And, when they did? He’d be there to see it happen and would hopefully obtain enough new info to convince Karimi to pay him the rest of his money. It was still his goal to be enjoying a life of leisure while cruising the Mediterranean and he wanted his full payment, as had been agreed.
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Ray Morelli and Russ Simonetti were still discussing the problem which Pauli had created for them when they received word that Sal D’Amato was insisting on a meeting. Face-to-face. Right away.
“What the hell!” said Morelli. “This can’t be good. Is it possible Sal somehow learned it was my fucking nephew who torched that restaurant? I thought you said there were no witnesses.”
Simonetti grimaced and said, “My guy didn’t think anyone else was there but, hey? Anything is possible. He was merely following Pauli around and never expected anything like this would happen. He wasn’t really looking that closely to see if anyone else might have been there. He only learned about the fire later on since he followed those kids after they left and didn’t actually see it when it happened.”
“Well, I can’t think of any other reason Sal would be asking to see me right now. Fuck! We’d better get this over with. Make the arrangements.”
Two hours later, Morelli and Simonetti made their way into the restaurant which had been agreed upon for the meeting. They had several others with them but, like the group who had accompanied D’Amato, all but two of their men waited outside. Both families were following protocols and there’d be no violence. Bringing their men along provided assurances of that, for both sides.
Salvatore D’Amato was waiting at a corner table, along with Ben Marchitto. Again, as per protocol. They exchanged greetings and were seated, with the two bodyguards who they’d brought inside taking a separate table. They recognized both Billy Martin and Donny Delgato, the two bodyguards Sal had brought inside who likewise were seated at a nearby table. A waiter came over and took their order for drinks and then quickly disappeared.
Sal didn’t waste any time and said, “Ray, I asked you here because some of your people have broken the truce. What’s it been six, seven weeks? Already you starting up again?” He was aggressive and demanding, and seemed quite certain about his accusation.
“No, I’ve not started anything, Sal. What are you saying I’ve done?” Morelli looked back and forth between Sal and Ben. While he wanted to profess his innocence it was obvious from Sal’s tone that Sal had some sort of evidence. “Is this about that restaurant owned by Lenny Giddings? I heard there was a fire. But, you can’t think …”
Sal didn’t wait for him to finish but said, “Here’s what I know, Ray. I know your nephew Pauli and two others were there that night. And, right after they left, that fire broke out and both Lenny and his guy Tiny died in that fire. I know all this because I had reason to place your nephew under surveillance. He made some threats concerning the girl who runs one of my foundations. The Roseanne Fund.” He shook his head, projecting sadness. “Threats against one of my charities, Ray. Not even one of my businesses.”
Morelli slowly realized all the possible denials which he and Russ had considered making were not going to work. “I did not authorize that, Sal. I have no idea why my nephew might have done what you’re saying but, believe me, it was nothing which I approved of. If he did anything, he was acting on his own and definitely not doing anything which I’m responsible for.”
“Ah, but you see? That’s the thing, Ray. You are responsible for your nephew. And, all the other families will see it that way.” Sal’s tone was now very cold. He’d been insulted. This was a matter of great importance. “An example needs to be made. You attack me and so maybe I should be attacking you. But, I’ve arranged this truce we have and going to war over this isn’t in anyone’s best interests. You can see that, right?”
Yeah, Morelli and Simonetti could see that all right. No, it would never be acceptable to give the other families any hint that D’Amato would tolerate what had happened. At the same time, it hadn’t been an act of war or anything worth breaking the truce.
Just then the waiter approached and everyone sat back, waiting until the drinks had been served and the waiter had left again. The tension in the air was palpable.
Morelli said, “Look, I’m not saying I don’t accept responsibility, if my nephew really did something. I’m only saying I never gave any direction for such a thing. It’s like you say, Sal. This certainly couldn’t have been any act of war. Maybe this was an accident of some kind. A mistake. Whatever happened during that meeting somehow went sideways. Pauli and his friends maybe panicked, tried to cover up. I just don’t know right now. This is all news to me.”
“Two of my people are dead, Ray. And, the way it happened? Nobody’s gonna believe it was any accident. So, you have to make payment. Everyone needs to know you are sorry for this mistake. So, we can keep the peace.” Sal looked at Ben and said, “What do you suppose the other families will consider to be an appropriate tribute? A peace offering, right? What can Ray, here, give me?”
Sal and Ben had already discussed this fully, of course, so Ben was ready with his answer. “Everyone knows how you and Ray have argued before about that hotel of his over on Lexington Street; the one with the private casino on the top floor.” The area around the hotel had traditionally been in Sal’s family while the hotel itself had always belonged in the Morelli family.
Simonetti said, “You can’t be serious! That’s worth several million and you know it. That restaurant and whatever book Lenny was making can’t be compared with Ray’s hotel and casino!”
Sal smiled and said, “I think Ray’s agreeing to sell me that hotel for, say, two million dollars? Yes, the other families would see that as him taking responsibility for his nephew’s mistake. Then we can all continue, business as usual, with no worry about any wars.”
