by Tony Bertot
“Good thinking. Maybe we’ll get lucky,” O’Malley told her.
“Where’d they take the Giordanos?” Tyler asked.
“Over to Bellevue Hospital,” the captain answered. “There’s not much more we can do here. Tyler, Eric, you guys take the rest of the day off, and I’ll see you at the precinct tomorrow,” O’Malley told them.
As they were about to take their leave, Tyler turned to Sheila and Sam and nodded his good-bye and walked away. Sheila had been with Tyler through a lot, and all he did was nod and walk away. “What’s his story?” she asked Eric as he approached to say his good-byes.
“Don’t really know. That’s just the way he is,” Eric told her as he hugged both Sam and Sheila with a warm good-bye. “You guys take care of yourselves,” Eric told them.
“Take care of him,” Sam told Eric.
“Yeah, you got it.” He too walked away after Tyler while pointing at them.
Tyler jumped into the squad car that was provided for them and was about to take off as Eric jumped into the passenger side. “Hey man, were you going without me?” Eric asked him.
“Sorry. I figured I’d run over to Bellevue and ask the Giordanos who it was they hired to kill the judge,” Tyler told Eric.
“Really? And do you think they are going to tell you?” Eric asked him.
“Hey, it won’t hurt to try,” Tyler responded as he hit the gas and took off with the sirens accompanying them.
Nick had managed to elude his pursuers and was now headed uptown toward Grand Central Station on Forty-Second and Park Avenue. The cab driver heard a call come over the radio for anyone who might have picked up a police officer but simply ignored it, afraid he might upset his passenger. A block from the station, Nick ordered the cab driver to stop, reached into the attaché case, and pulled a few hundred dollar bills.
“You listen and listen good. Here is a few hundred dollars, and all you have to do is tell your dispatcher that you picked me up and dropped me off at Penn Station. Do you understand?” Nick asked him.
“Yes, sir. I don’t want any problems. Whatever you say,” the driver responded nervously. With that, Nick got out of the cab and headed toward Grand Central Station.
Entering the station Nick headed for the nearest bathroom where he would discard the uniform for the clothes he was wearing underneath. Within seconds, his mission was complete. After removing the bulletproof vest, he pulled his shirt open to reveal a black-and-blue bruise the size of a baseball. Fuckin’ kid almost killed me. I bet you he would have caught that ball after all, Nick thought to himself, smiling. Yes, Nick remembered who Tyler was.
As the cab driver who drove Nick pulled away, he called into the dispatcher. “Hey, it was me. I picked up the cop,” he screamed into the microphone.
“Hey, Leroy, is that you?” the dispatcher asked.
“Yeah, man. It’s me. I picked him up at Canal Street and dropped him off at Grand Central Station,” He shouted. “Hey, this motherfucker is a bad dude. Told me to tell you I dropped him off someplace else. That’s what he said.”
Two minutes later, the dispatcher relayed the information to the police who immediately dispatched several cars to Grand Central Station. The police at the station were alerted to be on the lookout for anyone fitting Nick’s description. They were told to check the bathrooms as they suspected he would try to change out of his police uniform.
Both Tyler and Eric missed the call about Nick being at Grand Central Station as they just left their squad car and were entering Bellevue Hospital’s emergency ward. Sheila, Sam, and their captain were still at the courthouse when the call came in. John O’Malley rushed to them and gave them an update as they all jumped into one of the cars and headed uptown.
Nick finished removing the uniform, dumping it into the closest garbage can and walked out. The station was crowded with midday commuters as Nick headed to a newsstand to pick up the paper and some candy.
A crowd was gathering in front of an overhead television as news of the downtown shooting was being aired. Nick walked over and almost choked when he heard one of the Giordanos had been shot. Someone trying to take money out of my mouth, he thought to himself.
When Nick heard that the Giordanos were taken to Bellevue Hospital, he immediately headed for the nearest exit. As he approached it, he saw police cars screeching to a halt in front of the station. He kept his cool and continued in his path. As Sheila hit one of the revolving doors, Nick hit the same one going in the opposite direction. She glanced up for a second and met his eyes as they passed each other separated by only an inch of glass. Sheila entered the station and froze. Turning, she screamed, “It’s him!” She pointed toward the door.
