JOKE GONE BAD
by JoeyPare

Sergeant Joey LaFiamma stood just inside Chicken's Barbeque restaurant. He and his partner, Sergeant Levon Lundy, were working on a robbery case and had spent most of the day running down dead-end leads. They had stopped by Chicken's on the way back to Reisner because Lundy said he needed a beer. Instead, Joey found himself on the brunt of another - "buy LaFiamma a ticket out'a'here" night. Only this time, they were looking at flight schedules to Paris and London. He'd been in Houston more than two years and still Lundy pulled his chain for getting him a ticket out of Houston. First it was about - was he good enough to date a TEXAS girl - then it was about how he dressed - then it was about the fact that he cooked, AND was good at it. He didn't see anything wrong with the way he dressed. He dressed the same as he did in Chicago. The same as they do in New York, Atlanta or Miami. This ticket out of the country was the last straw! This was the third time in a month of trying to raise donations for a ticket out of Houston. He'd had it. Lundy had gone too far this time. Just as Joe was about to leave he blinked at a familiar face that got up from a booth behind Lundy and his pals. The man wore black jeans, a black tee shirt and had a black knapsack with an eagle holding an American flag embroidered on the flap slung over his left shoulder.

"Who are you trying to send abroad?" The man asked Lundy nonchalantly.

"Him!" Levon said pointing to his partner who was standing next to Chicken. "The one dressed funny."

"He looks fine to me," the man said. "Same as they dress in any other first-class city."

"What!? You sayin' Houston's not a first class city?" Levon barked, pushing back the hard-backed chair he was sitting on.

But the man ignored the cowboy and continued to walk in Joe's direction. As he passed Joey and Chicken, the man glanced down and remarked, "Like your shoes. Real smart."

A soft smile tugged at the corners of Joe's mouth, his cousin got what he came for.

"You kno' they don't mean you no harm, Joe," the big black man said cautiously. Chicken could see the Northerner was steaming. Joe's eyes were growing dark; changing color actually. Chicken had never met a man whose eye's changed like Joe's did. They could go from sparkling blue to black in minutes depending on the rage boiling inside the Italian. Chicken had seen it happen twice before on the Italian. Once earlier this year when Lundy was accidentally shot by another officer, and the other time when a young teenager was brutally assaulted.

"If they sent you to France, could you survive LaFiamma?" Chicken asked gingerly.

"Hell, yes! I speak ten languages! I could survive anywhere but here. I don't talk Texan, Chicken, and I never will!" Joe responded a little harsher than intended.

"TTT ... Ten languages?" The huge black man coughed in disbelief.

"Ya," Joey said softly as he turned to leave. "Italian, German, French fluently. A little Polish ... a little Czech ... some Greek ... Thai ... Cuban ... Ukraine, and even a little Mandarin Chinese. As well as deaf sign language. When your cop in Chicago, Chicken, you need to know your people and talk their language. In Houston people mostly live anywhere. Chicago - we have Little Italy where I grew up, but also Germantown .., the Polish Village .., Ukrainian Village .., Chinatown .., Greek Town .., and so on. Parents, grandparents come to this country and live in their own sector. Most never learn English. Everything they need is where they are. The kids though, once they've been in the military or go to college - the kids never come back."

"And this Chicken ... three times in one month ... he's gone too far this time. Too damn far!" LaFiamma rasped. "Tell the laughing hyena that he'll have to get his own ride back to the station." Joe spun on his heel and was gone.

Chicken listened to the purr of the Cobra before turning back to his customers. He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard LaFiamma curse in Italian and then yelp, "What the hell is this Lundy? Messing with my car is the last straw."

Chicken edged back to the door to watch LaFiamma carefully get out of the Cobra and take a sheet of paper off windshield, read it, crumble it up and throw it onto the floor of the front seat.

"CLARENCE!" LaFiamma howled as he stepped into back into the Cobra. "You tell that cowboy yahoo in there that he just lost himself a partner!"

Chicken turned and walked back into his restaurant wondering what was on the paper that made Joe so mad.

"Hey Chicken, where'd my ride go?" Lundy asked, walking briskly to where his friend stood.

"What did you put on LaFiamma's car, Levon? Paper stuck on his windshield. He read it and was fightin' mad. Called me *Clarence*! Said you just lost a partner," Chicken responded concern in his voice.

"Paper? I didn't put no paper on his toy car." Lundy responded nervously looked around. //It was just a joke for heavens sake. He should be used to them by now. //

"You and Gonzales were hanging around it earlier. What did you do? Come on, Levon this is serious," Chicken replied sternly, looking directly into Lundy's face.

"Chicken, I tell you I didn't do anything with his car! I KNOW better than that. Think I want to be dead? That car is off limits and everyone knows it." Lundy responded sharply.

"Someone don't. Because he took this paper off, read it, and crumbled it up in a tight little ball and threw it into his car. He's mad Levon. Mad enough for his eyes to turn BLACK!" Chicken exclaimed into the Texan's face.

"Black? Black like when I was shot? Like when that girl...." The look on the black man's face gave him the answer. // Oh shit! When am I going to learn to stop pushing his buttons so much? Wait! New partner? Hell I don't want no new partner. //

Levon stormed back into the restaurant and confronted the four officers who were around the table he'd just left.

"OKAY, WHO DID IT? Who messed with LaFiamma's car? Come on fess up." Lundy growled into the surprised faces of his fellow officers. All shaking their heads swearing it wasn't them.

"Someone did! And we got to find out who and fast, otherwise LaFiamma and me won't be partners anymore."

[][][][][][][][][][]

LaFiamma picked up his car phone on the first chirp; listening without saying a word than hanging up. A few minutes later he pulled into the underground parking garage at Reisner.

"Jesu, I think I got a brake problem again, save me a Mustang for later, will ya?" Joe called to a police mechanic he'd gotten to know.

Jesu threw Joe a set of keys as he walked by, "Dark blue in the corner, just been washed. And don't dent it!"

Joey smiled to himself as he worked the keys with his hands. // One joke on cowboy Tex coming right up. Oops, need that paper for the desk sergeant. Need a witness, I do. // Walking fast back to his car, Joe retrieved the crumbled paper and stuck it into his pocket as he climbed the stairs to the Lobby.

Joe pulled the paper from his pocket as he entered the Lobby and stopped at the side of the counter where the Desk Sergeant sat. Slowly smoothing it out, he began to study the names.

"What have you got there, Joe?" Sergeant Andrea "Andy" Fuller asked moving closer to see what LaFiamma was so interested in.

"Found it stuck on my windshield at Chicken's. Figured it is something Lundy's up to again, but I don't recognize any of these names." LaFiamma replied innocently.

"Let me have a look. I've been here a lot longer than you." She frowned as she studied the names. "Looks like a puzzle, Joe. An anagram - you know where the letters are mixed up and you have to figure what the name is. It's Levon's handwriting. I'd recognize that scrawl anywhere."

// First hurdle passed. Forged handwriting is a match. //

"I think I have a couple names figured out," She continued, "One is Levon, of course. Then there is Joe-Bill McCandless, Sully... Sully? I'm surprised he'd be involved in this. This address at the bottom that it says you're suppose to go to. Damn, that is drug lord country. No cop in Houston goes there alone. Hell, I don't know of any cop in his right mind that would go there without six or seven cars to back him up. Let's see, the other names are Dick Sanford, Chris Banfield and Tyler Mullen... this one, isn't scrambled. You know who that is? A druggie maybe? Looks like a phone number after the name."

LaFiamma looked at the list that included the four cops that were with Lundy at Chicken's. "Darn. It's Nick Escalante! I know him from Chicago. Think it's a phone number?"

"Try it and see," Andrea suggested caught up in the mystery of why Joey's partner would send him into a part of the city that would get him killed.

Joe dialed the number. "Nick? Is that you? It's Joey. Joe LaFiamma. Hey, found a Houston number for you. You thinking of transferring down here?"

Joey listened to the friend who was helping pull the ruse on Lundy. Suddenly Joe dropped the phone on the counter as Lundy's voice boomed loud and clear. "Gotcha LaFiamma! Your friend Nick called today. Said he'd meet you at The Diamond Club. Forgot to tell you. I figured it must be one of your wiseguy buddies." Startled, mouths gaping open, Joe and Andrea gawked at each other. "Maybe I'll jus' drop by and see how two ma'fia guys live it up!"

Pulling himself together, Joey yelped into the phone, "If this is another one of your jokes, Lundy, it's the last one. The last one, you hear! I'm out of here! Find yourself a new partner - if you can."

Reaching for the phone, Joey's hand touched Andy's hand. She was faster. She hung up the receiver first. Shaking her head, she replied, "Don't know why he goes after you so, Joe. You are the only one who puts up with his temper and carrying-on. Don't know another cop in the system that will partner with him. This Nick ..." she began as she hung up the receiver.

"Nick is an old friend from Chicago; an Army Ranger; career man. Definitely not a wiseguy, though some of his work could be considered the same. Tell Lundy he'll have to fill out the report we did today by himself. I've had enough of him for one day."

"See ya, Joe. Take it easy, will you? The rest of us like you. Hey, you want the paper." Andrea asked, picking up the paper and waving it at him.

"Just throw it away Andy, got no need for it now that you translated it." Joe smiled to himself as he moved toward the garage. A couple of uniforms had wandered into the Lobby when Lundy's voice came over the phone. That and the paper would put Little Levon Lundy in a real bind. Joe's sweaty palm had smeared the last two numbers of Nick's cell number that were on the bottom of the page. Still if Levon got through, he would find himself talking to himself.

[][][][][][][][][]

About forty minutes later, Joe-Bill and Levon ambled into the vision of Sergeant Andrea Fuller.

"LUNDY! You should be arrested for what you've done to Joey tonight. It's despicable! You saved him from a shooter last year ... and now what ... you are trying to get him killed yourself?!" She lambasted the dumbfounded Texas as he stopped in front of her.

"How'd you hear about it already? It was just a little joke." Levon ventured in defense of himself.

"This is no little joke," Andy Fuller answered back sharply, waving Joe's crumbled, smoothed out paper in front of his face. "Good thing he let me look at it before he went to this address or you'd really be in trouble. Sending him to Grove and Fourth - shame on you."

"GROVE AND FOURTH? What the hell you talkin' about?" Lundy questioned moving closer to the desk. Abruptly taking the paper away from Fuller, the blond stared at the names on the list.

"I didn't write this," Levon croaked, reading the names that Andy had written above the scrambled letters.

"I'd know your handwriting anywhere, Levon. It's yours! And that says for you to meet him at ... at ... and you'll follow up with more of the same that went down at Chicken's." Andy Fuller gasped pulling the paper back into her custody.

