hands.
Chapter 36
As he came up to me I said, “US Marshal, my shield is on the inside of my jacket.”
He reached down and moved the lapel side open and saw my badge.
“What happened here?”
“This guy must have just robbed the jewelry store. I saw him running out gun in hand. The guard came out behind him. He shot the guard.”
“I shot him and he got a shot off at me. He went down but came back up so I shot him again. I kicked his gun away and then put a tourniquet on the guard. I hope an ambulance is on its way.”
His partner had arrived.
“One is, I stopped at the call box and asked for help since shots were fired they will send an ambulance along.”
“Good the guard needs help quickly, we can’t leave this tourniquet on or he will lose his leg.”
“That and we better see how bad your wound is.”
“My wound?”
The cop pointed at my left side. My shirt was all bloody. I had been it and didn’t even know it until just now.
As soon as I realized that I came over all dizzy and my side felt like it was on fire. Roger was now standing there so I told him to let everyone know that I had been wounded but was alright.
He nodded and took off before the cops realized a material witness was leaving the scene. As typical of New York people were walking past us as though nothing had happened.
The store manager confirmed that they had been robbed and the dead guy was the one who did it.
I was now sitting on the sidewalk and the world was not feeling any better. Despite all my adventures, this was the first time I had been shot. It is no fun I can tell you that.
While we waited for the ambulance the one policeman explained what had happened to the precinct Sargent who had shown up along with three other cars.
My original policeman and I talked while the crime scene was roped off. He was bothered by the fact that we both carried 38’s and it took two shots for me to take him down.
We agreed we needed something with more stopping power like a Colt 1911 A1 45. They were developed to take a man down no matter where he was hit. It had such force it would cause hydrostatic shock. That is it hit so hard the liquids in the body were compressed and it was all over.
I had read in Gun Digest this theory was being questioned as the body is made up of many different materials and they reacted differently.
It was all academic. Hit a person who a big enough bullet traveling fast enough and they would go down. No sense in giving someone a second chance to kill you.
The police had figured out who I was by this time. My diplomatic passport along with my federal id probably gave it away. I was treated like a rock star.
That is until the ambulance team showed up. They treated me like an idiot who got himself shot in a gunfight. They bruskly cut my shirt away, determine that the wound was a through and through in the fat on my side. Not that I have a lot of fat.
By this time the news people had shown up and cameras were flashing. I was glad to be put on a gurney and driven away.
At the hospital, my GSW, gunshot wound, was treated as no big deal. They saw much worse several times a day.
I was patched up, given a shot that numbed the pain and my mind. I was awake but didn’t care about anything.
A police officer stayed with me the entire time. The hospital staff wanted to know if I was under arrest. If I weren’t the cops would have dumped me here.
He told them I was a US Marshal and he was to stay with me until someone from the Marshal’s office showed up. Which after several hours one did.
I think I listened to what the Marshal and the New York City cop talked about but to this day I have no idea what was said. I did see my credential holder being waved about.
I fell asleep.
When I next woke it was to the sound of Nina sobbing. She was in a chair next to my bed and crying her eyes out.
I managed a croak for water. She heard this and instead of water hugged me.
“Oh Rick, I was so scared you would die and it would be all my fault because I had you bring me here.”
“Water.”
At that, she pulled herself together enough to pour a glass full from the pitcher sitting on the table next to my bed.
A small sip allowed me to talk.
“Nonsense, first of all, it is not a life-threatening wound, and second there is no way you could have foreseen this happening.”
“I know but I feel so bad.”
“How did you get here?”
“Roger called around and found out what hospital you were in, then he called your parents, the palace and when I got back to the hotel we came right here.”
“Where is he.”
“He is sitting outside, they would only let in one visitor at a time.”
“Okay, we know how my day went, how did yours?”
“Other than my boyfriend getting himself shot, it went fine. They are even talking about me doing more work for them.”
I noted how it went from her fault to mine. Flexibility in thinking is a good thing, but only a woman could be this flexible.
She continued, “Your parents are on the way.”
My first thoug
ht was why, this wasn’t that big of a deal, then again maybe it was, a son didn’t get shot every day. While thinking about shooting my brothers I had never done it.
Nina and I talked for a while. We discussed the remainder of the trip. She would work tomorrow and then board the 707 for her overnight trip home.
This would get her into Zurich Monday morning in time for first class. She would sleep in my bed on the plane. I had been hoping to get her in my bed for a long time, just not this way.
She asked if the plane could stay there long enough for her to being her Friends out for a tour of the aircraft. I told her yes.
The aircraft probably needed some basic servicing and refueling. It would hurt the crew to have some downtime. Most of all I didn’t want to say no to my girlfriend and it would let me brag about my plane without saying a word.
I would be staying here in the hospital for at least another week until the wound had closed up enough that I could move around without tearing it open.
That plus the fact I was content to stay here where I could get the pain meds. This sucker hurt!
Roger came in after Nina left. We discussed the arrangements he had made. He had revised the hotel reservation for the next week. He and my parents would stay there.
After taking Nina back to Switzerland the plane would return here to be available when I could travel.
I asked him to contact Todd Goodson and Jim Wallace to let them know I had to put the trip off. At the end of this week, we would revisit the issue to see when I could reschedule. What had seemed like an easy to do business trip was getting more complicated all the time.
I asked Roger if he knew how the guard that had got shot in the leg was doing. He didn’t know but went to the nurse's station to ask. They told him they couldn’t comment on his condition but that his wife had been in and walked out smiling.
Next in line after Roger left was a New York City Detective. I hadn’t been officially interviewed. It was pretty much cut and dried as there had been four other eyewitnesses who told the same story I did.
He told me that there was some confusion at first about me being a US Marshal, the Deputy Marshal first at the scene had never heard about my appointment and I wasn’t listed as an active officer.