“I know what you mean. It’s the same way in Virginia. His IT army buzzes around like a swarm of bees, going from one flower to the next. I was with that agency for awhile and I can tell you that they got more done in two months with Johnny-F in charge than we did in two years, before Cris bought us … and everything works! Big Brother is gonna be invaluable to us, in the field. I just hope the bad guys wait until we get our battlestar fully operational.”
“Well, this is the last of the equipment. John told us that his super-nerds will arrive back here bright and early tomorrow. He estimated that they’ll need a week to install, another week to de-bug and barring any unforeseen problems they’ll be ready to train the three of us, by week three. By that time, the three of us will have our final personnel recommendations for you to look over. Then it’ll probably take us another two or three weeks, minimum to get everyone trained and cross-trained.”
Santappia nodded his understanding.
“How is it going, finding the people you want?”
“Well, we made a master list of everyone we want and the three of us have been keeping busy locating all of them, via back channel. Per your orders, we won’t contact any of them until you vet them.”
“Okay, I spoke with Captain Ricci and we decided on a hybrid-architecture of a SEAL platoon for ARCHANGEL. SEAL platoons consist of 16 SEALs; two officers, one chief, and 13 enlisted men. Their platoon can be divided into two squads or four elements. ARCHANGEL will be slightly different. The Captain and I will act as the two officers, and each of you will be in charge of one squad, making a total of three. Each squad will be comprised of six men - that’s including you three. So the total compliment of ARCHANGEL will be 20, counting me and the Captain, and I’m counting us because there will be times when we split into five four-man elements and Captain Ricci and I will each lead one of the elements.”
Riggy gave Santappia a cold stare.
“Don’t worry, Rigs, the Captain and I both promise to train with you guys whenever we can. One other thing, you’re all former Warrant Officers but you have seniority over De May and Pescy, so you’ll act as Master Chief with ARCHANGEL. Once we get up and running, I want at least one squad here at all times. We’ll rotate squads to man the Den 24/7/365. If all goes smoothly, we can begin to recruit in September and be a hundred-percent staffed by the end of the year. I’ll leave it up to the three of you to create a rotation schedule. Oh yeah, and in keeping with our angelic branding, the squads will be named – MICHAEL, GABRIEL, and PADAEL.”
Rigoni smiled.
“Angels with dirty faces … and bad dispositions.”
Pescalitis walked over to the two.
“Hey, I just got off the phone with my son, he said, everyone’s psyched and they’re about to board the shuttle bus to leave for the ranch.”
De Niro invited the four men’s wives and kids and in Rigoni’s case, his baby grandson to spend the weekend in Las Vegas so that they all could attend a 4th of July party, at the ranch. There were a total of 12 of them, plus the baby, so they just fit on his new QSST. Everyone was blown away by the flight on the beautiful aircraft and even more blown away when they arrived and were shuttled to the Bellagio, on a shuttle bus, just for them. De Niro paid for suites in the beautiful resort for everyone.
The men spent Friday and Saturday with their families, but Riggy, De May and Pescalitis returned to the Coyote’s Den late Saturday night, to receive more equipment being shipped to them. Work had to get done virtually around the clock, except from sunset to sunset on the Sabbath’s, in keeping with De Niro’s Judeo-Christian faith. So far, it looked like Johnny-F’s timetable of three months for the Den to get operational was feasible.
Rigoni smiled.
“I can’t wait to show Cris, my grandson. He asked about him a few times.”
“Hey Charley, I know you said Cris is worth a bundle, but this weekend has to be costing him a chunk of change!” Pescalitis added.
De May came walking out of the bathroom trying to stretch a t-shirt over his barrel chest.
“My wife is getting so spoiled. She told me, ‘Karl, I know your work is dangerous so please, don’t get yourself killed, at least until after next year’s 4th of July party!’”
The men laughed. Santappia checked his watch.
