LaFiamma? A Marine?
By Etch
Part Five
Disembarking from the chopper, which chose to drop down in the middle of traffic, the four Marines huddled for a moment, then walked at a fast clip into the Lobby of the Airport Marriott, stopping only for directions to the elevator that would take them closest to the Presidential Suite.
Heads turned as the Marines, dressed in the recognizable blue pants with red strip, tan shirts, and white hats, walked down the hall to the designated section of elevators.
Joe politely requested a couple who wanted to get on with them to take another car, explaining they could not discuss what needed to be said if civilians were on board. Just as they were about to board the car, a bellhop ran up with an urgent message for LaFiamma. Pointing to a courtesy phone on a nearby table, he was told he could take the call there.
"Lundy, what's up?" Joey listened, wondering how his injured partner could have found out this information so fast. But he had, and Joe listened. Listened to his partner tell him that LaFiamma's mother's dishes were in the house, along with some furniture that belonged to his parents. That everything was brand new. Landon had just been in conversation with a couple of his crew from that job that he hadn't seen in several months. He discovered that Smith wanted to implode the house on an old lover who didn't want him anymore. There was a pressure pad at the bottom of the basement steps.
"Can they deactivate it without the house going?" Joe asked, he loved his mother's dishes and didn't want to lose anything connected to her memory. "Call me in the Presidential Suite when it's done."
Hanging up the phone, Joe walked back to Hummer, Shadow and Wolf who were holding the elevator for him. Joe waited for the door to close and the elevator to begin to rise before he said, "Gentlemen... this is like any other mission. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what's gone down before we got here. We are going to take Paddock and get him out of the room first... but if we can't... we will take them both down together. Shadow... I want you to stay as close to Gerald as you can without being obvious. Wolf, you're on the inside door. Hummer... as always, you're loose. Remember gentlemen ... if I need protection, you damn well better be there! If not, I own each and every one of you for life!"
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"Levon, I have to put out the call. Need to let the others know that Handsome never got the package we made up. We've been wondering why he hasn't said anything. Now I know. But if I put it out over the beepers than everyone, even Smith will see the message. I can't very well call Gerald, can I? Ask him to put it out over the network."
Levon shifted in his bed, grimacing, finally understanding full well his Grandmother Minnie's complaints after her hemorrhoid surgery. "I think Gerald would do it, if you call after LaFiamma is in the room. But you might put it over your beeper system too."
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Hummer, Wolf and Shadow jumped simultaneously as their small pocket beepers let out a low hum. The men reached into their various pockets and pulled out beepers smaller than a cigarette pack.
"What is it?" Joey quizzed turning to look at the men as the elevator stopped on the sixth floor.
They looked at each other than at their new Major. "It's about you not receiving the package in Chicago. Must be R.G.," Hummer replied, "he's the only one of us not with you or General Butterfield.
Joey and his Marines stepped off the elevator and started walking toward the Presidential Suite at the end of the hall. Three doors from the Suite a door opened on LaFiamma's left, the man who stepped out stopped Joe in his tracks.
"Admiral? What the hell are you doing here?" Joey gasped looking into the gaunt face of a man several years his senior with gray hair and glasses.
"Need a favor, Joe." The man answered, his eyes scanning the men standing behind LaFiamma.
"Admiral, the last favor I did for you I ended up in the hospital for a week." Joey reiterated giving the man the eye. "Don't worry, these three can be trusted or they won't be here."
"One of these are not who you think he is," Admiral John Thomas English said, stepping closer to Joe.
"You mean Hummer?" Joey asked, a smile turning up the corner of his mouth as he heard the man gasp behind him.
"I've known for years that he is with Internal Affairs, Intelligence or whatever you call it now days. I must have been one hell of a rebel in OCS to assign a full-time detective to try to keep me in line," LaFiamma replied sarcasm in his voice.
"Sir, that's not why I was there," Hummer whispered softly.
"Actually, he was assigned shortly after your Uncle Mikey..."
"Uncle Mikey! What does he have to do with this?" LaFiamma groused, as two men from inside the room motioned them all to come in out of the hall.
"You complained to your uncle about some big black Colonel forcing sexual favors on you and your men. He called someone in the Pentagon." Admiral English replied, wondering from the expression on the Major's face whether it was worthwhile to continue.
"You telling me... that you've known about Smith and his dirty deeds all these years and have never done anything about it!" Joey screeched, anger thick in his voice.
"We've known... just haven't had any evidence. No one would come forward. And after Hummer got us a copy of the video of your torture... we knew no one would."
"Copy ... of the ... video!?"
"We don't know how many he showed the video to, but we do know that once you were back on duty, complaints about him dried up."
