The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) (15 page)

Santappia walked over to the equipment delivered during the night.

“
It’s amazing. With Johnny-F in charge of this project and Cris De Niro’s financial backing, this place is getting built about ten-times faster than any government agency could do it.”

“
That’s what happens when you keep the politicians out of it,” Riggy added, “… and, Johnny-F and his installation team are as incredible as they are eccentric. I thought us old warhorses had our quirks … but Charley, you have to see those guys. We can hardly understand them when they talk, but man, can they work! Twelve-hour-plus days, six days a week and they hardly ever take a break. They work while they eat, they work while they drink. We even hear them having conversations with each while they’re on the bowl!”

“
I know what you mean. It’s the same way in Virginia. His IT army buzzes around like a swarm of bees, going from one flower to the next. I was with that agency for awhile and I can tell you that they got more done in two months with Johnny-F in charge than we did in two years, before Cris bought us … and everything works! Big Brother is gonna be invaluable to us, in the field. I just hope the bad guys wait until we get our battlestar fully operational.”

“
Well, this is the last of the equipment. John told us that his super-nerds will arrive back here bright and early tomorrow. He estimated that they’ll need a week to install, another week to de-bug and barring any unforeseen problems they’ll be ready to train the three of us, by week three. By that time, the three of us will have our final personnel recommendations for you to look over. Then it’ll probably take us another two or three weeks, minimum to get everyone trained and cross-trained.”

Santappia nodded his understanding.

“
How is it going, finding the people you want?”

“
Well, we made a master list of everyone we want and the three of us have been keeping busy locating all of them, via back channel. Per your orders, we won’t contact any of them until you vet them.”

“
Okay, I spoke with Captain Ricci and we decided on a hybrid-architecture of a SEAL platoon for ARCHANGEL. SEAL platoons consist of 16 SEALs; two officers, one chief, and 13 enlisted men. Their platoon can be divided into two squads or four elements. ARCHANGEL will be slightly different. The Captain and I will act as the two officers, and each of you will be in charge of one squad, making a total of three. Each squad will be comprised of six men - that’s including you three. So the total compliment of ARCHANGEL will be 20, counting me and the Captain, and I’m counting us because there will be times when we split into five four-man elements and Captain Ricci and I will each lead one of the elements.”

Riggy gave Santappia a cold stare.

“
Don’t worry, Rigs, the Captain and I both promise to train with you guys whenever we can. One other thing, you’re all former Warrant Officers but you have seniority over De May and Pescy, so you’ll act as Master Chief with ARCHANGEL. Once we get up and running, I want at least one squad here at all times. We’ll rotate squads to man the Den 24/7/365. If all goes smoothly, we can begin to recruit in September and be a hundred-percent staffed by the end of the year. I’ll leave it up to the three of you to create a rotation schedule. Oh yeah, and in keeping with our angelic branding, the squads will be named – MICHAEL, GABRIEL, and PADAEL.”

Rigoni smiled.

“
Angels with dirty faces … and bad dispositions.”

Pescalitis walked over to the two.

“
Hey, I just got off the phone with my son, he said, everyone’s psyched and they’re about to board the shuttle bus to leave for the ranch.”

De Niro invited the four men’s wives and kids and in Rigoni’s case, his baby grandson to spend the weekend in Las Vegas so that they all could attend a 4
^th
of July party, at the ranch. There were a total of 12 of them, plus the baby, so they just fit on his new QSST. Everyone was blown away by the flight on the beautiful aircraft and even more blown away when they arrived and were shuttled to the Bellagio, on a shuttle bus, just for them. De Niro paid for suites in the beautiful resort for everyone.

The men spent Friday and Saturday with their families, but Riggy, De May and Pescalitis returned to the Coyote’s Den late Saturday night, to receive more equipment being shipped to them. Work had to get done virtually around the clock, except from sunset to sunset on the Sabbath’s, in keeping with De Niro’s Judeo-Christian faith. So far, it looked like Johnny-F’s timetable of three months for the Den to get operational was feasible.

Rigoni smiled.

“
I can’t wait to show Cris, my grandson. He asked about him a few times.”

“
Hey Charley, I know you said Cris is worth a bundle, but this weekend has to be costing him a chunk of change!” Pescalitis added.

De May came walking out of the bathroom trying to stretch a t-shirt over his barrel chest.

“
My wife is getting so spoiled. She told me, ‘Karl, I know your work is dangerous so please, don’t get yourself killed, at least until after next year’s 4
^th
of July party!’”

The men laughed. Santappia checked his watch.

“
Okay, let’s saddle up. By the way, coming out here this morning was my first experience on an ATV. I must say …very cool!”

“
I thought De May and I were going to have problems ‘cause of our size, especially King Kong over there,” said Riggy, “but we didn’t have any problem with them.”

“
Good, ‘cause other than using them around the ranch, they may prove useful in the field. Cris said we can take them with us whenever we need them.”

Pescalitis came walking back to them, already wearing his helmet.

“
Guys, do you want to stand around here some more or can we get a move on? I got my floating lounge chair already picked out. I scoped it out the last time we were at the ranch and by the time we get there, there’ll be a set of tall necks shouting my name!”

