The BodyGuard Bk. 03 - The Return

BodyGuard Trilogy Series

Copyright 2019 © Red Tempest

All rights reserved

This book and or any portion of this book may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright owner. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

I would like to thank my two fine editors, Barneyr & Aerosick, they helped to catch my mistakes. Any errors that are found are mine alone as I did do some final revising.

You should read Book 1 & 2 first to be able to follow the story line.

The setting takes place in New York City in the early 1950's

*****

Chapter 1

One Month Later:

Virgil was charged with murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping and other charges. He was awaiting his trial. His attorney was Hyman Roth. Tom was puzzled how Virgil got him as his attorney. Hyman was one the most expensive criminal attorney available. The police during their investigation found out that Virgil was transporting his drugs around the city to restaurants that had fresh produce delivered or other grocery items. That was the one good idea Sonny had. Sonny used Kay's restaurant for experimenting and Kay never had a clue what was happening to her restaurant.

Virgil was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. It seemed that Hyman Roth worked for Vito Genovese. Vito was the underboss for Lucky Luciano. Hyman also worked as a conciliator between for Luciano organization and Fulgencio Batista a representative of the Cuban government. Batista was the Luciano's connection to secure the drugs and have them smuggled into the country.

*********

A meeting was taking place in the office of Vito Genovese between him and Hyman Roth.

"I need you to get to the bottom of this mess between this Virgil Sollozzo and Sonny Corleone. I need know what happen to Barzin? Also, what happened to my drugs and money?" Vito snapped.

"Mr. Genovese, I will talk with Sollozzo and make him an offer he can't refuse." Hyman responded.

"Good! I want this mess cleaned up."

"Consider it done. I will get some people on it right away"

The two men then proceeded to converse about other family business.

**********

A week after his meeting with Vito Genovese, Hyman Roth entered the Metropolitan Correctional Center to speak with his client Virgil Sollozzo. The meeting was held in the prisoner/attorney conference room.

"Good morning Virgil, how are you being treated so far?"

"Good morning Mr. Roth, so far so good."

"Glad to hear that Virgil. We need to discuss your case. They have you up on some very serious charges. I will do my best to either to get them dismissed or at least reduced."

"Thank you, Mr. Roth I appreciate all that you are doing for me."

"Virgil, I am not doing anything for you. It's Mr. Genovese that you need to thank. He's the person who's paying my bill."

"Yes sir, I will personally thank Mr. Genovese as soon as this is over."

"Virgil there's a way you can thank Mr. Genovese. There is a little matter of his missing money and product. The small amount of product found at her farmhouse and on Sonny when they found his body. Plus, the money that Sonny had in a briefcase doesn't add up to the amount that was missing. Mr. Genovese would consider it a tradeoff for my services if his missing items were returned to him."

"Mr. Roth, I don't know what you're talking about, I don't have any of Mr. Genovese stuff."

"Virgil things could get a lot tougher for you in here if you don't cooperate."

Virgil was starting to sweat. He had the drugs and money stashed in a warehouse that he had leased. Virgil had found out there was a hidden vault in the wall of the warehouse. It's very hard to find, unless you know exactly where to look and how to activate the switch. Virgil thought all this time that the money and drugs belong to Barzin. Virgil had no idea that Barzin was part of the Luciano family and worked for Mr. Genovese.

"Mr. Roth, I work at a grocery warehouse under Mr. Barzin, who has some ownership in it. I am just an errand boy for him. It was Mr. Barzin who ran the show. Why don't you ask him about the missing product and cash?" Virgil whined.

"Come, come now we both know that Barzin is missing and so are three of his key staff members. They are probably dead. Right Virgil?"

"I had nothing to do with Barzin or his staff missing or dead. Nobody can pin anything on me!"

"Well Virgil why don't you think about this matter. I am due in court in an hour. I will return next week around this time." Hyman said.

**********

Kay stood at the construction site of her new restaurant. Kay had Tom take care of the will. Tom contacted her and he went over the stipulations of the will. He found a clause that stated, Kay would collect the money if anything happened to Connie before her twenty fifth birthday. With the judgement debts paid off, the money Kay received from the insurance and Connie's inheritance, she put toward rebuilding her restaurant. She sold the farmhouse and bought a small two bedroom house on the outskirts of the city not far from where she used to live and a short distance to her newly rebuilt restaurant. She never questioned Tom about Luca, but she thought about him all the time.

