Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 11

"I have four card players that would be willing to help. We will be on our way in 15 minutes."

"Great, get moving, do you remember what she looks like?"

"How could I ever forget Sergeant?"

"Well, just picture her three quarters naked with the same face, and keep the pigs away from her and the nurse that's with her."

"Send pictures of the two of them to my car, along with the places they are going to be. We are on our way."

"Thanks Felix, don't spare the horsepower."

41. First Response.

The Attorney General arrived at his office at 8:30 AM and walked straight through the area marked off as a crime scene. The FBI agents did not say anything about it to him. Their supervisor had been suspended without pay, pending dismissal from the service. All the agents that were with him in the control room had been suspended for one month without pay. They would go back to Quantico Virginia for retraining on procedures, after their return. The Ax had fallen. It had fallen swiftly and hard on those involved in Saturdays' incident. Fear ran through every man and woman working on this case. They moved slowly and meticulously, not wishing to make the tiniest error that could bring the wrath of the Attorney General, and the Director of the FBI down around their necks. The case was cut and dry and all of the criminalists knew it. They found the initial cut on the seal of Fred's door. They tested the material used by the two men to fool the cameras and found that it worked well. The Glock 17 had been hidden in a paint can, with an insignificant mark on the side of it. No one would have noticed the mark, except someone who was looking for it. Lewis Montrose was flown out of Bogotá, Columbia, on a private jet. It was a Thursday evening, and no court is scheduled for Friday's in Columbia. He was flown to Atlantic City, New Jersey on a gambling junket for high rollers. With casino executives and limousines waiting for their guests, immigration agents barely looked at the Columbian passports and waved the 'Whales' through the line, and on to the waiting executives' arms. Montrose took a jet helicopter to a location, on Staten Island, where he was briefed by the members of the team. He was shown pictures of the Attorney General's office. They showed him the picture the safe was hidden behind. He memorized the six-digit combination for it. They practiced in a mockup of the room. They could take their time to prepare properly, when they were in Fred's office, however, once they were in the Attorney General's room their best practice time was 75 seconds. Considering the pressure they would be under that day, they figured that it would take 90 seconds to get it all done. They had to get to the safe, open it, use the incendiary device, get out of the room, into their white painters uniform and re-join the painters. Everything would have to go off perfectly, but they knew it rarely did. The criminalists knew there was a third man involved, because on the day of the break-in, Montrose and one of the painters switched. Montrose was wearing the painters ID card. The men and women worked hard to complete the third floor of the building. They moved everything up to the fourth floor, and continued painting. They were running behind schedule, and they were tired. Every so often a painter would sit down and take a breather, go to the john or get a drink. This was when the guards lost track of the two painters, for the short period of time. Unfortunately, the timing was perfect for the run-in with the Attorney General, his guests, and the disastrous meeting that occurred. The criminalists had been over the room four times. They saw no reason to waste any more of their talents or time on it. If anyone was going to criticize their work, or thought they could do it better, let them. This room was clean, their work was done. They picked up their cones, removed the tape from the floor, and told the guard standing at the Attorney General's door that they were done.

42. 2 P.M.

Sharon and the girls kept checking the time. It was always 1 PM. The time never changed. Sharon took out her cell phone to verify the clock was not broken. Her cell phone it was 1 PM. She almost threw it against the wall. Why did time stand still when you wanted it to run.

Julia Atwater did everything she could to try to keep their spirits up, but she knew she was fighting a losing battle. The guards at Fred's bedside called her every 30 minutes, if there was a change in his condition or not. No news may be good news, but in this case Julia knew that keeping everyone informed was imperative.

She saw them checking the clocks in the house, their watches, and their cell phones, and knew they want to be at the hospital, and not at her home. They would rather sit on nails, then on feather cushions at this moment. She called a member of her staff and told him to bring a limousine around front, because they were leaving.

She went over to Sharon and said, "We are going to be very early, but we are leaving now."

Sharon nearly crushed Julia, when she hugged her, and thanked her for being so kind. When Sharon turned to tell the girls to get ready, they had disappeared. She turned to Julia and said, "I believe they wanted to leave too."

Julia laughed, "I didn't even have to be a telepath to realize that."

They arrived at the hospital at 1:30 PM, only to find Clark sitting in the VIP waiting room, working on his computer.

Julia walked over to him, kissed him on his head, and said, "He is worse than a child. He would sleep here if he could."

"I can't even talk to the fucking doctor. He is surgery and they don't know when he will be out."

Julia looked at Sharon and said, "Don't you just love brilliant men. They are smart, beyond belief in their areas of expertise; but when it comes to something outside that area, they are blind as bats. Clark you don't need to talk to the surgeon anymore. His job is done. He may check in, to see how Fred is doing, but now the specialists are in charge. You have to speak to the nurses. You ask them who has taken over Fred's case. Contact those doctors individually, or line them up against a wall, and fire questions at them. You have to remember, 'Nurses run hospitals, not Doctors.'"

Clark looked at his wife and asked, "Why are you never around when I need you?"

"You leave me at home, because you like playing political games with the big boys."

