ASCENSION (43 page)

“Look, I already told you, I forgot. That’s not a crime is it?”

John Kelley, the investigator in charge swiveled in his chair impatiently, “No, it’s
not a crime to forget
,
but can you explain why you boarded a flight to Puerto Rico?”

“I
went to retrieve items from my rental
.
”

Agent Harrison folded his arms, “We want some answers Hernandez. We have
two agents dead in three days. Are you going to cooperate and tell us why Townsend came
to see you?”

Christopher finally took a seat and put his hands on his knees, he wondered if he
could trust the agents.
He decided to test it, “Sinesi
was
taking pay-offs from the mob and Townsend
f
ound
out about it. He said he wanted to tell someone he
t
rust
ed
.”

John Kelley didn’t look surprised, “We
were
investigating Sinesi
. We got a tip about him about a month ago then
he
put in for a retirement and we figured let him go. No blight on the bureau, no scandal.”

“So you suspected
he was crooked and did
nothing
?”

Agent Harris smirked, “We were keeping close tabs on him
up until the arrest of Alfonzo Diaz then I had to take my guy away and use him on another case
.”

“This is mind-boggling.” Christopher muttered. He thought to add and a show of incompetence
.

“
Anyway, t
he bullets taken from Townsend match the gun found in
Sinesi’s
rental car.
The bureau is working to clean this up and we don’t want you talking to anybody about this, understand?
”

“
But
Sinesi
jeopardized the entire Diaz case and our credibility. The Pantheon Project
probably seems like a joke to the Italians. How can the Italian police work with us
when
our
own
agents can’t be
trusted!
” Christopher fumed.

The young man expressed a valid point. The Pantheon Project was
a collaboration
b
etween the F
.B.I and Italian authorities in an effort to curtail
international organized crime
.
What was most important was how to salvage the agencies reputation and limit the damage
caused by a corrupt agent.

John Kelley spoke, “I spoke with the D.A. in New York,
they’re
dropping the case
against Diaz.
The
P
antheon Project is put on hold for now.” He swiveled in his chair again and
pointed at Christopher, “Until this investigation is officially closed you’re
leave of absence is officially rescinded. We’re putting you on administrative leave. Turn in your weapon,
got it?”

Christopher responded, “Got it,” then went
downstairs
to voucher his agency issued
gun
.

In his car he placed a call to the Diaz house and found the number
was
changed.
Shit!

He looked up at the tall F
ederal Building
. There was
no way to contact the Diaz’ and warn them
about
what he found
among items in
Sinesi’s
apartment
this morning
.
One was a
receipt for a plane ticket under an assumed name
. The
other a suspicious e-mail on his laptop which read:
2nitesago. Ciao PR
.

He wrecked his brain
for hours
. What significant
transpired
two nights ago? He checked the news reports
and
incident
reports
but
nothing stood out until he delved further. He hacked the ISP’s mainframe and discovered the e-mail was sent from an Umberto
Cigliari
in Palermo. Apparently, this was
Sinesi’s
fund man
who was
unaware of the agent’s demise.

Christopher sighed.
As
a teenager he hacked into his cell company’s billing
system and
change
d
the amount
on his
invoices. He was stupid then
and t
he company got suspicious when his charges amounted to less than fifteen dollars a month for four consecutive months. He got off with a stern reprimand, a fine in the amount of six thousand dollars.
Ninety percent of that was the cost
of
legal
fees. Yeah, he learned a valuable lesson
. His parents
ground
him
for a year and
when you’re
in high school it’s the equivalent of a death
to your
social life.

Upon graduation from
MIT
the feds
came
calling with a job offer.
He’d received numerous
better paying prospective
employment
with
double the salary
, however he opted for the FBI induced by the e
xcitement. That
was three years ago. Then he got put on the
Diaz case
not long after. T
hey knew he’d be able to hack the computers and get evidence but he hadn’t signed up for the other shit. There were too many gray areas
.
Sometimes, life was one gray mess.

He called his next door neighbor to check on his dog then boarded a
flight
to
Puerto
Rico
. If his hunch was right then the e-mail dated today was
a contractual
confirmation
.
The target someone in
Puerto Rico.
There was only one person he could think of
, A
lfonzo Diaz
. If his hunch proved right, the hit was scheduled to go down tonight
!

CHAPTER THIRTY—
SEVEN

Martin Scheppe called personally to give Alfonzo
an update
.
The case was suddenly dropped due to a legal technicality and Alfonzo was once again
a
free
man
.

Alfonzo rubbed his chin, “So
it’s over
just like that?”

“
Yes it is. I’ll send you the official disposition from the court but
as of yesterday your
case is closed. Go celebrate.”

Alfonzo looked over at his wife, “Yeah, I think I
will,
thanks.”

Alfonzo was quiet. The court case was over but
the matter of the IBD persisted. He told Selange the good news then reclined against the fluffy pillows.
She sensed Alfonzo was
troubled
and
touched his leg, “What’s on your mind?”

