South Mountain Pack Ch. 11

Frank and Joe looked at each other before Frank answered, "Everyone will find out tonight Jeff. Right now we're concentrating on ways to beef up security at The School House without making it look obvious we are."

"Well, that's cryptic as all fuck," said Jeff with a frown shaking his head. "I should be used to it with you Carlucci's. You haven't changed since you were in diapers, always looking at each other before talking or answering questions, and when you do answer a question it doesn't make sense."

"Fuck you, Jeff," said Joe with a laugh. "You're three years older then us; you could barely wipe your own ass when we were in diapers, and we make perfect sense."

"Well, of course you agree with your brother," muttered Jeff as Frank and Joe looked at each other again. "I wouldn't have expected anything else out of the two of you, and your youngsters are just as bad."

"We'll take that as a compliment," Frank said with a smile pulling into the visitor's parking lot and parked his truck hood out, ignoring Joe as he rolled his eyes.

"Bout time you got here," said Carlo with a frown as he looked at his watch, his new Personal Assistant, Marco Moretti by his side with a notebook in his hand. "Two more minutes and you would have been late." Frank glanced at Carlo questioningly as Jeff put the box of sandwiches on the folding table.

"Who peed in your Cheerios?" asked Joe as the men glanced at each other, knowing only Frank and Joe could talk to Carlo like that. They had been wondering what was wrong with their Alpha besides his widely known hatred of waking up early and they eagerly awaited Carlo's response.

"Don't start with me, Carlucci," said Carlo as he glared at Joe. "I'm tired, hungry, irritated and horny, and not in that order."

"This'll help with the hunger," Frank said shoving a sandwich in Carlo's hand. "But I'm not helping with the horniness; you're on your own there." The men began to laugh as Carlo glared at Frank.

"And you're always fucking irritated in the morning," Joe stated with a smile as the men laughed louder.

"Fuck you, in fact... fuck you both," said Carlo irritably as he continued to glare at the Carlucci's. "You know I don't do early mornings, and you purposely sat at the damn gate running your jaws while I was standing here starving." He took a big bite of his sandwich and let out a groan before saying, "These sandwiches are the only thing that makes waking up at 5 AM tolerable."

The men nodded and contented groans could be heard as they ate The Diner Specials, which consisted of two sausage patties, six slices of thick-cut hickory smoked bacon, two slices of thick Canadian bacon, crispy hash browns and scrambled eggs topped with a spicy Hollandaise sauce in between two pieces of thick sliced Texas Toast. "I ordered enough for everybody to have four each, so eat up men," said Carlo as he reached for another sandwich. Ten minutes later all the sandwiches were gone and Carlo said, "Damn, I should have ordered more, I'm still hungry."

"Look in the bottom of the box. I had them put in a tray of pancake rollups," Frank said with a smile at the look on Carlo's face. "I told them to add it to your bill."

Carlo hurriedly moved to the table and tore the box apart as he grabbed the foil tray and placed it on the table. He lifted off the lid inhaling deeply before grabbing one and taking a big bite before motioning the other men to get some. "Frank, this is why you're second in command," said Carlo as he glanced at the elder Carlucci brother. "You anticipate what I need and take appropriate action."

"Thanks, but I'm still not helping with the horniness thing," said Frank with a blank expression on his face as Carlo broke into his first smile of the morning.

"I'm not even going to respond to that," said Carlo shaking his head. "Alright gentlemen, now that we've been fed, the purpose for our early morning meeting is to beef up security here at The School House. Aldo said you went over the blueprints of the school, the grounds and camera placements in the surrounding woods. Did you come up with any new ideas?"

Aldo rolled out the blueprints for the school and pulled out his ever present notebook before saying, "One thing we had to consider was since the building and grounds are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, we can't change the facade or the look of the grounds without getting approval to make them historically accurate. Taking that into consideration, we did come up with a few ideas. Jeff you want to explain your idea for the doors?"

"All of the doors are solid steel with solid steel frames, but we think they could be enforced even more. If you think about it, the only thing holding the door is a lock, two brackets and hinge bolts. This is just for demo purposes, the pieces we would use would be solid steel," Jeff said as he reached under the table and pulled out three braces and a piece of wood. "We put braces on the sides of the door frames, one on the door and if a threat comes, we insert the bar."