"Kay, you look great and everything seems to be going well toward the rebuild." Tom said

"Thank you and yes, it is. I never can thank you enough for all you have done for me." She smiled at Tom.

"It's been a pleasure Kay. I am just so sorry things turned out the way they did."

"I should have known Connie was only using me. But I wanted to believe she needed me."

"I meant with Luca."

Kay was quiet for a few seconds. "He's gone. Isn't he?"

"Tom drew in a deep breath. I believe he needs to sort things out. He does love you."

Kay turned and looked at Tom. "I love him with all my heart. But I know he is unsure about himself. I know he loves me." She turned back around. "Sometimes I feel he's watching me." She chuckled. "It's hard to believe a man as big as Luca can stay hidden when he wants to be."

"Give him time Kay."

"I do see Sal and Peter. They stop by to see how things are going."

"I need to ask."

"What's that?"

"When Luca said yellow, you dropped to the ground and Paulie grabbed Virgil's gun. How did you know?"

Kay smiled remembering the first time she heard the code word.

"Luca and I went over some code words at the safe house. Blue was all clear, Red was for danger and Yellow was for caution and or be prepared. I didn't notice Paulie anywhere, so I figured he was sneaking up on Virgil. So, I just figured I needed to get out of the way. When Luca said code yellow, I figured something was about to happen, so I dropped to the ground."

"Ah..."

"Can you tell me anything about Luca?"

"Well as you are aware, he was in the service, they all were. They formed a group that did special tasks for the army. Luca is a weapons expert. His specialty was knives and rifles."

Kay laughed. "I saw them throwing knifes at each other's feet. I thought it was childish."

"It's some sort of a game they call chicken." Tom shook his head.

"What else?"

"He has never been in love before as far as I know. I don't think he knows how to deal with his emotions."

"He was afraid of me being unhappy."

"He knew you had a rough life. He thinks he isn't good enough for you."

"I know. I wish he would understand he is the best thing that has happened to me." she said as tears filled her eyes.

"Time, Kay, time."

Kay wiped her eyes. "Yeah, time." She turned her attention back to the construction. "I can't wait until it's done."

"It will be grand day Kay when it's done." Tom smiled.

"Thank you, Tom."

Tom nodded. He gave Kay a hug and walked away. Kay drew in a deep breath. She got a strange feeling. She looked around but didn't see anything out of place. She shook her head and went to talk with the contractor working on her restaurant.

**********

Hyman Roth waited an extra week before going back to the Metropolitan Correctional Center to speak with his client Virgil Sollozzo. The meeting again was held in the prisoner/attorney conference room.

"Good morning Virgil, how are you being treated?"

"Good morning Mr. Roth, since you have last been here, I have been getting assaulted at least every other day."

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that. Are you ok?"

"They worked me over pretty good and I hurt all over."

"About the topic that we were discussing a couple of weeks ago. Have you given it some thought?"

Virgil gave it considerable thought over the past few weeks and concluded that they did not know what happen to Barzin.

"Mr. Roth, if you could only locate Barzin, I believe that all this could be resolved."

"Why is that Virgil?"

"It might be a good chance that Barzin took the product and cash and disappeared from sight."

"Really Virgil you must think that we're stupid or something! We know that Sonny met with Barzin, and that something happened to Barzin, we are not sure what it was that transpired between them. We know that Sonny took out Barzin's secretary and bodyguards. We know that you helped Sonny dispose of the bodies in that blast furnace at the factory. You two did a poor job covering your tracks. Plenty of people saw the two of you with the bodies. We found a tape player in Barzin's office that had recorded yours and Sonny telephone conversation. Need I go on." Hyman said.

Virgil in desperation cook up a wild story. He told Hyman that the money and drugs were all in Kay's farmhouse basement. Luca and his team must have discovered it and kept it for themselves. They left just enough to incriminate Sonny.

***********

The next day, Hyman Roth entered the office of Vito Genovese and proceeded to tell him Virgil Sollozzo's story. The two men discussed the information.

"Do you think that this Sollozzo is telling the truth?" Vito asked.

