Mercury Decending (Mercury Black Authority Book 3)

by Finian Blake

  Stark was interrupted as soon as he started to talk. “Hermes’ your clearance…” Two seat hawks came down trying to take the open seats.

  “These seats are taken.” The young man pointed to the hot dogs.

  “These are seats not tables.” ‘Hermes’ took the hotdog out of its foil bag and punched it into the seat. He then poured a beer over the hot dog. The young man got an ugly look on his face. He leaned forward over the seat to say something. ‘Hermes’ instantly grabbed his hair slamming his temple into the steel arm rest of the seat. His friend went to step over him and tripped. Rich grabbed the man’s hair and slammed his head into the same arm rest. The two men were stacked in front of the empty seats. Rich jumped up and started shouting all the while waiving at the usher.

  “They tripped. They tripped.” An usher sprinted down the stairs. “He slipped on his hot dog, and his friend tripped over him. They look pretty bad you better get some help.” The police were summoned and started a report.

  The senior policeman said, “I find that hard to believe that two men slipped on the same hot dog and hit their head on the same arm rest.” Rich pulled a gold foil card out of his wallet and handed it to the Policeman. The card had the Alderman’s name on it. “Well, stranger things have happened,” the policeman said abruptly. “We will let the paramedics do their work and we will move you to another box.” Even the greenest rookie knew about the gold business cards. They would accept any story and file it as gospel truth. If they did not, they would be assigned to the near west side for the rest of their career. Out of all the districts in Chicago that was the worst. Cabrini Greens was in that area. Even the people living in the area feared it. Rich and Snark were moved to another box.

  “Those were my men!”

  Rich responded blandly, “They were stupid. You don’t need them. I do hope that they have health insurance because they are going to the hospital.”

  “Those were my men!”

  “You said that. Are we going to discuss business or do I leave? The game sucks.”

  “You have your clearance.” Snark handed ‘Hermes’ a slip of paper. “‘Mercury’’, is your contact and ‘‘Mercury Black’ is your clearance. Use it sparingly. This is the number for ‘Mercury’. Do you have a phone contact?”

  Rich responded mildly, “Do you have a pen and paper?” Snark offered him the requested items with ‘Hermes’ writing the number down and passing the paper back.

  “It is an answering service. I check it regularly.”

  “What if I need to reach you immediately?” ‘Hermes’ held up a beeper.

  “Enter a call back number and I will call you.” Rich said with Snark being decidedly unhappy.

  “I need to go to the hospital, so enjoy the game.” He started to leave. Rich tugged on his sleeve.

  “The next time, introduce your help before they push in.” Snark pulled his arm away and stormed off. Rich moved through Wrigley Field. When he was sure that he was not being followed, he mixed in with the people leaving early he walked five blocks down to the Lake Shore Drive and caught a bus back down Addison Street past the ball park. When he reached Chloe’s place Rich knocked on the door. Cyrus answered the door.

  “Here is the TV celebrity now!” He pulled Rich in the door. “You were on the tube for about fifteen minutes. They were covering you not the game. Are those two guys alright?”

  “They will be fine. One idiot slipped on his hot dog and the other one tripped over him. They were both out cold.”

  Chloe chimed in, “You should have gone to church. Pat and I talked to the priest. He can squeeze us in at four o’clock two weeks from Saturday. We told Pat’s friend Dora. She is getting married just before us so she has the hall, but John will let us use his bar for the reception.”

  “Both of the guest lists should be close to the same people,” Rich observed. “That would cause a conflict. Is there any chance that the pastor could do it later Sunday?”

  “He does not like to do Sundays but we can check. That would give us the hall.”

  “I do not want to do anything that would cause a conflict.” Pat looked relieved at the suggestion. She was scheduled to be a bridesmaid at Dora’s wedding. Let’s run down and talk to the Pastor. They went down to the rectory, and rang the bell with the pastor answering the door.

  “Come in Pat. What can I do for you?” Pat went to the heart of the matter.