"I TELL YOU, I DIDN'T WRITE IT!" Lundy wailed, as Joe-Bill, Chris and Tyler gathered around to look at the paper too.

"Play back the tape of the phone call," one of the uniformed officers said that had been present when Joe made the call to Nick.

"Phone call? What phone call?" Levon asked watching Fuller fold the paper and place it into her notebook.

They all stood quietly as Fuller replayed the evening tape to the point of Joe talking to a silent phone, then Lundy's chortling voice came booming over.

"IT'S NOT ME! I was riding back with Joe-Bill. How could I...." Lundy moaned, as evidence began to stack against him.

"We stopped at the Circle K on the way back," Joe-Bill responded, pulling the noose tighter around Lundy's neck. "I had to fill up and you went inside. You could have done it then."

"BUT IT WASN'T ME, I TELL YOU!" Lundy shouted to the gathering crowd. "I went to the john. Damn it! It wasn't me!"

"Evidence says different, Levon," a soft voice from the corner of the room replied. The Texan turned to see Annie Hartung watching him. Joey had come to her with a plan to get back at Levon. She didn't like it, yet agreed to help because Levon's jokes were getting out of hand and someone had to stop him. Annie figured Joey was the only one who could.

"Annie, you got to believe me..." Levon pleaded, turning a forlorn face to his old friend.

"Your ... handwriting. Your ... voice. Those are pretty hard to duplicate Levon." Annie answered her voice firm. "What I don't understand is, after working with him for two years - TWO YEARS - you still are so bent on making fun of him. Of buying him a ticket out of here to anywhere by here. He's a good cop, Levon. A damn good cop. And he's the only cop that has agreed to be your partner in a long, long time. Why do you keep making fun of him?"

Levon stared at her. He didn't know why. Maybe he was jealous of LaFiamma who took life as it came - without regrets. Who loved life. Life was always hard for Lundy. Maybe that was it. Finally he answered, "I don't know why. He's ... he's not from here," the cowboy stammered.

"I'm not from here!" Andrea Fuller yelped, "I hail from Georgia. You don't do jokes on me."

"I'm from Pennsylvania," Tyler Mullen replied suddenly seeing LaFiamma's side of the prank. "I was never teased like this. Joe's right, you've gone too far this time, Levon."

"I - tell -- you - IT WASN'T ME!" Lundy barked throwing up his hands in disgust.

Sergeant Fuller looked the blond square in the eye and said, "This is going into my docket for tonight. You just better hope Joey shows up in the morning. Oh, and by the way. He said it was up to you to do the paperwork on what you did today. He's had it with you."

[][][][][][][][]

About a block from The Diamond Club, Joey pulled the dark blue Mustang in behind a mud covered red Jeep. Joe kept the motor running as the man from the Jeep ambled toward the Mustang. The driver of the Jeep strolled quickly to the passenger side of the Mustang and got in.

Joe barely glanced at Nick as he got into the Mustang. Later he would berate himself for not paying more attention to the man who entered his car.

"Dressed kind of fancy, three piece suit and all, for a mud-covered Jeep," Joey said to the man he thought was his Army Ranger cousin.

"I took it off a dealership lot. It was probably on a test drive and no one had time to wash it - still had keys in it too. Best car I ever snagged was that midnight blue Jag in Atlanta. Couldn't find one of those for tonight," the man replied. "How do you like my blond curly hair? Is it close to Lundy's?"

"Yea, it's good, though you'd never get him in a three-piece suit. I've put up with this cowboy's pranks for a whole year. It's going to stop, or I'm outa here one way or another." Joey explained, frustrated on how the day had gone.

If our plan works, you'll be out of here in a pine box, nephew of Michael LaFiamma, the man thought surprised this cop hadn't noticed yet that it wasn't his cousin next to him.

"Well, let's be on our way and make a splash at The Diamond Club. I got the cash. They will definitely remember us. You'll like the woman too." The man in the curly blond wig replied as he glanced out the window.

"Woman? What woman...?" LaFiamma questioned shooting a disturbed glance in his cousin's direction.

"You want Lundy pulled in, right? Want people to remember you were there? I turned the scenario over with my partner and she agreed to come along. Had some ideas too. Come on, get rolling, Lundy should be defending himself by now."

LaFiamma checked for traffic and pulled the Mustang into the street for the short drive to The Diamond Club's valet parking. As the two men emerged from the car, 'Nick' tipped the valet a fifty dollar bill and told him to keep the car close by. Lying a hand lightly on Joey's shoulder, 'Nick' said in a perfect Texas drawl, "Got you a good woman this time. Not like the other one. Nope, she was a mistake. This one is a looker. A real looker."

LaFiamma rolled his eyes and attempted to look into the man's face, but the imposter literally steered him toward the canopy covering the main entrance to the club. Joe expected a wait as they entered, but 'Nick' gave the name Travolta and they were immediately ushered to a corner booth to the left of the bar. Anyone in the bar, including the bartender had a view of them.

Then Joey saw the blonde. She had shoulder length blonde hair that cascaded over her bare shoulders, partially covering a very low strapless dress. He thought for a moment and realized it was gown not a dress. His breath sucked in and he let it out slow. "She's one of yours!? How come you're so damn lucky? She's gorgeous."

Leaning close, 'Nick' answered, "Told you she was."

As they approached the booth, the blond woman who was sitting on the edge, stood. Joey swallowed. // Full breasts, silky hair, small waist, nice hips ... how come I can't find a woman like this in my real life. //

"Oooooo, you must be Joey!" Shellie Marcus cooed, giving LaFiamma a light hug. "LEE-von has told me so much about you. I'm sure you'll be everything he promised."

"Promised?" LaFiamma answered in a higher pitch tone than expected.

"Sit, Joseph. The lady is waiting." 'Nick' ordered in a tight voice.

Joe turned fast almost knocking Shellie over. His eyes were on Nick. This was not what they discussed and now staring at his cousin in real light, LaFiamma was suddenly aware that this man was *not* his cousin, Nick Escalante.

"Sit! Joseph!" The man repeated firmly, then in a softer voice he added, "Or I'll kiss you off right here in front of everyone."

LaFiamma sat, edging along the padded booth; he was pulled by the woman who had grabbed his hand as he sat. No way for him to escape now, Joey thought unless he turned the table over. And why didn't he? He could end up dead tonight. And if he did, oh god, Levon could die for it.

The waiter came almost immediately. Too quickly Joey thought. 'Nick' must have given him a big tip too. Yet he stood there ignored by both the man and the woman.

"Shellie, this is Joseph. Joseph, Shellie. Isn't he everything I promised?" The man replied his left hand tousling a bit of LaFiamma's hair.

"Oh, LEE-von, he is beautiful, where did you ever find him?" she said sweetly.

"Levon?" LaFiamma quizzed confused by the man being called Levon. //What the hell is going on? Who are these people? Where's Nick? Damn it, I was handcuffed to Nick for a whole week. I even know how he pees. Could I have forgotten him so fast? Am I so strung out on Levon that I let my guard down this much?//

Shellie's hand reached up and stroked Joey's cheek. LaFiamma flinched pulling away from her. "Lee-VON, you told me he was a seasoned player! Didn't you clue him in on what he has to do?"

"He's new, Shellie. I just recruited him tonight."

Shellie moved closer to LaFiamma who had nowhere to go. One of her arms went around the back of Joe's neck, the other ran along his rib cage. He waited not sure what was going to happen next. Joe listened as the man ordered champagne for the lady, Perrier for Joe and Millers Genuine Draft for himself.

Shellie leaned close whispering into Joe's ear. "We changed the plan that you and Nick put together. We, ah, sort of immobilized Escalante. He won't be joining us tonight." Her right hand came across his chest, up his tie, and along his jaw line. "Whether you survive the night - is entirely up to you, Joseph Anthony LaFiamma."

Joey stared wide-eyed, realizing this could be the hit that kills him, all he could mumble was, "Why?"

"You want your partner to feel pain. Want him to stop making you the burnt of jokes. Our way you won't have to worry, you won't be around for him to joke about." Shelia remarked with a smile. A light feather kiss brushed his cheek as she continued. "We were here last night, Joe. We know all the ins and outs of the place. My friend Adam will get mad and turn the table upside down. I will grab you and walk you out to the car. The valet will see me give you a good night kiss and buckle you in. Then I will *stab* you with an untraceable weapon. Ingenious it is really. I'll wipe your blood off on my dress and toss the weapon into the bushes. By the time they start looking for the weapon it will have melted. I'd advise you to get first aid as fast as you can. Because you see ... nephew of Michael LaFiamma ..., the untraceable weapon is a knife made of ice. And to add to the excitement of the evening, I have dusted the weapon with a special poison I use to immobilize my prey. I suggest you go straight to the hospital, don't stop along the way."

LaFiamma was speechless. The hit wasn't for who he killed in Chicago, it was because he was related to ... "Why me? Uncle Mikey has lots of nephews." Joe rasped tightly.

"Nothing personal." She finished with a grin. "We put all the names in a hat ... and yours came up. Then as we began to research, we came upon the plot that you and your cousin cooked up and thought - this is it. We can do it and get away."

"You're not really a blonde, are you?" Joey rasped, trying hard not to show the fear he felt.

"Hardly," she replied as she leaned in to give him a kiss on the lips. Adam's reaction was immediate. "DAMN woman! You ain't takin' him here! I tol' you, he's for later."

LaFiamma's head jerked sideways. This man did such a good imitation of Lundy he almost shouted for his partner's help. The Italian raised his hands above the table, "Look! I think you two got it all wrong. Think you picked up the wrong guy."

"You're driving a dark blue Mustang - got dark hair - handsome - wearing the suit I requested - nope, you're the escort I requested!"

"Escort?" Joey blurted, oddly remembering at this moment that someone in the family had an escort service that lost a man in a drive by shooting.

"Come on, Joey," Shellie said in a shrill voice, as she began to edge to the end of the booth. "Let's get out of here."

"Sergeant LaFiamma, are you ready to order now?" A cocktail waitress named Loretta asked. Joe looked up in surprise to see a waitress he had gotten to know casually when he first started coming to The Diamond Club.

"WHAT! They booked you for TWO WOMEN?" Adam shouted. His strong hands gripped the edge of the table and he flipped it over as easily as Joe flipped his morning pancakes.

Shellie acted quickly. She shoved Loretta hard enough for her to fall to one knee; grabbed Joe by the arm and pulled him toward the door with Adam shouting behind them.

Joe was dumbfounded. Everything was moving in slow motion. He heard Levon's voice, yet knew it wasn't his partner. He felt like he'd been drugged and wonder if it was that kiss.

Breezing through the entry without resistance, Shellie pulled a bill from her bra and called, "Mustang! Nn-ow!"