“I have to go away on business tomorrow but while I’m gone I want you to go
to New York
and stay with Sal
.”

“Alfonzo, we’re supposed to go to New York together, remember?”

Alfonzo
rubbed
his sore shoulder
. The pain was lessening as was the need for the medication, however
he had not gained full rotation and despite his daily exercises this would not occur for quite some time. Patience wasn’t one of his virtues, as Alberti often pointed out with his little riddles about chess.

Unless he settled this
with
the Board, he remained a
marked man and he couldn’t risk anything happening to his family. “Yeah, I know but I need to take care of something,” he smiled weakly, “
and I don’t
want to delay
you
getting
to
our son.”

She lay in his lap and stared
at the ceiling
, “I
trust
you to meet us in New York as soon as
you can.”

He caressed her face.
The bond between
them
an
unbreakable
one.
He smiled
envisioning
walks on the beach
without guards or going to a movie with his family. Mos
t of all he
wanted a taste of normalcy and
did not want the Giacanti curse as his legacy. He took a deep breath resetting his mood to focus on a more positive topic. Martin said, ‘go celebrate’ and actually it wasn’t a bad idea.

Alfonzo laughed, “
I’m down for some fun. Why don’t we go celebrate?”

She sat up, “
In your condition
?”

“
Hey, I’ve survived worse.
”
And he had.

T
hey
rode in the backseat of the
G-55 Mercedes-Benz with Vincent as their
d
river
.
Giuseppe designated himself
co-driver.
Nico
passed and opted to go with Emilio to the casino instead.
Extra guards
were put on
patrol
as an additional security precaution. For t
onight
Alfonzo thought his loyal crew could use a break. B
usiness
was set aside
for this one night before
their scheduled flight to
Italy
in the morning. They were aware this may be their last night alive!

Alfonzo removed
his sling. Out in public
he did not want
to
appear vulnerable
. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and stole another glance at his wife.

Whew,
my wife is fucking hot
!

The
white
strapless dress
accented her
lovely
skin. He was
always
intrigued at the
perfect blend of the
many hues of color
of her complexion
.
Mixtures
of red and yellow
within the brown.
In
the light reddish—
tan
hues were
seen and at night
the
caramel
domina
ted.

Even the oval contour of her face, slightly elevated cheekbones, natural plump lips
and
eyes with an oriental persuasion fascinated him. The myriad of heritages encapsulated in the features he found exotic and
intriguing
.

She talked little of her
ancestry other than
her father was from
Trinidad
and her mother from New York. She
said when people ask her where she’s from or assigns a label to her simply by the color of her skin she cringes. She con
sidered herself a
proud A
merican
. They often
persist
ed with the question as if being from America was not the proper answer.
Then she
vehemently
denounced the American
racist
classification system where natural born citizens
are
forced to identify with
an ethnic group, thus the hyphenation when in fact they’re American born citizens.

She said the system continuously polarizes its
American
citizens instead of
unification.
When he asked her to elaborate because as a Puerto Rican he embraced his heritage and culture proudly.
He remembers the easy smile as she said, “
And I am proud to be of African descent
, however I was not born in Africa
my late, late ancestors were. I
have never set foot on its beautiful soil. My father
was born here but his grandparents were
from Trinidad.
My
mother
hails
from Brooklyn
,
her parents from Connecticut
.
If I go back further I get a headache.
The entire census is a joke. T
he category for Whites include
s
North Africa and the Middle East. I mean seriously if you’re from North Africa you
’re
African, if you’re from the Middle-East then you’re Middle-Eastern. You’re complexion is irrelevant.
Everything else is
confusing people
and
bullshit.
I’m born in America
then
I am American. No hyphen. No
but’s.
Maybe, if the
history of
the
America
wasn’t tainted by
racism
its citizens wouldn’t continue to endure the foul aftertaste
. The
census
and
data gathering questionnaire’s
e
verywhere you turn to count the number of Latinos, Blacks, Whites etcetera
sickens me
.
Is
our
government worried people of color are becoming the majority, why else th
e
blatant tracking system? All the government should concern itself with is
were
you born
here
,
if
not then
the question
where were you born
becomes
relevant
and
the
hyphen is warranted
.
Besides,
aren’t we all originally from Africa? Last time I checked t
he
re’s
irrefutable
scientific evidence support
ing
homo-sapiens originated in Africa
and the subse
quent m
igration
throughout the world
to var
ying
climates
resulted in
changes to
pigmentation
, eye color and hair textures.
W
e
’re
ancestrally related and
classifying the human race as
distinctly
separate groups of people
perpetuates
hatred, separatism and ignorance.
Our
cultures
might be
different
but
our
humanity is not.” She gave an embarrassed snort then waved her hand to fan her
self,
“Ah, sorry. I go on these long diatribes sometimes
about race because
it’s crazy the way it’s used to stereotype and oppress.
”