  “Father, we do not wish to cause a conflict with Dora’s wedding. Is there any way that we can do a Sunday wedding? I am supposed to stand up for Dora and would hate to compete with her for the reception.” The priest smiled warmly at Pat. He always admired her concern for others. He knew that many of the same people would be invited to each wedding. With Pat’s popularity and the new benefactor, it was due to cause some kind of conflict.

  “I have never done a Sunday wedding, but there is no hard and fast rule against it. I could do it at mass as part of the regular service. It would be a one of a kind service. In your condition it would be best to do this quickly. How would you raise the children?”

  “We would raise them in the church.” Pat answered.

  The priest turned his attention to Rich. “Are you orthodox Catholic?”

  “No, Roman Catholic.”

  “Will you raise the children in the church?”

  “Yes, I will”

  “Will you convert?”

  “The matter never came up. I will consider it.”

  “Will you attend two classes, for your wedding?”

  “Yes, I will.”

  “Then we shall say that you will be married two weeks from today at the regular eleven o’clock service. I would like your baby to be born in the church. Why don’t you go home and discuss things with Chloe?” The Pastor ushered them out the door. They walked down the street, with Pat looking decidedly unhappy.

  Curiosity got the better of Rich, “What did he mean your condition?”

  “Oh, momma told him that I was pregnant to get him to agree.”

  “She lied to the father, right after services on the church steps?” Rich had grossly underestimated Chloe. “Well we could make her an honest woman.”

  “How would you do that?” Rich stood still and smiled at her. “Oh no, I have been a good girl until now. We can wait two more weeks.”

  “I thought you were not a virgin.” Pat smiled at him. “I lied.” Rich put his arm around Pat’s waist, and they walked home. Pat walked in the living room and made her announcement.

  “We will be married, two weeks from today at the regular service. The Pastor thought that someone in my condition should not wait too long.” Chloe started to blush.

  “I suppose that I should confess.”

  The week went by quickly with the women arranging all of the plans. Pat bought her dress, and Dora’s mother did the fitting for free as a thank you for her consideration. They still elected to have the reception at John’s bar even though the Hall would be available putting the money that they saved into the food and drink. Rich liked the idea because he could secretly help Chloe and he had become so close to John’s family that it felt much better than doing it at a hall. All of the preparation was done through people in the neighborhood. One of the people that the Alderman helped was a baker and he provided the cake for free. For the first time John hired caterers, bartenders, waiters and a cleanup crew from outside the neighborhood because he wanted to enjoy this party.

  They were in the bar making plans when the Alderman walked in.

  Pat ran up and gave him her personal invitation. “I wanted to invite you personally to our reception. It will be here starting at noon a week from Sunday. We will be going until ten PM.

  The Alderman stroked her cheek lightly, “I would not miss it for the world. I wanted to talk to the TV celebrity.” He frowned at Rich, “Snark’s men were clean messed up. They will be in the hospital until Wednesday. He seems to think that I had something to do with it.”

  Rich scoffed, “I flashed
your preferred card to the two policemen. He knows exactly what the story is. Snark is just shaking the trees to see if any monkeys fall out.”

  “I thought that might be the story. He is half mob and half CIA and thinks that he can play in any game getting away with it all.”

  Rich slipped the card out of his wallet and offered it to the Alderman. “If you think that I abused the card you can have it back.”

  “No thanks, I appreciate the offer, but hang on to it. I believe that the only thing that will fall out of the tree is a coconut.”

  Rich nodded toward John, “Do you think he deserves one?”

  “Are you putting your name on John?” The Alderman was asking for a solid reference.

  “I am, without hesitation.” The Alderman waved John over. He held out a gold foil business card. “Be careful how you use this. It can be very useful and do not drop my name with any favors promised.” There was only a name on the card. The Alderman walked out the door.

  “What is this?”