Frank picked up the braces while Joe asked, "Have you tried it yet?"

Aldo smiled and said, "We need to replace the wood doors on the building SMI just bought in town. We tried the first door and broke it down with one kick then Jeff installed the braces on the second door and it took almost a half hour to kick the door down and remember that was with cheap aluminum brackets, a wood door and a wood bar. It's a low tech solution, but it works." Aldo extracted a paper out of his notebook and said, "Here is the information and I checked to make sure the screws are solid steel. We figured one setup for each door would be sufficient."

"Did you hit it with your shoulder or just kick it?" asked Frank as he picked up the supply order list and studied it. "And was it only in one spot, and what was the location of the kick?"

Aldo saw where Frank was going and sighed before saying, "We only kicked the door in one spot since the same person did it and it was about a foot from the lock."

"Here is my suggestion; we use three setups for each door. One shoulder height, one above the lock and one midway between the lock and the floor," said Frank as Joe nodded his agreement. "If we use three setups, the pressure will disperse almost evenly across them, creating an even stronger barricade."

"Good job guys," said Joe with a smile as he looked at the security team. "We'll look over the list and order the strongest ones they have available. I think we'll get a wider bracket for the door since that will be where the most pressure would come from." Carlo nodded his head as Aldo and Marco made notes.

"I got this next idea from the History Channel," said Aldo with a smile. "They did a special on Vlad the Impaler and they said he had hundreds if not thousands of bodies impaled on the road leading up to and surrounding his castle."

"Impaling our enemies on school grounds? A bit drastic but I like the idea," said Joe with a wicked smile. "That definitely would send a message not to fuck with us."

Aldo grimaced and said, "You're a sick fuck Carlucci, I was talking about putting spikes in the shrubbery."

"Oh, I guess that would work too," said Joe with disappointment laced in his voice.

Frank gave his brother a 'What the fuck is the matter with you' look and said, "I think I understand what you're talking about. We place spikes inside the shrubbery so if they jump from the top of the wall they get impaled."

"Exactly, we measured and it's approximately 14' from the wall to the outer edge of the shrubbery, a distance easily managed by a full-grown wolf. Our advantage is the top of the wall has spikes, which means they won't be able to get a good foothold so their jumping distance will be cut short," Aldo said pointing to the wall. "Last night in the gym we measured out the distance, put brown boxes in place to mimic the shrubbery and jumped with the same height and foothold handicap. Most of us were only able to jump around 12', the longest was Jerome who jumped 13'. We could do the same for the outer perimeter, except we place the spikes against the wall."

Jeff continued as Aldo flipped through his notebook looking for something, "We also want to install an ornamental iron railing in front of the shrubbery. If you remember when the U of MD Arboretum Members came they recommended a railing to protect the shrubbery since it is one of the oldest examples of Pyracantha in the state. We have an idea to install it so it won't look suspicious."

Aldo found the paper he was looking for and said, "We thought the best way would be to publicize it, have an article in The Herald Mail, The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun. Emphasize we are preserving it according to the wishes of the Arboretum Members. I have the list of people they recommended who specialize in period iron work." He glanced at the wall and said to Carlo who opened the link to include Frank, Joe and Carmelo, "I'm sure they know what the grounds look like. If we do this openly, they would be less suspicious then if we tried to hide it."

Carlo glanced to the wall and said to the four men, "You're right Aldo, if we hid the work, it would look suspicious. Doing it openly and with the press involved makes it seem as though nothing is wrong."

"Send the list to Madame Gina," said Carlo as Marco and Aldo made notes. "She'll contact them to be here for the press conference and we'll inform them the contract will be awarded once they submit the designs and bids. We'll invite the Arboretum Members, the Maryland chapter of National Register of Historical Places, the Washington County Historical Society as well as the press you mentioned. If the press gets their quotes directly from them it will carry more authenticity then from us." He glanced at Frank and smiled before he continued, "Of course we'll invite Senator Martin and some other elected officials."

Frank rolled his eyes as he said, "What else have you guys thought of?"

