Educating the Capo

I wrapped the bathrobe around her and led her into the house. This had all of a sudden become a real security issue, so I led her into the library, which doubled as my office. I sat her down on the leather couch opposite my desk, and quickly poured her another scotch, which she took with trembling hands. The tears were flowing freely now and I sat and watched as she sobbed silently. Loath as I was to disturb her I had to get a couple of quick answers from her before I could proceed.

“Honey, I don’t know who it was but yes, it could have been your husband. At this stage I’m not going to take any chances. Carol I need to know before I carry on… do you want the police to handle this?” A quick shake of her head in the negative decided me on my course of action. Picking up the phone I dialled a number from memory.

“Salvatore.” Came the simple greeting from the other end of the line.

“Manny I need you to do a job for me. I’m sorry about the short notice but this has just come up. I need you to pick up Simon and get on out to my road. Just past the bend is a white A frame with a brown picket fence and a cobbled short driveway, rose garden down the left side of the drive. You know the one? Okay drop Simon there and get your butt down to my place pronto. Call me from your car when you have Simon… and Manny… bring hardware.”

“No problem boss… see you in 20.”

Turning to Carol I could see the crying was almost finished.

“I am so sorry.” She said and started to tear up again. I felt so much sympathy for this lovely woman, but right now I needed to know what potential danger we were dealing with.

“Honey, I’m sorry but I need to know all you can tell me about your husband, in as short a time possible. I have two of my guys on the way out here now and I have to know if I am sending them into danger. Is he dangerous?”

Taking a deep breath she started talking. ”Robert is a mid level lieutenant in the Pastorelli crime family. Yes he is dangerous. I am sure that he has killed before as some of his mutts referred to him a couple of times as a “made man”. He carries a Glock 17 all the time and knows how to use it. He’s also a very competent martial artist.”

As she finished speaking the phone rang. It was Manny and he had Simon with him. I quickly related Carol’s information to them and warned them to be careful.

“So do you want us to grab him boss or what?” was Manny’s only question. Shit… what did I want them to do? No matter who you are, you can’t just snatch someone from the streets. Snap decision time…

“Just keep an eye on him. I need to know what he is up to and where he goes. Tell Simon to keep a tail on him and to phone in every half-hour. If possible I don’t want you spotted. Then come out here Manny, I’ve got a special body guarding job for you.”

“Gotcha boss. Be there in ten.” I hung up and turned to Carol. She was sitting there looking very nervous and scared. There was a touch of something else in her expression but I decided to explore that later.

“Okay baby,” I said to her. “The whys and wherefores don’t matter at the moment. What matters is that you are safe here. This place is fully alarmed and covered by closed circuit television monitoring. I have contact with my guys and I have weapons in the place. This is what I do for a living and I am damned good at it okay? I’m going to need to know as much as possible about this guy, but you can do that in your own time. Right now I just want you to relax as much as possible and trust me.” Looking down I realised how ridiculous I must look. I was stark naked swearing my protection to this lady, dick swinging in the breeze as I did so.

“C’mon, I need to get dressed, and I’d like you to stick as close to me as possible until Manny gets here.”

To my surprise she shot me a wan smile. “A lame excuse to get me into your bedroom. You only have to ask you know.” She got shakily to her feet and followed me up the curving staircase to my bedroom. Quickly I clambered into a pair of comfortable old jeans, an Army shirt left over from the days way back when and a pair of Rockport hiking boots. Before pulling on my padded vest, I slipped on my shoulder holster and holstered my Barretta. Two spare mags went into pouches under my right arm. All up I had 46 rounds to burn if you included the one already in the chamber. When I turned to her she was sitting on the bed gaping at me in wide-eyed amazement. I flushed in embarrassment, once again feeling like that 15 year old schoolboy. It must have looked to her like I was getting ready for World War 3. Then I remembered her comment about what her ex would be likely to be carrying.

“You know your guns baby. Have you had any training?”

“Robert talked me into taking a pistol class in New Jersey. I didn’t want to but he insisted. Then when I got used to them I found that I was actually pretty good, and I started enjoying it. I ended up buying my own pistol just before I left him.”

