The President of the United States walked into the room. Everyone stood up. Some nodded, some smiled. President James Fitzgerald IV, the most powerful man in the free world nodded a greeting to the marine at the door. He was in his early fifties and still had boyish looks that made women water. His streak of grey hair gave him a sophisticated look. His smile and charm won him the elections, not to talk of the enormous super PAC donations his family name earned him. He was a military veteran. He retired as a colonel. He served as Senator for two years. He then ran for Governor in his home state, California, and suddenly became the leader of the greatest country in the world, in his first campaign for president. He was wearing a blue suit, white shirt and red tie—a classic political outfit.
He nodded once more. Everyone sat down immediately. “What’s the agenda for today?” President Fitzgerald asked.
“Mister President, as you may already know, President Ramirez is dead. Our undercover informants have confirmed that he was behind all Cartel movements. Besides that, he was also funding the Al Qaeda…”
“Go straight to the point General. Tell me what I don’t already know,” President Fitzgerald said impatiently.
The General cleared his throat uncomfortably. He then clicked the remote control. The projector screen flashed on the white wall.
“What’s this?” President Fitzgerald asked.
“Our undercover informant managed to get a brief camera footage of what occurred inside the Cartel territory before he died. A second undercover agent retrieved it before the Mexican authorities arrived at the scene. We might have an idea of how the two hundred men died. Sir, this may be disturbing,” the General said then clicked play.
The entire room murmured among themselves as they watched. One man against tens of men single handedly fought all men and killed all men. The fighting techniques used were beyond anything the U.S military Special Forces had ever seen. President Fitzgerald watched in horror as the man in the footage cracked the neck of one of the assailants. The man was fast, skillful and tactical in his kills. The footage finished. The room was silent. They were beyond awed.
“Who the hell is that?”
“Is he one of hours?”
“KGB?”
“Mossad?”
Questions floated across the room. “No! None of that!” the General said.
“What do you mean none of that? He is not a spy for any country?” President Fitzgerald asked.
“He is not a spy at all…” the General said then paused. “We ran facial recognition…he is Thomas Olivetti,”
“Huh?”
“Thomas Olivetti? From the billionaire mob family…Apparently, he is now the heir to everything owned by his late uncle, Daniel Olivetti,”
“Are you telling me he is an American?” President Fitzgerald asked.
“Yes sir,”
“Then we are as good as fucked. If any country finds out, we could trigger a World War. Does anyone have any access to any surveillance tapes from this incident?”
The General looked unsure, but answered courageously, “No sir! Not to our knowledge,”
“Good! Make sure it remains that way…”
“We have arranged tactical teams to get him to a secure location for interrogation. We need to find out who he is and where he acquired those skills,”
President Fitzgerald shook his head. In his two years as President and his umpteen years in the military, he had never seen such a thing. How could one person do that much damage?
“You saw what the man can do. A tactical team will be useless against him…and that’s if he is currently on U.S. soil. Plus he is from the mob family, I’m very sure he has a lot of media attention; we have to keep this discreet. We have to do something that doesn’t expose us to critical questions,”
“We can send a team of discreet Special Forces. They’ll go in and come out in the middle of the night,” one of the other Generals said.
“His home is probably surrounded by mob protectors. There is no way we can make this a silent capture,” another said.
“Are you saying we don’t have American soldiers capable of taking down a petty mafia gang, without causing too much attention?” another argued.
“Enough!” the President said, slamming his hands on the desk. He had struggled to keep America in good standing with all International entities. He wasn’t about to let it all go to waste with a presidential assassination accusation. The room was quiet.
“I need to know more about this Thomas Olivetti, first. I want him on U.S. soil. I want him to think we don’t know. I want him to let his guard down. When the time is right, in the time he least expects, we will send a battalion. It must be well planned. Road blocks must occur in a five mile radius of his location when this happens. We would use our electromagnetic device to shut down all communications and electricity in that area so we don’t have any media attention. This must be clean and fast!” the President said as he walked out of the situation room.
China Town, Manhattan. Trevor and Sebastian Olivetti were seated in a meeting with all mob bosses in the United States. It was hard to convince all of them to accept a demand from a twenty five year old mob boss. Most were in their sixties, with more experience in the gang world and more taste for blood.
“I’m tired of this treaty. You Olivettis benefit more from it than us. We can’t keep giving you our money to launder when we can do it ourselves and still keep ten percent,” Azarov said.
“Look, it’s not about the money. It’s about making sure no one fights for territory. We control the money, you benefit, we keep your neighborhoods safe, the FBI is out of your business and you get no media attention,” Sebastian explained.
The room was quiet. After two hours of deliberation. They were all exhausted.
“Well, true. I see your point. I don’t mind paying ten percent for all those services. I’m fine with it.” Azarov said then continued. “We just aren’t sure your new boss, your nephew, is up to the task. Does he have the kind of control Daniel Olivetti had?”
The whole room murmured in approval. “Well, yes he does,” Sebastian replied. “If anything, I have his back,” he added.