"I don't know Mr. Genovese; Virgil is a good story teller." Hyman replied.

"We need to get to the bottom of this. We know that Barzin is dead and gone. We know that Sollozzo assumed his name and took the money and drugs. Now just what the hell did he do with them." Genovese's ranted.

"My best guess is Virgil was spinning a story and he stashed the money and drugs. I don't believe for one moment that the team working for Kay Corleone took the stuff. They are some concern of mine, that they may cause us some problems down the road. They are a group of ex-army guys and they are good at what they do. Right now, my advice is to work on Virgil, but carefully! We don't want him expiring before we get the location where he stashed the money and drugs."

"Ok, keep on it and keep me informed."

"One more thing, Bruno Tattaglia approached me yesterday afternoon; asking if we might have any business for him to do." Hyman said.

"I thought he was dead."

"That was a misrepresentation, he actuality skipped town after his brother was arrested, but he has since returned."

"Tattaglia? Wasn't his brother busted for drugs and doing time in prison?" Vito asked.

"Yes, Philip was his name and he was small time dealer before getting caught. Bruno's only real value to us was as an enforcer. He has done a few successful hits for us in the past."

"Good, bring Bruno in. He is not to be associated with the family in any manner and maybe we can put him to work. Those ex-army guys that Kay Corleone has working for her, I would like for Bruno to take care of them, starting with the big guy, what's his name?" Vito asked.

"Luca Brasia"

"Ya, Luca Brasia, I would start with him first and then get the rest. We can't have outsiders like them causing problems for the family." Vito said.

"I will contact Bruno and fill him in on what you want done." Hyman replied.

"When is the trial date for Sollozzo?"

"It is scheduled to held in two months."

"OK, let's have Sollozzo sit for a while. Let the muscle work over every so often to remind him that we are still thinking about him. Also, wait for a while before going to see him again. If we must, we can have the trial postponed to a new date."

"Yes sir, I will see to it."

Chapter Two

"I love you Kay." Luca whispered as he stepped from the shadows.

He has been watching her. He needed to know she was safe. Now that things are finally on the right track, he needed to move on with his life. The days were long and the nights hard for Luca. He always had Kay on his mind. He often wondered if he had done the right thing. He loved her enough to let her go. Questions always ran through his mind. What does she think if him now that she knew the truth about Sonny? Would she accept him and the things he has done? Would he make her happy? Would she trust him? Luca often went and watched Kay. He would stay hidden so she wouldn't see him.

"Hello Luca?"

"Damnit Sal! You scared the shit out of me. What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me like that?"

"Well I guess you were too busy watching Kay to check out your surrounding area." Sal smiled

Luca glanced over to where Kay was. She was talking to one of the contractors working on the outside of her restaurant.

"I guess so, what's up?"

"Well, I need your help on a case. If you're interested."

"What kind of case?"

"Surveillance case. If you're interested?"

"Yeah, I'm interested."

He needed to do something to get his mind off Kay. All the tournaments were done for the year. He needed something.

"Fill me in on the details."

"Bruno Tattaglia, Philip's brother and Kay's ex-brother-in-law is back in town and Tom heard he has been talking with the wrong people. Tom asked if we could keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't bother Kay. Tom also wants to know what Bruno is involved in."

"Damn, Bruno was worse than Phillip, always a big trouble maker. What's the game plan."

"Ok, Peter and I will be watching Kay. Sorry you're too emotionally involved with her to be on that surveillance. You and Paulie will be watching Bruno's every move."

"What about Moe?"

"Where have you been lately?" Sal grinned.

"Moe met the woman of his dreams, remember?"

Luca thought about it. "Oh ya, that cute little brunette."

"That's the one Simonetta Stefanelli the Italian gal. He has been spending a lot more time with her. It wouldn't surprise me if he asked her to get married." Sal said.

"Really?"

"Anyway, Bruno was out in Las Vegas for a while and Moe is there now checking on what Bruno was involved in and with whom." Sal said.

"OK, that I guess that's a starting point."

"Luca, why don't you just go to Kay?" Sal said.

"She has her own life her own goals. I don't fit."

"How do you know that?"

"After she found out about Sonny, I don't know what she will think of me."

