by Joe Corso
The woman started to ask, “Why not wait for the police?” But she thought better of it. These men seemed capable of keeping her safe, especially the one called Red. He seemed to be the boss. So, she agreed to go with them. Once in the car, Piss Clam drove into the congested Washington traffic and headed for their hotel near the airport. Piss Clam pulled the car into the underground parking lot and parked it. When they got out of the car, Shooter and Joey Bones took positions in front of Red and the woman, looking and scanning for any possible signs of danger while Piss Clam watched their backs.
When they got to their room, Red told Piss Clam to go to the front desk and ask if they had another room near this one. “Tell the desk clerk that I’ll give him a $200.00 bonus if he could move the people on either side of us somewhere else. Tell him to give them the honeymoon suite or something just as nice. Keep raising the ante until he accepts. I want this lady close to us so we can keep her safe. I don’t want to let her out of our sight.”
“Okay, boss. I’ll see what I can do.”
Red raised an eyebrow. “Don’t see what you can do; make it happen.”
Red took the woman by the hand and guided her to a comfortable chair by the large window. Then he pulled a desk chair over to her so he could speak to her. “Now, let’s start with your name.”
“Marilyn,” she replied.
“I’m Red,” he said. “It’s very nice to meet you, Marilyn, even under these circumstances. Now what did those men want with you?”
She took off her glasses and removed the bandana from her head and Red stood there, gaping with his mouth open. He was speechless as Marilyn Monroe materialized in front of him. He was staring at the world’s sexiest, most beautiful movie star. This was the woman who haunted every man’s dreams at night.
“I did something very foolish and I don’t think I should talk about it to a perfect stranger,” she said.
Red ground his teeth then he let out the breath he was holding. “Look, I don’t give a rat’s ass about you or your problems. I’m just trying to help you. As long as you’re with me, no one will touch you. And you can put that in the bank. Understand this, Marilyn. I’m used to keeping secrets. I’m in a funny kind of business where, if I can’t keep secrets, I’d be in a world of trouble. Now if you don’t want to tell me what this is about, there’s the door. You can walk out that door and forget we ever took you here.”
Marilyn didn’t figure on telling anyone what she intended to do, but she needed help and these men seemed to be in a unique position to help her. She decided that she’d tell this man Red why an attempt on her life was made. She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and nodded once as she looked down, turning her eyes from him. “I was very hurt and very high when I told Bobby Kennedy that I was going to bring down the presidency. I told him I knew everything and that I was going public with what I knew. I told him that I’d tell the press about the women both he and Jack had slept with, the Bay of Pigs invasion, security details no one knows about. Everything I kept in my diary, I would give to the media. They betrayed me. At least that was how I felt; I felt betrayed by them. They used me, and I know it sounds trite, but they abused me. They know that I feel safe when I’m with a man and they used it against me.” She looked down as she spoke. “I was passed around like a toy for the men to play with. And I foolishly went along with it. When I was shoved into your arms in the elevator, I was on my way to my attorney to tell him everything I knew. I wanted it on the record. I wanted to get all this off of my chest and have him arrange a televised interview with the media. I wanted to get back at Jack and Bobby, but I never thought they’d try to have me killed.” She looked up at him as a lonely tear rolled down her cheek. Her lips were trembling as she whispered. “Now it seems I’m worth more to them dead than alive.”
Red pursed his lips and nodded. “They had no problem killing the man who was with you. By the way . . . Who was he?”
“The man they killed was Robert Banks, my bodyguard. He was a good man with a family that I liked. The men who killed him were animals; they’d kill anyone who threatened them. My bodyguard got in their way when he tried to protect me, so they killed him and were about to kill me if you hadn’t been there.”
“And you think Bobby Kennedy was the one who ordered these men to kill you?”
“When we began our affair, Jack told me he would divorce his wife, Jackie. When he told me that, I dreamed of being the first lady. I thought my dream would come true because I believed him when he told me he was leaving Jackie.” She looked at Red with sad eyes. “By killing me, they think they’ll prevent me from destroying him. I was on my way to visit my attorney Bennett Williams to tell him what I knew. I don’t have anyone to go to for help but Joe. He would help me if I asked him to. He’s the only one who would. He still loves me and he hopes that we would get back together again. I still have feelings for him so maybe we will, but not right now. I’m scared and I don’t want to get him involved in this. I know they will keep trying to kill me. They’ll make it look like a suicide. You’ll see! They’re already spreading rumors about me being unstable, and I have to admit that at times I am. I drink a lot and I take a lot of prescription drugs. Some to control depression, some to sleep, and others to wake up.” She regained control, stepped back from Red and looked at him suspiciously. “Say, you’re not going to go to the papers with this, are you?”
Red laughed. “Marilyn, I’m the last person who would ever go to the newspapers—for anything.” She relaxed, but didn’t say another word.
Joey Bones shook his head. “What do we do now? Here we are holed up with the most popular female star in the world and if the authorities find that we have her, they’ll think that we kidnapped her.”