“Okay, let’s saddle up. By the way, coming out here this morning was my first experience on an ATV. I must say …very cool!”
“I thought De May and I were going to have problems ‘cause of our size, especially King Kong over there,” said Riggy, “but we didn’t have any problem with them.”
“Good, ‘cause other than using them around the ranch, they may prove useful in the field. Cris said we can take them with us whenever we need them.”
Pescalitis came walking back to them, already wearing his helmet.
“Guys, do you want to stand around here some more or can we get a move on? I got my floating lounge chair already picked out. I scoped it out the last time we were at the ranch and by the time we get there, there’ll be a set of tall necks shouting my name!”
Chapter 14
The Main House
Estancia De Niro
Henderson, NV
12:45p.m., Monday, July 04, 2011
De Niro’s 4th of July party was already in full gear by the time Keith Tompkins showed up with his wife Yvonne, their kids and someone Keith was looking forward to introduce to his friend.
After everyone hugged, Tompkins made the introduction.
“Cris, this is the little lady I told you about. Cris De Niro … Moriah Stevens. That’s Dr. Moriah Stevens. Moriah is the best vet east of the Mississippi. Just ask my kids. About a month after we met, Princess, our golden lab swallowed a rubber ball and Moriah rushed over to our house and pulled the ball out with salad tongs.”
De Niro couldn’t help laughing as he extended his hand, which made the pretty woman in front of him blush even more.
“Welcome to Estancia De Niro, Dr. Stevens.”
“Thank you Mr. De Niro and thank YOU Keith, for that disgusting introduction!”
Keith’s wife Yvonne elbowed her husband in his ribs.
“Keith, let’s go say hello to William and the boys. You’ve done enough damage here.”
De Niro’s eyes sparkled with quiet laughter as he watched his friends walk into the house. Then he turned back to the pretty lady.
“Please, call me Cris.”
“Okay Cris, if you call me Moriah … and you DON’T call me if your dog starts choking.”
De Niro laughed out loud again.
“Not to worry Moriah, we don’t have a dog. Follow me, everyone’s out back.”
Moriah’s beauty didn’t go unnoticed by De Niro. Now I know why Keith wanted me to meet her … wise guy!
Tompkins met Moriah at the 9/11 memorial the year before. He tried, that day, to introduce her to him, but De Niro ducked out before he got the opportunity. Moriah hadn’t attended any of the previous memorials, since losing her husband on that fateful day. Her husband had been a passenger on the ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower – the same tower where De Niro’s wife Lisa lost her life. Since last year’s memorial, Tompkins had been telling De Niro about her, but other than feeling compassion for her, De Niro showed no interest in meeting her. Tompkins thought bringing her to the 4th party was the perfect opportunity to introduce them.
Moriah could have been a model; in fact she had been, to help put her through veterinary school. Standing 5’4”, with dirty-blond hair, emerald green eyes and an hourglass shape, she wasn’t exactly a runway model, but that didn’t bother her a bit. She had only been married a year when she lost her husband. Now, she was a 36 year-old widow with no children, although she considered her two dogs, Callie (a large German shepherd) and Booboo (a miniature American Eskimo), and her two cats, Samson and Delilah, to be her kids. Like De Niro, Moriah had shown no interest in the opposite sex since her husband died, though the opposite sex showed a
lot of interest in her. Nary had a day gone by, since she stopped wearing her wedding ring, without at least one male, young or old, tall or small, rich or poor, black, white, green and every skin color in between, flirting with her. Moriah was usually cordial, but with the more aggressive ones, she was able to carry herself well, reminding them that she was trained in neutering males of all species.
Dr. Stevens didn’t keep a large circle of friends; instead she devoted herself to her veterinary practice located in lower Manhattan. The friends she did have, all tried unsuccessfully to set her up on blind dates - which is why she not only surprised all of them, but surprised herself, saying yes to Keith when he invited her to meet De Niro.