The car was there in seconds. Shellie handed the valet the bill as Joe instinctively got in behind the wheel. Shellie slapped him hard across the left cheek.

"Hey, what the hell was that for?" Joey moaned, touching the spot. Looking at the valet he asked, "Did I do anything?" Joey watched the valet shake his head no as he slowly backed away from them.

"Since when do *I* need a reason. I wanted to be serviced by a handsome man tonight, and my damn blond pimp picks up the wrong man!" Shellie growled moving closer. "I get hostile when my evening gets ruined."

"Lady, you ...," LaFiamma rasped, staring at the long thin spike Shellie pulled from inside her box-like purse. It took him a second or two to realize she had been telling him the truth.

LaFiamma couldn't believe it. People were coming and going yet no one stopped to help him or stop her as she lunged at him. He lurched backwards in the driver's seat as Shellie bent over him and she quickly buckled him in. Her face lifted a bit, her tongue licked at a spot of sweat forming on his brow, then she slammed the driver side door shut with a bang. "Get out of here, now!"
// ICE? Jack Maloney got stabbed with... ARRGGH. Damn! That hurt, and it's my best jacket too! Got to get to Reisner. Got to get to Lundy. Can't let them arrest him for this. //

Joey gunned the engine and was on the street before he was aware of what he was doing. //Reisner. I got to get to Reisner. //

The valet didn't see the blade in Shellie's hand until she went to wipe the blood off on her evening dress. He stared stunned, watching her toss it into the bushes next to where the Mustang had been parked. "That will teach him for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"L...lady, you just stabbed a cop!" One of the valet said moving toward her. Shellie smiled at the young man, turned and disappeared down the driveway.

Inside the restaurant, Adam's demeanor changed once Shellie and Joe left. His drawl was loud and apologetic. He flashed some thousand dollar bills and asked if that would pay for the damages. He bought drinks for the men, desserts for the ladies at the tables around him and those at the bar. After making amends, he asked for the location of the Restrooms. Since he was there the night before he knew where they were. He also knew there was a staff entrance in that same area.

Shellie waited for Adam in the alley behind The Diamond Club. Her long blonde wig was gone as was her blue, blood stained gown. She blended well in the shadows, in her black tights, black shirt and short cropped hair.

"Here!" She whispered as her partner in crime emerged into the darkness. She watched as Adam slipped out of his one-piece, three-piece suit and threw it into the restaurant's dumpster. "They're making those disposable suits a lot better than they used to. Don't think LaFiamma even noticed it wasn't the real thing. That garbage should disintegrate it in minutes."

They paused for a second at the mouth of the alley and listened to the valet's frantic voice of a patron being stabbed by a beautiful blonde.

"What blade did you use?" Adam asked as they headed for the stolen Jeep.

"Cubed?" Shellie answered with a grin.

"Cubed?" Nick questioned looking at her with a frown.

"Ice. Sharpened to a point. You know, like the Lassitier case. No metal fragments to worry about. Just a clean in and out, tossed it in the bushes. Should be melted by the time they start looking for it."

A patrol unit watched LaFiamma go through a red light and pulled in behind. Following at a safe distance they noticed him slumping sideways against the door jam then abruptly jerking himself up.

// It was suppose to be a dumb joke. Put Levon in the hot seat for a change. Instead - Nick is where? Missing. And me? The joke is on me - again! //

LaFiamma saw the squad car behind him and figured he must have done something wrong. Went through a light, or two probably. But Reisner was up ahead, they could stop him there. LaFiamma stared at the open garage door and knew he wasn't going to make it through. What the hell, he thought, why not wreck another vehicle? He didn't see Jesu standing just inside the doorway.

The sound of metal hitting bricks echoed two floors up. More than the cops behind him came to see what was wrong.

"LAFIAMMA I TOLD YOU NOT TO WRECK THE CAR!" Jesu Mendoza screamed at the top of his lungs as he dashed for Joe's door. One look at Joe's face through the open window told him something was drastically wrong.

"What the hell ...! Joe?" Jesu cried his hand on the driver door handle. Hearing a car door slam, Mendoza looked up and saw the patrol car that was shadowing LaFiamma come to a stop behind the Mustang.

"CALL 9-1-1! HE'S HURT!" Jesu shouted at the top of his lungs. As Jesu opened the door Joey started to slide into his arms when suddenly the seat belt yanked him to a stop.

One of the officers in the squad car behind Joe, Jack Maloney, nodded to his partner to do just that, as Jack sprinted to LaFiamma. Jack and Jesu heard Joe's yelp of pain as the seat belt jerked him hard.

"Damn, we thought he was drunk. Drove through two red lights and nearly hit a guy on a motorcycle?" Seeing blood on the car seat, Officer Maloney shouted back to his partner and others coming from inside Reisner heard him yell .... "TELL THOSE DUDES TO HURRY! THIS MAN IS BLEEDING!"

"Joe! Joey, what happened?" Officer Maloney exclaimed as he reached inside the car and unhooked Joe's seat belt. Turning Joe's head toward him, Jack saw a large purple bruise forming around and under Joe's eye.

"Got to see Annie....." LaFiamma moaned, trying to push away from the officer holding him.

"Annie can wait. Who did this to you?" Maloney quizzed holding Joe tight in his arms as the Italian slowly slid out of the driver's seat.

..."joke gone bad" ... Joey mumbled, thinking Lundy would probably get arrested if he didn't get to see Annie first.

"You saying, Lundy's responsible for this? Joe, don't lose me? Joe?"

"Got to see Annie... important ... please ... Jack, please!" LaFiamma moaned staring up into his friend's face. "Pleeeaase!"

Maloney looked around, and saw Jesu still standing next to the driver's door. "Get Annie down here quick."

By now the ambulance had arrived and paramedics were pushing through the crowd of officers to get to their patient. But the stubborn Italian refused to be moved until Annie Hartung arrived and he could talk to her. The medics convinced him to get onto the stretcher. As they moved him, the medics slipped off his jacket. One of them noticed yellow crystallized like powder around the puncture hole. Knowing it could be evidence the jacket was folded and slipped into a plastic bag marked with LaFiamma's name. After a short exam, Maloney was informed that it appeared that Joe had been stabbed.

Once Annie arrived, much to everyone's dismay, LaFiamma banished everyone in sight. As quickly as he could, through slurred speech, Joey explained that someone had disabled his cousin who was now missing, and he wanted to make sure that Levon wasn't arrested for what happened.

Annie said she would do what she could, but explained that what had happened with the list of names and the phone call had a lot of people riled up against Levon.

At the sight of their patient shivering, the paramedics, yelped, "ENOUGH! We're taking him!"

"B..b...been poisoned. Was on the blade...." Joey stammered, as the full extent of the evening began to roll over him.

Medic Matt Matthews grabbed the package with the jacket and scribbled notes across it so it could be analyzed at the hospital lab. IV started, oxygen mask in place, Joe was quickly loaded into the waiting ambulance. Maloney and Jesu watched the screaming vehicle leave. Turning both saw Lundy running down the stairs, into the garage and towards them.

Officer Jack Maloney turned fast almost knocking Jesu over the hood of the Mustang. "You take care of the car, Jesu. This cowboy is mine!"

Annie watched the ambulance drive away, and wondered if she would be able to stop the furor that was brewing before Joey arrived and crashed into the building. Something had gone terribly wrong with his plan. His cousin was missing and Joey was the obvious victim of a hit. Joe's joke for Lundy had backfired big-time.

Jack made a bee-line for the blond cowboy as Levon came toward him.

When Jack had found out that the Great Lakes Naval Station was actually considered to be part of Chicago, he and Joe had become fast friends. Jack had spent time there in the Navy, but most off time was spent in Wisconsin, so he wasn't aware until he met Joe that the Naval Station was in the Chicago area. Joe having some cousins in Wisconsin, well, they had a lot of discussions about a lot of things. Jack wasn't about to let Levon hurt Joe again.

"Out'a my way, Maloney!" Lundy growled as the Irishman stepped in front of him.

Jack reached out his right hand, grabbed Lundy by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "Long as I'm around you aren't going to be seeing him annee .... time soon."

No one seemed to have noticed the presence of Lieutenant Joanne Beaumont who had been talking with the paramedics and Maloney's partner. Now her voice made her presence known. "Maloney put him down!"

"Jack, come on, don't ruin your career over him, he ain't worth it." Officer Rod Bankee, Jack's partner said. "Come on, Joey wouldn't want you to do this."

"You're right." Maloney answered, slowly bringing the Texan back to earth. "I'll wait until Joe can do it himself."

Beaumont took Jesu and Maloney aside and questioned both. Though their viewpoints of the accident were different, they both agreed on one point. Joey had mumbled "joke gone bad" before he started insisting upon seeing Annie.

Joanne and Annie's eyes met. Annie replied softly, "We need to talk."

"I'm isolating Levon, Annie, before these officers take Levon apart. If you know something about this, you better tell me now ...." the brunette began, looking down at the wheelchair bound detective.

"Over here," Annie motioned softly. "Jo, it wasn't all Levon's fault, except, well, really it is. He asked for it - it's - well - I'll tell you what was planned and then we'll have to find out who changed the plan and why." Slowly Annie wheeled her chair away from the group of officers to a bench nearby.

As Joanne dusted off the bench and sat down, Annie began her story as she knew it. "Joey came to me with this plan to make Levon feel the brunt of a joke instead of him all the time. The telephone call - the paper with Levon's handwriting were all done by a cousin of Joe's who is in Army Intelligence. Joey wanted Levon to feel the pain of being setup - of not being listened to."

"He did a good job there," Joanne Beaumont reiterated with a smile as she looked over her shoulder at the officers surrounding the Texan. "But Joe certainly didn't mean for this to happen, did he?"

"No. Someone - a man and a woman - somehow found out what Joey was planning, and neutralized his cousin Nick. Joe has no idea where Nick is or what happened to him. A man got into his car near the Diamond Club and told him to drive into the club's parking lot. It wasn't until they were inside that Joe realized the man wasn't his cousin. There they met a gorgeous blonde, who Joey said really isn't a blonde, and he ended up stuck in a booth between this man and this woman. The man wore a blond curly wig and spoke in perfect Lundyese. Joey's worried that Levon might get arrested over this. He's really worried, Joanne." Annie said concern for Joe etched in her voice.

Continuing Annie said, "The woman played him like he was her escort for the evening. Suddenly the man became enraged, and tipped the table over. The woman propelled Joey out the door and to the Mustang that was already running and waiting for him. He's fuzzy on what happened next. But knows someone outside, who was wearing a ring, slapped him across the face as he was pushed into the driver's seat. The blond who's not a blonde must have been wearing a wig, leaned across him and buckled him in. At that same time he felt a sharp pain in his side, the car door was slammed shut and suddenly he was driving in traffic."

