Dark as Daylight Ch. 24

Thank you for that information, Mr. Valentino, I will frisk her from the bottoms of her feet to the top of her head, and not miss anything in between."

Patty screamed, "Steph, you are a dead man."

He smiled at her. "Should we go to bed now, my dear?"

"You're not going to get off that easy this time, husband. I'm going to bring a nutcracker into bed with me, and I'm going to crack yours with it. I can't wait to hear you scream."

"Lucius, don't you love these little family arguments?"

"I don't remember, William. It's been a long time since wife number 3 and I parted company. The only pain in the ass I've had since then is Paul, and I trained him very well. I could never train my wives to be like him. It always seemed like I was the one trying to be trained, and I couldn't take to that role."

"No Lucius, neither could I. You were never meant to be subservient to anyone, especially not the idiot generals that kicked you out of the Army. For me, it was the best move they ever made. I don't believe you ever felt it was that way for you. You were always a soldier, and always will be."

"Thank you, William. 1^st and foremost I am always a military man. Country, Honor, and Duty. For myself, and those I trained that was the way we were to live our lives at all times, even if it meant going against an order from higher authority. You could always explain why you disregarded an order, if you saved people's lives in the process, but you could never bring those people back if they were dead.

I did many things against the Geneva Convention, but so did they. I saved the lives of my men, because they were very important to me. It cost their men dearly, but their men meant nothing to me and my men.

All fighting men are pawns in war. We were taking orders from men sitting deep behind enemy lines, eating warm food, drinking hot coffee, sitting in comfortable chairs, behind big desks. They didn't know what their fighting men were doing. Everything they knew, when we were fighting, was 30 to 40 minutes behind, and the situation was often completely changed by then.

Once, we had overrun a town a day ahead of schedule. By the time we were able to contact command, I was eating at a restaurant and I couldn't make the officer on the other end of the line understand that we had already taken the town.

Finally, I asked him, "Do you want me to retreat, and let the enemy back into this town or should I follow them into the hills where they are retreating to?"

He told me I wasn't supposed to be where I was and I should retreat to the preplanned position, until the attack tomorrow morning the generals were planning.

I told him to go fuck himself, because I was not going to lose one man retreating from an objective I had already taken.

I also asked him if I should pay the restaurant bill 'Now' or wait until tomorrow, when I was supposed to be here according to his plan?"

He hung up on me, after he said some very nasty words."

William said, "I'm going to do something I've never done with you before. I'm going to issue you an order, and you are going to follow it 100% of the time. It is an open-ended order, and I don't care if you hate me for it. This is what you must do, Lucius. I know you have plans that conflict with it. 1, you will not die on the operating table and go to your Second Life as you plan to do. That is the easy way out, my friend, and I will not allow you to take it. I have other work for you, and only you can do it. I need you whole and as healthy as possible for the next 6 months. I do not care what the doctors tell you. I don't care if you are in pain, because I will give you pain relief medication myself to ease it. You will not leave this life, until I give you permission. Do you understand what I've said to you, Lucius, or do I have to let Patty explain it to you?"

Patty jumped up and down like an excited schoolgirl. She jumped into Stephano's arms and kissed him.

"Do you see, Steph, my daddy does love me."

Stephano said, "Paul make sure there is always a bullet in the chamber. When she makes her move at the Colonel, it will be lightning fast and it will be tiger deadly. You won't have time to chamber a round, flip off the safety, aim, and shoot. It might only take you a second and half to do all that, but the Colonel will be hemorrhaging-internally, and dead for over a second. Please don't say anything like 'She's too old, she's not that good, the Colonel can defend himself for longer than that, or some such nonsense, because I have lived with that witch..."

"Ouch, you are going to get it for that Patty, and a whole lot more when we get home."

"You called me a witch."

"Leave the room, because I'm going to call you a lot of other words you don't want to hear, even though they are the truth, and you, and Dr. Nall, know it."

"You leave my doctors out of this."

"How can I, you've made most of them rich beyond their wildest dreams."

"Stephano if you wake up tomorrow morning, it will be a miracle."