What am I doing here? Is it the fact that he’s a billionaire a few times over, or was it the photos Yvonne showed me of him … or is this just a sign that I’m ready to “move on with my life,” as everyone puts it. In any case, he does seem nice and …he’s better looking in person than in the photos.
De Niro led Moriah onto the back porch and introduced her to everyone, including Richard and Louis, with Richard giving her the evil eye, William and the staff, Mugsy and his date, Santappia, Riggy, De May, Pescalitis and their wives. Everyone with the exception of William and the staff were in the pool.
“Okay, now that that’s out of the way, what can I get you to drink?”
“Whatever you’re drinking is fine, thanks. You have beautiful boys and this ranch is absolutely spectacular!”
De Niro walked over to one of the dozen coolers placed all around the yard and popped the tops on two Stella Artois tallnecks. He handed one to Moriah and they clinked them together. De Niro spoke first.
“Happy 4th Moriah …”
“Happy 4th Cris …”
Both took long pulls from their beers as William walked over with a large platter of hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, and steaks. He carefully placed it in the middle of the large rectangular table. He was followed by Aurelio’s wife Rosita who wheeled over a table with salads, condiments, chips and tortilla.
“We have two of the best cooks west of the Pecos, Aurelio and his brother Arturo.”
De Niro pointed over to the two men manning the grills who waved back with spatulas in their hands.
“And this is Señora Rosita … Aurelio’s beautiful wife!”
The small, chubby dark-skinned lady giggled as she nodded to Moriah.
De Niro switched to Spanish as he winked at her, “Rosita, this is Dr. Moriah who is here in case any of our animals swallow rubber balls.”
Rosita burst out in laughter. It was Moriah’s turn to show off her language skills.
(In Spanish) “That’s such a pretty dress, Rosita. Did you buy it here in town?”
Rosita replied in English.
“No, señora, I bought it in Mexico City last year. Thank you so much!”
Impressed, De Niro continued in Spanish.
“You speak Spanish with a slight Puerto Rican accent, did you know that?”
Moriah replied in English.
“I took Spanish at Cornell9 but I interned in Spanish Harlem. That’s where I really learned to speak the language, although, I acquired the accent, in the process. Where did you learn to speak Spanish?”
“My paternal grandmother, Carmen taught me. She was born in Barcelona. We still have people there.”
Richard and Louis ran over dripping wet followed by some of the other children. Rosita intercepted them and sat them all at another table, then placed a platter similar to the one that William brought out, on their table. They were followed by all the adults who were in the pool, led by Mugsy.
De Niro quickly grabbed a plate.
“Quick, before the Cavoni clean this platter too, what would you like?”
Moriah laughed.
“You speak Italian too?”
“My mother taught me.”
William walked over and whispered into De Niro’s ear, "Sir, Ms. Wang, calling from Virginia, is on the home telephone. She asked to speak to you.”
“Thank you William, I’ll take the call, in my study. Moriah, if you’ll excuse me I’ll be right back. William, please serve Dr. Stevens first, before the wet vagabonds raid the platter.”
“Hey, we’re towel dry,” Ricci exclaimed, making everyone laugh. Ricci walked over to De Niro.
“Something up?”
De Niro decided it was time to let his brother-in-law know.
“It’s Michelle on my home phone. I’d like you to sit in on the call, that is, once you dry off and make sure what’s-her-name gets something to eat; then join me in my study.”
“Her name is Courtney, Cris… at least that’s her stage name.”
De Niro entered his study and closed the door behind him; then he took a seat behind his desk and picked up the receiver.
“Michelle, its Cris, what’s up?”
“Sorry to call on your home phone, Cris, I tried your cell but got your message.”
“No problem, that’s on me, I left my cell inside the house. Things have a way of melting when you leave them outside, out here. You can always call on this line, though. My Executive Assistant William Brett is familiar with all of Watchman’s staff. So what’s up, did you turn anything up?”