Red agreed. “That’s a very distinct possibility, Joey, but we just can’t let her go. Those loonies won’t stop hunting for her. In fact, when they discover that three of their men were shot and killed, they’ll be coming after us. And that’s okay with me. Let the bastards come. If the motherfuckers want a war, I’ll give them one they’ll never forget. I’ll make them wish they never took the contract.”
Marilyn was listening to the conversation with interest and the more she heard the more curious she was becoming. She wondered who these men were. They didn’t appear to be afraid of the danger she put them in. Instead, they almost seemed to welcome it. Who are these men? she wondered. Finally, she had to ask. “I hope you don’t think me bold, but who are you men? What kind of business are you in where you can walk around carrying guns, and you’re not afraid to use them? You're not police. Are you criminals, or maybe mobsters?”
Red looked into her eyes and smiled at her. She was so beautiful and yet he could see how fragile she was. “No, we’re not criminals. I own a number of businesses, including a movie studio. Have you ever seen the movie The Prize Fighter with Swifty Card?”
“Yes, and while I don’t go to the movies for obvious reasons, I did see a private screening of it and I loved the picture and I loved him in it.”
“Well, Swifty works for me. I made him the star he is. He’ll make his next picture for me at my studio. Did you see any of James Roman’s pictures?”
“Yes. All of them, and I enjoyed them.”
“If you say that you enjoyed his pictures, then you must have seen the Starlight Club in the picture.”
“Yes. I saw it. It was a wonderful place. I heard it was destroyed. A gas leak or something and the owner died in the explosion.”
“You’re right, and you’re wrong. The Starlight Club was blown up, but it wasn’t a gas leak. It was bombs thrown by government agents that blew up the Starlight Club. And the owner almost died, but he’s alive and healthy now.”
Marilyn’s face contorted as if she felt the pain he must have felt. “You seem to know a lot about the Starlight Club and the man who owned it. How come?”
“I know a lot about him because the owner is me. I’m the owner, and the Starlight Club is being re-built as we speak.
In fact, when it’s finished, I’d like you to visit it as my guest. I’m sure you’ll love it. It will be a truly unique experience for you. I plan on having Frank Sinatra as my guest star that night.” A frown came across her face at the mention of Sinatra’s name. He was the one who introduced her to Jack Kennedy and after he had her, he passed her like some toy to Bobby Kennedy. “Bring your husband or your boyfriend; it doesn’t matter to me which it is. By the way, I wanted to ask you. Why did you walk out of the movie with Dean Martin?”
She blushed and looked down, taking her eyes away from his. Then she said softly, “I wasn’t thinking straight. All I could think about was the president. He won’t return my phone calls and then he sent Bobby to seduce me and I couldn’t forgive him for that. I am weak when it comes to men, and always have been. They always take advantage of me. Why did he lie to me and build my hopes up by letting me believe he would get a divorce?”
“You got me there,” Red said. “I know that if I had a woman like you, I wouldn’t look at any other woman.” Red said it so matter-of-fact like, and so sincerely, that at first it didn’t register with Marilyn. Then, what he said dawned on her.
“You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. It’s not every day that a guy like me meets a fine woman like you. Not only are you the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, but you are also the sexiest, and … of course I mean it. If I was married to you, I wouldn’t have eyes for any other woman, and that’s a fact.”
“But you don’t even know me.”
“Yes I do. In my line of work, you have to size up a person in a hurry. I did that when you were first shoved into my arms in the elevator. I knew you without really knowing who you were, if that makes any sense to you. Right now, even though I’m enjoying our conversation, I have to figure out what I’m going to do with you. You can’t return to your apartment and I just can’t let you walk out of here on your own because those men will sure as hell still be looking for you. I think what we should do is drive to New York. I can hide you in a place where no one will ever find you. I used it once myself. That is, if you trust me to keep you safe.” Marilyn looked into those blue eyes and tried to find a lie there. But she couldn’t see any, so she agreed to go with him and his men to New York. All the while, she was hoping that this man wasn’t like all the others who took advantage of her.
“Piss Clam before we head home, I want to stop by Rene Dumas to pick up some clothing for our guest here.”
CHAPTER 8
“What do you mean, ‘she got away’? How could she possibly get away? You told me that the men you hired killed her bodyguard, which really pissed me off because I never sanctioned it. But that aside, if her bodyguard was killed, how could she have possibly have escaped? I’m very concerned, Charles. I never intended for anyone to be killed. I wanted her taken alive so she could be placed in a sanitarium where we could keep an eye on her. Once she’s placed in an institution, we’ll isolate her so she can’t talk to anyone. This way, we can control her without having to resort to killing her. But those trigger-happy gang kids killed her bodyguard, which is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Christ; we sent three of them to neutralize one man and snatch the girl and they couldn’t even get that right.”
“Mr. Reynolds. I was in charge. I was outside in the car waiting for the three men to come out with her.” Emil Reynolds looked at Charles, waiting for the explanation that would clarify why the operation failed so miserably, but it never came. Frustrated with his report, he asked, “What happened? Tell me everything and leave nothing out, no matter how small the detail.”
Charles took a sip of water from a cup on the desk. Then he took a deep breath and slowly continued his report. “I saw her enter the building with her bodyguard and I thought that this was the perfect opportunity. She was walking toward the elevators, and traffic in and out of the building was very light, so I sent the boys in to get her.”
