The Heart of an Assassin (18 page)

As Fabio was about to elaborate further, they
heard cars coming to a screech at the front of the house. “What the
fuck is going on?” Felicia said, walking toward the windows.

Just then, there was a banging on their door.
“It’s the feds,” one of the soldiers said.

“Let them in,” responded Fabio.

Storming into the house was John Connolly
with several agents and police officers. They marched right into
the conference room where Erin, Adriana, Felicia, and Fabio sat.
Two of the soldiers were reaching for their guns when Felicia waved
them off. Walking straight up to Adriana, John grabbed her under
the arm and ordered her to stand up. “Adriana Romano, you are under
arrest. Your rights will be read to you on the way to the
precinct,” John said.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing?”
screamed Felicia.

Smiling at her, John said, “She is under
arrest.”

“For what?” Erin asked, standing up in
defense of his daughter.

“None of your business,” replied John while
smiling at them all.

“You can’t just come into my home and do what
you want,” Felicia said.

John stared at her for a second. “Take her
away,” John ordered the accompanying police officers as he pushed
Adriana toward them.

As John turned and started to walk away,
Felicia shouted at him. “My lawyers will have her out before the
hour is up,” she shouted after him.

John turned and smiled. “See ya then,” he
responded. “Mr. Romano, may I suggest you accompany us. It would be
in your best interest,” John said to Erin.

“What? Why? Why should I go with you?” Erin
asked John.

“Your daughter has been working for us for
the last three months,” John responded.

Erin’s eyes filled with fear as what John
said sunk in. “What . . . What the fuck are you saying?” he went
on. Then Erin turned and stared at both Felicia and Fabio. “Oh my
God, is that why you were having this meeting.”

Both Felicia and Fabio stared back at Erin.
“No. No, it’s not like that,” responded Fabio.

“What are you talking about?” Felicia asked
John.

Erin turned to John and said, “I don’t need
to go with you. Get the fuck out of here. I can take care of
myself.” John stared at Erin and, without any further words,
left.

On the ride back to New York City, John
explained to Adriana what had happened, and that she had been made.
“What about my father?” she asked John.

“There’s nothing we can do for him,” John
replied.

“No . . . No, we need to go back. We had a
deal,” she pleaded.

“I am sorry, Adriana. He chose not to come,
so we can’t help him. I am truly sorry,” John responded.

Without saying a word, Felicia, Fabio, and
Erin remained in the conference room for a few minutes after John
had left. Felicia turned to Erin. “What do you suggest we do, Erin,
now that your daughter has turned on us?”

Erin stared at them, knowing full well the
penance was far worse than the crime. “She probably did it to
protect me and her mother. She won’t talk as long as she knows that
both her mother and I are alive. So get your lawyers and get her
out of there. Then we can deal with the problem. I will not turn in
my own flesh and blood, but I would never turn you in, either,” he
responded to them.

Both Felicia and Fabio stared at Erin for a
few seconds.“Good. We will send our people to get her out,”
responded Fabio.

“In the meantime, I’ll move my wife to the
estate, keep her out of FBI’s reach,” Erin commented.

“Good idea,” Felicia said.

“Want a few men to escort you?” Fabio
asked.

“No. No, I can do it on my own,” Erin
responded. Erin got up and walked toward the door. “My own fuckin’
daughter. What a shame.” Erin commented.

Erin jumped into his car and drove toward his
home just a few miles away. Upon reaching his home, he ran inside
and ordered his wife to pack some clothes. “What! What’s going on?”
she asked.

“Don’t question me. We don’t have much time.
Just hurry the fuck up,” he shouted at her. Hurrying, they filled
two suitcases and ran downstairs. Before exiting the house, Erin
looked around and, seeing no other cars, ran to his own and threw
in the suitcases.

“Hurry!” he shouted out to his wife.