Morelli and Simonetti continued their protests but they’d been outmaneuvered. In order to avoid the situation escalating and leading to another mob war, they needed to accept Sal’s terms. The hotel and casino were indeed worth at least ten million and once title transferred to Sal, that neighborhood would forever belong exclusively to the D’Amato family. The loss in casino revenues was even more of a hit for the Morelli family.
But, there’d be no way to hide this. Even making Pauli and his two friends disappear would not prevent word of what they’d done from somehow getting out. The cops would get brought in to investigate and there was simply no clean way to cover things up. The risk of exposure was too great and Sal would then have all he needed to insist on retaliating against the Morelli’s, with support from the other families.
Thus, it was finally agreed. Papers would be drawn up for the sale and word would go out this was the agreed upon repayment for what Morelli’s nephew Pauli had done. All the other families would understand. And, peace would be preserved.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dec 17, 2019
Colonel Chory looked up at Gene and Amanda Tremblay and said, “I’m glad you’re bringing this to me.” Then he looked back down at the document they’d brought over from the embassy and read through it once again. They’d asked if they could come over and meet with him alone and so he’d anticipated it might be related to something supernatural. And, he had guessed correctly. He was the one to whom General Blake had told them they should bring anything like this.
Gene said, “I probably never would have considered this report as being very significant only Oliver Bessom was just here, two weeks ago. My wife and I actually got to meet him, along with Candace Axtell. So, although this write-up doesn’t really take very seriously what this Askar-Samar Karimi presented about demons to his leaders over in Herat, it caught my eye. While those leaders may not have believed what Karimi was saying …”
Amanda couldn’t resist asking and interrupted, blurting out her question. “He really does have special abilities, doesn’t he? Oliver Bessom. Just like it says there. I’m guessing Oliver being here was maybe how the gen
eral figured out about Gene and I being werewolves. He and those other people who are named. Of course they’re not demons but they are supernaturals of some kind, right? Just as we are.”
The report was one of the recent documents which Gene had translated for the CIA. Ever since General Blake’s visit, he and Amanda had been asked to help when such items had been intercepted and needed to be translated. It was in Arabic and, although not the official language in Afghanistan, Arabic shared the same alphabet with Pashto and was sometimes used by Afghans. More and more, lately, some of the WIJO leaders in Kabul had been using Arabic for their secret messages. Fortunately, Sami Massallah’s CIA operatives had been successful in getting many of these.
The colonel smiled and said, “Yes, you’re correct. It was Oliver who told the general about you two. He was checking for supernaturals at each of the embassies during that tour he and Candace were making. He’s a witch, a finder witch. And, just as Karimi is saying in this presentation he made, Oliver helped locate and rescue Candace and later, he helped locate WIJO terrorist groups in Philadelphia and Chicago right before coming over here on tour.”
Gene said, “Wow! Amanda and I knew there were witches out there and maybe some other kinds of supernaturals besides werewolves as well. But, we’ve never met any.” He paused to think over what he’d learned since being confronted by the general. “That couple we met with the general … Les and Marsha Goodding? They’re in some special agency and we’ve been keeping in touch with them, as the general asked us to.”
Colonel Chory nodded and said, “Yes, good. That agency is called “P” Branch and they keep track of all the supnats around the world. In some instances, they do more than just monitor them. The demons Karimi talks about in his presentation are all supnats actively helping the U.S. government and this “P” Branch provides them support for doing that, as needed.”
Amanda asked, “How did Karimi find out so much about them?”
“We know he’s been buying info from a couple of traitors. One of these was at Homeland Security and the other was working at our embassy in Turkey. The man in Turkey was also supposedly working for the CIA but, as it turns out, he was really a double agent selling secrets to WIJO.” The colonel shook his head and grimaced. “We have a worldwide search trying to find these two traitors but, so far, they’ve eluded us. We’ve been monitoring Karimi’s calls, however, so we knew he had probably received some info like this. Now, thanks to this document you’ve brought me, we know exactly what he’s briefed to his leaders and how they’re dealing with it.”
“Well, Amanda wanted me to clear it with you before giving it to the CIA. We were told if we found or saw anything unusual, to always check with you first. I mean … we don’t know who else knows about supernaturals.”
“Quite right. I’ll take care of getting this document sent to the right places.”
Gene said, “That will be good, then. And, what Karimi says in there about those so-called demons? If that stuff is really true? I mean, I see why his leaders don’t want to believe him.”
The colonel laughed and said, “Oh, what Karimi presented was pretty accurate. What’s ironic is the traitor who provided him with all this info? The double agent who was in Turkey until Oliver visited there? He’s a demon himself. A water witch. I can see why WIJO might label all of you supnats as demons. That’s much easier than trying to understand about witches and shifters and whatever else might exist in the paranormal and supernatural world we apparently are living in.”