Pulling her revolver out, she rushed the door and was out on the other side in seconds, followed by her other colleagues.“Shit! He was just here,” she shouted.
Nick moved as quickly as possible. Exiting through the revolving doors and crossing the street, running as he kept low below the top of the parked cars so no one could see him. When he reached the corner of East Forty-Second and Madison Avenue, he turned left and headed toward Forty-First Street where he hailed a cab to Bellevue Hospital. It would be much easier to get them at the hospital. After all, they do allow visitors, Nick thought to himself.
In the meantime, Fabio was in the operating room while Tyler and Eric confronted Felicia in the waiting room. Other than Felicia and two of her soldiers, the room was empty. Anyone previously there was probably cleared out by the Giordanos’ men. Sitting there with her face in her hands and blood on her clothes, she looked like an average person, weeping for a family member.
Eric, feeling some sympathy, softened his approach. “Sorry about your brother,” Eric told her. Tyler, undeterred about how Felicia looked or felt, said, “Hope he dies screaming.”
“Fuck off,” she said, looking up at him.
Two strong-looking men immediately approached Tyler and Eric while grasping weapons concealed under their jackets. Both Eric and Tyler pulled out their badges. Tyler shoved his in their faces while his other hand gripped the handle of his gun.
Eric looked at Tyler and nodded toward the door. Tyler stepped back and headed out of the waiting room.
“Look, Ms. Giordano, what goes on between your families is your business. You can kill yourselves off for all we care. But that guy that killed the judge is a pro. I mean we know he’s killed some of your own guys,” Eric told her. “Don’t be foolish enough to think he wouldn’t take you or Fabio out.”
“Make your point, Officer,” Felicia told him.
“Give him up and we will take him down,” Eric told her.
Felicia thought about what Eric was saying. “And what do I get out of this?” she asked him.
“You get to live another day, maybe,” he said.
Eric knew that the Giordanos didn’t exactly care for the man they hired to kill the judge. This much they got out of Adriana before she clammed up.
“Let me talk to Fabio. I know where to find you,” she told Eric. “Besides, I’ve never met him. I can’t even tell you what he looks like.”
Tyler had left the waiting room and wandered down the hallway into a nearby gift shop. As he browsed around, he happened to see a newspaper with the picture of Nick on the corner of the front page. The FBI was looking for this man. Tyler picked up the paper, paid, and started walking back toward the waiting room. It’s him, Tyler thought to himself.
Eric met him halfway back to the room when Tyler showed Eric the picture in the paper. “Yeah, I know,” Eric said.
“No, you don’t understand. I know this man,” Tyler told him.
“What do you mean you know him?” Eric asked.
“I know this man,” Tyler responded.
They both walked back to the waiting room and took a couple of seats as Tyler tried to remember why this man was so familiar and yet was such an enigma.
Felicia saw them looking at the paper and asked about it. They told her that this was the man
that killed the judge.
“What?” she asked.
She grabbed the paper and stared at the picture of Nick. Now, she knew.
They all sat there for about twenty minutes without saying a word. Each caught up in their own thoughts when all of a sudden Tyler jumped up. “Shit! I remember where I know him from. This motherfucker was in my house!” he shouted at Eric.
“What? What do you mean in your house? When?” Eric, now standing, asked Tyler.
“Shit! It must have been over twenty years ago,” Tyler whispered.
“What are you talking about?” Eric asked, staring at Tyler.
“I am telling you that this guy was in my house when I was a kid. He had dinner in my house with me and my mom some twenty years ago,” Tyler told Eric.
Felicia listened intently to what was being said and wondered, could it really be true that this cop knew Nick? What are the chances? This cop would have only been a kid twenty years ago.
“He stayed in the apartment across from us. My mom invited him to dinner the day he moved in,” Tyler went on almost to himself rather than to Eric. “I never saw him again after that. Except when he was on the sidewalk staring at me that day . . . the day my mom was shot. I remember it as if it was yesterday.”