"He passed a hospital on his way here, why didn't he stop there?" Joanne questioned.

"Because he didn't want Levon to get arrested...."

"All this, because Levon can't leave well enough alone." Joanne remarked sadly.

"Jo ..., Joey is really afraid Levon will end up in jail over this, and he doesn't want that to happen."

And neither did Lieutenant Beaumont. Moving to a standing position, Beaumont called sharply to her sergeants from Major Crimes. "Estaban! Joe-Bill! O'Brien!" Then, "Maloney over here."

Joanne quizzed Jack Maloney about Joey, asking him if he knew anything about a cousin who might be in Army Intelligence.

"How would this dude know anything about LaFiamma?" Joe-Bill chortled brushing the street cop off with a frown.

"Yea, Nick Escalante," Maloney asked quickly, cutting off McCandless' laugh. "He is in Special Ops - a Ranger. Tough dude. I met him once when Joe first got here. ... Why?"

"Does he have a partner?" Beaumont asked quietly.

"What, Lieutenant? You think Nick did this? Nick would never hurt Joe." Maloney argued, "I mean, Joey's Uncle Mikey would ..." Jack looked at the faces around him before he continued, "I mean, Joey might be a cop, and Mikey a wiseguy, but they are blood! Generations of old family! Anyone in the family who would dare to harm Joe will be pushing up daisies. It would be insane for Nick to be a part of this. The man would never risk his career over this."

"You sayin' this mobster uncle of Joe's would avenge him?" Joe-Bill McCandless asked curtly, curious that this officer knew more about LaFiamma than Lundy did.

"LaFiamma's father was a lawyer and a good one. Okay, he worked for the mob, but he also took cases of people who couldn't afford one. He got some bad guys off, but helped put some in jail that would not have been there if the victim had to rely on a Public Defender. Anthony Josef, Joey's father, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting when leaving a District Court House after proving that a transient couldn't have done the murder he was accused of. Mike LaFiamma swore in front of witnesses that he would help bring the man to justice who killed his brother, and he did. Mike could have had the real killer killed. Slaughtered is what the family wanted for leaving Joe's mother to raise four small boys and a newborn. Joe was the newborn. I was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Station for two years. One of my ship mates was like Joe - born into a mafia family. I learned a lot about family ties. Didn't matter which side of the law you were on - family is family."

It was silent in the small group for several minutes before Lieutenant Beaumont barked additional orders. "Joe-Bill, you and Carol get over to the Diamond Club and see what HPD has come up with. Estaban - I want you calling that cell number on the paper the Joe left with Andy Fuller. Hopefully through that we can track down and locate this Nick Escalante. Let's hope he's still alive. All of you get back to me as soon as you can!"

"And me?" Jack Maloney asked.

"You - get over to the hospital. Stick with LaFiamma. You are obviously friends with him and know more about him then we do. He told Annie he'd been poisoned and stabbed with ice. Better let the doctors know what they're up against."

"What about Levon? He'll want to go to the hospital for sure," Joe-Bill responded, glancing in Lundy's direction.

"Lundy's not going anywhere until we find out what went down. I don't want any cops taking him down for this." Beaumont said matter-of-factly, as Levon approached. "Now get going. You all have things to do. I want reports ASAP!"

As Joe-Bill and Carol sprinted for Carol's car, Estaban headed back into Reisner, Maloney and Bankee headed for their police unit, Annie and her wheelchair with Lieutenant Beaumont boxed Lundy in.

"Jo, I got to get to the hospital! Got to let LaFiamma know this wasn't me." Levon pleaded earnestly.

"He knows it wasn't you Levon," Joanne Beaumont replied quietly.

"He don't know! Listen ... he thinks ... Wha? What do you mean he knows it wasn't me?" The blond retorted in stark surprise.

"I'll explain it later..." Beaumont remarked turning to walk back into Reisner's parking area.

"I WANT TO KNOW NOW, JO! I think I have that right!" Lundy barked, frustrated with everything that was going on around him.

"You think you have the right?" his ex-partner, Joanne Beaumont, barked into his face. "You brought this on yourself, Levon. You, and all your friends, playing jokes on Joe. It is going to stop right now! Right here! I don't have time to explain to you what I know. Now you go up to my office, or I'll have you arrested and thrown in the tank! Annie and I will explain when we know all the facts. Right now you get upstairs. Don't talk to anyone! Don't open you mouth - you understand me!" Beaumont barked into the confused face of her ex-partner.

"Yes, ma'am, whatever you say."

[][][][][][][][][][]

Joey came to in the Emergency Room as people milled around him. He hated people hovering, poking him. He could hear them saying it appeared that he'd been stabbed, but the xrays showed no metal fragments, no jagged edges. It was a clean wound, in and out. Joey opened his eyes into a face of a doctor. His speech was slurred as he attempted to explain he was stabbed and poisoned. When he heard the word 'ice pick' he knew they didn't understand him.

Joe kept trying to explain what he saw in that blonde's hand. But they just looked at him like he was mindless. He was thankful when Officer Jack Maloney burst into the exam room.

"jackhelpme," LaFiamma muttered turning his head, frustration etched deep in his face.

Despite doctor's protests, Maloney pushed through to LaFiamma's side.

"Jack," Joey mumbled, "tell these docs ... you *can* be wounded ... by ice."

Astonished that no one believed Joe, Maloney unbuttoned his shirt sleeve and began to roll it up. "See this!" Maloney remarked shoving his forearm into the doctor's face. "An icicle from a roof in Wisconsin pierced me clean through. I didn't even know I'd been hit until I saw blood spurting out. It happens all the time in snow country. I can tell you some gruesome stories of frozen sheets of ice sliding off roofs as snow thaws - killing people walking or working underneath. Had a transient up in Iron Mountain cut right in half when ice slide off a church off."

"So what you have been telling us, Sergeant LaFiamma - is that your assailant was armed with an icicle?"

The snickers in the room annoyed Joey and Jack. Then Jack pulled out a yellow newspaper clipping he carried in his wallet. "Okay you jokesters look at this!" He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and carefully unfolded the paper about his injury. Disbelief changed to amazement as Maloney passed around the yellowed photograph of a long fat piece of ice protruding through his skin.

"Thanks pal, they were ready to cart me to the loony bin - no one believes that stuff around here," LaFiamma answered remorsefully. "Now have them patch me up and get me out of here."

"No can do." Maloney answered shaking his head no.

"What do you mean, no can do? I ain't staying here. Jack you know...... I can't stay here." Joe wailed, grabbing Jack Maloney by the arm.

"Joey, we know it was a hit. Beaumont's ordered you under guard. And we're trying to find your cousin too."

"Look, this wasn't Levon's fault," Joey protested as the doctor began to usher Jack out of the room.

"Hold on a sec, will you doc?" Maloney pleaded, "Nick works in a team, not with a partner. I remember him saying so. What kind of vehicle was he driving the last time you saw him? We have to find him, Joey. Right now it looks like they are putting your fall on him."

"A hit... Jack, it was a hit on one of Uncle Mikey's nephews! Not on me! They drew names out of a hat, and got my name. She said she poisoned me too."

Then the doctor was in LaFiamma's face telling him he was going into surgery. Joe watched the Lab technician set down her basket next to his thigh. Swallowing hard, he waited for the length of rubber to be tightened around his arm. He felt her latex gloved hand tap on the veins as they began to bulge. Joe turned his head as the needle plunged under his skin drawing out blood. He knew shortly he would again feel the invasion of his body as they put in an IV for surgery. Why, he wondered, was he always on the laying down end of this and not the standing up part?

[][][][][][][][][][][]

As they moved back into Reisner's Lobby, Joanne said, "Maloney said Joe's cousin was in Army Intelligence. That means it would take some doing to capture him."

"Unless this woman in the blonde wig caught him off guard?" Annie ventured. "They might not have killed him. Just immobilized him somewhere. From what I know, killing a Special Ops man is akin to killing a cop. They hunt you down and you wish you were never born."

"Let's hope Estaban can find a source for the cell number."

[][][][][][][]

At the Diamond Club, Joe-Bill and Carol were flabbergasted to hear the various accounts of what went down that evening involving LaFiamma. A tall man with blond curly hair and a loud Texas drawl walked in with LaFiamma ... A short loud man with blond curly hair ... A man that gave orders to LaFiamma who obeyed like a mannequin ... A man that gave fifty dollar tips ... A man who pulled out a roll of thousand dollar bills to pay for drinks, desserts and damages.

"Well, most agreed that LaFiamma looked confused, and bewildered," Joe-Bill remarked, scribbling in a notebook while sitting at a corner table. "And you notice no one has really said anything about the woman. I mean from what the valets said, who could miss her?"

"Could be the man slipped LaFiamma something? Maybe we should be callin' the hospital and tellin' them to check for puncture wounds?" One of the uniformed officers suggested, glancing around at the elegance of the place.

"Hey guys, I found some interesting stuff in the alley," Carol O'Brien reported as she held up one of her finds.

"Wow weee... must have belonged to the blonde," Joe-Bill responded gawking at the long blond wig.

"Also found a blue evening dress with blood on it. It's on its way to Annie but bet you anything its Joey's blood. Then Tyler found something really interesting in the dumpster. Guess it was supposed to dissolve or something. It is the weirdest thing. It looks like a three piece suit except it is all one piece."

"A suit that's not a suit? What you smoking back there?" Joe-Bill laughed, getting up from the table.

Carol gave him a disgusted look. "It is a three-piece suit. Looks like one anyway, but it attached in the back and must have been ripped off and thrown in the dumpster as he left the restaurant. He should have looked in before he threw it because everything is bagged. There wasn't any raw garbage to do whatever was supposed to happen to make it disappear."

"Well, here's our description," Joe-Bill began, "a Texan with a slurred drawl wearing a three piece business suit, and a gorgeous blond woman in a blue evening gown. And from the looks of it we found everything except who was wearing them!"

[][][][][][][][][]

Later the investigative team stood in the Major Crimes Squad Room, watching Lieutenant Beaumont read over the reports of what happened to LaFiamma that day. As she scanned each one, she laid it on LaFiamma's desk. Looking at the group, void of Lundy who was still confined to her office, she began with what she knew.