“Carol, if anything happens tonight, I want you to get down low and stay down. Try to get behind something solid and stay below the level of the windows. Do not get up unless I call you by name and identify myself. Do you understand?” She nodded nervously. Quickly I rummaged through my walk in wardrobe and came up with an old pair of sweats and a T-shirt that I had grown out of. As she pulled them on over her nakedness, I heard a car pull into the driveway. It had to be Manny. “Come down to the library when you are ready okay honey?”

“Glenn… thank you.” I shushed her with a kiss and a grin then turned and went down to meet Manny.

As expected Manny was in the library helping himself to a Coke from my bar fridge. The man was built like a brick with eyeballs. Equal in height to me at 6 foot 3 inches, but at 245, he outweighed me by about 20 pounds and it was all muscle. However for all his bulk, he could move like a cut cat when necessary. He had been with me since our Army days, and was someone I could, and sometimes did, trust my life to.

Quickly I ran the situation down to him. The news of who we were possibly up against warranted only a slightly raised eyebrow. As I finished my briefing the phone rang. It was Simon. The chicken had apparently flown the coop. There was apparently no sign of Robert or his car. After a quick consultation with Manny I decided to call Simon in. Leaving him at Carols was a redundancy I couldn’t afford. I had the feeling that he would serve a better purpose with us tonight. Before he rang off he told me that the house was a glazier’s wet dream. Every window in the place was smashed. After telling him I would send Manny to pick him up, I rang off and was turning to talk to Manny when I heard him gasp.

“Holy mother of God!” he spluttered. Carol was coming down the stairs in my T-shirt and sweats. They were baggy on her as I expected, but the curves of her spectacular body still managed to announce their presence through the material. I thought that in the short time I had known her; she had never looked so sexy. Her long mane of hair was tousled but she had obviously made an effort to wrestle it into some semblance of order. She smiled tremulously at me and came to me wrapping her arms around my waist and kissing me gently before turning to Manny.

“Manny, this is Carol Ferguson…she is my English Lit professor at Uni. Carol, this is a good friend of mine Manny Salvatore. Manny is going to be helping us figure out what the hell is going on. Also with a little luck we may be able to solve the problem of your ex. I have got another guy down at your place at the moment, and I’m afraid I have good news and bad news for you.” She looked expectantly and resignedly at me as I continued. ”There is no sign of your ex, but he left you a little reminder of his call. Every window in your place is smashed. I think there is no doubt now that it was your husband who paid us a visit tonight.”

To our surprise Carol laughed. “Robert always was an expressive soul. It’s great to meet you Manny. I suppose if I told you that I was here to tutor Glenn, you wouldn’t buy it?”

“Actually Carol I would buy that. I’ve known him a lot of years now and you could never accuse him of being the brightest bulb in the chandelier. So yeah I can believe that. He probably needs a tutorial on how to get to class.” he laughed. “Anyway I’m going to get down to pick up Simon. We will take a slow cruise up and down the road before we come back so should be about 30 minutes or so, okay?”

After he left I set the alarms and walked back into the library. Carol was mixing another drink. She looked up when I walked in and smiled a sad smile.

“I am so sorry to drag you into this Glenn.”

“I’m not.” I told her honestly. “I may be getting ahead of myself here, but I would like to be a part of your life, and I figure that this is probably the biggest problem that could come up for us. I’d rather face it now than have to deal with it further down the road.” I stopped as her eyes filled with tears again.

“I feel the same way, but there are things that you need to know. And when you find out about me, you might not want to have me around.” she sobbed.

“Try me,” was all I said.

She took her drink across to the couch and sat. Her head was down as she contemplated her drink, then started to speak. I sat in the armchair opposite her and listened in rapt fascination as her story unfolded.

“As I told you, my husband is a lieutenant in the mob. He was in charge of a couple of numbers games and a couple of brothels. That is where I met him. I was a hooker in a high class New York whore house.” Her head stayed down as she paused. “I was studying for my PhD. And had run out of money. All I wanted was to get through my doctorate, and get into teaching. It was a means to an end. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The clients rented my body for a period of time, but they never got near my mind or my heart. I did it the right way, socking away as much money as I could, picking and choosing my clients, and totally avoiding two of the most common traps in the game. Drugs, and falling for a client.”