“Whose idea was it to make him Don anyway?” Wang asked. He was the only one in the room who had not said anything. His face was wrinkled. He had eye bags that could fill a gallon of water. Because he controlled china town’s drug and human trafficking, he was the second richest mob boss in the room, besides the Olivettis. His decision to host the meeting in China town was only to show off his lavish eccentric ego and curb his paranoia.
“My Uncle made that decision. And I know he made the right decision,” Trevor said boldly.
“Ah…ah young man. You don’t get to talk when grown men are talking,” Wang replied. Trevor felt insulted. The sexy Asian ladies refilling their drinks didn’t make the room any less tense.
“Where is Tom Olivetti? I haven’t even seen the boy, how do I know I can trust him? See that’s the problem with this scenario. If we go ahead with this treaty we have, we will be putting our lives in the hands of boys,” Wang added. The whole room murmured.
Trevor and Sebastian Olivetti were losing their grip on the situation. They didn’t know how to convince all of them that Tom was an idealistic leader for them.
“You make a good point,” Azarov replied.
“No he doesn’t!” a thunderous voice from behind said. They all turned towards the sound of the voice. Tom walked in, dressed in an all-black outfit. His presence evoked awe. They stared at him curiously.
“Tom Olivetti! I heard a lot about you in the past couple of days. First you die and then you return from nowhere then your uncles die. Tell me, are your uncles also going to return from the dead too?” Wang asked, trying to provoke Tom.
Tom ignored Wang as he scanned the thoughts of everyone present in the room. They all seemed curious as to why he was chosen by Daniel for such a demanding job.
“Like my Uncle and cousin have said, I’ll d
o my job just fine. I can handle it and can maintain the control we have on all law enforcement agencies. No wars. Nothing. Just a peaceful existence,” Tom said in a very reassuring voice. It was clear that everyone in the room felt comfortable with the idea.
Wang was upset. He hated disrespect. “I can do it all for a fraction of what Tom Olivetti is asking for. Besides, the Olivettis are at war, they are too busy fighting the Sanchez and the Cartels. If they can’t handle the Sanchez family, how can they guarantee peace?” Wang replied distastefully.
Tom shook his head. “You’re too shallow.” Surprise filled their faces. Wang lifted his hands. Immediately, Asian men appeared from nowhere with guns pointed at Tom.
“You dare disrespect me? You’re in Chinatown boy! Remember that! I can kill you and disintegrate your body here without anyone saying a word,” Wang threatened.
Sebastian and Trevor Olivetti were in a state of panic. Others in the room were scared.
Tom was calm. He didn’t flinch. Human emotion sometimes frustrated him.
“Turn on the TV,” Tom said.
“What?” Wang asked.
“Turn on the TV. You need to see the news,”
Wang turned on the TV. Everyone’s focus shifted to the sixty inch television screen on the wall.
“This is the breaking news. An unusual event occurred at the United States/Mexico border today. A man identified as Don Sanchez, Mexican Cartel boss walked to the border earlier today. He was in shambles and seemed completely distraught. This is the live footage,”
Just then, the scene changed from the WNN reporter to live chopper footage of Don Sanchez standing on the Mexican border line, with a shot gun pointed to his chin. They could see policemen, FBI agents and choppers all over the border. It was on lock down. The camera focused on Don Sanchez.
“Put your gun down and step back! You don’t have to kill yourself. Whatever it is, we can talk about It,” Border Patrol agents yelled, but he didn’t listen.
“I killed Don Cruccifixo in the explosion at his house. I ordered the hit on Walter Olivetti eight years ago. When that didn’t work, I tried to kill Tom Olivetti in the plane crash. I set up the explosives on the plane. I- I mean I ordered someone to do so. When that didn’t work I ordered the hit on the Olivetti brothers. That worked. They died and I-I’m sorry. I – I didn’t mean to. Now, Tom, please stop me from killing myself. P-please,” Don Sanchez cried out. No one knew what was going on. Everyone was clueless. What was this man doing? Trying to make a statement? Trying to absolve himself from his sins?
“Sir put your weapon down. We can solve this!” another Border Patrol agent yelled. Just then the most unbelievable thing happened. Don Sanchez placed the double barrel in his mouth then shot himself. Blood splattered. The News Network suddenly changed the footage.
“We had to interrupt that. It was unexpected. I’m Brian Anderson and we will have more details of this report after this quick break,”
Wang turned off the television. Everyone stared at Tom. All were afraid and Tom could tell.
“So now you know I have things under control,” Tom said. Wang ordered his men to lower their weapons.
“I’m so sorry,”
“You’re forgiven,” Tom said without glancing at anyone of them. Trevor and Sebastian were beyond surprised.
Azarov gulped. He had never seen such formidability. What drove a Cartel boss to confess on live TV and shoot himself right after? The thought of Tom sent shivers down his spine.
“No more drugs. It ends today. You sell what you have left and wipe your hands clean from all crime. Including human trafficking,” Tom said. Wang tried to interrupt, but was too terrified to speak.
“How will we make our money?” Sebastian Olivetti asked.