"Okay caboose, go find me a nurse that knows something about Fred."

"It may be the last part of the train that leaves the station, but your nose still follows it around." Julia sashayed out of the room just to put a little emphasis on her statement. She returned a few moments later and said, "You can go in and see Fred now."

Clark said, "It's not 2 o'clock yet."

"Sharon, would you like to go see Fred?"

Sharon was out of her chair instantly, so was the Attorney General.

Julia said to her husband, "Clark, it's not 2 o'clock yet."

"I know dear, nurses run the hospital."

"Girls, you can go also, but you must be very quiet."

The four twins hugged Julia, and thanked her for getting them in.

They had Fred isolated on both sides, with him in a center unit. As they looked at him, the first thing they all noticed was that he was as pale as a ghost. His skin was nearly translucent but he was breathing on his own, even though he was receiving oxygen. The pole holding the IV fluids looked like it would bend at any moment, because of the amount of bags that were on it.

However, the seven people surrounding the bed were not sad. Fred was alive and it looked like he was holding his own. Sharon leaned over the bed rail and kissed the entrance and exit wounds on his head. Things would have been so much worse if the bullet had penetrated his skull.

Clark held his hand, just to let him know that he was with him in this fight.

The girls touched any part of his body that was available to add their strength to his.

His nurse came over and said, "He has been here for 17 hours, and his condition has not worsened. I know that is not what you want to hear but believe me that is good news. It means no post-operative infection has set in. In Mister Hastings case, that would have been disastrous. Due to the amount of blood he received, he is getting massive amounts of antibiotics and even an anti-rejection drug as a just in case. The Hematologist does not want his blood coagulating in his veins, so he is also receiving a blood thinner. If you see bruising on his skin, we are not beating him up, it is normal. The cardiologist is watching him closely, and he is on a heart monitor 24/7. The neurologist is very hopeful there is no brain damage. They did an MRI and CAT scan early this morning, and both results came back good. They showed no internal damage to the head's bone structure or soft tissue of the brain. His cranial pressure is down, even though it is still higher than normal. His pupils react to light, although he does not react to pain stimulus yet."

Sharon said, "That will come, I guarantee it."

The women, Clark, and the nurse laughed at that statement."

The nurse told them they could stand where they were until 4 o'clock, when visiting hours ended, but nothing would happen between now and then. They can also come back this evening at 8 o'clock for the evening visiting hours, which end at 10 PM."

Sharon said she had to take the girl shopping for clothes, with Julia, so they would leave now and come back for this evening's visiting hours. Clark opted to stay for a while longer before returning to his office. He had to find another assistant, until Fred was able to return to work. He refused to think of any other possibility, except Fred returning to his side.

He stood there holding Fred's hand talking to him quietly, about the things they had done together, since they met while he was at Harvard. The little things that made him stand out from the other volunteers for his campaigns for Connecticut State Attorney and Governor. How he helped him through the dark days of his divorce. How he helped him during his courtship of Julia, and finally, his victory as Governor of the state of Connecticut. He said, "Fred, there is so much more I want to do. I want you to be there at my side. Keep fighting my boy, keep fighting."

He did not know if it was a wish, or if it was for real, but he thought he felt Fred squeeze his hand. He said, "Do that again Fred, squeeze my hand again."

Almost imperceptibly, Clark felt his hand being squeezed.

"Good Fred, very good, we are all here for you. Sharon, Sandy, Cindy, Debbie, Danni, and Julia, we are all here. When you are ready we will be here by your side. Rest and get better my son; we will be here for you."

He turned to one of the guards and said, "Get his nurse now. He opened his cell phone, and called his wife. As soon as she said hello, he said, "Tell Sharon he squeezed my hand."

When the nurse arrived she said the Attorney General, "Do not make too much of this, it could just be a muscle twitch."

Clark responded, "I thought so too, the first time, until I asked him to do it again, and he did."

This changed the nurse's opinion. She replaced his hand with her own, and asked the Attorney General to speak to Fred again. Ask him to squeeze your hand. It is very important he squeeze your hand again.

Clark begged Fred to squeeze his hand one more time and told him how very important it was to do it.

The nurse waited, and a few seconds later her eyes opened wide. "He did! He heard you. He squeezed my hand. You have no idea how important that was. I am going to call the doctor and tell him. Tell Fred to go back to sleep, he must be exhausted. Whenever he wants to let us know he is awake, tell him someone will be holding his hand."

He spoke into his cell phone, "Sharon, he understood what I said to him. When I told him to squeeze my hand he did. When the nurse asked me to have him do it again, with her hand in his, he did it again. Sharon he is going to be fine. Our man is going to be fine. We will sit with him in shifts, and hold his hand. We will never leave him alone. We are going to get him back, Sharon. I am going to have one of our lawyers get you that divorce. The days he opens his eyes, I would like you to be able to tell him that you are free woman, and when he is ready both of you can get married."

Sharon was already crying over the good news of Fred being able to hear, understand, and respond, to a command. When Clark told her what he wanted to be able to do for her and Fred, the tears flowed continuously.