"Part of this was a joke on Lundy that Joe set up," she began watching the surprised faces of her officers, "the list of names, the phone call. Joe set that up so Lundy could feel what he feels every time Levon pulls one of his stunts on Joe. The rest has turned into a hit on LaFiamma. Whoever planned this has planned it for a long time. They had to find a look-alike that would fool LaFiamma. Annie has gotten a print off the car door frame where the woman balanced herself when she leaned over to buckle Joe's seat belt, then stab him. Luck was on our side in finding the weapon still in tact. A quick thinking valet who knew Joey went into the bushes as soon as the blonde took off and found a razor sharp silver of ice. Yes, ice! And had the presence of mind to get it into a freezer before it melted. You also need to know that the silver of ice was frosted in poison, inside a specially built purse the woman carried. The hospital lab and Annie have both tested Joey's jacket, and it appears most of this woman's homemade poison powder came off on his jacket as she thrust the weapon into his side. Joe was bleeding pretty bad when he reached Reisner. I've put the word out that blood donations are needed. He drove past the hospital because he wanted to explain to Annie that Levon wasn't responsible for his stabbing."

"Does Lundy know about this yet?" Carol O'Brien asked watching the cowboy pace in Beaumont's office.

"Not yet. I will tell him next. And knowing his temper, he may be spending the weekend in the holding cell."

Off to the side of the group, Estaban was dialing a variety of numbers to try to match the one that Andy Fuller thought Joey had dialed. The numbers were smeared, but holding the paper up to the light they had come up some variables and Estaban was dialing the last combination now.

Nick heard the beep of his cell phone and twisted his head to see if he could see it. He was inside the dilapidated old van he'd bought for fifty dollars. His hands were tied behind his back, attached to his legs that were bent backwards. Trussed up like a hog ready for roasting, he thought as the phone continued to beep. Then he remembered Joey.

"GOD, JOEY!"

Twisting, Nick saw the open phone on the seat behind him. Moving slowing he got into position and carefully maneuvered onto his kneecaps. He couldn't make out the ID numbers but using his nose he bent forward and pushed the answer button. When a Hispanic voice came back at him, he was at first confused then remembered Joey pointing out Estaban Gutierrez.

"Estaban... Nick Escalante. I'm tied up in an old gray van near ...." Nick looked around until he saw a street sign. "Near Ludlow and Fifth. What about Joey? Is he okay? Get me out of here now!"

"Joe's in the hospital about to go into surgery," Estaban replied surprised to find someone on the other end of the phone.

"GET TO THE HOSPITAL! DAMN IT, HURRY!" Nick yelled into the phone causing all in the room to stop and stare. "These two are professionals. They are probably already at the hospital in scrubs and ready to take over the room. The only way they can prove to their bosses in Chicago that they killed Joe is by taking his head! And they will kill anyone who gets in their way! Just send a unit to get me. Get your best over to the hospital right now!"

The squad was speechless for seconds as the words -taking Joe's head- sunk in. "Why his head?" Carol asked leaning towards the phone Estaban was holding.

"Because there is a mob power struggle going on in Chicago. Joe's head will prove that 'they', whoever 'they' are, is strong enough to come down and outsmart Houston's finest. That means the whole LaFiamma clan - 300 strong - will have to bow to whoever is behind this. NOW GET YOUR ASSES GOING!"

"You heard the man!" Beaumont repeated urgently. "Get to the hospital. Don't let LaFiamma out of your sight!"

Unnoticed by anyone in the excitement of the phone call was Lundy as he stepped out of Beaumont's office.

"I'm going too, Jo," Levon remarked tightly. "Over the years I've met most of the surgeons there ..."

"Okay, get going. Tyler, you and Mitchell go get Joe's cousin out of that van and take him wherever he wants to go."

"Hey! Anyone still there?" Nick yelped into the phone.

"Lieutenant Beaumont here," Joanne answered in a very official sounding voice.

"Lieutenant - got a pencil and paper? I need you to call this number ASAP -- 1-800-555-XXXX. No one will answer but you will hear a beep like an answer machine. Repeat this twice - 'Houston period, Banfield 2486,' and then hang up. That will alert my team, oh darn I'm about to fall o...."

Beaumont heard a thud and a curse. Joanne Beaumont looked around her Squad Room and thought how quiet it used to before LaFiamma was transferred down. That thought was instantly replaced with a memory of Lundy having a fight with his third partner in a year. LaFiamma and Lundy make a good team in spite of their quirks, which she thought probably makes them the team that they are. The thought that her detective could be decapitated as a prize for some mob boss in Chicago chilled her to the bone.

[][][][][][][][][][]

LaFiamma squinted at the needle that was taped to his left hand, and followed the tubing up to a plastic IV bottle that hangs on hook at his head. He was on a gurney, wrapped in sheets, being pushed by two nurses in blue scrubs flanked by the doctor who he met in the Emergency Room. They were headed for an elevator that would take him up to Surgery at a speed any kid would be thrilled to enjoy. Joe mulled over in his mind the events of the evening. Everything was going fine against Lundy. He was gleefully happy about everyone believing Lundy was trying to do him in. But damn, he should have looked more closely at the guy who got into the Mustang. How could he have been so stupid not to! It had been bad enough that he and Nick had been handcuffed together for a week of special ops training. Holding his cousin's wiener so he could pee was not why Joe had enlisted in the Marine Corps. It was to follow in his father's footsteps. He was the only one of AJ's five sons who had the nerve to go into the Corps.

LaFiamma was aroused from his thoughts by the doctor. Joe saw him arguing with two other medical personnel waiting at the elevator that was being held for them. He heard one of the nurses say they had the wrong badges to be bordering this elevator. This elevator went straight to surgery... Then Joe recognized the woman's sweet voice.

"She ... she's the one who stabbed me," Joey blurted out hoarsely.

Before anyone could respond the two unauthorized persons shoved the gurney and accompanying medical staff into the elevator. As Shellie and Adam stepped in after them the elevator automatically closed behind them.

"What the hell do you want with me?" LaFiamma yelped suddenly very much awake.

"Nothing personal Joey," Shellie Marcus cooed, "we just need your head to prove to the Your Family that our boss is stronger than any other family in Chicago.

"M-my....my head?" Joe muttered as Shellie began to uncoil a thin wire.

"Don't worry sweets," she said as she stepped closer, "it will be over in a flash. You'll hardly feel the slice. It will be quick and clean."

"And you think we are just going to let you take our patient," Doctor Robinson barked loudly.

"Adam honey, push the basement button and let's get this over with."

"There is NO basement button! This elevator goes straight to surgery and makes no stops on the way." Nurse Jody Streeter offered as she moved away from the gurney to the corner. Unnoticed she leaned her shoulder against a yellow patch on the wall, setting off a silent alarm that rang in surgery and in the hospital's Security Office.

Joe's other nurse, started giggling. LaFiamma didn't see anything to laugh about. Hell, he was about to lose his head and this damn nurse was laughing at the situation?

"You expect us to stand by and let you take our patient?" The gigging nurse Geneva Sweet asked, "And with an old Chinese weapon at that."

"Listen here you stupid bitches!" Shellie roared angerily. "This razor sharp wire cuts through flesh in seconds. It ...."

"Flesh yes, but what about bone? His head is attached, you know?" Sweet asked. "Are you going to saw it, crack it....?

Smiling, Shellie rewound the wire and stepped closer to LaFiamma. With her right hand Shellie proceeded to show them all just how and where Joe's neck would be cut - just below the Adam's Apple. "Then I will simply grab a handful of that beautiful black hair, pull the head back and crack it off. Simple."

LaFiamma swallowed hard, what he saw in front of him was not Shellie but a group of natives in a village in South America where he and five other Special Operations - fresh from Marine training - were air dropped to become part of a team to rescue an American Ambassador's son. They lay prone in the underbrush covered in black body makeup watching a young man who was kneeling in front of a very ugly looking gentleman. The young man was pushed down from behind and the ugly man with one swift swing of a sword decapitated the man. The head rolled toward Joey. Men on either of him held him down and a hand covered his mouth to keep him from screaming. It was the man they had come to rescue.

Nurse Sweet's chuckle brought LaFiamma back to reality. He'd be damned if he was going to let these people die. They couldn't save the Ambassador's son, and barely saved themselves. That wasn't going to happen here.

Joe' reaction was swift and he startled everyone in the elevator as he shouted an Italian word, twisted on the gurney and brought his right hand in a karate chop to the side of Shellie's neck.

Streeter and Sweet exchanged glances. Besides their role as nurses they also taught self-defense classes at the hospital. They had been waiting their chance to neutralize these two intruders when their patient did it for them ... and with a force that could well have broken the women's neck.

Adam stared at his fallen partner. Before he could react to help Shellie the nurse in the corner, Marta Streeter, kicked him in the groin and he too crumpled to the floor in agony. Shellie lay unconscious on the floor of the elevator as it opened onto Surgery's outer office. Beyond the door was a sea of armed hospital security officers, Major Crimes Detectives and one very pissed off Army Ranger.

Streeter and Sweet hurriedly shoved their patient through the officers and ran toward the double doors opening for them, with Nick following in hot pursuit. Doctor Darryl Robinson stayed behind and gave a detailed account of what happened in the elevator before returning to the Emergency Room.

Streeter turned to Nick as they passed through Surgery's double doors, telling him he wasn't allowed in. Much to their amazement, he pulled a badge out of his pocket, just like they were wearing, and clipped it on his shirt. Then he leaned over Joey, jabbering in Italian for some answers to what went down. He relinquished his cousin, his friend, only after Joe told him he had no idea who they were working for.

LaFiamma grabbed the nurse's arm, "WAIT... Nick... check on the woman. I hit her hard. I - I saw the village again. I - I just reacted."

"Damn good thing you did too," Nurse Streeter responded, before pushing the gurney into an operating room.

Nick left Surgery and jogged back to the group still standing by the elevator. Doctor Robinson was just finishing his explanation of the events in the elevator when the group was informed that Shellie Marcus was dead.

Nick Escalante slowly shook his head, Joe's worst fear had come true. "Was it from LaFiamma's blow?" he asked quietly.

"Don't know. The wire she was holding came loose in her hand as she fell forward. It sliced into her neck. She cut her own throat."

"Better hers that Joey's," someone in the group answered.

"Even if it was Joe's blow that killed her, he saved four people from dying in there, and that's what cops do," Levon Lundy stated curtly.

Doctor Robinson excused himself, and Nick followed him into the elevator to ask him more pointed questions. He wanted to know every word that went down between the assailants in the elevator, and between the doctor and Joe in the Emergency Room.

[][][][][][][][][][]

Levon stood against the wall in a corner of a hospital waiting room anxiously awaiting word of his partner's condition. He was very much aware of the four men in black military fatigues, black laced boots, with short haircuts who stood half in and half out of the small room. He could literally feel their eyes taking him apart and putting him back together again.

"Okay... at ease," Nick said as he entered the room, totally ignoring Lundy. "Joe's been moved to a room. I want two in the room at all times, two on the door. Four hour shifts have already been set up. Here's the room number," Nick said, speaking directly to four of his team members, handing two a small slip of paper.

Lundy moved off the wall and approached Nick. "Major Crimes will tak..."

