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Father Son & Holy Ghost
Forty one stories below an impatient light bobs and weaves through the thin, middle of the night, traffic in the North End of Boston, now visible now hiding, as an ambulance rushes to its fallen victim. The soundlessness, from the plate glass window, creates an eerie illusion of unreality. Our vantage point sits on the north east corner of Washington and State Street and has a magnificent view of the North end (the Italian section) to the north, Charlestown and historic Bunker Hill to the west, and the full length of the Boston Harbor to the east. With the Charles River to the far west and the Atlantic Ocean to the far right.
To our left is the Charlestown Navy Yard, with the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) in the foreground and the Mystic River Bridge (Boston's Overland Link with the North Shore) as an upper frame. Sticking up like a rocket about to blast off, behind the dividing line of the bridge is the Bunker Hill monument, reminding us that after losing a battle we could still win the war. Across the Charles River looking toward our position, we come to the North Station, where commuter trains move the cities life blood in and out of the city from the North. In the same building as the North Station is the Boston Gardens where the Celtics and Bruins thrill and chill the local sports fans. We can almost smell the wonderful aroma of baking bread sent out by the Stop & Shop bakers like a homing beacon to the harried early morning commuters, their white puffs of smoke over the Boston Gardens like some ancient words drifting on the wind. Moving to the West, and across the central artery is the "North End" of Boston in all its glory. With the Old North Church sitting right in the middle of this replica of any Italian City, with its churches and elaborately designed courtyards, surrounded by tall brick buildings, and grape vines a hundred years old, or more, climbing the outside of those same brick buildings to shade the roof gardens and fill the wine barrels. The "Old North Church's" spire pointing for all the world to Concord and blinking forevermore "one if by land and two if by sea". The North End is the Center of the Italian community of Boston. The food here is as good as the maze of streets are complicated. Boston's streets from this height look like a mad labyrinth beginning no where and ending in infinity. Just at the edge of our central view and above the central artery are two huge black caverns with tar ribbons leading into and out of the Sumner and Callalhan tunnels disappearing under the North End, the city's subterranean link with its north shore and its eastern section.
Further to the right, in the distance is Logan Airport, at the eastern edge of Boston's "East Boston" section. The airport is quiet now, except for a rare late arrival. The morning will see Logan bustling with preparations for the early arrivals and departures. Lower in our view is the "Boston proper" side of the Mystic River. With "Anthony's Pier Four" restaurant standing majestically next to the river and "Jimmy's Harbor side" restaurant further down on the River's edge hiding behind the Boston Harbor World Trade Center (an old sea-side ware house converted into a convention center). Behind us and out of our view are many new tall buildings and the Boston Common where many a Sunday afternoon the gentry of Boston stroll or simply relax on the grass.
The clear summer night would be rich with star light in the country side, but, in the city, the powerful lights of the city dim the heavens. Forty one stories up is a good height to view the city. It is high enough to see for some distance without seeing every brick and stone, but low enough to see a little detail on the ground.. At this level the ordinary street clutter disappears and a larger view prevails. Making the city look a lot cleaner than it really is. Our corner window over the city is large and clear giving a wide open view of its part of Boston. The room is dark except for this window over the city, the drape of the second window in the room is drawn tightly against the night.. The even sounds of peaceful sleep give the room a comfortable “snuggly” feeling. The heavy furniture and dark paneling signals a masculine lair, the cave drawings are a photographers view of New England's winter and local beach scenes. The muted rustling sounds of the sleeping city mix well with the even sounds of the sleeper at 3:00 am on a warm summer night.. The faint smell of after-shave and sweat socks drift in the air. A pile of neatly folded jogging clothes on a chair patiently wait for the mornings run. The occasional whiff of air-conditioning simply moves the air around without changing it. The wee hours of a work day in the big city have a feeling unique to Boston.. No big city in the world is exactly like any other and none combine the Port city and academic communities like Boston. The short and twisting streets with friendly shops and wonderful smells draws the visitor like a magnet.
Suddenly the air in the room becomes electric as if a crack to another dimension opened . The stillness pounds with eardrum bursting pulses. A sound so faint it’s impossible to identify, yet so intense it fills the room. Even the sleeper's soft snores hitch in mid growl as if sensing impending doom. A slight rustle crackles with lightening sparks, a movement sensed rather than seen.. The darkness by the door leading into the bedroom becomes blacker still. A hesitation by the door, as if taking stock of the room . Then a drifting blackness detaches itself from the door and drifts toward the bed. Slight whispers rise from the carpet as the sinister blackness moves across the room. Sending up sparks like lightning bugs. The night sounds hush, as though waiting with baited breath. A glint of fiery starlight flashes high in the air. The floating blackness brushes against the edge of the drawn drape of the second window letting in the blazing night light. For a second the room is much brighter and a clear outline is visible until the drape falls back against the window. Silhouetted against this night light is a black drifting presence moving relentlessly across the room.
