“Say what you want. But I won,” Robert made clear.
“But you wouldn’t have,” Donald made clearer, “if Ma hadn’t got out and campaigned like a dog for you, and if Dad hadn’t paid for all of those TV ads.”
“But I won, didn’t I?” Robert said again. Then he answered his own question: “Yes, I did! So move on to the next subject, little boy.”
Jenay and Brent smiled.
“But is it true, Dad?” Donald asked.
Charles removed his towel and looked at his youngest son. “Is what true?”
“I heard they won’t let Uncle Mick within five miles of the White House. That true?”
Brent and Tony laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Jenay said. “Your uncle is a very respected business man. A titan of industry! His company is on the Fortune 500 list, Donald.”
“But I read he’s persona non-grata at the White House, and Capitol Hill, too. I read it’s because they think he’s Mafia. They think he’s the mob boss of all the mob, like he’s freaking John Gotti or Al Capone or somebody. People like that.”
All of Charles’s sons looked at him. They’d heard rumors all their lives about their infamous uncle, but none had ever been confirmed. Even Brent could never find real evidence of it being absolutely true. And going to his father had always been out of the question. Mick was just a regular thug to Charles when they were estranged. When they reunited, it was never brought up.
But they all knew their father called a spade a spade. That was why they waited to hear if he would answer Donald’s question. Would he be willing to call his brother a mob boss to their faces?
But Charles put on his boxer’s and his dress shirt and remained silent. Mick was who Mick was. And he loved him. There was nothing more he was going to say about it.
When his sons realized it too, they looked to Jenay. But Jenay saw the stress and strain on her husband. Enough was enough. “Okay, guys, out,” she said. “Let me talk to your father.”
Although Tony, Brent, and Robert began getting up to go, Donald had to say it. “Why do we have to leave just for you to talk to Dad?” he asked.
“Boy if you don’t get out of my face,” Jenay said firmly.
His brothers laughed. “Tell him, Jenay,” Brent said. “Him and his twenty questions!”
They all left.
Charles began putting on his trousers.
Jenay looked at him. “Think you’re ready for this, Charlie?” she asked him.
“No, but I’ve got to do it.”
“What are the chances of this working at all? These republicans claim to be so law-and-order and all of that shit. They may just see you as Mick’s brother. As Sal Gabrini’s uncle.”
Charles nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
“And you know Donald wasn’t lying. They do have Mick as an enemy of the state.”
“An enemy of the state,” Charles said in a sneering tone. “Those money-grubbing politicians with their lies and corruption are the real enemies of the state. Mick don’t fuck with nobody who don’t fuck with him. But they call him the enemy?”
Jenay knew it too. She rose to her feet and walked over to Charles as he placed his tie around his neck. She began tying it for him. “I just get a little nervous in places like that,” she said, and then looked at him.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Me too. We aren’t exactly White House people.” They both smiled.
Charles’s look turned serious. “But we have to go there. Whatever Hammer’s in is well beyond what we’re used to, and we’ve got to find out just what that is. I can’t keep having all of this crazy shit happening to my family when it doesn’t have to do with any of us. We need intervention from a higher power on this.”
“A higher power? You mean God?”
“Not that high,” Charles said, and they laughed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
To the surprise of Charles and Jenay, the White House wasn’t nearly as opulent as they had thought it would be. Mick’s house could give it a run for its money. Even Reno Gabrini’s PaLargio Hotel was more opulent than that.
But there they were, in the reception area: the Sinatras at the White House. Charles took Jenay’s hand and squeezed it. Even he felt like a fish out of water.
They felt better when they saw Tommy.
Tommy Gabrini entered from a side door, looking dapper as ever in a Canali suit. He looked like he belonged there, Charles thought, as he and Jenay stood to their feet.
“Hello there,” Tommy said jovially as he hugged Jenay and shook hands and hugged Charles. “It’s so good to see you guys again.”