  “It is a golden pass. If an inspector is giving you a hard time just flash the card. Never let that out of your hands. It will solve many problems for you. The Alderman gives these to his most trusted friends.” John put the card in a special place in his wallet. “You are officially connected to one of the most powerful men in the city. Be sure that you do not disappoint him.” Rich could see him inflate. John just became the man in his neighborhood and at that moment John made a solemn vow to himself that he would never disappoint the Alderman.

  Rich decided to call Wanda. Mooney’s doctor appointment was coming up in three days. Rich needed to be sure that everything would go smoothly. Mooney was still at Quantico in Virginia. ‘Hermes’ went to a pay phone and dialed the contact number. When Wanda answered, he went straight to the core.

  “Have you heard from your contact?”

  “Yes, he will be doing tests at the clinic as a patient tomorrow and Friday. All of his equipment is there, and he has back up cameras with him. If things go well I will pick him up at Ohare airport, and the film will pass from his hand to my hand. I will be done with the documents by the time that the sun goes down. After that there will be two sets of papers and the histories will be in your hands two days after that. The price will be forty thousand for the two sets. I will hold both sets until you contact me.” Rich was about to hang up. “I do have some information for you. Snark called to see if I worked on an ID for Noah Body. There are only so many people doing this quality of work. I will bet that he also called Father Cash. Be careful, he was very unhappy that I had no information for him.”

  “Two of his goons pushed in before he introduced them. I sent them both to the hospital,” Rich said softly.

  “Was that you at the Cubs game? It was on WGN news. You were standing next to Snark. M trusts him, but I think that he is a piece of shit. He plays both sides against the middle and screws everybody. Let me give you a new number.” Use this from now on. Wanda gave Rich the number. He wrote it down and rewrote the number backwards as agreed upon earlier. Wanda told Rich that the line was compromised. She was one smart lady. He would have to study Snark more carefully. Rich’s biggest problem was security. He was wondering what he would have to do about Snark. Could he spot the guard without being seen? If the phone was compromised Rich would have to switch locations. He went north on the elevated. After a few stops he got off of the train, and took the bus to a likely looking pay phone. Tony was at the second number he dialed.

  “T, have you talked to Snark yet?”

  “He called twice looking for you. It seemed that he was fishing for information on ‘M’. What do you want to do?”

  Rich gave Tony enough information to stay out of the way. “We are ready. All I need to know is when ‘M’ is in town.”

  “There is a strong rumor that there is a hit on him,” Tony warned.

  “That’s good. They won’t want more than one hit at a time, since its bad luck to have a convention at a hit. See if you can make the rumor stronger. Snark is the government contact. He will have the information first. The government is as worried about ‘M’ testifying as the boys are. Nobody is sure about what he is going to say.” Rich smelled a double cross. “I am going to need to act fast or there might be an unplanned hit. Mooney did a lot of special work for the government that would be embarrassing if it were revealed.” He broke the connection without waiting for an answer.

  Rich climbed into the Nova and drove to the Frank Lloyd Wright section of Oak Park. He found the address that ‘M’ gave him. He stopped at the corner. There was a white Ford Galaxy parked half way down the block with government plates. The FBI set up surveillance even before Mooney arrived. Rich went to the alley and looked down the way seeing that there were no cars in sight. The alley was too narrow to park in, so he drove down the full length. There was a man standing in an open garage half way down the alley almost directly across from Mooney’s garage. He was standing next to a tan Ford Galaxy, with government plates. This was going to be a tough entry. Rich drove off slowly. About an hour later Rich drove down the street in front of the house. He noticed a sign proclaiming no parking on the north side of the street Thursdays from four AM until ten AM. He drove three blocks down, and drove down the opposite side of the street. The sign proclaimed no parking, on the south side of the street Wednesdays from four AM until ten AM. The Galaxy was parked on the south side of the street. It was Wednesday morning there were no parking spaces on the north side of the street and the Ford was the only car on the south side. A germ of a plan was beginning to form.