"Thank you Uncle Clark, you have been so kind to someone you don't know. It is no wonder that Fred adores you."

"Sharon, you and your family haven't seen anything yet. I am very wealthy man, and Julia and I have no one to leave our estate to. We do now. You, Fred, and your daughters will become our heirs. Our largess will not wait until after we are dead. Your family will never have to worry about money again. Fred will be able to take his time, before he returns to work. I know him; as soon as he is able to sit up in bed, he is going to want to sit at his desk and work. If we have to tie him down, he will rest and recuperate properly. We will not lose him, because he is so stubborn."

Sharon laughed. "In his condition, I can't even threaten him by withholding blow jobs."

Clark laughed uproariously over her joke. "Young lovers without sex would be a problem." He said, "Fred had been celibate so long, his libido will drive him up a wall."

"Uncle, you have no idea how right you are. Once he started, he did not know day from night. The girls were never sure what time we were leaving because of his problem; if you can call it "A Problem."

"Come back to the hospital Sharon. He can hear my side of this conversation. He is squeezing my hand continuously. As usual he will not listen to me, when I tell him to rest. He has to rush things, do them perfectly, and return to the next job. If he does not stop this nonsense, and rest, I am not going to get him the raise I promised. I will see you when you get here Sharon. Goodbye."

"Fred stop squeezing my hand; I have to ask you some questions. Squeeze my hand once for no, and twice for yes. Do you understand?

Fred squeezed his hand twice.

"Are you in pain?"

Fred squeezed his hand twice.

"Do you want more pain medication?"

Fred squeezed his hand twice.

"Do you know who shot you?"

Fred squeezed his hand once.

"Did you know anyone was going to be in our offices Sunday?"

Fred squeezed his hand once.

"Were you involved, in any way, with the break-in in our offices Sunday?"

Fred squeezed his hand once.

The Attorney General breathed a sigh of relief, when Fred answered his questions the way he had. He knew the questioning was illegal, because Fred was under heavy sedation and could not be held responsible for what he was saying, but responding the way he did, he was sure Fred was exactly who he knew he was: His trusted friend, colleague, and advisor.

The Secret Service agents listened to the conversation and recorded it, indicating the answers Fred had given.

The nurse arrived with Fred's pain medication, inserted the needle into the intravenous line, and watched the monitors as Fred drifted off to sleep. She repeated the words of the surgeon, "That young man has something to live for. I have never seen anyone, who has had such extensive surgery, recover consciousness and cognitive function so quickly."

The Attorney General looked at her and said, "There are very few men in this world like Fred Hastings."

Clark met the limousine at the front of the hospital. Before anyone got out he asked if they had had lunch. Everyone answered, "No." He got in with them and said, "They just gave Fred pain medication, and he will be asleep for several hours. We will get something to eat and then returned to the hospital before he wakes up. While we are eating I will tell you everything that went on, while I was with him."

The driver said, "Sir, at this time of day every place is going to be crowded. Where would you like to go?"

"Take us to the Senate dining room, Steven."

"That will cause quite an uproar Sir."

"I will tell them to take it up with the President."

43. An Ethical Lesson

Bruno Valentino was walking on a path on the Fort Polk army base, when he was informed that he had a guest waiting for him in his bungalow. He smiled because he thought it was his wife, Victoria. He was very surprised when he walked through the door and saw Stephano standing there. He did not look happy, as he approached him to say hello.

"What happened, Stephano, you do not look so good."

"I broke up with Patricia. I could not stand the barbs she kept hitting me with. Sunday was the last straw. She told me she was going to Washington to do some computer work for the FBI, and did not know when she would be back. I had to stay out West and continue to hide. We had agreed that I had to change some of my attitudes towards women, before our relationship could continue. We were supposed to meet at a 50-50 point, but I felt she kept pushing me past that line. The final straw was when she told me that our relationship was at best, "Good Friends." Then she said, when she got back she would see if the changes I made in myself were good enough for her. I could not take it anymore. I told her to go fuck herself, and I wished you had killed her, instead of her mother. I told her I was not going to testify at the trial of the four families, because of her. I said many other remarks that I hope hurt her as much as she hurt me, but most of all I told her I hope she died a virgin, because I wanted no man or woman to ever touch her, because of what she was."

Bruno looked at his son and asked, "And what is she Stephano? What brought out all this anger in you? I have never seen a woman have this type of effect on you. You normally use women as toys, and toss them aside, when you got bored or tired of them. Why does this one get under your skin?"

"Pop, don't you start with me?"

"I am not starting anything, I just asked a question, if you don't want to answer it, just say so. Just be honest with yourself."

"She is different. Okay, are you happy now?"

"I am not the one that has to be happy; you are. If you are happy you left her, that's fine. This world is full of beautiful women, and you can have many of them at the drop of a hat. You are very handsome young man, with a lot of money at your disposal. Fly down to Brazil, or Argentina, and live like a king for the rest of your life. Pick out a harem, and fuck a different woman, every morning, noon, and night, seven days a week. Make sure they are all virgins, and of legal age. When you get bored with them, throw them away, and start over. You never have to get married, and you never have to worry about children."