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Because of the eight and a half hour time difference to Washington, D.C., it took a couple of hours after the Tremblays left his office before the colonel could arrange for a secure conference call with both General Blake and Drew Martinson. Drew got Les, Marsha and some of his other staff members to join him on the call and was also able to get Charles Winword from the CIA to call in. Once everyone had exchanged greetings, Colonel Chory explained about the document he’d just obtained and gave them a quick summary of what was in it. Since he’d sent them a scanned copy by email, they were also able to glance through it while he talked.
Charles said, “It’s lucky we started using Gene Tremblay to do these translations for us. I don’t know if any of our other translators would have recognized how significant this stuff about demons is or who Karimi’s source might be. They might have dismissed this as nonsense. From what you’re saying, the reaction by those WIJO leaders over in Herat was mostly about how Karimi’s informant was making wild claims which really couldn’t be proven. They were all focused on the several million dollar reduction in payment for his client. Obviously, that client was Philip Arnold and Arvind Pancholi was Karimi’s informant. What’s interesting is it looks like Pancholi was able to include quite a bit of added information.”
Les said, “Well, we know Pancholi was down in Colombia and obtained that video from Pablo Estaban. We heard him telling Karimi how it shows Missy’s visit to Rodriquez. We were worried he might have figured out quite a few things … that’s why we now have a protection detail following all of Robert Ulrey’s people around.”
“The good news,” said Drew, “is that in spite of how accurate everything was in Karimi’s presentation, it didn’t convince anyone in Herat that we’re using demons. He couldn’t prove we could only have accomplished all we did with people having special abilities. Since the document was mostly about demons and these leaders all bickering about not paying for what couldn’t be proven, I doubt other translators would have bothered sending this on up the chain of command. Had Gene Tremblay not flagged it, we might never have seen it. Either that or, by the time we did, it would have been too late.”
Drew looked around at his staff at the conference table, and then continued speaking into the phone, saying, “The bad news, of course, is that several of the WIJO leaders in Kabul, according to this document, actually have started thinking Karimi is making a good argument. They want to take some action now rather than wait for Karimi to get any more proof. We’ll give a heads up to our protection detail in Boston.”
General Blake said, “It’s interesting to see how political all these WIJO leaders are. In Herat, they’re still on the defensive about how we rescued my niece, while over in Kabul? They’re not yet over how several of their high ranking members were captured at that Taliban base we wiped out last summer during Campaign Angel’s Wing. We’ve talked about this before, how they’re always more concerned about not getting blamed for anything. As a result, they avoid accepting responsibility and everything else always has a much lower priority. That really affects how most of their decisions get made.”
“Yes,” said Marsha, “except this Karimi seems willing to take some risks and he has some supporters in Kabul. So, I’m thinking the bad news is actually good news. If we can continue interfering with whatever plans WIJO might have, Karimi can eventually say he told them so. That will help him advance inside WIJO and by our continuing to monitor everything he’s doing, we can continue our interference in all those plans!”
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Missy finished her end of term exam for Landpower, the entry level course for her Defense Strategic Studies major. It had required analysis of some historic cases using the Clausewitzian Critical Analysis methodology which she’d learned that semester and she was confident she’d done well. She had already turned in her final paper for this course and so was done with it for now. Next semester her DSS course would be Military Strategy and she was already looking forward to it.
Once outside, her thoughts were all about what was next in the immediate future. This was the second of her end of term exams, with three more regular courses remaining. Plus, she had Farsi and Pashto with Major Kahn which was extra. As she headed over towards Cullum Hall she spotted Sally and Tracy, who had just finished taking their Psychology exam. She caught up to them and asked, “Hey, how’d it go? I was just thinking about everything I still have left to do.”
Sally and Tracy left the group they were
with to join Missy. Sally said, “Great! Glad that’s behind me. I’m not worried about the rest of my subjects since I know helping out at Kelsey’s Korner will pretty much get me ready for those. My last swim match was last week so I’m free to do that every night now.”
Tracy said, “Me too!”
Missy laughed and said, “Yeah, me too, almost. I do have my last basketball game tomorrow night. At least it’s a home game. And, no more shooting matches. Hard to believe we’ve almost finished another whole semester here.”
“I know, I know.” Sally looked around to be certain they were alone and continued, saying, “I’ve learned and experienced more this semester than everything I ever did before, combined. Just sayin’!” She laughed.
Quoting from one of her dad’s favorite old TV shows, Kung Fu, Tracy said, “Ah yes, Grasshopper! You have done well!”
Missy giggled and added, “Careful, Sally, or she’ll start spouting what my brother likes to call her wondrous witch wisdom and then you could be here all night.”
They went into Cullum Hall and sat down at one of their favorite tables.
Tracy said, “Very funny, very funny. You know how I love John but, sometimes, he can be a bit much. He’s the one who spouts off and gets carried away, not me.” She tried putting an innocent expression on her face but couldn’t quite manage it. “Speaking of boyfriends, what’s the latest on what Troy’s been doing up in Boston?”
Missy's Operation Lily Pad (Missy the Werecat Book 6) Page 19