  All of the houses in this area had a uniform appearance. They were large homes on a street that could accommodate four cars in width. There were no drive ways, since all of the garages exited into the alley. Frank Lloyd Wright built three square blocks of homes in this area. They were state of the art at the time. Each home was a spacious two story with an enclosed porch for the Chicago winters. All the structures were solidly built and landscaped with well-established bushes. The park way was lined with tall oaks. The Oaks reached across the street touching each other, and Rich could not see the sky clearly from his car.

  All of the garages faced the alley. Mooney’s garage went fully across the back of the property. He had a new Lincoln Continental and a 1949 Ford coup that was anything, but stock. The rear windows were blacked out and the side windows were tinted. The suspension was completely redone with anti-sway bars and Posi-traction and he had a two speed rear-axel cut down to fit the car. This left the car slightly higher than normal. The Ford was painted black. There was no chrome on the old car and the tires were black wall tires, with black rims. Mooney enjoyed whipping turns and was very handy at it with this car. He switched the old flat head engine for a 289 and installed a mini super charger. When he was finished, the output was just under four hundred horse power. It was his personal toy.

  Rich drove over to the Alderman’s building and was immediately shown into the office.

  “I need a contact for the Department of Sanitation in Oak Park. Can you do anything for me?”

  “I have drinks with the mayor from time to time and we exchange favors occasionally.” The Alderman picked up the phone and after a few minutes conversation he gave Rich a name and number. “What name will you use?”

  “John Smith, will work.” Rich did not want to use any of his carefully crafted ID’s. He made an appointment and drove over to the Public Works Department finding the man he was looking for. After a half an hour conversation he left with the information that he sought. He drove down the streets until he spotted the street sweeper introducing himself as John Smith. The sweepers name was Bill. His wife was expecting their first born and he was broke. After some negotiation they arrived at a deal. A week from today he would go to coffee and Rich would steal his sweeper for an hour. Rich spent the afternoon learning how to drive the sweeper. When they were finished Rich gave Bill two thousand dollars, which was half of the promised money. Rich also gave Bill his persona
l assurances that he would not be fired. The four thousand would let Bill finish the nursery, pay the hospital and think about buying the fishing boat that he was looking at, all for eating breakfast.

  Rich moved on with the schedule calling Bob at home, arranging for a meet at the restaurant that they met at the first time.

  “I want to be sure that we are still on for your favor. I will have all of the forms that need to be replaced next week.”

  “The bookie still wants his money!”

  “Bullshit, I paid four grand up front and gave him my personal marker for the other four. We talked face to face. He called you the same night that we talked.” Bob knew that he had been caught in a lie.

  “I was using my mortgage money to place some bets because the bookies won’t take my bets and they are going to take my house. What am I going to do?”

  “Make arrangements with them. I covered my end of the deal. Are you going to back out?” Rich was showing his frustration. Bob was still playing the nags and was back in debt. “Tell me now. Are we on or off? You give me my four and you can deal with the bookie on the other four.” Rich knew that Bob was panicked. “I tell you what put them off for two weeks. If things go well, I will give you a two grand bonus.” The relief showed on Bob’s face.

  “What if I don’t succeed?”

  “Well, then we are all screwed. For the extra two grand I want the papers that you remove in my hand with no copies made. I won’t accept any bullshit story that you destroyed them.”

  “Absolutely, the papers go in your hand with no copies.” Rich paid for dinner and the two men went their separate ways. Rich thought to himself, ‘after this I am getting out’. He went back to Chloe’s place.

  “I hate to do this, but I need to go on a trip.” I will be back on Monday. Rich booked a trip to Paris and on to Barcelona parking his car at his former home with Traci driving him to the airport. The connections to Barcelona went smoothly. He arrived at eleven AM. He made an appointment with a rental agent. After three viewings Rich found a rental that would work. He paid cash for four months rental making arrangements for Juan to pick up the keys. Rich caught a flight to Madrid connecting to a flight to Miami and from Miami he flew to Mexico City. Rich went directly to Minister Rodriguez’s office. It was late in the afternoon.