"Major Crimes and Houston PD have been replaced, Sergeant Lundy. Joe was in Special Ops when he was in the Corps. His life has been threatened. We take care of our own, and Joey is definitely one of our own. From what I've heard from various officers in the town, you don't do a very good job of taking care of him. Most of the time, from what I hear, whatever case you are working on, even if it is *Joe's* case, they come to you before going to him. You treat him as day old garbage; as white trash. I have news for you cowboy, you keep treating him like you have in the past and you will find yourself transported to a far northern city like he was transferred here. Let's see you survive outside your Texas town, your Texas state. Let's see you wear a suit and tie to work everyday. Drive a car every day in a city where you don't know the streets."

"LaFiamma complaining about me again, is he?" Levon replied with a chuckle.

"Joe's never ratted on you ... never said a bad word against. Never will either. You're his partner. He's never ratted on a partner. You don't know what you have here. Joey LaFiamma is a very special person to a whole lot of people. In fact if you embarrass him too much ... you ... could end up being shark bait. The LaFiamma's don't like their young hopefuls to be messed with. And even though he is a cop, and a damn good one, the family still considers him to be one of the hopeful generations that will keep the family name going."

"I want to see him," Lundy stated earnestly, realizing he had to see Joe to set him straight.

"Not possible. I already talked to Beaumont. Go home. Go back to work. But seeing him - no way."

The two men stood face to face.

"I don't care who the hell you are. I ain't leavin' here until I see LaFiamma." Lundy remarked defiantly.

"Well.., good! You're seeing him, now leave." Nick answered sharply in return.

A wide grin spread across Nick Escalante's face as Levon Lundy blinked in front of him. "Yeah, I'm a LaFiamma too. Born and bred. Just happens that my mother is a LaFiamma and my dad is from Spain. Which makes me doubly tough, when dealing with a narrow minded red-necked Texas cowboy like yourself?"

It was Estaban who called to Lundy from the hall that broke the stand-off. Beaumont was ordering the cowboy back to Reisner. Nick broke his stance and allowed Lundy to pass. Saying, "If Joe asks to see you, okay. Otherwise, don't ask again."

][][][][][][][]

Joey slowly emerged from the drugs and anesthetic into a low-lit hospital room. His first thought was he was once again in a military hospital recovering from some damn insect bite or stab wound. In front of him with his back to the wall stood a man in black, arms folded behind him, his eyes on Joe. Yet Joey knew the man didn't really see him. The man was taking in every sound outside the door he stood next to. Joe knew that meant there was another man somewhere in the room.

Two by two, the buddy system, never go alone. He was a young recruit; Nick was a seasoned player. Yet his cousin had asked that Joe be assigned to his team. Nick's commander thought him nuts but once Joe was onboard all doubts stopped. They signed, spoke Italian ... and a gibberish that no one but another LaFiamma kid would understand. Ironically it was a language Joey's father started so his parent's couldn't understand what *he* was talking about, and other kids of the clan just picked it up and added to it over the years.

Ops takes care of the own - how many times had Joey heard that said during the two years he served. He guessed it was his turn to be taken care of now.

"Nick? Lundy?" LaFiamma rasped, his throat dry.

Seconds later, his cousin Nick Escalante was at his bedside, hovering over him. "How long I been out?" LaFiamma asked hoarsely. "Is Lundy here?"

"A day... or so. Doc thought it best to keep you under until they found out what the poison was that was supposed to be on the ice. Turns out it wasn't poison at all, more like a sedative, to immobilize you so couldn't fight back when they took your head."

"You find out who's behind it yet?" Joe asked

"No. But I can tell you one thing - Uncle Mikey is one pissed off dude! I reported in first. 'Our' old C.O. is now up in Operations. He ordered round-the-clock surveillance on you. When I talked to Mikey - you don't want to know the words he used. But I think all of Chicago is on alert. He pulled in every contact he has in Chicago and beyond, and discovered it is someone within the family."

"THE FAMILY ... you mean Our family?" Joey gasped loudly wondering who would dare try to mess with Uncle Mikey.

"And get this - if it had been any other nephew's name that they had picked out of the hat, that kid would have been dead already and the coup done." Nick remarked with a sly smile.

"OH SHIT - don't tell me that my *destiny* has saved the family again!?" Joey moaned, rolling his eyes. "Who am I, the Lone Ranger? What are you Tonto?"

That last remark brought a chuckle from the otherwise sober man standing against the wall in front of Joe.

"Is Lundy here?"

"Your partner's in jail. I had him locked up for his own safety. Don't give me that look, your Lieutenant wholeheartedly agreed with the decision. When he and Beaumont got back to Reisner there were some pretty angry cops there. You might not know it but you have a lot of friends here. Anyway, she was going to keep him in the holding cell for the weekend, then called me, and ... of course, I took him. I would have loved to taken that red-neck to his knees but ... "

"So when can I see him?"

"Beaumont said to keep him until you ask for him. Since I have no phone contact with those holding him, guess I'll have to buzz over there and pick him up."

"Like hell," Joey roared, "I've never known you not to be in contact with any of your men."

"Easy, Sergeant LaFiamma, you'll have those nurses in here checking on you ... probing you, hovering over you." Nick chuckled with delight at the frown on his cousin's face. He was bad and he knew it. He pulled Joey's chain as much as Lundy did. Ever since Joe was stabbed on a mission in Africa, the boy had hated being hovered over. The little mission hospital Joe had been taken to ... well, it was the first time the nurses had seen a white man naked. As he was being undressed, hands just started touching the lad - everywhere!

"Get that dam smirk off your face and go get him!" Joey growled fiercely.

[][][][][][][][][][][]

Lundy swallowed for the third time trying hard to produce salvia in his dry mouth. He was blindfolded, naked, sitting or perched on some kind of high backed chair, with his arms stretched out to the sides of the room, or cubicle he was being held in. You could have knocked him over with a feather when the men came to Reisner to pick him up. Taking him out of the holding cell, no one stopped them, and when they tossed the keys back to Beaumont he was speechless. His friend, his old partner just handed him over. Her words burned in his brain - 'hold him until LaFiamma asks for him.'

After those remarks, Levon hadn't struggled much. It was in the large, the huge black unmarked delivery-type van they marched him into that he started struggling. Why he struggled he didn't know. Instinct he guessed now. Survival maybe. But four specially trained ops men against one lone cowboy was no match. Within minutes of the truck starting, he was stripped naked, patted down and searched. Then blindfolded. He was offered no seat, and as the truck lurched along its journey he found it difficult to stand, yet every time he started to buckle, a hand pushed him back up.

He was relieved when the truck stopped, but fear began to surface when one of the men said, "now, cowboy, you're about to get some good old jungle punishment."

He stumbled as they walked him over rough ground then onto what he thought was a cement floor. His blindfold was tight and covered most of his head. He saw nothing. Now he sat where they had left him, on a chair, naked, tied up like a lamb ready for slaughter. He knew people were out there but no one talked to him. No one gave him food. No one gave him water.

[][][][][][][][]

Nick strolled out of the hospital, lifted his left hand above his head and in seconds a black sports car stopped in front of him. He stepped inside, nodded to the driver, and said with a bit of sarcasm, "Let's see if the cowboy has survived training. What till he sees he's been sitting in his own damn barn the whole time."

[][][][][][][][]

Levon felt the trickle of urine as it wet the seat. It traversed over the round edges of the stool onto his thighs and to the floor.

Suddenly he shouted, "EVEN A DOG, DON'T GET TREATED LIKE THIS!"

The blond cowboy was surprised to hear laughter. Then, "Yeah, but you ain't a dog."

"WHERE AM I? CAN'T YOU AT LEAST GET ME SOME WATER?"

The three men standing outside the barn stall figured they could give him some water. Nick had called and was on his way over. The cowboy would definitely need a shower before going to see his partner, why not get him started now.

Levon intently listened to the slow roll of a door opening. It was on some kind of rollers, he figured. He waited, his mouth ready for the sweet taste of water that would be coming to his dry lips.

The bucket of water thrown at him, hit him square in the chest nearly knocking him off his perch. He shuttered as the icy cold droplets splashed over him wetting his hair, dripping down his legs, off his arms.

"Jeezzz, you stink Lundy! You never would have made it as a Marine. LaFiamma lasted two days before he wet himself. Course then it came like Niagara Falls ..... (laughter) ...

Through the open door, Lundy heard the whinny and the sound of a horse stamping nervously. // FOOLER? I'm at home?? //

"KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY HORSE!" Levon shouted at the top of his lungs his body shivering from the stinging blast of cold water. Now he knew he was in his barn. The water was always cold, it was drawn from the stream below the hill.

"ATTEN-SHUN!"

"Your horse was moved out days ago. That was a recording. My men are right you never would have made a Marine or a Ranger. You break pretty easy when it comes to animals, too bad you don't feel the same way about your partner. Joey sat where you are sitting but in a different locale. He heard Aunt Teresa screaming for help - there was an intruder in the house. He didn't break. He didn't budge. He didn't pee all over himself. Get 'im down! Wash him up. Joe wants to see him." Nick said sarcastically, waving a hand to his team members in the barn.

Levon was sincerely uncomfortable taking a shower in his own bathroom with two armed men watching him. He was looking forward to sitting in that zany sports car that was parked in his yard rather than the truck he'd arrived in. Much to his dismay by the time he was dressed, the car was gone and there sat - the truck.

[][][][][][]

The men in the truck chattered among themselves as they drove into town back to Reisner. Lundy was kept out of the conversation loop, and Nick wasn't talking at all.

"Look, Nick..." Lundy started.

"No, you look! If I hear one word about cops bidding to buy LaFiamma a ticket - anywhere .... I will come down here, cut you up into little itty bitty pieces put you in an ice chest," Nick pointed to an Igloo cooler up against the wall, "and then go fishing in the gulf!"

The rest of the journey was quiet. After the outburst from Nick even his men clammed up.

As they drove into the hospital parking lot, Nick's demeanor changed. "What the hell is Uncle Mikey doing here?"

"Uncle Mike.....?" Lundy croaked surveying the entrance of the hospital.

"That's his limo - carries it on his own plane." Nick turned a stern look to Levon. "They knew I was coming to get you. Maybe you'll be shark bait after all."

Nick had two of his men get out and go into the Lobby of the hospital. He ordered the truck around back. Looking at Lundy he said, "I'm not going in blind unless I have to. Uncle Mikey only comes if Joey is near death and he was far from that when I left. So it has got to do with the hit on one of his nephews."

A radio crackled as Nick reached up to unlatch the back of the truck.

""Lobby is clear. First floor too. But Joe's floor - is crawling with uniformed cops - and they're looking for Lundy.""

Escalante stepped back, nodded to a fellow team member and barked, "SUIT 'EM UP!"