A slight swish of air stirs the sheets on the bed and a slender feminine hand, with long brightly painted red nails, catches the top sheet and slowly begins to pull it down off the sleeper's body. His tanned muscular body is revealed as the sheet moves lower in the bed. Aware of the sudden cold, the sleeper rolls over and opens his eyes. What he sees makes him recoil in horror and roll away from the friendly feminine hand. Rolling toward the far side of the bed and a hidden gun, the sleeper shouts at the intruder to leave while she still can. "Who is it?" he shouts, and "what's going on?" Stumbling he fumbles off the bed and opens the dresser draw. There's a bright flash of light from the blade of a long handled knife describing a lethal arch toward the sleeper's bare back. In his panic the sleeper slams into the dresser from the side and as the draw falls open, the gun scuttles across the floor away from him.
here the book reverts back to an earlier time and the hustle and bustle of a busy shipping supply company.
Next Section begins in the last chapter and is part of the end of the book
His Bedroom that fateful, final night and some unfinished business.
Turning, he realizes he doesn't have time to retrieve the gun and avoid the knife, so he rolls away from the knife, and dives under the attackers advance. Momentarily free from attack he picks up the gun as he turns to confront the unknown assailant, the knife flashes again, and before John can avoid it, the blade slashes his arm open splashing blood over both of them. The blade flashes again, with John's heart at its peak. The gun roars and everything goes black.
The attacker was blown back by the blast and we see something odd as she falls, there is a red halo around her head and it seems to separate into two pieces.
This section goes back to the beginning of the book starting as the second chapter
John wakes to the sound of the alarm in his, all to frequent solitary, bed. John is 41 years old, medium height and muscular build, black wavy hair. He has a commanding quality that people notice the moment he enters a room. With a ready smile and a helpful demeanor, he looks like everyone's idea of a great surgeon or an Archbishop. He looks fit and happy and people cannot help feeling confident when they’re with him. All these qualities make john the perfect salesman, his company outfits cruise ships with food supplies. Boston, his base city, is a great location for this business. He has offices in New Orleans and San Francisco, all port cities with good cruise ship traffic.
At six am. his alarm gets him out of bed to start another day. A 30 minute jog in the inside track at his building and a steam and shower to iron out the kinks from sleep start the day nicely. Then a European breakfast of croissants and juice and he's ready to fight the business world.
The door man has his car ready at the curb for the 10 minute drive through the Callahan Tunnel to East Boston and his company. Negotiating the always busy morning traffic he arrives about the same time every day, at nine am. His building, (he owns it separately from the food supply company) is seven stories high and is mostly offices. He has cold storage on the first floor in case he can get a good deal on specific items which he then sells to his buyers as a chefs specialty for the next cruise. He then rents out the second through sixth floors and his offices occupy the top floor. The receptionist is busy answering the phone when he enters and she waves good morning as he passes through to his inner office. The desk is piled high with mail and early calls. Nothing urgent but everything important. He wades into the messages sorting and making notes. The last message is from the detective he hired to find his child (if one exists), the message is he is just checking in with nothing new to report. As he works through the messages he can't help but rethink his decision to hire the detective in the first place. He has been married three times and had many affairs in between but never had any children that he knew about. He would not have doubts now but a rumor from a friend about a child of his being born after he and one of his lady loves broke up reached his ears, but without the name of the wife or girl friend and without any dates he really has nothing to go on. The last two divorces were pretty bitter and neither ex-wife will answer his calls. There were so many girl friends he can't remember them all. So he hired a detective to search the local and surrounding birth records for possible births listing him as the father or for a mother with a familiar name. It has been three years without any luck and john now doesn't expect much more.
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Add, Drug connection, as our hero sells provisions to the ships, the detail that meat is delivered in a cardboard container holding 2000 LB's of meat. Drug smugglers have targeted heroes company, and have replaced the ordinary containers with specially designed ones that have a hollow space at the bottom where cocaine is hidden, for smuggling into the U.S. Our hero also has an office in San Francisco which services ships to Hawaii, Alaska and points in between. The smugglers have a good thing going, they bring in about 300 LB's of Cocaine per container. Each ship leaves with at least two containers a voyage. The smugglers also own the company that removes the trash from the ships and they get to remove the cardboard containers. Dan dirty tricks, who is trying to prove to hero that he is his son and should inherit the company, also is involved with the smugglers as an inside man. The smugglers and hero have a new Orleans connection, where hero supplies ships that sail to the Caribbean and also ships that cruise the Mississippi Hero travels between the three cities frequently and this is part of the reason he is not sure of any children he might have. The smugglers have a very large investment in this method of smuggling and they try to do everything they can to keep the operation moving smoothly. Hero never has labor problems, shipments are almost always on time, and at the correct drop off spot.
Hero has two very active girl friends, one in Boston, at the home office and one in San Francisco. The Boston girl worries that he is working to hard and not getting enough sleep. John is relatively serious about the Boston girl. His San Francisco date, is simply that, a date. At one time John was married to a girl, whose family came from New Orleans, and had many friends there her name was Gloria.
While on a visit to New Orleans without John, Gloria ran into an old friend from school named Clyde. They met in front of the "Moon Walk" and near where Clyde worked on Decatur and where Gloria was sight-seeing. They decided to go to the "Central Grocery Co." on Decatur St. for some delicious Muffuletta sandwiches.
