Well, here is an excerpt from the beginning of Chapter 19! I’m still plugging along and am almost at 100,000 words. I thought the book might go to about 15,000, but I don’t think it will make it that far. Enjoy, and as alwys….send me you comments or leave them here!
Jamie absolutely hated being left out of the action, but she understood the reason why. They could not afford to blow their cover and get the Mayor or Mikey Campinieri suspicious. That would spoil all fo their plans. Although Darin hated it, and Jamie did too, Darin’s family was taken away and hidden so that the likes of Mikey Capmpnieri and company would not have access to them.
There was a meeting in Mikey Campinieri’s office and he was none too happy:
“Listen Brutus, who’s paying who to get the job done?” asked Mikey, “are you trying to tell me that with all of the resources that you have at your disposal, there is no way that you can get a fix on Frost’s family. They can’t have just moved off of the face of the earth.”
“Well sir,” said Brutus, one of Mikey’s most trusted minions as he reported back, “We have not been able to locate them as of yet, but we are still trying. I think we need to put some pressure on the Commissioner.”
“Oh, so now you’re going to tell Mikey how to run his business?”
“No, sir, its just that—-”
“Its just that the Commissioner is nit wit! A nothing! A nobody in the grand scheme of life. His boss, our faithful Mayor is the one that we need to keep after. The Commissioner doesn’t even know what he’s doing. Are you going to stand there and tell me that the family does not have resources to get this job done? Better yet…..do I need to find someone else”
When that last sentence came out it was almost icy and meant, what Brutus knew was most likely sudden death for him.
“It seems that all of these orders have been coming out of the Commissioner’s office lately.”
“Probably just to spite the Mayor. Those two are having their own little personal war and I’m not about to get pulled into it. Use whatever other means and resources that you have to, but I want them found and I want them alive. I have something special planned for them.”
“Mikey, we’ve looked everywhere and they’re nowhere to be found.”
“You obviously haven’t looked EVERYWHERE!” shouted Mikey, “Or you would in here telling me where you found them, NOT that you couldn’t. So, if you plan on a long life, get back out there and find them?”
Mikey knew that whoever was behind this was good and did not fear him. He could not believe for a minute that it was the Commissioner. Mikey still remembered that night long ago he and group of his men broke into the house of the, then, Captain. He remembered the look of fear in his eyes as he pointed the barrel of his gun at his target. He remembered the feeling of sheer exhilaration that he felt as he squeezed the trigger over and over again. With every bullet he drove home he made a statement. The statement that you did NOT turn done an ‘invitation’ to join the Campinieri family. He remembered how he had gunned down the Commissioner’s young wife as she tried to run for her life because Mikey said she could go. No, the Commissioner may have had the nerve to turn down the family, but he did not have it in him to be a problem to the family the way that Brutus was thinking. There had to be somebody else, but who? Mikey had to find out who.
***************
Darin and Brutus got up and went through their morning routine and were about go and get in the car, but Max would not let Darin near the car door.
“Whats the matter, Max?” Darin asked his partner.
Max walked over to the vehicle and began sniffing. Something was amiss and he did not like it.
Max got to the hood of the car and barked 4 times.
“A bomb? Max are you sure?” Darin asked the dog incredulously—but he should have known better.
Not willing to take the chance, Darin called headquarters on this radio and had the bomb squad come out.
It took almost three hours to diffuse and remove the massive amount of explosives that were found withing the body and under the vehicle, but the bomb squad was able to do it and finally gave the vehicle their blessing.
The bomb technician was not one that Darin had ever seen before and there was something about his manner that really bothered Darin. But when he got the report about the what had been found he dismissed it as paranoia:
“Good thing you have this K-9 here, detective. There were enough explosives in this vehicle to blow it and everything else around it up into unrecognizeable little pieces. That dog saved your life. I think its pretty save for you to drive now.”
There was still something about the technician that was nagging Darin…..”Where’s William’s today?” asked Darin.
“He was on another assignment, so I took the call. Probably nothing. I wish I was on his call!” said the technician.
There was something that was still not sitting right with Darin so he gave Max the command to stand guard while he went inside to make a call. Darin found out that Williams was now available and he asked him to bring a team and come and check the car, and to bring a few backup police units—and hurry. He just had a hunch.
Just as the bomb technician and his team were done cleaning up, the saw Williams and his team pull up. Williams got out of his truck….
“Thought you guys might be able to use a little help over here. I heard it was a pretty big job.”, said Williams
“No, no, that’s OK. Thanks for the offer, we got it all taken care of.”
“Well being that the Detective is a friend of mine, I’m sure you won’t mind my taking a look at your work and the stuff that you found,” said Williams, in an almost question like tone.
“Yes! Yes! I would mind. You don’t think I know my job?”
“Well,” said Williams, “That’s hard to say as I’m having a really hard time placing your face. I pretty much know all of the bomb techies,” Williams lied.
But his lie had done the trick. Now the unknown bomb detective was on the defensive. He was just about to reach inside of his overalls when he heard the unmistakable sound of high powered weapons being readied for firing. A small army of police officers came out of the wood works and and took the imposters into custody without incident.
Darin gave Max the command to seek again and Max went over to the car and began searching. It didn’t take long before everyone heard Max’s four bark warning. Not once, or twice, but three times. Indicating that there were still, at lest three bombs in the vehicle.
Williams and his team moved in and performed a complete examination in the area that Max had indicated. The three bombs that they found were still tied to the ignition. If Darin and Max had gotten into that vehicle and started it, they blown to bits.
It took a lot less time for Williams and his team to diffuse and dismantle the remaining explosives. Upon examination of the things that were removed by the other team, it was found that nothing that had been previously removed was even close to being explosive. They were all decoys.
This time not only did Williams and his team give the vehicle his blessing, but Max also gave it the once over and gave it his official Okie Dokie as Well.
***************
When word got out about this little mishap, Mikey had Lenny Cartelli bring Brutus to meet him out at his warehouse office. The warehouse was yet another business cover for the family that helped them with their smuggling and money laundering operations. Mikey kept an office out there so that he could keep an eye on operations as he felt necessary. As the three men sat in Mikey’s office, cigars blazing, the conversation turned from the business to the news of the day…..
“So, Brutus, tell me, exactly what got into your mind?”
Brutus was not sure how to respond so he asked, “What do you mean Mikey.”
“You responsible for the team that put the car bomb in Darin Frost’s car?”
“Yes, sir, grand plot if it had worked. Oh, well, those guys messed up. They’ll get what they deserve.”
“THOSE GUYS MESSED UP?” shouted Mikey. Brutus was scared and rightfully so. “Brutus, you don’t put a car bomb in the vehicle of a bomb sniffing dog! That’s not smart. I think you’ve lost it my friend.”
“Well, uhhhhhh, it seemed like a good plan, sir.” said Brutus.
“Seemed like a good plan, huh? Brutus you just became a liability.”, said Mikey
“A liability? No, Mr. Campinieiri?” Said Brutus pleadingly.
“Lenny.” said Mikey in nice calm and heartless voice.
Lenny Cartelli did not need any further instruction. He pulled out the weapon that was always nicely concealed under his fine tailored suit.
BANG!
“Do have somebody take out the trash, will you?” said Mikey as he left the office.
Pretty Good…..