"Suit me up? Now wait just a minute!" Levon mumbled as the walls opened to reveal flak jackets, helmets, masks and more stuff than he knew existed.

"They won't bother five guys in black. YOU - they will grab. Hurry up, I'm sure Joey is nervous as hell with Mikey pacing in his room."

Levon was amazed. They walked undisturbed into the back of the hospital, and into an elevator. But when the door opened into a sea of blue uniforms, Lundy's feet froze to the ground. Hands slipped into his belt loops and he was literally lifted several inches off the ground. The group of four, carrying the fifth, walked in unison down the hall to Joey LaFiamma's hospital room.

Setting the cowboy down in front of a partially open door, the group heard Joey defending his partner.

"I TELL YOU ... IT'S NOT Lundy! How many times do I have to say that? He would never be involved in this. He's my partner, damn it," Joey rasped, his voice raw with frustration at his Uncle not believing him. "Sometimes he does stupid things without thinking them through ... but this ... Lieutenant ... Uncle Mikey ...."

Nick tapped the door with the toe of his boot and it swung open. The four again lifted Lundy off the floor and walked him into the room, placing him next to Joe's bed opposite the side Mikey and Beaumont stood.

"Nobody comes in here till I open the door. See to it!" Nick growled, as two of the five moved out of the room. Only after the door was closed, did Nick and another undress Lundy.

And there they stood - Nick, one of his men, and Lundy. Uncle Mikey, Lieutenant Beaumont and two Chicago detectives stood opposite them with Joey in bed in the middle.

It was Joanne who spoke first. "Levon, do you know a Lucifer Lundy?"

"Yeah, I know him." Levon politely answered, wondering why a long time dead relative had anything to do with this.

"You do know him then? You're his kin!" Uncle Mikey growled roughly stepping closer to Joey's bed.

"Yeah, I know him. Yeah, I'm his kin. Now tell me what a guy that's been dead for twenty years has to do with someone wantin' my partner's head." Lundy quipped sharply not moving from the spot Nick had left him.

Joanne spoke softly, quieting the whole room. Telling him, Lucifer's fingerprints were found on some things that belonged to Joe's attackers.

Levon blinked, his knees buckled, and if Nick hadn't been standing next to him and caught him, he would have hit the floor like a sack of potatoes falling off a dolly. Gently Nick perched him on the end of Joe's hospital bed.

"You... telling me ...." Levon began, rage spreading across his face, "that this bastard who attacked my mother and left her for dead ... is alive."

Joey grimaced in pain as he moved to sit up and comfort his partner.

Concern for his partner foremost in his mind, Levon glanced toward his partner saying, "You move one iota, LaFiamma, an' I'll be in your face!"

"No thanks," Joey answered easing off his elbow. "Got enough faces in my face already."

"Jo, this man... was my daddy's brother. A black sheep." Slightly turning to look back at Joe, Levon continued, "sort of like you but not as bad."

"Black sheep?" Uncle Mikey croaked, not believing what he heard. "You think..."

"Uncle Mikey," Joey said quietly, wanting Levon to get on with his story. "I know I didn't turn out the way you wanted. The way my Dad would have wanted. I ain't a big time Mafia lawyer. I ain't a wiseguy. I could 'a been. But Mom .... Mom showed me another route to take."

Michael LaFiamma turned his back to the group and walked toward the window. Halfway there he spun around and pointed a finger at his favorite nephew. "You, Joseph Anthony LaFiamma ... son of my brother, Anthony Josef ... have turned out better than ANY of my nephews!" Mikey's hand swept the scope of the whole room and beyond. "And your father ... believed in and loved his family ... but it was the LAW that he was true to! Just as you are. He turned down cases when he knew they were guilty and he could not in clear conscious fight for their innocence. It probably is what got him killed. But it was the law he upheld, Joseph. Don't ever forget that!"

It was stone cold quiet in the room for several minutes before Lundy asked, "Got a picture of this man you're huntin'."

One of the plain clothes detectives produced a photo from his inside jacket pocket. Levon groaned as he looked at it. "It could be him. He'd be older, a lot older than this. He would have to be in his late sixties by now. This man - this man looks younger than that. He was my daddy's older brother. Only met him a couple a' three times. Him and my daddy were drinking partners. They came home together one night - I must have been about thirteen - they was drunker than a skunk's holler. Daddy passed out on the living room floor and Lucifer decided to ...." Lundy paused trying to clear the memory from his head.

"I heard my mama screaming and headed toward her room with a baseball bat. I swung at him as he left the room. Hit him hard across the back of the shoulders. He rolled down the stairs and staggered out the door. He was found two days later dead in his car wrapped around a tree at the bottom of a hill. Was probably too drunk to know he'd taken the wrong turn. My mama .... She lost a baby she didn't know she was carrying, and almost died herself. Don't know how you found his fingerprints. I knowed it was him in the coffin we buried."

The officer who had handed Lundy the photo, asked, "Do you think he could have faked his own death?"

"Not likely. But he was a collector. He had a huge house with lots of stuff in it. He had a friend from somewhere that would come in the summer and they would go around to estate sales and buy things up and bring them to Lucifer's. It took a year to inventory what was there. It took years of court battles between his two kids fighting to get what they wanted out of the place. I never did hear what happened to the stuff." Lundy said continuing. "Fingerprints would have been on all that stuff. Could'a lay around in places for years. He had a large gun collection ... some World War 2 stuff he brought back from Germany. Single shots - muzzle loaders... as I said, he was a collector. What was found?"

The Chicago detectives had a small conference and then looked back at Lundy. "He have any sons that maybe had access to these guns."

"Lu Junior was a darn good shot as I remember. Even Lucy his daughter was good with a gun. Both his kids were. He even took them hunting with him. Mainly we figured because he needed a sober person to drive him home, but yeah ... both his kids were very good with guns."

Lundy glanced at Joe then back at the Chicago detectives. "What is this about? What's this got to do with LaFiamma being hurt?"

It was Lieutenant Beaumont who answered Levon's question. "We found the car they had parked near the Diamond Club. It has some interesting artifacts in it. The prints on the gun case and a miniature box full of ice ... were Lucifer Lundy's."

"Hell, Joanne. That is the perfect crime. Use gloves and pin the job on a dead guy. How many times have we seen that in the past?"

"Lots." Joey rasped firmly. "They pick up a gun at an estate gun. Use it in a robbery. We're hunting down the owner and find out he's dead. Only he was dead long before the robbery took place. Bingo, back to square one."

"I can call my Grandma Minnie to see if she knows anything about Lucifer's kids and what they are doing now. But him, being alive? Not possible." Levon remarked, sliding off the bed to stand next to Nick.

"Wait a minute," Lundy remarked suddenly. "What does this miniature box look like? Do you have it with you? Is it dark walnut with gold initials on top?"

"So, you were in on it then?" The taller of the two detectives barked, moving toward the bed.

Lundy automatically moved back as the man came forward. "NO, I wasn't in on anything! My mama had a family heirloom stolen the night she was raped. It belonged to her father, and her father's father. It was supposed to be passed down to me, but after the room was put back together we couldn't find it. We searched the whole house and it was nowhere. Daddy searched Lucifer's car after it was towed away and it wasn't found there either. But ... if his prints are on it, he must have taken it that night."

No one spoke in the room for several seconds, then Michael LaFiamma said, "I think it best we go ahead with the plans the doctor suggested for Joey, don't you think Lieutenant Beaumont?" Michael LaFiamma was short in stature but his appearance and how he dressed, all in black, gave him a rough regal look.

Beaumont agreed, but before she could comment further, Joe and Levon responded in unison, "What plans for Joey?"

Looking at Joe but nodding to Levon, the brunette answered, "Levon said he would need to talk with his Grandmother about this ... which fits in with the plans we just made with her... for Joe to spend a few days recuperating there. Your Uncle Mikey has rented a neighbor's house, so Mother Minnie won't be in danger should any one else try to take Joe out. There is a copter standing by for Joe, and someone other than you will be driving the Jimmy down."

"Why can't we just take him out to the ranch, Jo? If he needs something Houston's medical is a lot better than Lombard's." Levon butt in emphatically.

"Yeah, Lieutenant, Lundy's place would be great." Joey answered quietly.

It seemed though that plans had already been made. "Damn it ... Nick! You know I hate helicopter rides!" LaFiamma rasped sharply giving his cousin a stern eye. "This better be on the inside and not in a tube on the runner like before."

"It's a Med-Vac, Joey. It won't be like before. Besides you were unconscious before...?

"An unconscious before? Ride in a chopper? When?" Uncle Mikey squawked moving to the side of the bed, giving both men his sternest look. When the two just looked at him, he continued, "Well we will have plenty of time to discuss it later."

"You're going with us?" Nick quipped. Uncle Mikey never stayed away from Chicago more than a few hours. Something more was going down here then what they were told.

Michael LaFiamma looked at the two detectives and Beaumont, nodded and they all left together, leaving Joe, Nick, Levon and one of Nick's men in the room.

"This is not good." Joey said, grimacing as he moved in the bed. "Uncle Mikey never goes on ... on..."

"He is never out of Chicago more than a few hours, is what he means Lundy. Him going to Lombard means there is a hell of a lot more going on here than he is telling."

Turning to his man, Nick said, "Derek get out there and see what you can overhear. I don't like surprises and if we need extra men to protect Joe and Levon's grandmother, I want to be prepared."

"I've been trying to figure what house he could rent down there." Levon offered. "None of Minnie's neighbors go anywhere."

"Uncle Mikey is invented," Joey said smiling a knowing smile at Nick.

"Yeah," Nick continued as if reading Joe's thoughts. "He might have said someone had threatened her and they want to be close by."

"They might' a moved out the whole neighborhood," Joey continued. "He did that once."

"Which means," Nick continued, "Someone is already down there from the family or Chicago cops are nesting in ... Mayberry! Oh, cousin, this is going to be good."

Levon watched the two. He didn't think it was going to be funny at all. First of all, he'd never ridden in a helicopter in his life and he didn't care to now. AND he didn't relish someone else driving his Jimmy four hours to Lombard. There had to be another way to do this.

"Why can't I drive? LaFiamma knows I don't take kindly to someone else driving my...."

"Because, Lundy, it isn't exactly going to be driven. It will be hanging on a magnet." Nick replied with a grin.

Joey started laughing. "OH GOD... don't make me laugh. You... you gonna have it hanging low like in the movies. You ever done that Nick... come to think of it, we did do that once, didn't we ... but it dropped off...." Joey's squeal of pain as he turned on his side to smother the pangs he felt from laughing brought Uncle Mikey and a nurse into his room like they'd been shot out of a cannon.

"Enough!" The nurse said harshly. "If you don't behave, you'll be sedated."