“So what happened?”
“There was a guy waiting outside in front of the entrance. I didn’t recognize him. He didn’t look like one of the security men she sometimes uses, so I didn’t pay much attention to him. I had my eyes riveted on the door, waiting for them to come out with the girl. When the gunshots sounded, this guy gets excited and tells his buddy something, then the other guy runs off. I guess to get their car. Then this man runs into the building, holding a gun in his hand.”
“He was holding a gun in his hand? In Washington? Did you get a look at what kind of a gun it was?”
“Yeah. As a matter of fact I did because I never seen a guy carry a gun like that. It was an old Colt six-shooter, like they used in the old West.”
“An old six-shooter? Are you sure about that?”
“Yes. How could I mistake that gun for any other kind of weapon? That gun hasn’t been carried by anyone in over a hundred years.”
“Well, that’s something that I may be able to use. I’ll have my men in Langley check into it and see if they can track down anyone who is known to carry a gun like that. I’ll have them check their database. They might be able to track down someone who owns that type of a gun, hopefully without too much trouble.”
“Oh … I have something else for you,” Charles added.
Reynolds stopped in his tracks, not sure what he was about to hear. “What more do you have for me? This better be good.”
“I wrote down the license plate of the car they drove away in.”
The man-in-charge’s eyes lit up. This news wasn’t expected and it excited him. “Good. Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Red instructed Piss Clam to pull over at the next rest area. He wanted to get coffee for himself and the gang, but the real reason he stopped was he wanted to telephone Tarzan. Four hours later, they were seated in the plush leather lounges of Rene Dumas, looking at beautiful girls modeling casual clothing. Marco pulled Red aside and told him, “I can’t believe you came waltzing in here with Marilyn Monroe. Red, it’s none of my business, but this doesn’t look like a boyfriend - girlfriend thing. I have eyes and I can see your men watching her as if someone is looking to kill her. And I’m not going to ask you why she’s traveling without luggage because it’s none of my business, but just a word of caution from a friend. Be very careful with her because she could be as dangerous as nitroglycerin.”
Red knew that his friend was concerned about him. “It’s a long story, Marco, because unfortunately, she ran into some serious—and I mean life-threatening serious—trouble and she’s now under my protection. Red smiled a cold smile and said, “Marco, you weren’t far off with your analysis, but that’s all I’m gonna say for now because like you say – it is none of your business.”
Marco patted Red on the back. “I’ll wrap up the clothing she picks out and get it ready for you to take with you, but knowing you, she must be in some deep trouble.”
Marilyn picked out a number of outfits and Red told Marco they needed them fast. Just then, Tarzan walked through the door with four men. As he walked toward Red, he spotted Marilyn. “What the fuck are we gonna do with her?” he asked Red.
“We’re taking her with us. How many men are at the club?” Red queried.
“There will be over fifty guys by the time you get there and they’ll all be carrying.”
“Good. I didn’t want to worry our guest here, but I’m sure the bad guys got our license plate number. Whoever’s in charge of this operation must be very connected in Washington circles . . . maybe even connected to Bobby’s office. They knew the exact time and place where Marilyn would be. If they knew that, then they must have known she was coming here to visit her attorney. No one could know that unless either they were following her or they had her phone tapped and were listening to her telephone conversations. If she called her attorney to make an appointment, then they would have known about it and sent men to kill her. She doesn’t want to go back to her New York apartment and she’s afraid to go to her home in California so I guess we’ll be her pro
tectors for a while until I can think of something else. One thing I do expect, though, is a visit from some government goons. They’ll accuse us of kidnapping her, hoping to take her away from us. They’ll assume that once they show us their muscle, we’ll be intimidated by it and we’ll give her up. Only I’m not going to let that happen. How many cars did you bring?”
“Just the one we drove here with.”
“Okay, then. Leave your men and the car with me. Take a cab or hire a car, and get back to the club and brief the men on what’s happening. Damn, we just got rid of Lonegan and now we can expect trouble from some other unknown shady federal agency. The feds don’t know who we are yet and they have no idea how powerful we are and that will work in our favor. They’ll expect us to roll over and not fight back, but most of our guys are ex-world war two and Korean veterans and if we had too, we could fight a small war.” Red laughed. “let’s hope it never comes to that. But like Lonegan’s crew, if they are in deep cover and if we knock a few of them off they won’t be able to acknowledge it because they won’t exist in any data base.”
Tarzan had fought in many combat missions throughout Europe in World War II and he wasn’t frightened of anything or anyone. He voiced his opinion when he spoke up. “You really expect them to come after us?”
“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. They’ll come for her because she could bring down the Presidency. The only thing I’m not sure of is when they’ll come for her. It could be as early as tonight. It could even be next week, but you can make book on it, they’ll come. They’re committed now and they have no choice but to come after us. We may have another problem though. The guys we killed didn’t look like government men. They looked like gangbangers. They might have been hired guns that were working on a contract, so maybe we’ll have a bunch of gang members coming after us too. Since we know trouble is coming, so if we prepare for it, like it was another gang war, we’ll be all right.”