"Is that all? I mean the man beat her, took everything from her and shot her trying to kill her! And you're worried what she will think of you? You saved her life! She loves you. And you love her, quit being so stubborn. She will only wait so long."

"This isn't about me. Let's get to the case, okay?" Luca knew they were right, but he was still so unsure of himself. Maybe because he never had a love before that makes him question himself.

***********

Bruno, his brother Philip and Virgil had formed a small cartel pushing drugs out of a vacant warehouse. Philip ran the operation; Virgil had the contacts and Bruno was the muscle. Barzin was the man behind the scenes that kept the operation going, but he found out that Philip was skimming from him. When the police received a tip and raided the warehouse, Philip was the only one at the warehouse and was arrested. Philip took the fall for the other two and was sent to prison. Bruno made a promised to himself that he would find out who ratted them out. Unknown to Bruno, Barzin was the rat. Bruno went west for a time but returned when contacted by Virgil.

Barzin took over the drug business working out of the XYZ warehouse. He had Virgil run it, with Sonny as his helper. They moved the drugs through deliveries to various restaurants and grocery stores. That was Sonny's idea. They have been friends for years and Virgil was Sonny's best man at his wedding to Kay. Bruno joined back up and started to supply some muscle to help Virgil out. Since the time that his brother was arrested and convicted, Bruno never trusted Virgil and he felt that Virgil was hiding something from him.

Sonny was reckless and stupid, he bragged to Bruno one time that Virgil was looking to lease a warehouse that had a hidden vault in it. Bruno had followed an XYZ truck to the warehouse a couple of times. The truck was inside for short periods of time and then left. He was almost sure that it was Virgil driving the truck. Bruno had broken in one time and searched the place, but never found anything inside, or any hidden vault.

************

Tom passed some information along that Bruno was meeting a man about a vacant warehouse. Tom was not sure what the meeting was all about. Luca and Paulie were trailing Bruno and an associate to a vacant warehouse. It was next to the same warehouse that Virgil had leased. Bruno was attempting to intimidate the man. The man was supposed to have some information for sale concerning the warehouse that Virgil had a lease on. Sal was outside keeping watch. Peter was watching Kay. The meeting didn't seem to go well as the man got into a heated discussion with Bruno. It moved into a shouting match and Bruno then pulled out a pistol.

"Shit! He has a gun" Luca said into his radio.

"Damn!" Looks like he is going to shoot him." Paulie keyed back.

"What the hell is going on?" Sal shouted into the radio.

"Don't know."

Just then Bruno pulled the trigger shooting the victim. Bruno ran up the stairs and his associate went in a different direction.

"Damn he shot him, I got Bruno!" Luca said.

Paulie took after the other guy. Luca chased Bruno up to the roof. As Luca closed the distance, Bruno turned and fired. The bullet struck Luca in the head, knocking him down. He lost control and slid off the roof striking a couple of awnings before landing on top of a car roof.

"Luca, Paulie I heard a shot, you guys ok." Sal radioed.

Paulie caught the guy he was chasing and was walking toward Sal, pushing a guy in front of him

"I got this guy. What the hell is going on?" Paulie asked.

"It's Luca, he doesn't answer his radio?"

They walked around the building and came to a car with Luca on top of its smashed roof.

"Oh no, no Luca!" Paulie gasped still a little out of breath.

Sal quickly found a phone and called for an ambulance. His next call was to Tom.

"Tom, Luca was shot and fell off the roof of the warehouse and landed on the roof of a car. He is still alive and I just called for an ambulance."

"Ok, have them take him to Bellevue Hospital, I have some connections there. We want to keep this hushed up. I will meet you there."

"Ok, I will meet you there. Paulie caught the other guy and I will have Paulie get in contact with Peter to question this guy to see what he knows."

Sal followed the ambulance to the hospital. Tom was there waiting for them to arrive.

"I have made all the arrangements to keep this quiet." Tom said.

"So, now what do we do next?" Sal asked.

"I guess we need to hear what the doctor says about Luca condition first. After that we can come up with a story. We will have to assume that Bruno probably figures that Luca is dead. I guess our next step after talking with his doctor is to make Bruno's assumption correct. Sal, I will stay here and talk with his doctor. Why don't you go back and met up with Peter and Paulie and see just what Bruno's accomplice has to say."