“You too, Tommy,” Jenay said with a smile. “You get better looking every time I see you.”
“Down, Cougar,” Charles said with a grin.
Jenay playfully hit Charles. Tommy laughed. “Jenay is not a cougar, Uncle Charles. She and I are not that far apart in age.”
“Thank you, Tommy,” Jenay said. “He robbed the cradle when he got me, and he’s been ashamed ever since.”
Charles laughed too.
“How’s Grace and the children?” Jenay asked.
“They’re good,” Tommy said.
“She’s tired of your world travels yet?” Charles asked. “Every time I need you you’re out of the country somewhere. Damn, Tommy.”
“I’m working on it, Unc,” Tommy said. “I’m working on it.”
“Work harder,” Charles said.
Tommy nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said. “Uncle Mick filled me in on all that’s been happening. I hope this meeting helps.”
“So, do we,” Charles said.
“But I must warn you guys. He only has a few minutes tops. So you’ll have to get to the point.”
“Don’t worry,” Charles said. “This is no roll in the hay for us either.”
Tommy smiled. Then he exhaled. “Ready?” he asked them.
“We’re ready,” Charles said, placed his hand on the small of Jenay’s back.
They followed Tommy as he escorted them into the Roosevelt Room. Former President and Tommy’s good friend, Dutch Harber, was sitting alongside current president and Dutch’s best friend, Crader McKenzie. Charles and Jenay both felt their heartbeats quickened when they entered that august room.
Dutch smiled and stood to his feet. He was as handsome as he looked on TV to Jenay. And seemed just as nice and friendly. He was a republican, and Jenay was decidedly anything but, yet Dutch Harber held a special place in her heart. And it wasn’t just that he had a black wife. But when she wasn’t his wife, and was just the president’s girlfriend, she was treated like trash in the media and throughout the country. They talked about that young lady like a dog. But Dutch didn’t push her aside to win votes. He didn’t even listen to his party leaders who begged him to get rid of her. He stood by her, and married her, and made her the nation’s first black first lady. He was a hero in Jenay’s eyes!
But Crader McKenzie, in Jenay’s eyes, was just another republican.
Tommy escorted them over to the two men. Crader finally stood up as they approached. “Gentlemen,” Tommy said, escorting his relatives, “this is my uncle Charles Sinatra, and his better half, and my favorite aunt, Jenay Sinatra.”
“Mr. President, it is such an honor to meet you, sir,” Jenay said. But she was extending her hand, not to the current president, but to the former one.
“Thank you,” Dutch said with a big smile. “It’s so nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Sinatra. Tommy’s told me wonderful things about you.”
To hear such words from a man she admired caused Jenay to glow. She wanted to say wow, but she knew how to act. She just smiled instead.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Charles said, also shaking Dutch’s hand first. He was no fan of Crader McKenzie’s policies, either. But Dutch Harber? A hero of Charles’s too. He liked the way he eventually gave up his presidency because of the maltreatment of the woman he loved. He got out. For Jenay, Charles would have done the same thing.
But their obvious prefe
rence for Dutch didn’t bother Crader in the least. He was used to it. Dutch was his hero too. He shook hands with the Sinatras, spoke a few niceties, and they all sat down in a circle.
“I understand, from Tommy, that you and your beautiful wife wanted an audience with me, Mr. Sinatra,” Crader said.
“That’s correct,” Charles replied.
“About?”
“Hamilton Reese.”
“Ah. Our Mr. Reese.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What has he gotten himself into now?” Crader asked.
Both Charles and Jenay took Crader’s words as odd. But Charles pressed on. “I thought you would be able to tell me what he’s gotten himself into,” he decided to respond. “I’m looking for him. I’m also looking for answers as to who in your administration kidnapped my sister.”
Crader cleared his throat. Jenay was surprised by her husband’s directness, but Tommy and Dutch didn’t even flinch. The truth was always going to be the truth in their eyes. “My administration doesn’t traffic in kidnapping, sir,” Crader said. “Just so I’m clear.”