Chapter 14

The Main House

Estancia De Niro

Henderson, NV

12:45p.m., Monday, July 04, 2011

De Niro’s 4
^th
of July party was already in full gear by the time Keith Tompkins showed up with his wife Yvonne, their kids and someone Keith was looking forward to introduce to his friend.

After everyone hugged, Tompkins made the introduction.

“
Cris, this is the little lady I told you about. Cris De Niro … Moriah Stevens. That’s Dr. Moriah Stevens. Moriah is the best vet east of the Mississippi. Just ask my kids. About a month after we met, Princess, our golden lab swallowed a rubber ball and Moriah rushed over to our house and pulled the ball out with salad tongs.”

De Niro couldn’t help laughing as he extended his hand, which made the pretty woman in front of him blush even more.

“
Welcome to Estancia De Niro, Dr. Stevens.”

“
Thank you Mr. De Niro and thank YOU Keith, for that disgusting introduction!”

Keith’s wife Yvonne elbowed her husband in his ribs.

“
Keith, let’s go say hello to William and the boys. You’ve done enough damage here.”

De Niro’s eyes sparkled with quiet laughter as he watched his friends walk into the house. Then he turned back to the pretty lady.

“
Please, call me Cris.”

“
Okay Cris, if you call me Moriah … and you DON’T call me if your dog starts choking.”

De Niro laughed out loud again.

“
Not to worry Moriah, we don’t have a dog. Follow me, everyone’s out back.”

Moriah’s beauty didn’t go unnoticed by De Niro.
Now I know why Keith wanted me to meet her … wise guy!

Tompkins met Moriah at the 9/11 memorial the year before. He tried, that day, to introduce her to him, but De Niro ducked out before he got the opportunity. Moriah hadn’t attended any of the previous memorials, since losing her husband on that fateful day. Her husband had been a passenger on the ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower – the same tower where De Niro’s wife Lisa lost her life. Since last year’s memorial, Tompkins had been telling De Niro about her, but other than feeling compassion for her, De Niro showed no interest in meeting her. Tompkins thought bringing her to the 4
^th
party was the perfect opportunity to introduce them.

Moriah could have been a model; in fact she had been, to help put her through veterinary school. Standing 5’4”, with dirty-blond hair, emerald green eyes and an hourglass shape, she wasn’t exactly a runway model, but that didn’t bother her a bit. She had only been married a year when she lost her husband. Now, she was a 36 year-old widow with no children, although she considered her two dogs, Callie (a large German shepherd) and Booboo (a miniature American Eskimo), and her two cats, Samson and Delilah, to be her kids. Like De Niro, Moriah had shown no interest in the opposite sex since her husband died, though the opposite sex showed a lot of interest in her. Nary had a day gone by, since she stopped wearing her wedding ring, without at least one male, young or old, tall or small, rich or poor, black, white, green and every skin color in between, flirting with her. Moriah was usually cordial, but with the more aggressive ones, she was able to carry herself well, reminding them that she was trained in neutering males of all species.

Dr. Stevens didn’t keep a large circle of friends; instead she devoted herself to her veterinary practice located in lower Manhattan. The friends she did have, all tried unsuccessfully to set her up on blind dates - which is why she not only surprised all of them, but surprised herself, saying yes to Keith when he invited her to meet De Niro.

What am I doing here? Is it the fact that he’s a billionaire a few times over, or was it the photos Yvonne showed me of him … or is this just a sign that I’m ready to “move on with my life,” as everyone puts it. In any case, he does seem nice and …he’s better looking in person than in the photos.

De Niro led Moriah onto the back porch and introduced her to everyone, including Richard and Louis, with Richard giving her the evil eye, William and the staff, Mugsy and his date, Santappia, Riggy, De May, Pescalitis and their wives. Everyone with the exception of William and the staff were in the pool.

“
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, what can I get you to drink?”

“
Whatever you’re drinking is fine, thanks. You have beautiful boys and this ranch is absolutely spectacular!”

De Niro walked over to one of the dozen coolers placed all around the yard and popped the tops on two Stella Artois tallnecks. He handed one to Moriah and they clinked them together. De Niro spoke first.

“
Happy 4
^th
Moriah …”

“
Happy 4
^th
Cris …”

Both took long pulls from their beers as William walked over with a large platter of hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, and steaks. He carefully placed it in the middle of the large rectangular table. He was followed by Aurelio’s wife Rosita who wheeled over a table with salads, condiments, chips and tortilla.

“
We have two of the best cooks west of the Pecos, Aurelio and his brother Arturo.”

De Niro pointed over to the two men manning the grills who waved back with spatulas in their hands.

“
And this is Señora Rosita … Aurelio’s beautiful wife!”

The small, chubby dark-skinned lady giggled as she nodded to Moriah.

De Niro switched to Spanish as he winked at her, “Rosita, this is Dr. Moriah who is here in case any of our animals swallow rubber balls.”

Rosita burst out in laughter. It was Moriah’s turn to show off her language skills.

(In Spanish) “That’s such a pretty dress, Rosita. Did you buy it here in town?”

Rosita replied in English.

“
No, señora, I bought it in Mexico City last year. Thank you so much!”