"Please, God, listen to her, and lift this yoke from around my neck. I've carried this bitch for so long, it's time for someone else to see how crazy she really is."

William shouted, "Don't you dare die, my son, she will come and live with me if that happens. I will never make it to 130 years of age with her hanging around my neck."

"You shouldn't have fooled around with an unmarried woman, William. If you have been faithful to your wife in Italy, we both would've been better off."

"You wouldn't say that if you saw how beautiful, and how tender her mother was. I didn't find out until after Laura was pregnant that I would never win an argument again. When she told me, she was going to give me a Christmas present, but it was going to be 5 or 6 months late, she glowed. That's how I found out she was pregnant, and Patricia was the booby prize."

"Keep it up dad, you may outlive me but not the Colonel. You may accidentally wind up in the back of a garbage truck, folded in 8 layers of plastic and 3 roles of duct tape. I know you've always wanted to visit the New Jersey chemical plants. This will be a prime time to do it."

"Paul, you have permission to use my daughter as 1 of the targets in Westchester. Nothing shorter than 500 yards, and nothing longer than 700 yards. You can put a belt around her neck to make sure she stands still and doesn't try to evade you."

"There is no sport in it at that range, sir, if she doesn't try to evade me. I will shoot her in the ankles 1^st, the calves 2^nd, the thighs 3^rd, the glutes 4^th, the hips and everything else will come in stages. She will not die until she hollers 'Please,' puts the gun in her mouth, and pulls the trigger."

Patty was livid but she couldn't get out of Stephano's arms.

"Stay where you are little one. You have never learned to take a joke, and all he was doing is joking with you. He would never hurt you, and you know it. He is the Colonel's aid, and by that status he is your father's aid. What is important to your father, and Lucius is important to him. I don't know why, but your father still loves you."

"Dammit Stephano, you were doing so well, until that last line. Why couldn't you stop before you got in trouble?"

"Patty, what happens when I get in trouble with you?"

"I can't wait till that thing of yours wilts, and won't wake up again."

"There are medications I can take that will make me impotent, if that's what you really want."

"You are such a bastard."

"You knew both my parents."

"Fuck you!"

"You will, when we get in bed tonight."

"That's not what I meant."

"I believe that's what you said."

"I hate you, Stephano, I wish you'd never shown up at my motorhomes door."

"I wasn't the one that fainted, and nearly cracked her skull open."

"As I recall, I demanded that you leave several times, and you refused."

"Are we going to start this argument all over again, because if we are, we are going to need more room than this, and we are going to need more weapons than we have available here. Make up your mind, Patricia, it's been 49 years since the day I walked in to that mobile monster that still sits behind the barn, and you refuse to get rid of. I don't want to have that argument here; I need more room to run."

"I can call the 'Y' and reserve the gym."

"I can call and get us the 'TaTa Suite' at the Pierre, and we can fight naked there."

"You'd love that, wouldn't you?"

"Why do you think I suggested it?"

"Steph, you are more ballsy now, then you were the day you found me standing above you, naked in the barn."

"I've had more time to get used to you and your moods, darling. Now I know if I just pissed you off, I'm going to get laid."

"Don't you just love these intimate, family conversations, William?"

"I've been around those 2 much more than you have Lucius. Just wait until she pulls a gun on him and he screws her up against a wall. She will not stop screaming vile and inappropriate words at him, until she orgasms, and falls asleep in his arms. They are amazing together, just amazing."

Patty said, "My mother always got her way with you, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did, but she never used a vile word all during the months we were together. Her Catholic upbringing made sure of that, so she had other weapons to use against me."

"She locked her thighs together, so you couldn't get in?"

"No, she never did that to me, especially when she was pregnant with you. She was always so aroused, while she was pregnant, it was tough to keep up with her.

Laura was the love of my life, before I was sent away to Italy, for my protection. Then she was killed for no reason, by Bruno. I had to come back and seek my pound of flesh in return. I wasn't happy living a cloistered life, in Italy, but I was making money, hand over fist, using 3^rd and 4^th party cutouts to keep my name clear of any paperwork.