She still hadn’t looked up. Her voice was a dead monotone, and my heart went out to this magnificent woman. Instinctively I stayed where I was and kept my mouth shut. I had to let her finish in her own time.

“Along came Robert. He used to come and do inspection tours of the place, and every time he came in he made a point of talking to me. Soon he would come in for no reason except to talk to me, and when he asked me out for the first time, I couldn’t see the harm in saying yes. We dated for ages before he even made a move on me, and by then I was falling for him. The short story is, we married, and I stopped working, finished my degree, and started to look for work teaching. That’s where things turned to shit. No wife of his was going to work. We fought about it, and that’s where I first saw his love for violence. The scar on my breast is from him. He cut me with a broken glass when I refused to give up looking for teaching jobs. He told me he would kill me if I ever tried to leave him, and that’s when I knew I had to get out. I left one night when he was out with the boys and made it as far as Miami. I couldn’t find work there and ended up back in a whorehouse working to get enough money to build a life. It didn’t take him long to track me to there, and I got out just ahead of him thanks to a warning from the manager of the house. Fifteen months ago I ended up here, got a job, and bought my house. I was determined not to run any more. Everything was going great until tonight. And now I’ve dragged you into this. I understand that you probably don't want to have anything more to do with me, so if you could give me a ride into town, I’ll get a room at a hotel and deal with this somehow.” With a deep breath she swallowed the rest of her drink and started to get up. I met her when she was coming erect and gathered her into my arms, gently folding her head in against my shoulder.

She stiffened up but allowed me to hold her.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to make up my own mind about what to do about this. What do you usually eat for breakfast? Also would you mind if I went down to your house and got your clothing and brought it back here? I want you to stick around until we have this Robert problem sorted out, then for a safety period of about 50 to 60 years… just to make sure, you understand. Carol I don’t care what you did in your past. I mean that sincerely. Everyone has a past. Some good, some bad. You did what you had to do. I mean what I said. I want to be a part of your life.”

Her head came up and she looked at me with disbelief. She started to protest, and the only way I could shut her up was to kiss her. Slowly her resistance melted as she sank against my chest and moaned into my mouth. Her arms came up and around my neck and she pressed herself against me, tongue working its way into my mouth. For all that it was a gentle, loving kiss. One filled with promise and warmth. I didn’t know where this was going to head but I was looking forward to the journey.

“Jesus, leave them alone for half an hour and look what happens.” Came Manny’s voice from the doorway. He had his own alarm code and keys. Carol and I looked up with a start to see him and Simon in the doorway, both wearing mile wide grins. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. You are tutoring him in the intricacies of student-faculty relations.”

Simon was wearing an “Oh my God, who is that?” look on his face. He had been with me for about 5 years, and always worked with Manny. They complimented each other perfectly. Simon was a 5 foot 10 black man who had the build of a swimmer. Whereas Manny was an instinctive operator, Simon tended to nut things out before acting.

“So this is our new client.” He said very matter of factly. “Hi I’m Simon. I hope the boss is taking good care of you. He doesn’t have very good interpersonal skills when it comes to clients, so if you have any complaints about his attitude or the care you are getting, please don’t hesitate to get hold of me.”

Carol grinned and replied, “I’ll be sure to let you know, but so far I have no complaints with the service I have been receiving from Glenn. Now you will have to excuse me. I feel the need for a good strong coffee. Can I get anyone else anything?” Coffee all round was the order of the day. We watched as she walked through top the kitchen to try to locate the coffee making apparatus. My sweats had never looked so good; a sentiment I think was shared by my colleagues.

“Jesus Christ man… you go to University for your first day and come home with the hottest looking lady around. Is it your cologne? What’s your secret? Celibate one day, shacked up with Aphrodite the next.” Simon saw himself as the guardian of my emotional well being. Since the break-up of my last relationship he had been constantly springing women on me in a series of ill-fated blind dates. The mile wide grin he was wearing indicated he approved of my apparent change in status.

“Okay guys, let’s get down to business. Glenn, like it or not, you have all of a sudden become a client of your own firm. You are our new principal. We will accept your input to a certain extent but you will not interfere in the way we run this job. Understood?” Manny was right. I was too close to the problem, and that made for a dangerous situation. It would be damned hard letting go of this one but it had to be done.