Erin jumped into the driver’s seat, and a few
seconds later his wife joined him. He looked down both sides of the
street before pulling out and heading toward the Giordano family’s
estate. Driving fast, he knew it would be a matter of time before
they would catch up to him. About a mile from the estate, he turned
and started heading toward New York City. This was the closest
entry to the thruway, and he wanted it to seem as if he was keeping
his word and returning to the estate. Erin had been with the
Giordano family long enough to know that they could not be trusted,
that it was simply a matter of time before they would consider him
and his family a threat. They weren’t going to simply let his
daughter live, much less him or his wife. Erin knew he was running
for his life.

A minute later, he was racing toward the
Lincoln Tunnel, just an hour away from mid-Manhattan. As always,
the traffic was backed up. It had come to a crawl, and was a
stop-and-go process as they inched their way closer to the toll
booths located just before the entrance to the tunnel.

A couple on their way to New York City for
the first time was amazed at the number of cars going into the
Lincoln Tunnel. Suddenly the car in front of them came to a
complete stop. They watched as the traffic in front of the stopped
car proceeded forward. “Hey, wake up,” the driver shouted as he hit
the horn.

Cars were passing them on both sides; no one
yielding to allow them to bypass the stopped car. Finally, the
passenger, a girl of about twenty years of age, got out of the car.
She approached the car, which had its windows down and yelled,
“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you in trouble?” As the girl came up to the
window she began to scream as she saw that the two passengers, Erin
and his wife, had blood pouring out of bullet holes in their heads.
Their final price for freedom was death.

Nowhere to Hide

June 16, 1984

With Erin out of the way, the Giordanos only
needed to concentrate on Adriana and the judge. They weren’t too
concerned with Adriana as they already knew that it would be her
word against theirs. They had already taken care of the bigger
threat, her father, knowing full well that her credibility could be
challenged. Any good lawyer could discredit her in a minute,
especially if she suspected that her parents were killed by the
Giordanos. What daughter would not lie to have her parents’ killers
brought to justice, Fabio thought, smiling to himself.

Around 3:00 p.m., a call came into Giordano
headquarters that a couple of unmarked cars were spotted sitting on
the corner of 118th Street and Boulevard Avenue. At 3:02 p.m., Nick
heard a call come in over the mobile phone that someone saw the
judge at a hotel on Forty-Second Street. He immediately called
Fabio, who in turn advised him that he believed they were at the
Baltimore Boutique Hotel on 118th Street. Within five minutes,
Nick, who was at a hotel on Forty-Ninth Street, was in his car
headed uptown.

Tyler was sitting with Eric in the room,
sharing with him a dream he had the previous night. “It was about
my mom. I dreamed that my mom was calling me. Isn’t that strange?”
Tyler asked Eric.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he responded.

“Something else,” Tyler added.

“What?”

“Yesterday, when we were driving to get the
helicopter, we passed a car with a man who was staring back at me.
I swear I have seen him before. I just don’t know where. But it was
strange as if I should know him,” Tyler said almost to himself.

“Yeah, well, maybe you do know the guy. So
what?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know,” Tyler responded.

Eric got up and walked to the adjoining door
and entered into the room where the judge was watching the
television. Sheila was sitting next to the door, reading a
magazine. The adjoining door to the next room was wide open, and
Eric could see two of the police officers sitting at a table
playing cards. “Anyone want to volunteer to get us some lunch?”
Eric asked the police officers.

One officer looked up from his cards, smiled,
and nodded.“Sure, I’ll go this time. You saved me from losing
another five bucks,” he added.

“How about some burgers, with french-fries
and soda?” he asked everyone.

“Sure. How about some beer to go with that
burger instead of soda?” asked the judge.

“Yeah, for you, why not?” the officer
responded.

Sheila and Tyler nodded their approval. No
reason why the judge can’t have a beer with his food, as long as
it’s not them drinking. Tyler walked the officer to the door. “Be
careful,” Tyler advised him.

The Officer looked Tyler in the eye, smiled,
nodded, and responded, “I will.”