My intermediaries didn't mind doing this for me for 1 of several reasons: They owed me their lives, and wanted to stay alive. They owed me money they couldn't repay, and needed more time or a way for them to repay me. Or they wanted to get into my good graces. Those in this last segment I made very wealthy, and they have stayed loyal to me to this very day."

Patty said, "Dad, anyone that started out being loyal to you while my mother was still alive has been dead for a very long time. You are the only survivor of that generation. You, and your money. Remember, I know where every penny of your money is and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it."

"Paul, when you have her on the range, teaching her how to shoot targets at over a mile, please, just for me, and the $20 million I will pay you, put a bullet into her left ear, just to see if it comes out the right ear for me."

Patty glared at her father.

"Mr. Zabo, what should I do if the projectile doesn't come out the right ear?"

"2 things Paul, 1: Grab the long-range rifle from her hands, and 2: Run like hell!"

Paul replied, "I can do that."

Lucius said, "Do it in one motion, Paul. If she has time to react, she will be all over you like ants on honey. You will never be able to get her off you. She will sting you like fire ants, and bite you like carpenter ants. You won't die quickly, but by the time she's finished with you, you will wish you had died hours before."

"Sir, might I remind you that I am 6'4" tall and 233 pounds. I will be able to shrug her off like she was not even there."

"Paul, she is like a Tasmanian devil, on Speed. She is something you do not want attacking you. You saw what she did years ago at the range. She beat 2 of our best recruits that guarded your father after he promoted me. She will never give up. You will never know which way she will come at you from, and you will never get one second of rest. You have to be on your guard all the time. She only has to be perfect once, and that one time will be your death. It doesn't seem fair, but that's the way life is, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, sir. That's why I slept by the radios all the years we lived on Vancouver Island. One nervous chirp out of them, and I was dressed and guarding your door, waiting to see who was trying to get to you. No one ever did."

"I can tell you took him out of the cradle, Lucius. You can't die, that young boy will not know what to do without you around."

"That young boy is coming up on his 65^th birthday. I am leaving him with 2 idiots to train at home. If he can do that in the next 10 years, it will be a miracle. As of this moment, he finally has them leading with their left foot, when they march. It only took him 4 years to get that straight. If it wasn't for the way they cook and clean house, I would have sent them back to Mississippi long ago.

Paul was there advocate. He told me to keep them, because it was such fun trying to get them to be soldiers, instead of children."

"Patty could have done it in a month, Lucius, otherwise they would have been dead."

"That would be the problem, we didn't want to lose both of them, we wanted to train them. Patty's way is too final."

The nurse walked in with a tray full of medications.

"I'm sorry to break up your party, Mr. Zabo, but you're going to sleep now so you can be ready for tomorrow morning's exams. You're going to have a very busy day, that's why you're going to sleep so early."

"I'm going to kill, Manolo. He knows I don't want to start exams before 10 o'clock."

Lucius said, "Think about it, William. Where do you have to be at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning?"

"You are right, as always, my friend. I will be at that meeting at 11 o'clock, and you will get your way. You will also follow my edict, even though you will have a heart in your chest that tells you that you will not move your fingers or your toes, because you do not have the strength to do it. As soon as it is possible, you will be living next door to me. I have purchased the townhouse next to me, and it is being renovated as we speak. Your room will look like the room Jemma and I am in now. You will have the best of everything, including my visiting you every day. If you want, I will even have Patty come over to aggravate you daily. It will keep your heart pumping faster than it wants to. Best of all, as soon as Jemma is able, she will come over to visit you. I don't know how she's going to react to this, but I can guarantee you one thing, she is going to yell at you like she yells at me all the time. Beware my friend, she loves you, just as you love her and me."

"William, just to see her standing there yelling at me will make my year. I can't wait to see her healthy again. It means my heart will be useful and, in the person, I want it in for the next 40 wonderful years."

"Ladies, gentlemen, unless you want to see Mr. Zabo's rear end, it's time to leave. I have injections to give him."