“Fair enough. How do you want to run this?”

“First off, I want Carol staying here until we have this sorted. I want you to be carrying on a 24-hour basis. I’m not sure about whether either of you should go to Uni tomorrow either. I know this is only supposition at this stage, and we may be over reacting to the situation, but I would rather be over dressed than naked if the shit hits the fan. I want you two to get some rest tonight. Simon and I will be lurking around here keeping an eye on things, so you just concentrate on getting some sleep.”

“Yeah right,” came the laconic muttering from Simon. “I’ve got a better idea. Boss, you patrol the area and I’ll supervise the lady’s sleep. What d’ya reckon Glenn?”

“That’s one of the nicest offers I have heard in a long time Simon, but in the interests of continuity, I think I had better stick with Glenn.” Carol was standing in the doorway with a tray holding four steaming mugs of coffee, a sugar bowl, and a milk jug. “Coffee gentlemen?”

The next twenty minutes were spent sorting out the logistics of the next couple of days. Manny had ties to the NJPD so he jumped on the phone and spent time talking to a friend on the Organised Crime Squad. We needed all the info we could get on Mr. Robert Taglioni. In a matter of minutes the fax in my office was spitting out sheets of paper left, right, and centre. I suddenly felt drained. A mind numbing energy sapping tiredness swept over me. Looking over at Carol I could see she was experiencing the same as me. A couple of yawns were all it took for Manny to get the hint, and he drew the briefing to a close. Goodnights were said and Carol and I headed up the stairs to bed.

There was never any question about the sleeping arrangements, but by the time we were ready to get into bed, sleep was the only thing we were capable of. There was a small holdall sitting in the middle of the bed. Simon had obviously taken it upon himself to grab her some clothing before Manny picked him up. After a gentle kiss, Carol headed for the master bathroom to change, while I went through my nightly ritual; namely ripping off my clothes and dropping them in a pile at the foot of the bed. The Barretta went onto the bedside table, well within reach, and the spare mags went into the top drawer. After switching off the main lights, I turned on the bedside lamps and climbed into bed to wait for Carol.

She was worth the wait, as I knew she would be. Obviously Carol wasn’t a believer in long fluffy nighties. She wore a tiny black fluted silk G-string while a matching black camisole struggled to contain her gorgeous breasts. My cock started to twitch at the sight of her.

“Down boy,” she giggled as she climbed into bed beside me. “I’m pretty sure we’ll have time for that in the near future. Could you just hold me tonight?”

“No problems baby. Just snuggle up and get some shut eye.” She did just that moving into my arms and resting her head on my chest with one leg thrown over mine. Her head came up for one last lingering kiss, then as she settled down again I reached across and turned off the lamps with the button on the bedside console.

“Two eggs, poached lightly, bacon, toast, coffee and juice.” Came the sleepily mumbled answer to my earlier question. “G’night baby”

I held her, just listening to her breathing; feeling her breath against my chest; the rise and fall of her chest as she slipped into sleep. I thought about the events of the day; the lovemaking and the feelings that I had already developed for this wondrous woman; the prowler and the smashed windows at Carols house; finally Carols “confession” about her past. This last development gave me a lot of cause for contemplation. I had no problem with what she used to do. As I told her earlier, everybody has a past. The problem was, convincing her that I had no problem with it. From her demeanour earlier I knew she had worries about my reaction to her revelation.

My internal alarm clock woke me at 5.30 as per usual. Everything came back in a big rush, the curtain of hair spread across my chest merely confirming that yesterday was not merely a fantastic dream. Slowly and carefully I slipped out of bed without waking her, pulled on a pair of running shorts and headed down to the kitchen to start the day right. Ten minutes later I was sipping on a hot cup of Irish Cream flavoured coffee, and talking to Manny and Simon. The night had indeed been uneventful with no more visits from our boy. After a quick discussion on how we would proceed they decided to bunk down at my place. Simon would go back into town and get clothes for both of them while Manny would come with Carol and me to her house. We decided that Carol should not go into work today. With Simon gone and Manny asleep in the guestroom, I got to work on breakfast.