Spinning on his heel, his eyes blazing, Joey faced Hummer, the one Marine out of his whole unit that he had always trusted was turning out to be someone he was not. "HOW many have seen it?" Joe said tightly, his eyes staring into the hazel brown eyes of Jake Hummerstein.
"'bout twenty-five that I know of, Sir," Jake replied in a barely audible voice. "Most all the ones that answered the Code Red."
Resignation in his voice, Joe turned back to English. "Can we get this over with Admiral? I've been on my feet since yesterday morning and I'm not sure how much longer I can last. I still have a long day ahead of me. I would appreciate it if you would contact Sal Dillard of the 41st Combat Support... I have a feeling I may need his expertise before this morning is done."
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LaFiamma stared at the placard 'PRESIDENTIAL SUITE ...602-'. His hand stopped in mid-air as he prepared to knock. Turning he grabbed Hummer roughly by the shoulders and pushed him up against the opposite wall. In spite of the mike taped to his chest, Joey growled, "If anything happens to me in there, Hummer ... I don't care if you are married ... if you got ten lovers ... I will own you! From the top of your head to your toes and all parts in-between."
"Nothing will happen, Sir." Hummerstein gasped, the power behind the shove surprising him.
LaFiamma turned and knocked on the fancy double doors of the Presidential Suite. Hearing the phone ring inside he figured it would be a wait before someone opened the door, but instantly Warsaw was there. Noticing the beads of sweat on his Polish friend's forehead, Joey did not immediately walk in. "Is it hot in here?" Joe asked quietly.
"It is hotter than hell, Sir. He's been ranting since Hummer's call that you would be late," Warsaw replied stepping aside.
"What about Paddock?" Joe asked, still not venturing inside.
"He stripped Paresley to the buff. Has him up on some kind of trapeze he's rigged. As I said, Sir. It is hell in here."
"Okay, gentlemen ... we're on!" Joe said, boldly striding into the suite. His eyes scanned the room. General Swietoniowski, Mrs. Riley and Caribbean were seated at a round table off to his right. Gerald was behind them at the drink bar. At ease on his right were three very nervous Marines, Warsaw, Cardinal and Mikey.
Barely turning his head in Shadow's direction, Joe spoke quietly has he removed his hat. "Get Gerald from there to General Swietoniowski. Tell him he is to leave with the General."
"I'll do my best, Sir." Shadow replied wondering how he was going to do it.
Louder this time, Joe said, "I don't want you to do your best! I want you to do it!"
"Wolf, hang onto that briefcase. Don't give it to anyone other than me or Admiral English ... you understand?" LaFiamma remarked as he turned toward Smith.
"Yes, Sir!" The Wolf replied, taking his position just inside the closed doors.
"WELL, JOSEPH! WHAT HAS TAKEN YOU SO LONG?" Smitty blared coming towards him. "LET ME LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE. I WANT TO REVIEW IT BEFORE IT IS PRESENTED."
Joey couldn't help it, but he started laughing. "To hell with Paddock," he mumbled into the mike, "Let's just go for the throat." But he didn't. He ignored the man and walked over to Mrs. Riley, talking with her and Caribbean, telling them to take Gerald with them when they left. He asked to see the drawing that he was told Mrs. Riley had made that she wanted tattooed or painted on Paddock's buttocks.
Joe watched as she unfolded a piece of paper in front of her, then handed it to him. His eyebrow lifted, a smile crossed his face. "This is what you want? Caribbean, you agree?" Joe watched them both nod. "And the ink for it?"
"Behind the counter," came the reply, "black for the buttocks, red for the cock."
Joey looked at the paper again. A very artistic buttocks had been drawn with the words 'I'm Hungry' on one cheek, and 'Feed Me' on the other. The cock was enlarged with splashes of red. LaFiamma refolded the paper and put it into his shirt pocket.
Ruffling through her papers, Mrs. Riley became the diversion to get Gerald out of the room. Standing, her hands going through her pockets, then to her purse, she called Gerald to her side, telling him she had left some very important evidence in her room. Handing him the key, she explained where it would be located.
As Gerry moved to the door, he gave LaFiamma a wry look. Joey just grinned and nodded. Wolf opened the door as the redhead approached. "You're free, man, don't come back," he whispered under his breath.
"JOSEPH!" Smith raged from behind him, "I WANT THIS EVIDENCE BAG!"
"Sorry, Colonel, you are not one of the people authorized to have it." Major LaFiamma said firmly, as he shook hands with General Swietoniowski.
"Major LaFiamma," General Swietoniowski remarked, moving with Mrs. Riley and Caribbean towards the door, "They are all yours."
Smith stared as his JAG judges left the room. "YOU BEHIND SOME CONSPIRACY TO SET ME UP, LAFIAMMA? WELL, LET ME TELL YOU, YOU WON'T SUCCEED! BETTER MEN THEN YOU HAVE TRIED AND FAILED!"