Jeff pointed to the portico and said, "Once they realize they can't get in through the first floor, the logical thing is to try and go in the second story windows. Security is usually tighter on the first floors and most people don't protect the upper windows, so we want to give them a surprise on the portico roof."

"It can't be anything big, something as simple as a piece of plywood painted black with nails protruding through it," said Aldo shrugging his shoulder. "We can cover it with tar paper to look like the existing roof." Frank, Joe and Carlo nodded their heads in agreement.

"Now to the security cameras," said Aldo looking into the woods. "The outer 500' of the perimeter is covered but we should extend it out further. They'll expect cameras close to the grounds, so the new cameras need to be concealed even more. They will be running towards the school, so I suggest we place the cameras the same way."

"Sneaky, I like it," said Joe with a smile. "By positioning them that way, we see which direction they're going. I suggest we re-arrange some of the landscape to funnel them where we want them to go. When we run as wolves, we naturally go the way of least resistance."

Carlo nodded his head and said, "We'll have the whole Pack help in doing this, the men and older ones can move the larger rocks while the women and younger ones move the smaller rocks and plant shrubbery to make it look natural. I trust the women's judgement in landscaping better then ours. Even the little ones can help; they can throw rocks around to make it look natural. Frank, plan for us to do this the day of the next Full Moon Ceremony."

Aldo dug into another folder and pulled more papers, "Here are the latest cameras available. They're wireless and can be hidden almost anywhere, and some are available in rock decoys, hollowed out logs and there is one designed in a birds nest."

Carlo picked up the papers and thumbed through them before saying, "It's 6:45, let's take a look at the shrubbery and portico before the youngsters arrive. I was going to have us go into the woods and plan what we are doing, but we will do that tomorrow. Frank, Joe, Carmelo and I have something to do this afternoon." The men hurried and cleared the papers off the table before dismantling it and bringing it inside, as Carlo, Frank, Joe, Carmelo, Marco, Aldo and Jeff walked to the perimeter wall Carlo's phone rang.

"Rossi here," answered Carlo motioning for Frank and Joe to stay while the others kept walking. "Yes, I understand...you haven't found anything?... yes, he'll be here this afternoon...he's picking up his new Gulfstream...official reception Thursday evening here...yes, I'll have Gina contact your secretary, we'll talk Thursday."

Carlo sighed as he looked at Frank and Joe and said, "Dante's visit is already making its way through the Alpha Council after the email I sent. President Roberts will be here to greet him officially on Thursday and wants to have a small reception. Since he'll be here in a couple of days, he's cancelling the teleconference this afternoon, which is good because we have too much to do."

*****

"Hurry up; you're going to be late. Breakfast is ready and your cousins should be here soon," shouted Rose as she walked into the kitchen. She opened the fridge taking out pitchers of milk and orange juice and placed them next to the warming trays which contained hash browns, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and waffles. "What am I forgetting?" she mumbled to herself and hearing the timer go off she smiled and turned around pulling the biscuits out of the oven placing them in a basket. Lost in her thoughts wondering how things were going at The School House, the sound of the mud room door opening startled her but she relaxed as she scented her sister, nephews and niece entering her home. Glancing at the alarm panel on the wall, she saw Annie had reset the alarm and relaxed once again as she put the sausage gravy the boys loved so much next to the biscuits on the breakfast bar.

Annie walked into the kitchen rolling her eyes as she approached Rose and gave her a hug before she sighed and said quietly, "I'm so glad it's your week to cook, they would have been eating cereal if it was my turn. I never thought I was going to get Maria out of the house and the boys were almost as bad."

Rose said with a smile, "I'm exhausted, Sophia's been up since 5 fixing her hair and trying to pick out what shoes to wear, the boys have been whispering back and forth about something and being very secretive. They're up to something, I know it."

Before Annie could answer, Rose's youngsters were running down the steps and barreling into the kitchen. "We're here," said Vin grabbing a plate followed by the rest of the youngsters. The next several minutes were chaotic as they grabbed food out of the warming trays and made their way to the kitchen table.

"Did you ask your mom yet?" Gianni asked quietly as he glanced at Annie and Rose who were talking quietly by the stove drinking coffee.