“There’s more money to be made legally. We can build our very own pharmaceutical company from scratch. Casinos, hotels, invest in the entertainment industry…we will control everything America needs by the end of the year if we can work together.” Tom replied abruptly. No one dared talk. They couldn’t understand what just happened on the breaking news. Thomas had succeeded in bolstering a public humiliation on all members of the Cartel and they didn’t want to be part of that humiliation.
No one responded. “Good.” He smiled then walked out.
33
Present day
Tom walked into his new mansion. The past days had been hectic. He was drained. He had not slept and hadn’t eaten anything decent. The countless amount of time he spent ruminating on the past, present and future had drained him. Luckily, it had an off switch. Everything was going according to plan. He had the back of all mob families. His finances had tripled thanks to his access to all Cartel ghost accounts. Crime was about to stop. The Cartels were now crippled. His family was safe. There was only one person he let live—Julio Sanchez, the only living heir of Don Sanchez. Tom decided he wasn’t going to kill him. Julio was only a product of Don Sanchez’s hatred. Besides, the whole country witnessed the self-execution of Don Sanchez. If Julio wasn’t afraid of the Olivetti family, then it was to his own folly.
He walked into his large master bedroom and smiled. He now understood the comfort his uncle never got to enjoy. A man with a ton of responsibilities deserved a ton of luxury. His room was about the size of two Manhattan apartments. It was three times the size of the room he grew up in. He gazed at his bed, but was determined to find Nina first. He looked around. There she was, at the corner of the bedroom with the mini living area. He smiled, but she didn’t smile back.
“What’s going on Nina?” He asked. His inability to read her mind was frustrating. She sighed with her arms folded.
“I just saw the news!” she replied.
Tom moved closer and closer to her. “And?”
“I overheard, you’re the new Don. You’re the new head of the family,” she replied.
He could tell she wasn’t comfortable with the idea. “And?”
She sighed, disgusted. “Are you seriously going to ask that question?” She shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she said as she stood up and walked to the other end of the room.
“What! Nina!” Tom replied. Her flimsy dress was distracting and all he wanted to do was hold her.
“It’s like you have a flare for putting yourself and those around you in danger! It’s like you have a rush of adrenaline when danger comes your way. You can’t just walk away from all this? Why can’t you start afresh? Your father is in the damn hospital and you’re still walking around with mob families, creating chaos and ordering Cartel bosses to shoot themselves on live television. Is that what you want Tom!? Huh?” she yelled uncontrollably.
Tom couldn’t reply. His responses will only make her detest him more.
“Is that what you want for us!?” she yelled again. “I can’t keep worrying about you, Tom. I can’t keep wondering where you are, wondering if you’re safe, wondering if you’ll come back or disappear for another seven years. I can’t!”
She was almost in tears of frustration. Despite her anger, Tom could see beneath her beautiful skin. Her intentions were clear. She worried about him more than he worried about himself, but why was she flaring up?
“Look Nina, I have a responsibility to my family,” Tom replied.
“That’s your excuse? Your mother doesn’t want you doing this. Your father hates the fact that you even considered the job,”
“You went to see my dad?”
“Yes, Tom! While you were away doing who knows what, I had to help your mom care for your father! Damn it Tom! You’re driving everyone crazy! It’s not just about you anymore! There are people who have sacrificed a lot for you,”
Tom paced around the room. “I have never seen you this upset Nina. What’s going on?”
She immediately started to cry. All the tears she had tried to fight back poured out. Tom rushed to her to embrace her. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m putting you through all this!” he replied as he felt the warmth of her skin. She knew she
couldn’t stay upset with him. “Nina, you can walk away from all this. You know that. I will understand.”
“No!” she replied sternly. They kept hugging. Suddenly Tom stopped. His ears caught something.
Besides, his heartbeat and hers, he could hear a minute heartbeat close to him. “What!” he said to himself as he separated himself from Nina. He then took his hands and pressed it gently against her stomach. She was surprised.
“How long have you been…” he stopped.
“H-how did you know I was…Pregnant,” She said. Tom’s eyes widened.
“That’s why you were upset. That’s why!” He said to himself. A smile crossed his face. She was relieved. She didn’t know how to tell Tom she was pregnant. Her discovery, earlier in the week, shocked her and she felt it was a redundant issue to bring up in the midst of chaos
“How long have you known?” Tom asked in excitement.
“A couple of days,” she replied with a smile then frowned, “That’s why I need you to stop this dangerous responsibility you’re taking upon yourself. You need to be here for your family. If not for me, for your unborn child,”
Tom ignored her statement, but couldn’t hide his excitement. “Marry me, Nina! Marry me! I’ll stop in a couple of months when all things have been settled in the family. I’ll hand everything over to my uncle,”
She didn’t know what to say. She was speechless. Suddenly, like a wind blew his emotion away, his mood changed. He was instantly upset and alarmed. His ears caught something else. He was suddenly lost in his thoughts.
Shit. He grabbed Nina then ran towards the walk-in closet. He pressed a button on the wall. The wall suddenly opened—a hidden chamber. Nina was alarmed.
“What’s going on?” she asked, with fear in her eyes.
“I need you to stay here! Julianna will come for you once it is over,” Tom said as she walked into the finely furnished hidden chamber.
Olivetti: Illumination Page 29