"Go over there and sit down," Joe replied tightly, pointing to one of the chairs just vacated at the round table.
"I AM GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON SMITH..."
"YOU ARE NOTHING!" Major LaFiamma roared into the black man's face. "YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A RANK ANYMORE! NOW SIT!"
Turning his attention to the three Marines, Joey said, "Take your shirts off." He watched as Cardinal and Mikey began to unbutton theirs but Warsaw just stood there.
Stepping closer to the Pollock, Joey repeated, "Take your shirt off! This IS an order; not an option!"
"Handsome... I'd..." the words caught in his throat as his Major began to unbutton his shirt.
Joey had barely opened the tan shirt when he saw the scar. His head jerked up, his face, his voice serious. "Heart surgery?"
"Had a growth removed, Sir. It was benign. I ... I knew you won't ask me to come ... if you knew. And ... I ... I wanted to be in on it. Whatever it was going to be." The Polish officer said, his chin falling to his chest.
"Button your shirt, Jonathan, and get out of here." Joe said taking a step back.
"BUT... I saw the design that Mrs. Riley had. I'm - a graphics designer now. I can do a better job than Shadow." Warsaw stammered, looking up into the concerned face of his superior.
"Shadow already blew the job I gave him to do...okay ... but that is the ONLY thing you are here for, understand." Joey smiled as Warsaw buttoned up his shirt. Taking the folded paper he had been given by Betty Sue's mother, Major LaFiamma handed it to the Minnesota man. "The ink is on the counter. Let me know when you're done, and we will get to phase two of Mr. Paddock."
LaFiamma moved to Cardinal, looked him over and told him to put his shirt back on. Moving to Mikey, he immediately saw what he was looking for... scars on the man's shoulder made by human teeth. This is the man Betty Sue had taken a bite out of.
"Interesting scar you have there, Marine," Major LaFiamma asked, "Did Betty Sue bite you here when Paddock grabbed her from behind? Or was it one of the last things she did before she died?"
The room hushed. Even the breathing seemed to stop, as Handsome's Marines came to realize that someone they trusted was an informant for someone they hated.
"It was an accid... I mean..." Mikey stammered, swallowing under the stern scrutiny of LaFiamma.
"You mean you weren't even around when she was snatched, right?" Joey replied evenly, watching the man squirm.
"Got news for you, Mikey. The Marines you bribed to say you were with them decided your money wasn't worth spending time in jail. Did you know that your skin ... the blood tissues ... have a certain DNA? You didn't, did you?" Joe watched the sweat start to drip down Mikey's face.
"Look, Paddock just said he wanted to go out with her... I didn't know what he was going to do. Honest." Mikey answered shifting uneasy as trickles of sweat ran down his back.
"You're done, Mikey. Cooked! Your Marine buddies ... the ones you keep paying to say you're with them. They've been giving all kinds of dates to the Intelligence investigators. You can forget about any plans you have." Joey looked at his watch for a moment before continuing. In just a few minutes, Sal Dillard, Betty's fiancé will be here. I'm turning you over to him, and when he's done with you ... they are going to throw away the key!'
"Shadow, escort this man out." Joe said as he turned to take a good look at Paddock.
"Sir?" Shadow asked, confused, as far as he knew no one was outside the door.
"DAMN, what is wrong with you Marines? Do I have to do everything myself?!" LaFiamma blasted, turning back to Mikey he grabbed the man by the elbow and walked him to the door. Furiously opening one of the double doors, Joe thrust the man into the waiting arms of two MP's. With the door still half-open, Joe turned to Shadow, "You! Out! Now! NOW!!"
Shadow looked at his Major's unwavering eyes as he walked past him and into the hallway. A shiver went down his back as the door slammed behind him. Twice in an hour he had failed. Would his Major ever want to touch him after today? Would his Major forgive him?
Taking in a long breath and letting it out slow, Joey turned back to the situation at hand. "Cardinal, take PD's blindfold off, and the gag out. How you doing, graphics designer?"
"Got one side done, Handsome. Looks pretty good too. How we going to do the red part?" Jonathan asked rolling back on his heels to look at the words, in a script , -I'm hungry! - he had written on Paddock's left butt-cheek.
"Going to start on that right now, so you better get finished. Hmmm... I wonder... how do you seduce a rapist?"
"Got any ideas, Smitty? This should be right up your alley. Every man you've ever had you raped in one way or another."
"I don't know what you game is LaFiamma. This is not what I had in mind at all. This man deserves torture!" G.W. Smith lambasted, rising from his chair.