Gloria asked, So Clyde what have you been doing with yourself?
Clyde answered, Not much, you know how it is, there is always something coming up.
Gloria, Have you seen any of the kids from school, I miss our companionship?
Clyde, Everybody is going their own way. Your friend sue married Beau and he's working for her father.
Gloria, I never thought they would get together permanently, she is such a prude and Beau will do anything. I he still experimenting with drugs?
Clyde, He's not experimenting anymore, it's his new life style. I don't know how long he can keep it from Sue. He's even bothering me about my new score. He wants in because there is so much dope moving around.
Gloria, What did you say, your bringing in dope?
Clyde, Ya well its this big score I'm involved in. This ships supply company I work for brings in about 600 Kilos of Cocaine a week.
Gloria, Isn't that kind of risky, since when have you been involved in that shit?
Clyde, Well there is so much money I couldn't turn it down and this deal is such a sweet deal, only a very few of us at the company know about it.
Gloria, how does the owner of the company keep it so quiet?
Clyde, He doesn't even know about it himself. Its run by an outside company dealing with the shipping company.
Gloria, This owner must be pretty stupid not to know what's happening in his own place?
Clyde, Not really, the main office is in Boston and the owner only visits when there is a problem or on special occasions. So we make sure the New Orleans office runs very smooth to keep him away.
During this conversation Gloria never realized who's company Clyde was talking about, and Clyde not knowing who Gloria was married to didn't realized that his boss was now Gloria's husband.
While Gloria and Clyde were talking a small time hustler named skinny was seated near-by listening to their conversation. Skinny worked with Clyde but was a lot more ambitious and did not like Clyde. When skinny heard Clyde telling this women about the drug operation he saw a way to ingratiate himself with his boss Al Talbot. Skinny left the Central Grocery while Gloria and Clyde were still talking, so that he could tell his boss and maybe show him Clyde and Gloria together. Al Talbot usually had lunch ( a plate of Beignets and Cafe au Lat) in the Cafe du Monde across from the Shipping Company office on Decatur St.. Today he was there talking to his favorite waitress (a pretty Oriental girl who finds Al exciting). Skinny found Al and told him what he had heard. At first Al wasn't to interested but decided to take no chances and set skinny to follow the Girl when she left the Central Grocery.
With Skinny following Gloria, Al went back to the company office and decided to call in some muscle just in case the girl turned out to be a problem. A short time later Skinny called to tell Al that the girl went into the E. Edward Hubert Federal Building on Camp St. downtown. Skinny wasn't sure who Gloria saw in there but they knew the FBI N.O. offices were t here and also the N.O. office of the DEA. AL made a quick decision and sent the muscle to shut Gloria up.
As Gloria is leaving the E. Edward Hubert Federal Building on Camp Street and heading across to the Federal Court house, a car roars to life down the street from in front of the Italian Consulate heading toward Gloria. Gloria looks up and sees the car and waits a safe distance away from the speeders side of the road. Looking away from the speeder toward where she is going, she sees people pointing at her and yelling but before she could move or turn around the speeder had moved to her side of the road and run her down. The eye witnesses said she never saw him coming he just seemed to swerve all over the road and drive right over her. After hitting her the speeder careened drunkenly down Camp street hitting two parked cars on opposite sides of the street before it made a sliding turn on Poydras street, almost overturning. Only able to right itself after it side swiped a New Orleans Coca Cola truck parked at the corner of Camp and Poydras making a delivery.
The smugglers were running a company which transported all of johns products to his customers and they could not afford to have John find out about their side line. They run several companies in different names and pick up products from wholesale suppliers and deliver to the ships that John's company directs them to. This way they are insulated from the actual smuggling. If it gets found out John's company takes the initial fall and the background people get off scott free.
Another location in the French Quarter usable for locations is the corner of Pratania and Calliope, which is one hundred yards from the Hilton and the River walk complex and the new Convention Center and heading downtown.
The "Cafe du Monde " at "Rue Ste Anne" and Rue de La Levee (Decatur) regulars wit with the employees who are now mostly Orientals.
The Local newspaper is the "New Orleans Times Picayune"
San Francisco
Richard Olness, Real Estate Corner of Florence and Vallejo
In the shadow of Coit tower on the Embacadero near bay and Kearny sts is the peer Inn, situated between piers 33-35, the front has an art deco neon sign of cocktail glass. Walking through the restaurant there is a back door leading to the ship dock at pier 35.
At this point the Embacadero, Kearny St.., bay street and North point meet.
This is the princess line of ships large arrival departure signs out front., strict no parking .
John Powers Architect / planners, (this is one of the stalls)
Sliff Thorn (35 Bay St.) for lease, 391 6300 John Casey, this is an office building across from the pier.
Muni lines 32 EM 42 downtown
red head bar maid,
chestnut Montgomery
battery fog city diner. gourmet food
The smugglers have a very complex and intricate business going. They will do anything to continue making their obscene profits.
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