The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) (7 page)

De Niro’s face flushed with rage, but after a moment, he flashed his friend a small smile.

“…
and you’re telling me this, why? You want me to fly to New York and go ten rounds with the Imam?”

Tompkins replied without breaking a smile, “Something like that.”

De Niro’s smile disappeared for a moment then he flashed it again.

“
Keith, I was joking. They have a legal right to build it there but there’s still a lot for them to do. Even if they did raise the money to build it, which I’m not sure they did. They only paid for the property, so far.”

“
And what if they did raise the money?”

“
Then they’ll still have to find construction crews to build it and permits to build it … and deal with the picketing that will inevitably surround the building.”

“
Cris, you’re not listening, from what I hear, they’re gonna have powerful allies … the mayor of New York, for one … not to mention the President!”

“
Keith, the President made his thoughts known about the subject, but I don’t think he’ll do more than that. If I was one of his advisors, I would be advising him not to get involved in what is really a local affair, but even if he does weigh in again, President Obama isn’t going to grab his tool belt and start pouring the foundation, you know.”

Both men were interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by Ricci walking in the room.

“
Sorry to bother you guys, but Cris, the boys wanted to know if they can break out the ice cream and marshmallows now.”

De Niro looked at Tompkins with a tongue-in-cheek expression.

“
You want some ice cream?”

Tompkins rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

“
No, I don’t want ice cream, Cris. I want you to fly to New York and buy that building back from them!”

“
What building? Ricci asked as he took a seat on the arm of the sofa next to Tompkins.

De Niro scowled then looked over at his brother-in-law.

“
Keith wants me to fly to New York and try to buy the property back from the Imam who wants to build the mosque at Ground Zero.”

Ricci raised an eyebrow in Tompkins’ direction.

“
What makes you think they want to sell it?”

Tompkins glared at Ricci for a moment, then stood up in frustration and leaned his arm on the large fireplace mantle.

“
I don’t know. Maybe Don De Niro over here can make them an offer they can’t refuse.”

Ricci folded his arms in mock thought.

“
Yeah, and I can be like … Luca Brasi. Let’s see, maybe I can cut off one of the horse’s head’s that pull those carriages around Central Park and put it in the Imam’s bed …”

Tompkins pointed at Ricci as he looked at De Niro.

“
SEE, THIS is why I wanted to speak to you in private!”

De Niro laughed quietly as he stood up and winked at his brother-in-law.

“
Keith, for one, for them to purchase that property, they knew in advance the resistance they were going to meet. They wouldn’t have gone into it if they intended to just sell out right. As a matter of fact, I think I read somewhere where someone already approached them and offered them four times what they paid for it and they turned the offer down. For another, I think it’s too premature. I told you, as far as I know they only purchased the property; they still have to raise the money to demolish what’s there and build their mosque.”

Tompkins walked up to De Niro, put his hand on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.

“
Cris, for all my friends … all the firefighters that lost their lives … for all those innocent victims ... and for Lisa … these people can’t be allowed to build that mosque there.”

Mentioning Lisa wounded De Niro. There weren’t many people that De Niro would have allowed to mention her name in that context, but Keith Tompkins was one of the few that could. He also knew that his friend wouldn’t have mentioned his wife’s name in a casual fashion. This meant a lot to Tompkins as it did many others … including him.

Tompkins spoke first.

“
All I’m asking is for you to go to New York and … do what you do. Look into it whatever way you feel is right. Then maybe you can speak to a bunch of us …survivors and families and friends of victims. We’ve been keeping in touch about this and I sort of told them that you and I were friends and that you’d look into it for us. Everyone respects you Cris. Just let us know what you think.”

De Niro stood in thought a moment.
What can it hurt?

“
Alright, Mugsy and I have business in the east anyway. I’ll see if I can talk to a few people and get a handle on what’s really going on, but no promises Keith! There’s probably nothing I can do but let a few people know I’m against it being built so close to Ground Zero. I think speaking to the Imam or his wife will be a waste of time, their minds are made up, but I was friends with one of Mayor Giuliani’s advisors. I’ll meet with him and see if we can coax Mayor Bloomberg’s support away from it.”

Tompkins smiled broadly and put his arm around De Niro.

“
Fantastic. I knew you’d come through brother!”

“
Mugsy and I will be flying east Monday. Why don’t you tag along? We’ll stop off first in Virginia. Mugsy, I’ll have you get things rolling there on your own, on Monday. Keith and I will fly up to Teterboro and take care of business in Manhattan. We’ll stay in the city overnight then fly down to you on Tuesday morning. You can fill me in, introduce me to your new staff and we can give Keith here a tour of our new company. Then we can be back in the air right after lunchtime and be back here in Vegas before Yvonne even knows Keith is gone.”

“
With the way that woman gambles, I bet she won’t even know I left!”

All three men laughed.

Chapter 5

Formerly Liberty Defense Contractors, now - The Watchman Agency

Office of the President

Arlington, Virginia

2:00p.m., Monday, May 16, 2011

“
Charley, do you have a minute?”