"Ah ... torture. Is that like the torture you had done to me?" LaFiamma questioned, zeroing his full attention to his old lover. "Pre-arranged, wasn't it? You even had videos made up to keep my men in line, didn't you? Forced them to watch it! Told them if they didn't do what you wanted the same thing could happen to them ... am I right so far, Smitty?"
"You --- you deserved it! I gave you an order and you refused me!" Smith bellowed defiantly.
"I don't recall any order of yours I ever refused," Joe replied cocking his head to the side.
"You ... you never gave yourself fully to me. You ... never allowed me in your ass! Never! Even when I drugged your drink ... tied you to the bed ... your body refused me!" Smith shouted at LaFiamma. "I've never forgiven you for that, Joseph. I've fucked the asses of half of your elite Marines ... but not yours!"
"So you set up the thing in Lebanon. Had me captured ... beaten --urinated on ... kicked? Tied to the floor to have spiders and cockroaches' crawl across me like I was a piece of trash?"
Joey waited, when no answer came he asked the question that had bothered him for years. "Why the tattoo?"
"Why? You wouldn't give me your ass ... so I took your cock. I took your cock and made it mine! My design ... etched on your penis for life," Smith said smiling, his eyes glowing with excitement.
"It goes every where with you. Even when you refused me, I could turn you over and finger my handiwork. You should see the video I have, Joseph ... the close-ups of the detail of that tattoo. It is very intricate. My greatest satisfaction with you Major was spiking your drink and waiting for you to wake up and find yourself tied to my bed. When I received the call that you'd been captured, I faxed them a copy of what I wanted. They told me any man would be brought to his knees by the pain of the tattoo needles ... and I wanted you on your knees LaFiamma ... on your knees!"
Joey stared at the man, his body rigid. All this happened because he didn't allow this black dude's cock into his ass?
"Why build a house and rig it to explode?" The Italian finally asked quietly.
"So you have discovered the explosives, have you? Well, it won't do any good. I hired the best in the business," Smith stopped talking, his eyes boring holes into the Marine opposite him. "You allowed me to comfort you when you returned from Lebanon. But you still didn't allow me to have you. When you didn't re-enlist, I vowed to take you to the death. I spent a lot of time and money building that house. It will be worth all the effort when it goes." Smith said stepping closer, a move that totally unhinged Hummer. Jake realized he'd never make it to his Major's side in time to deflect a blow.
"Basement is being dismantled," Joe replied matter-of-factly. "You're right, you did hire the best crew in the area. But, someone from that crew overhead a conversation of yours about the thrill of taking someone to hell when the house blows. So they built some safeguards into, and started an investigation of their own. They didn't want to be responsible for murder."
"WHAT?" Smith screamed at the top of his lungs, shoving Joey backwards, his signet ring catching on Joey's tan Marine issue shirt.
Joe staggered at the force of the unexpected blow to his shoulder, his shirt ripping open when Smith pulled his arm back. Anger seethed through Smith's nostrils at the sight of the hidden microphone taped to Joe's well-muscled bare chest.
"YOU'RE WIRED! YOU DARE TO COME IN HERE WIRED! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!" Smith lunged for LaFiamma
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In the Admiral's room, the man with the headphones popped them off. "LAFIAMMA'S BEEN MADE! GET IN THERE! QUICK!"
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Hummer sprinted across the room, shouting for Wolf and Cardinal. They watched helplessly as Smith hit Joe in the middle of the chest, blood splattering them and Smith as the microphone grounded through flesh, lodging against bone.
The double doors of the Suite burst open. Joe's rolling unconscious body momentarily cut off the entry of Butterfield and his military police. In seconds, they recovered, shouting orders for the medics on standby in the hallway, jumping over the Italian to subdue and handcuff Smith.
Sal Dillard was the first to arrive. Staring at Joey on the floor in front of him he yelled over his shoulder for Jody. Dropping to his knees next to his fallen friend, Sal did a quick assessment. [Oh Lord, don't take this man. He's too good. Too good.]
"Joe? Joe?" Sal repeated softly, as he checked the pulse in Joe's neck. Looking at his fellow medic, Sal said, "get him on the backboard. Tell our chopper they are landing in the street."
Springing to his feet, Sal verbally and physically attacked Jake Hummerstein. Shoving the man backwards, Sal shouted, "DAMN ... YOU - HUMMER! HE ... TOLD ... ME ... YOU WERE THE BEST! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM! YOU WERE HERE TO PROTECT HIM!"
It was General Butterfield who backed Dillard off, telling him to get back to his patient, and to keep him posted.
His eyes stern and menacing, Butterfield turned to Wolf, Cardinal and Hummer. "Finish up with Paresley. When you are done, knock on the door. It will be opened, and Paddock will be transported to Leavenworth. Then gentlemen ... You will tell me and Admiral English what went down in here and WHY you did nothing to protect Major LaFiamma."
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End of Part Five