"Not yet, we'll wait until she's in a better mood," answered Lorenzo quietly as he reached for the butter for his pancakes.

"What's going on?" Sophia asked Maria who shrugged her shoulders.

Gianni glanced around the table and said quietly, "Not that it's any of your business but next time we have a Friday game, we want to go watch the Terps play football on Saturday, you know make a weekend out of it at College Park."

"Oh, that would be nice," said Maria cheerfully as she smiled at Sophia. "We could wear some of the new Terps gear we got."

The boys turned to glare at their sisters as Marcus said, "The two of you weren't invited, this is a guy's only weekend."

"No adults either," said Damian with a smirk as the boys grinned at each other.

"You are delusional if you think that's going to happen," stated Sophia as she raised her eyebrow. "Maria and I would have better luck asking if we could go to DC by ourselves then you have in hanging around College Park without supervision."

"I agree with Sophia. They'll never let you do it, not gonna happen, they'll never allow it," said Maria glaring at the boys. Looking at the disgruntled looks on the boys faces she started to laugh hard and snorted as Sophia took a big drink of milk. Hearing her cousin snort made Sophia laugh and choke on her milk which she coughed out over the table which made the girls laugh even harder at the looks of disgust on their brother's faces.

"That's real attractive, one is snorting and the other is spitting milk everywhere," said Lorenzo shaking his head. "And they call us pigs."

"We didn't call you a pig, your girlfriend did," said Maria with a twinkle in her eye as Sophia nodded her head in agreement.

Lorenzo's eyes were wide as he opened and closed his mouth several times before he sputtered, "She's not my girlfriend, I don't like her and I'm not interested in her."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," said Sophia glancing at Maria before turning her emerald gaze to Lorenzo. "Well, I guess it won't matter then on Saturday when she's in her cheerleading outfit at the game. I'm sure the boys from the Shenandoah Pack will be interested in her."

Lorenzo's eyes narrowed and he said angrily, "What she does and who she does it with isn't my business. My only job is to protect her when I have to."

"Glad to hear it, I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a plastic spoon then to sit through another dating rules meeting any time soon," said Damian with a grin as everyone at the table started laughing. "Seriously, we need to talk with Alpha Carlo about this, he should print everything up, have the two intendeds read it, sign it in blood if needed and that's it. In and out in two minutes and it's done."

"We're not talking about how long it takes you to have sex," said Lorenzo with a laugh as Damian threw a biscuit at him.

"Whatever, I'm not the one who snotted all over a girl yesterday and then got jealous cause she was wearing Gianni's shirt. Plus, you were watching her the whole time she was here, even when you were pretending not to," said Damian as he stared at his twin. "Admit it, you like the girl, open up to your feelings and embrace it."

"Who the fuck did you turn into all of a sudden? Dr. Phil?" asked Lorenzo with a snarl. "I have no feelings for her...well, I'm attracted to her, but that doesn't count and I wasn't jealous when she had Gianni's shirt on, it just bothered me a little."

Before Damian could respond, Rose said loudly, "Finish up breakfast, you have about five minutes before Anthony and the Moretti's get here."

"And we have pictures to take," Annie said as the youngsters groaned at her announcement. "I don't want to hear it, it's a Carlucci family tradition and if anyone misbehaves, you won't like what I do." The youngsters quickly finished their breakfast, putting their plates in the sink and hurried onto the front porch.

"Positions everyone," said Annie waving her hands as they moved to their assigned places on the steps of the porch. Sal, Sophia, Maria and Victor in front, Enzo, Gino, Gianni, Marcus, Paulo and Michael in the second row and Vin, Dom, Lorenzo and Damian in the last row. Annie took several pictures and as she snapped the last one, Anthony and the Moretti's pulled into the driveway.

While they waited for Anthony and Alberto to finish greeting their intendeds, Rose said to Annie, "Can you take a picture of Sal and Gabby without them seeing you?" Annie nodded her head and looked at her youngest nephew and Gabby who were standing to the side of the porch. They weren't talking but were smiling at each other and Annie quickly took several shots of them. After positioning Anthony and Sophia she quickly snapped their picture and then did the same for Alberto and Maria.