Although Charles was impressed by meeting these powerful men, he was in no way intimidated by either one of them. “My sister was kidnapped by members of your government, sir,” he said to Crader, “be it operatives or actually officials. Which means your administration is trafficking in something. Just so I’m clear.”
Crader stared at him. “You’re Mick Sinatra’s brother. Aren’t you?”
That was meant to be a dig, and Charles knew it. People loved to throw Mick in his face whenever they wanted to set him back. But what they didn’t know? Charles would take Mick over a million Crader McKenzie’s and anybody else who thought less of his brother. “Yes,” Charles said. “He’s my kid brother. The best brother a man can have. A brother who’ll give his life for me, and vice versa. So what about my brother?”
Jenay wanted to smile. You tell him, Charlie, she wanted to say. But she knew how to act.
Dutch crossed his legs. Charles and Jenay Sinatra were nobody’s fools. He saw that within a minute of meeting them. Crader still might not realize that. “What have you heard about Hammer, Mr. Sinatra?” Dutch asked.
“I heard he might have had a hand in my sister’s disappearance by working alongside this administration. Your FBI recruited people to harm me and my family without cause. And it all relates to your decision, Mr. President,” Charles said, now addressing Crader, “to nominate Hammer to replace your current CIA Director.”
Charles had other reasons for wanting to find Hammer, including those two assassination attempts at Charlemagne, but that was not for the audience he was in front of. “I need to find him, and I need answers as to what is happening here.”
“Your sister, however,” Crader said, “has been safely returned. Correct?”
Charles wondered how he would know that. “Correct,” he said.
“And we’re very thankful for that,” said Jenay.
“Oh, I can only imagine,” said Dutch. “But am I understanding that you do not know who specifically took her in the first place?”
“I hear things. But none of it’s been verified.”
It was obvious to Dutch and Crader that Charles was not going to say anymore. Dutch, anyway, felt Crader hadn’t said enough.
“Tell him,” Dutch said to the president.
Crader exhaled. “You’re right,” he said. “You can’t find Hammer,” he said to Charles, “because Hammer is on the run.”
Tommy and Jenay looked at Crader. Charles was shocked too. “On the run?” he asked him. “What do you mean?”
“He’s on the run,” Crader said. “He’s missing because he’s wanted.”
“Wanted?” Jenay asked.
“What for?” Charles asked.
Crader looked at Dutch. Dutch looked at Charles. “Treason, I’m afraid,” he said.
Tommy and Jenay looked at Charles. Charles stared at Dutch. “Treason?”
“He betrayed his country,” Crader said. “We’re looking for him too.”
“He betrayed?” Charles asked. Then he frowned. “That’s bullshit! Hammer is a lot of things, but he loves his country. He wouldn’t betray America. He wouldn’t do that.”
“He wouldn’t,” Jenay agreed. “Not Hammer. He wouldn’t do that to his country. No way.”
“He did it,” Crader said, rising to his feet. They all rose too. “But, unfortunately, that country you mentioned? I gotta go run it. Nice to meet you folks. Dutch, I’ll see you before you leave.”
Dutch nodded.
“And oh, by the way,” Crader said, talking to Charles, “the person who kidnapped your sister? That was Hammer too.” And he left the room.
Charles and Jenay looked at each other. It was the same thing Targe Montalis had told him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
At the airstrip in Jericho, just under a bridge, Mick sat behind the wheel of an old extended-cab, tinted-window van, and Amelia sat on the front passenger seat. Unlike most airstrips Mick was accustomed to, Jericho’s was still relatively new, was very small, and had been built right next to a trailer park. People from that park were out and about and roaming around. Some were just hanging out. Others were primarily homeless people who were scrounging for food or discarded cans. The older model van seemed to go with the décor. Nobody bothered it. Or wondered about it. They just worked around it. Amelia was looking around, too, and then she looked at her watch again.