That statement shut all the boys up and Joey just stared at her. "You can try," Joey said calmly, "but it will take five of you to do it. And I'd hate to mess up your hair-do."

The thought of what happened last time brought a chuckle to Nick's lips, and as the nurse stared icicles at him, he said, "The last time someone tried to sedate him ... Africa, wasn't it? ... it took five really strong orderlies and even then he wasn't the one who ended up getting the shot."

Joe looked at Nick, mischief in his eyes. "I always wondered how long she slept. Did they leave her on the floor, you suppose. Beds were at a premium."

The nurse left in a huff, leaving Uncle Mikey facing Joey, Nick and Levon. It was Nick who asked the daring question. "What's going on Uncle Mikey? You're never out of Chi town for more than a few hours. Something more is going on here?"

There was silence in the room, a long, very long silence before Michael LaFiamma spoke. "A lot of things are happening since this threat against one of my nephews was made known. I sent Aunt Theresa and her sister to Italy for three weeks to keep them out of harm's way. Many things have changed since Joey was sent down here. I figured this was a good time to come down and get Joey up-to-date on what's happening in the family."

"And?" Joey questioned, quietly.

"And the Marines are looking for you. Someone from the Pentagon called me two days ago wanting to know where you were ... whether your skills were still up to-date. I informed him I didn't know what skills you had in the Marines, and I was extremely surprised when he told me." The elder LaFiamma replied giving his favorite nephew a stern eye.

"I'm not even in The Corps now... How could they?" Joey said, a bit of fear in his voice. Then it hit him. Uncle Mikey had been told what he did in the Corps. "Everything I did?"

"Yes, I believe so. Places you had been, things you did there ... accommodations you received for going above and beyond the call of duty." Michael LaFiamma said proudly.

"What accommodations? Rewards, you mean? We get any rewards Nick?" Joey asked giving his cousin a questioning look.

"Yeah, Joe we got a couple. Well, the whole team did. One was for bringing home the Ambassador's son." Nick answered politely looking at his watch. He wanted to get going not stand here and chat.

"But we got there too late to save him."

"Our orders were to bring him home - one way or another. Had we not been delayed by bad weather, we might have been able to bring him home alive. But that is just a guess."

It was Lundy who suddenly brought himself into the conversation. "Are you saying all this other was made up? This stuff about Lucifer?"

"No, Sergeant Lundy, that part is true. It just happened at the same time as the call I received from the Pentagon. The two detectives are retired from the force - they're part of the family. I called them for help. The box you mentioned earlier is just one of the things we recovered. We'd like you and your Grandmother to look over the rest."

"The man from the Pentagon say why he was looking for me," Joey quietly asked his Uncle.

"He said you'd already been informed." Uncle Mikey replied, nodding to Nick.

"Probably sittin' on your desk at Reisner," Lundy offered. Thinking about all these people invading Lombard, Levon boldly tried to change their plans.

Looking directly at Joe's Uncle, Levon said, "My grandmother is in her seventies and battling cancer. I'm not so sure she can take this kind of invasion. I don't even know if she knows what Lucifer had. I could find out some of your information just by making one quick phone call."

"My porch in the evening is just as good as hers for sittin' and talkin' about family things." Levon continued, "And you'd be a right bit closer to the amenities should you need them. Houston's hotels are considerably more luxurious than Lombard's."

Levon's last statement brought a smile to the elder mobster's face. Though he had stayed in a variety of hotels in his time, during this time of his life he preferred the President's Suite to just a room.

"Nick, set up a call to Mrs. Lundy from this room. After we speak with her, we will make the decision to go down there or not."

Nick scowled, nodded to his Uncle and growled at Lundy. "You're no fun at all cowboy."

Joanne Beaumont had returned to Reisner, but as Levon dialed his Grandmother from the phone on Joe's bedside table, the two Chicago detectives and Nick and his men all edged into the room.

After quickly telling her that he was okay, and that his partner was okay, well sort of okay, Levon explained the reason for his call. His face displayed a variety of emotions as his grandmother answered his questions. When he hung up the phone no one spoke, including Lundy. It was Michael LaFiamma who urged the answers out of the Texan.

"Well, sir. Mother Minnie said Lucifer was definitely dead. That there was no way he could be alive. I was correct in saying his kids Lu Jr and Lucy inherited his place... but so did someone named ... Alfred Leopold."

"ALFRED - LEOPOLD!" Uncle Mikey and the two detectives shouted.

Lundy continued, figuring he needed to get the rest out before he lost it. "Minnie said the kids had no idea who this other man was, and they tried to contest the will but it was airtight. If anything happened to the kids, everything would go to this Leopold fellow."

"What happened to the kids?" Joey asked already knowing the answer just by the look on Lundy's face.

"They were killed in a car accident in Southern Illinois a couple years ago. Police called her and said it was mysterious on how they died. You see ... Lu Jr was a race car driver. I seen him take cars out of skids that no human should survive from ... kind of what the detective that called her said too. They found the car had been tampered with. The case is still open but they don't have much to go on. A month after the kids were buried in Lombard, this Leopold drives a moving van up to the house and loads up everything, then leaves the keys with a local real estate dealer. House still's not sold. No one believes it ever will be."

The two Chicago detectives immediately starting talking. "Sergeant Lundy we need a copy of that will. Leopold went into the antiquing business about ten years ago, long after your uncle died, so there is no way ..."

Lundy cut them short. "Actually there is. My daddy and Lucifer had a friend called 'Al.' Never knew him by any other name. But I heard my Mama refer to him as 'Alfred' just once. He stayed at Lucifer's place whenever he was in town. I remember he was a strange looking guy. Mother Minnie said he was the product of what sometimes happens when whites and blacks marry."

Uncle Mikey put in, "He was spotted. Part black, part white."

"Yes Sir, he was. Strange. As a kid I'd never seen anyone like that. Never have since for that matter. So it is very possible that Lucifer did leave him everything. Lucifer's wife died giving birth to Lucy. If it weren't for some of the widows in town, those two kids never would have survived. I remember he and Al used to drive all over the county buying up things at estate sales. Man, that house must have been packed with things."

Joey breathed a sigh of relief, "That means I can go to Lundy's to rest and recuperate, right? Right? Partner ... get me out'a here." Joey said glad that at last he could get somewhere where it was quiet.

"That does not answer the question why someone wants to frame your partner for this?" One of the retired detectives asked.

"What makes you think they are after Lundy? Maybe they bought the things at Leopold's Antiques and had no idea who they originally belonged." Joey offered anxious to be on his way. "Isn't it possible that some young upstart in the family is feeling brave. Wants to see what he can get away with. It happens every few years Uncle Mikey. Remember last time they went after someone in Victor's family."

Joey saw his uncle's face light up. His question had stirred some thoughts and Michael LaFiamma turned to the two Chicago men and began to speak in rapid-fast Italian. Joey could hardly understand them. He only picked up a few words. Damn, he'd been away from speaking Italian for only two years; this was something he didn't want to lose. He was going to have to join a college club or something to keep from losing his native language.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Joe shouted as Mikey left the room. "The Marines know where I am! My old colonel was down here last year. It's a ruse, Uncle Mikey - to get you out of Chicago!"

"Talk to you later kid," Uncle Mikey replied as he and the two Chicago detectives flew from the room toward the elevators.

Joey knew the upheaval in Chicago wouldn't last long once Michael LaFiamma returned. The young boys in the family always think power is a game they usually learn the hard way that it is not.

Joey stretched out and began to relax. Maybe resting in a hospital bed wasn't all that bad. Not sure he wanted to go to Lundy's after all and be quizzed about the joke that backed fire. And Nick will be on his way so can't go home and be on his own.

When Nick appeared with the nurse who said they were waiting for the doctor to get Joe signed out. Joey flabbergasted his cousin and his partner by saying he agreed with the doctor... maybe he should stay in the hospital a couple more days... just as a precaution.

"He is sick!" Nick Escalante exclaimed staring wide-eyed at Joey.

"LaFiamma, you hate hospitals!" Lundy gasped remembering all the times Joe had talked his way out early.

"Yeah, well all that has happened over the last couple of days. This might be the safest place."

"I believe Sergeant LaFiamma is correct." The baritone voice of Doctor Ramsey said from behind the group. "That sedative that was used was a homemade mix of two different pills. I would prefer that he stay where he is. No release papers have been signed."

Nick looked at Lundy. "Then you and me are taking turns staying with him."

"You got that right!" Levon barked walking over to a couple of chairs and pulling them together. "If they went to this much trouble getting him in here, no telling what they still might do to make it happen."

"One's dead and the other is arrested," Joey offered seeing his peace and quiet disappearing before him.

Nick looked at Joey. "If you were going after Uncle Mikey, wouldn't you have a backup plan?"

"Yeah." Was all Joey could muster.

"Besides, dressing up in a white coat and a stethoscope is the easiest way to sneak into a hospital room I know. Hell... I've done it. Nope... you are stuck with us cuz."

It was well into the morning hours when LaFiamma was awaken by the ringing of the telephone next to his bed. As he turned to reach for it, Lundy was already there. Levon picked it up and handed it to his partner.

"Lo. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Love you too Uncle Mikey." Joey handed the phone back to his partner who hung it up just as Nick was walking into the room.

"You get the call?" Nick asked watching Joey nod yes. "Too bad about who it was. It was their only son. His mother's quite upset. She worked long hours to put him through college and this is how he treats the family. Not good, Joey, not good."

"It was one of the girls too. They aren't sure how they are going to deal with the girl, but the son's fate is already sealed. That sentence was made years ago ... and has always been carried out the same way. You would think these young ones would learn... if they lose, death is the only option. There is no bargaining. Uncle Mikey said the girl's mother was going to be the deciding factor in her punishment."

Levon watched the two Italians discuss the fate of the person who had tried to take control of the LaFiamma family and kill Joe. They talked about it as if it was an every day occurrence - a way of life. It was at that point that Lundy realized how really different the two partners were, yet at the same time the same. His grandfather, the Texas Ranger, netted out range justice in much the same way.

Lundy had no idea where the thought came from that he expressed, "Maybe she could go to some brothel in Italy." But from the expressions on Nick and Joe's faces you would have thought he'd just saved the Titanic from sinking.

It was Nick who disappeared down the hall to make the call, returning minutes later to shake Levon's hand. "Uncle Mikey thanks you! And the girl's mother thanks you too. They were at a standstill as to what to do with her. Her mother will personally deliver the girl to a brothel in Italy that has been in her family for one hundred years. You saved the day, Levon."

"Now, can I get some sleep... then tomorrow ... get me out'a this place."

"Now that's the Joey we know." Nick and Levon mumbled, giving each other a high five.

THE END
March 2005