Patty yelled, "Dad, if you want, I can do it."

"Get out of this room, now, unless you want to drop your pants, and let the nurse give you the shots."

"No thanks, dad. You take your medicine and go to sleep. I'll be here in the morning to keep an eye on mom and you. If everything goes the way that its planned, Monday is going to be a very long day."

"Lucius, you belong in your room, also, getting your rest. You need all the strength you can absorb into your body now, because you will not believe how weak you are going to be when the transplant is over. Whatever you need or want when this is over, you will have it; I swear it. Nothing, I would mean nothing will be kept from you. What you're doing for Jemma is the most selfless act any human being can do for another."

"You are not going to make me cry, Patty, and you are not going to make me a general officer. It's the only regret I have going forward in my military career. I deserved it, and lesser military man kept me from it. They were envious of my tactics and methods, but I always got the job done, and never lost a man that I trained."

"I wouldn't bet your Silver Oak Leaf on that Lucius. You were always the best officer there ever was, Lucius. My father never chose anyone that wasn't the very best. Go to your room now and get some rest."

"I will see you tomorrow morning, Patty. Stephano, frisk her before you get into bed with her. A nutcracker could be very dangerous to your health."

"She talks a very good game, Lucius, but she wouldn't know what to do without it in working condition."

"Stephano, you talk too much."

"Are we going to the Y, my dear or to the Pierre?"

"The Pierre, you asshole."

"I'll call them and make sure the Presidential Suite is available for us."

"I'm not sure if Anna, Cloudy and Richard are going to come in to see Jemma, after the operation. I'll call them to be sure, but see if 1 of the suites next to the Presidential Suite is available, and have them hold it for us for the next 4 hours, until I know for sure."

"Consider it done, darling."

"I have to make 2 very important phone calls before I start trying to wake that thing up."

"You won't have to do anything except lie on the edge of the bed, bend your head back, open your mouth and if possible, stop talking, darling. I would hate for you to choke on your own words as you swallow my sword."

"I have never had any problem swallowing that toothpick of yours, Steph. Now shut up and let's go."

"Stephano, don't say anything. You know she has to have the last word. She did it with Jemma when we lived together. She does it with me all the time. You've been together for more than 40 years, so you should have realized it by now. If it wasn't for Roberts rules of order, she would do it at every board meeting, and I bet she gripes at it when she can't say anything during a meeting."

"Dad, you forgot one thing. At every board meeting she attends; she is either Chairman or President of the board. She always gets the last word, even though everyone else at the table isn't listening to her."

"They better be listening to me, or I'll fire all of them."

"You can't fire them, Patty. They are all family members. They do all the work, while we supply the money."

"Thank goodness, I only had 3 children."

"I believe the children would reply, 'Oh God, what a mother."

William, Lucius, and Paul were laughing as Patty started hitting Stephano for his last words.

"How could you say that about me in front of other people?"

"You are the only person I know that had a psychiatrist on retainer for 35 years, and she threatened to cut you off if you didn't grow up."

"Stephano, when we are alone, I'm going to perform brain surgery on you, just to see if you lost your mind."

"No dear, I have not lost my mind. I'm just stoking the fire."

"No Steph, this is not a fire, this is a blast furnace, and it's going to burn you to a crisp."

"On that note people, I'll take my wife to the hotel and get laid. We will see you tomorrow. Don't anyone do anything stupid. Get rest, and follow your doctor's orders. Paul, she will be ready for you at 5 AM. The limousine will take you to the helipad, and she will fly you up to Westchester and teach you how to shoot a rifle properly. Don't feel bad, she does it to everyone, and you will only be the next person online."

"Thank you for the warning Mr. Valentino. You may be a widower by 8 AM."

"Just remember, Paul, she is an organ donor, so don't hit anything important."

"Yes sir, and I am a licensed helicopter pilot. I can have her back here at the hospital for transplantation in less than an hour."

Patty yelled, "Just remember tiny, that works both ways."

Lucius asked, "How the hell are you going to get him back to the helicopter?"