Tyler stared at the officer as he walked down
the hallway and disappeared down the stairs. In that moment, he
realized the big mistake they had made. Tyler turned to the others
and said “I’ll be right back” as Tyler raced out after the officer.
“Dan! Dan, come back!” Tyler shouted as he ran down the stairs.

Dan reached the bottom of the steps and was
almost out the front of the building when he heard Tyler shouting
his name. Tyler reached him outside of the building and asked him
to come back in. “Why are you in your uniform?” Tyler asked
him.

“I’m on duty” was his response.

“Forget about the food. Go back upstairs and
tell them we need to get ready to move. I’ll go and pick something
up,” he told the officer.

Tyler was worried that someone might have
found it suspicious seeing a couple of police officers going in and
out of this building. He would ask them all to change to civilian
clothes before they moved again.

Walking up the boulevard toward 119th Street,
Tyler entered a local deli where he ordered their lunch. While the
order was being filled, he walked to the front of the store and
stared south toward the hotel, scanning the area for any unusual
activity.

“Hey, buddy. Your order is ready,” one of the
deli employees shouted out to Tyler. As Tyler turned and entered
back into the deli, Nick passed behind him heading down the
boulevard toward 118th Street. Crossing from between two cars, Nick
figured he would bring less attention to himself if he was on the
opposite side of the hotel.

Entering a drugstore on the corner of 118th
Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, he had a clear view of the hotel
and two of the unmarked cars. In front of him was a magazine rack
from which he grabbed one and started to scan through it as he
occasionally glanced up. Acting as if he lost interest, he started
to exit the store when he spotted Tyler heading toward the hotel.
What luck.

Nick immediately exited the store and headed
toward 117th Street. Crossing the boulevard, he was now on 117th
Street where there was a line of brownstones. He walked up to the
first building and rang several bells. “Who’s there?” one of the
voices came over the intercom.

“Sorry, but I forgot my keys to the front
door. I left them upstairs,” Nick said. Nick heard a disgruntled
person on the other side and then the buzz that let him into the
building. He raced up the stairs and found the door to the roof
unlocked, then quickly ran across the top of the building toward
118th Street. There was only one other building between this one
and the hotel and it was very easy to get to. However, Nick moved
cautiously, not wanting to ruin his luck by letting someone on the
street spot him. Reaching the top of the closest building, Nick
realized that the hotel was two stories shorter than the building
he was on. Damn, he thought to himself.

Reaching a fire escape, he went down between
the buildings and easily located the back entrance to the hotel,
which, as luck would have it, was open. Cautiously he entered the
building.

As both Tyler and Eric finished their lunch,
Sheila was heading out the door to alert those in the unmarked cars
that they were moving. Tyler asked the officers to cover their
backs as he didn’t want any attention to be drawn toward them as
they exited the building.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Sheila
turned and was startled as Nick passed her on the way out of the
building.“Sorry, ma’am. Didn’t mean to startle you,” Nick said,
smiling as he walked toward the hotel lobby.

“No problem,” responded Sheila.

Nick stopped at the front desk and waited
patiently while a rather attractive hotel attendant was busy with a
guest. Sheila stared after him for a second but then continued on
and exited the hotel.

Once the hotel attendant was finished with
the guest, Nick approached and began to ask the young lady
questions about dining in the area and sights to see. The young
lady found Nick to be rather attractive and was happy to help. She
wasn’t sure what room he was in, figuring another colleague must
have checked him in, but was eager to please him.

A few minutes later, Sheila had returned.
Other than Nick chatting with the hotel attendant, there was no one
else in the lobby. Sheila walked over to where Nick was and waited
as if she too had a question for the hotel attendant.

When Nick was finished, he thanked the young
lady, nodded at Sheila, and headed upstairs.

“Who was that?” Sheila asked the
attendant.

“Uh . . . I don’t know. I didn’t check him
in. He is really very nice,” the clerk responded.

Sheila quickly turned back and looked toward
the back of the stairs. “Do you have any rooms back there?” Sheila
asked, pointing toward the back of the stairs.

“Uh . . . No. That leads to the back entrance
of the hotel,” she responded.