“That’s not going to make them get here any faster,” Mick said to her. He was leaned sideways on the driver’s seat, with a loaded gun at his side. They stayed back in Jericho in case anything went down. But there had been no problems, so they decided to meet the plane.
“I don’t understand why you couldn’t go DC with them anyway,” Amelia said. “I understand why they wouldn’t want me in the White House. I was never in any honorable profession. But you own Sinatra Industries, and S.I. is one of the best-run companies in the world. And one of the most successful. You run S.I.”
“Among other things,” Mick said with a smile.
“You mean your import/export business?” Amelia asked. “But that’s primarily in Teddy’s hands now. Besides, that has nothing to do with the federal government.”
Mick smiled. “They would disagree.”
“But they don’t know what that business does,” Amelia said. Then she looked at her older brother. “Or do they?”
“We’re talking CIA. FBI. ATF.” He looked at Amelia. “What do you think?”
“But then why haven’t they shut you down, Mick? Why haven’t you been arrested if they know?”
“Because they need a man like me to be the bad guy,” Mick said.
Amelia smiled. “Say what now?” she asked.
“I am not a troublemaker. I do not originate trouble. Somebody else originates it? Somebody else brings it to me? That’s when I take it to them. I am predictable, and the government likes predictability. Others in my profession are not so easy to figure out. They like to start shit. Those stone-cold gangsters are the ones that keeps them up at night. Fuck. They keep me up at night too.”
But Amelia stared at her brother. “What’s going on, Mick?”
Mick looked at her.
“What’s happening?” she continued. “It’s like one day my life is ready to take off in a new direction, and then wham! Everything goes sideways. And Hammer . . .”
She had to wait for her emotions to settle back down, before she continued. “I haven’t heard from him, even after my release. Nobody has! I don’t know what to think, what to believe, where me and JoJo goes from here. When I called Trevor and Carly to check on JoJo, they said Hammer hadn’t even called him one time. That is so not like him! He might not call me the way I feel he should, but he’s always checking on Jo. What’s happening, Mick?”
“I can’t tell you,” Mick said honestly. “Because I don’t know. But time will tell. It always does.”
Amelia leaned back and
folded her arms. Time used to be her friend. She knew what time was all about. In time, things will get better for me, she used to tell herself whenever she was mistreated as a child, or when she was badly mistreated as a wife. But now she didn’t recognize this kind of time. And what was it going to tell her if she didn’t recognize it to begin with? She exhaled and unfolded her arms. She just wanted her life back.
It would take another half-hour of sitting in that van and talking sporadically before Mick’s plane landed, Charles and Jenay walked down, and then they made their way out of the gate and over to the van. Mick gripped his gun when he saw somebody approaching. But Amelia saw who it was.
“It’s them,” she said. “About time!” she added.
Mick and Amelia continued to look ahead when they got onto the two seats just behind them. Charles closed the door.
Once they were inside, Mick pulled away from the curb and drove off. “How did it go?” he asked.
Charles exhaled. “Hammer’s a wanted man,” he said.
Mick looked at Charles through the rearview. Amelia turned around quickly and looked at her brother too. “Wanted?” she asked. “Wanted for what?”
“Treason,” Charles said, and even Mick was stunned.
But Amelia was beyond stunned. She looked at Charles as if he’d just said a foreign word. “Treason?” she asked. “Hammer?” She was shaking her head. “No way,” she said. “No hell way! I don’t know what’s happening, but I don’t believe all this shit! Hammer wouldn’t put me in harm’s way. He wouldn’t do that to me! And treason? Going against his own country? A man who’s given his life in the service of his country? I know he wouldn’t do that. No. I’m tired of these lies on my man. I’m tired of this shit!”
“But that’s what the president’s saying,” Mick said. “Charles and Jenay aren’t saying it. The president of the United States is saying it.”
“And I hear that. But it’s not true,” Amelia said. Then she frowned, and her bravado was less certain. “It can’t be true,” she added.
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