The voice of Les Pastak, Executive Vice President of what had been known as “LDC,” Liberty Defense Contractors, a counter-terrorism consulting firm, emanated from the intercom of Charley Santappia. Santappia’s title was Director of Operations but no one was sure if they were going to keep their jobs after the billionaire hedge fund manager, Cris De Niro bought their firm out the week before.

The first to go was the firm’s founder and CEO Nick Gerolitis, but that was part of the acquisition deal. All of the details of the deal weren’t known, but the gossip was that De Niro paid Gerolitis twenty million dollars for his firm. All Gerolitis told everyone - by email - was that it was an offer he couldn’t refuse and wished everyone at LDC well before he packed his things and left.

Santappia was formerly Major Charles Santappia, a highly decorated United States Marine who joined LDC right after 9/11. Counter-terrorism firms were in great demand after 9/11 and so they all went on a hiring spree, plucking many warriors from America’s armed services, luring them with large salaries and perks, but Santappia didn’t need any luring. He was a patriot that knew his time serving in the Marines was coming to an end but decided he still wanted to “fight the fight” to defend the nation. Pastak, on the other hand was Gerolitis’s brother-in-law. A lawyer by trade, he never served a day in the military. Most of the former military men had no use for the Executive VP. Pastak had taken it upon himself to move into the president’s office the moment Gerolitis moved out of it. Since then he’d been acting like he was President though he was never appointed acting-President by De Niro. Some air was let out of his balloon-ego when he received an email from De Niro stating that he was on his way to put the new president in place. The message didn’t say that he was naming Pastak president but Pastak was convinced that no one else could be given the position. In any case, he wasn’t about to pack up his things and move out of the office. He figured that his initiative would probably impress the new owner. Charley had a feeling Pastak wanted to see him to try and get his ducks in a row.

“
Sit down Charley,” Pastak pointed to a chair as he buzzed Debbie Lynch, former Executive Assistant to Gerolitis. She didn’t like taking orders from Pastak any more than Santappia did.

“
Debbie, could you make me a latte and bring it into me … and I want to know the moment De Niro’s car enters our gates.”

There was a pause, just long enough for the Executive Assistant to express her indignation - it infuriated Pastak. Just as he was about to repeat his order, her voice came through the phone speaker.

“…
Yes … sir.”

Santappia suppressed a smile as Pastak looked up at him.

“
Charley, before De Niro arrives, I wanted to talk to you, so we could sort of align.”

“
Align, how so, Les?” Santappia knew it grated Pastak when anyone but Gerolitis called him by his first name. He could see Pastak’s face turning red from it already.

“
What I mean to say is that I’m sure there are changes that De Niro may want to make in our firm. Some people will probably be let go and the rest of us may be moved around within the organization. I just think that if we show a unified front, we may be able to influence him to put the right people in the right positions.”

Santappia tried hard not to show his anger with Pastak’s disrespectful tone whenever he uttered the new owner’s name, specifically omitting the “mister” whenever he referred to him and for his attempt to manipulate De Niro, but he thought it best to hear him out.

“…
And just who are the right people for the right positions, Les?” His question lit Pastak’s face up with a devilish smile.

Pastak leaned back in his chair.

“
Well Charley, I think it’s a foregone conclusion that I’ll be named president. After all, I’m sure De Niro isn’t going to take the helm here, himself. Since I was the second in command, it’s just common sense to promote me to CEO. Now, as for who will become my Executive VP … that’s what I called you in to talk about.”

Santappia tucked his hands under his thighs for fear that he would reach across the desk and choke Pastak.

“
I know you have seniority here over the other directors, but … a few of them are younger than you are and …quite frankly Charley, I never considered you on my team.”

Santappia couldn’t conceal his anger anymore.

“
What EXACTLY are you saying Les, spell it out!”

“
Yes, Les, I would like you to spell it out too!” The comment came from just beyond the door to the office.

Pastak rose to his feet from behind the president’s desk with a look of shock on his face as Santappia remained seated, just twisting his head around to see who was walking into the office. It was Mugsy Ricci followed by Debbie Lynch with a latte in her hand.

Pastak looked at Ricci but directed his enraged comments to Lynch.

“
Debbie, I thought I told you to let me know when—“

“
Mr. Pastak, you ordered me to alert you when Mr. De Niro’s car entered our gates,” Lynch interrupted. “This is not Mr. De Niro. Gentlemen, this is Captain Louis Ricci, United States Navy, retired.”

Now Santappia stood up, this time unable to suppress his smile. He winked at Lynch as he offered his hand to Ricci.

“
Please to meet you, Captain. Would you be Captain Mugsy Ricci, by chance?”

“
The one and only ...”

“
Please, call me Charley, Captain.”

“
I will and it’s Mugsy, Charley.”

It was obvious that the two men both liked each other from the start. Pastak, on the other hand, had been standing behind the desk with a look of confusion on his face while the two men were introducing each other. His confusion finally wore off being replaced with anger at everyone else in the room.

“
Excuse me; we were having a private meeting here. Debbie, please show this gentleman out of my office and then I want to speak to you after I speak with Mr. Santappia, is that clear?”