All of the memories of that day came rushing back to Tyler. Once again, he was reliving the incident as he collapsed into the chair next to Eric. “I got to tell the captain,” Tyler told Eric. With that, Tyler got up and headed out the door, with Eric close behind him. They walked down the hallway toward a pay phone located just down the hall, not noticing the doctor that passed them in the hall.
Felicia looked up as both Tyler and Eric exited the waiting room. A few seconds later, a doctor walked into the room. “Ms. Giordano?” he inquired.
“Yes, that’s me,” Felicia responded.
“Your brother has pulled through. He will be all right,” he told her.
“Oh my God. Thank you, Doctor. When can I see him?” she asked him.
“He has already been moved to the recovery room and should be coming out of anesthesia in about fifteen minutes. It will be good for him to see you when he opens his eyes,” he told her.
The doctor told her Fabio was up on the next floor, room 407. With that, Felicia got up and headed for the elevator followed by her two bodyguards.
Tyler was on the phone trying to get a hold of Captain O’Malley when he saw Eric walking toward Felicia as she approached him heading for the elevators. They exchanged some words, and Eric returned to Tyler’s side. “Any luck?” Eric asked him.
“No, but they said they would relay the message,” Tyler responded. “What gives with her?” he said, nodding toward Felicia.
“Her brother pulled through, and she’s going up to see him in recovery,” Eric answered.
“Wow, that’s thrilling. I couldn’t give a shit if the bastard died. As far as I’m concerned, he would have deserved it,” Tyler commented.
Eric stared at Tyler for a few seconds, knowing full well that he meant every word. Tyler stared back at Eric. “What?” Tyler asked.
“Nothing,” Eric responded.
They both watched as Felicia and her two guards got into the elevator. Turning to face the doors, she looked right at Tyler and gave him a broad smile. Tyler stared back at her and right through her with a silent promise that this was not over. Felicia’s smile vanished. Bitch, thought Tyler.
Back at Grand Central Station, O’Malley got a radio call that Tyler was trying to reach him and that he was at Bellevue Hospital. “What the hell is he doing there?” O’Malley said aloud.
“Who?” asked Sheila?
“Tyler, he’s over at Bellevue,” he told her.
“Oh, maybe he’s comforting Ms. Giordano,” she responded.
“Yeah right,” commented Sam.
“She’d be better off buried up to her neck in sand at high tide.” They smiled at the thought, then headed to Bellevue to catch up with Tyler.
Nick had the cab driver stop a block away from the hospital, which was crawling with reporters and photographers trying to get any news on the condition of Mr. Giordano. Entering through a side entrance, Nick approached the admitting desk and inquired about his brother, Fabio Giordano. The receptionist knew of the Giordanos and wasn’t about to take the chance of upsetting a family member with any red tape.
“Sir, your brother came out of the operating room just five minutes ago. He . . . he is fine. He is in the recovery room. Umm . . . room 407, that’s where they took him. Your sister is there with him now,” she volunteered.
“Can I go up and see him, now?” Nick asked her.
“Well, you are only allowed two visitors at a time, and there are three people already there. But I don’t see why not,” she told him.
Nick smiled at her as she handed him a visitor’s card. “Have a nice day, Mr. Giordano,” she told him. Nick nodded and headed to the elevators. The receptionist turned to the other receptionist who had her back to her. “Geri, do you know who that was?” she asked her.
“Who are you talking about?” Geri asked.
“That was Mr. Giordano’s brother. That’s who that was,” she told Geri.
“You’re crazy. Mr. Giordano doesn’t have a brother. He only has a sister,” she responded.
“No, you’re wrong. He said he was his brother. I am sure of it,” she answered back.
“Yeah, probably a reporter trying to get a scoop,” Geri told her.
“Damn, I never thought of that. I should call security and let them know,” she said.
“And get in trouble because you let him in? Are you nuts?” Geri asked her. With that, the receptionist nodded and simply ignored the incident.
Four minutes later, Sheila, Sam, and O’Malley arrived at Bellevue Hospital. The reporters immediately recognized O’Malley and rushed him for information.