“Well, something turned up, but it doesn’t have anything directly to do with the mosque, at least I don’t think it does. You know how we’ve been monitoring large cash flows into Mexico from the Middle East, as part of our consulting contract with DHS10?”
“Sure, they wanted us to help them crack down on any foreign terrorists trying to infiltrate the U.S. via Mexico. Apparently, they had intel that Al Qaeda might be paying the cartels up to $25,000 a piece for every person they helped to smuggle across our southern border.”
“Correct. Well, with the help of Big Brother we just got a lead. $25 million American was wired into a Banco Santander account from an account kept in Qatar’s leading investment bank. The curious thing is that the account belongs to a Sharia-compliant private equity firm that was on the list of firms that you wanted me to keep an eye on … and so was the bank in Qatar. The money was said to be an investment that the firm was making into a Mexican logistics warehouse operation.”
Ricci quietly entered De Niro’s study and closed the door behind him.
“Michelle, Captain Ricci just walked in, I’m putting you on speaker.”
“Hi Michelle.”
“Hi Captain.”
Ricci look quizzically at De Niro.
“Mugs, I asked Michelle a few months ago if she’d do me a favor and look into … any financial transactions that might take place between firms that might be supporting Islamic terrorism and … the Ground Zero mosque project.”
Ricci was not amused.
“Cris, you asked a person on my staff to do you a personal favor using resources of the firm you put me in charge of … and you didn’t let me know?”
De Niro breathed a sigh of relief, “For a moment there, I thought you were going to reprimand me for the …legal uncertainty of my request.”
Ricci’s face turned red with anger, “Hey Cris, she was your wife, but she was my sister too!”
De Niro walked over to his brother-in-law and gave him a quick but sincere hug, “I know Mugs, you’re right; I should have told you. I just didn’t want to involve anyone else.”
Ricci patted De Niro on his back then took a seat.
“So fill me in.”
“Michelle was saying that Big Brother kicked out a lead on $25 million American that was paid by one of the Sharia-compliant private equity firms that I had her keeping tabs on, to a Mexican logistics warehouse operation. We’re not sure if there’s any tie-in with the mosque though. Michelle, Cris again, why did double-B tag this particular transfer. There’s nothing illegal or particularly odd about a Sharia-compliant PE company investing in that kind of company. Logistics warehousing is one of the approved by Sharia law industries.”
“That’s what we thought too Cris, until
Big Brother produced some compelling info. It couldn’t immediately track the individual investors in the Middle East but it did dig up some disturbing intel on the Mexican side. Apparently, this warehouse operation is suspected of being used by one particular cartel to transport their narcotics into South America and the U.S. The warehouse operation is owned by a few layers of holding companies, but there is also suspicion that those companies may be owned wholly or partially by that same cartel’s leader.”
“Michelle, its Ricci, which cartel is suspected?”
“Hold on… the Pacifico cartel ...”
“Pacifico is run by Tuco Ramirez,” Ricci replied, more to De Niro than to Michelle, “he’s considered the boldest and most violent of the new wave of Mexican drug lords.”
Michelle’s voice jumped in.
“Captain, I’d like permission to send two of my operatives, one to Qatar and one to Mexico to investigate. Double-B has done all it can do, now we need to put feet on the ground and find out who the limited and general partners are of the private equity firm, and we also need to find out more about that Mexican warehouse operation.”
“Michelle, sounds like it could be dangerous, especially on the Mexican side. Are you sure you want to send them both in solo?”
“I’m sending two of my most experienced agents, one is Saudi Arabian, the other is Mexican, both naturalized U.S. citizens drafted by Langley over a decade ago.”
Both men detected a hint of defensiveness in Michelle’s tone.
“Neither of them should have any trouble. We’re already working on their covers. This is a simple fishing expedition and they’re both experienced fishermen. They’ll know if they’re entering rough seas, trust me. They’ll both have standing orders to return to port, at the first sign of trouble.”
The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) Page 10