“Who shot Mr. Giordano? Did you catch him? Was Ms. Giordano also shot? Is he dead?” were the questions thrown at them as they broke through the crowd and headed into the lobby, ignoring all questions.
“What floor is Fabio Giordano on?” O’Malley asked the receptionist as he passed by.
“Uh . . . room 407,” she quickly responded to him.
Tyler had called O’Malley back a few minutes before and learned that he was headed to Bellevue Hospital to meet up with him. Tyler and Eric headed to the fourth floor to await O’Malley’s arrival. Eric knew he would be interested in what Felicia had to say.
Nick exited on the fourth floor and headed to a utility room where he changed into scrubs and covered his head with a cap. He cautiously exited and walked in the direction of room 407. Seeing two men standing in front of the room, he detoured and entered another room on the opposite side of the hallway. Luck was on his side as the room was empty. From his vantage point, he could see the two men guarding Fabio. Nick watched for about five minutes as he contemplated his next move. Moving the pistol from the back of his belt to the front, he stepped out into the hallway and headed for the room 407.
The elevator doors opened with Tyler and Eric stepping out in search of room 407, figuring they would meet O’Malley there and confront the Giordanos. They approached the nurse’s station for directions. As they walked toward the room, they heard someone call from behind them.
“Hey, Tyler. Eric.” Both Tyler and Eric turned. It was the captain accompanied by Sheila and Sam.
Nick approached room 407 and nodded to the two men who nodded back as they allowed him to enter the room. Felicia gently massaged Fabio’s head, her back to Nick as he entered the room.
“Ms. Giordano, how is our patient doing?” he gently asked her.
“He seems fine,” she answered as she slowly turned to see Nick. The blood drained from Felicia’s face when she turned and saw the barrel of a silencer staring her in the face.
“Smile,” he said and fired a bullet into her head followed by a second shot into Fabio.
He stared at them for only a second, put
the gun back in his pants and calmly walked out. The two men at the door, not hearing anything suspicious, nodded once again as Nick exited the room.
Nick moved swiftly, looking down as he walked in the direction of the elevators. Not realizing he was walking straight towards Tyler, Eric, Sheila, Sam, and O’Malley who were congregating in the hallway.
As Nick approached, he realized who they were and rerouted his direction to a stairway to his right as Sheila happened to glance down the hallway toward Nick. This time Sheila reacted quicker, pushing Eric into Tyler as she drew her gun and fired. Nick ducked and raced into the stairway.
“It’s him!” she screamed. They all turned and raced after Sheila as she ran for the stairway.
Nick, skipping steps as he ran down the stairs, stopped long enough to fire a shot up at the descending pursuers. Within a minute, he was running down the lobby toward the hospital exit with Sheila close behind him. He turned just before going through the doors and fired, hitting Sheila in the shoulder. Eric caught Sheila as she was flung into him by Nick’s shot. Tyler, who was to the right of Eric, had a clear shot and fired, hitting Nick in the back of the shoulder as he exited the hospital,. People on the street, hearing the gunfire, began to scream and duck for cover. Nick screamed with pain and almost stumbled as he felt Tyler’s bullet hit him. Running at full gallop, he turned right, heading toward Twenty-Ninth Street with Tyler close behind. Reaching Twenty-Ninth and First Avenue, Nick turned right again. Tyler saw him turn and continued his race after him. Not this time, you son of a bitch, Tyler thought to himself.
Tyler, reaching the corner in a few seconds, didn’t bother stopping to look, and ran past the intersection and turned right. Nick, grasping his shoulder, looked back and didn’t see anyone, but continued his run forward down Twenty-Ninth Street, toward FDR Drive. Tyler was on the other side of the street and could see Nick half a block ahead of him. Now picking up speed, he was closing in on him. Nick reached the under path of FDR Drive and had to run across the northbound side of it, barely avoiding oncoming traffic. Tyler was now only a quarter of a block behind Nick and was closing in fast. Reaching the FDR Highway, Tyler shouted to Nick to halt, but Nick continued. The noise of the highway traffic obscured Tyler’s shouts.