Brotherhood Beyond the Yard (The Simon Trilogy) Read online

  “Is it possible something has happened to Simon?” Hank conjectured.

  Initially, their immediate thoughts were about his well-being, especially Hank, having the closest relationship with him.

  “It is not like Simon to ignore his pager or not try to contact us in some way!” Chase snapped.

  “Something must have happened to him.” Seymour reasoned.

  They gave Simon the benefit of the doubt as they recalled his acts of kindness, each recapping a particular incident. However, that mood changed quickly and dramatically with the tenor of the conversation. The gang of four began to express doubts as to whether they were simply pawns in something they didn’t fully comprehend.

  “The game may be over, but one wonders if Simon is involved in the crisis,” Paolo speculated. “The real question is why would he want it to continue?”

  “Simon has no reason for wanting the crisis to persist,” Chase defended.

  “Paolo, do you really think he is setting us up?” Seymour quizzed. “We work for the president. Simon understands what a disaster this would be for all of us.”

  The devastated looks on the other’s faces gave him his answer.

  “Remember at Harvard, when Simon boasted about how he had set up Noble,” Paolo recalled.

  “Yes, but it was Simon who was also there for Noble at a crucial time of his life,” Hank cautioned, still grasping at the hope that it was all a misunderstanding.

  Whether it was doubts he had concealed or a result of his state of panic, Paolo blurted out the unthinkable, “Was it possible that Simon caused the death of Noble’s parents?”

  Paolo, sensing the others had tentatively considered the prospect, quickly added, “If Simon is capable of such a monstrous crime, is it possible we have been used as pawns to accomplish a goal that goes beyond winning the presidency?”

  “Is it possible Simon has a plan of some sort that we were not privy to?” Hank asked with dread.

  They conceded that Simon was a master at manipulating people beyond anything they had ever experienced. Hank alluded to the possibility that the fine hand of Simon was behind many of the events that occurred. Paolo harked back to the time when he suggested they change their name to Padroni del Burattino.

  “Actually, I should have said Padrone, not Padroni. There is only one master.” He sighed. “There’s no denying it, Simon is the one pulling the strings, and we are his puppets.”

  “Back on point—the economy continues to be in shambles, and the Treasury has yet to release the much-sought-after TAP Funds!” Seymour shouted. He reminded them, with panic clearly in his voice, “Initially, the Treasury made the announcement informing the public about the TAP Funds, but it was only a promise to release the money at some future date. But as the banks wait, more and more are defaulting.”

  Hank informed the group, “I heard rumors the Treasury has instituted a waiting period until the banks pass a so-called stress test to determine which banks are worthy of being saved and which should be allowed to fail.”

  Chase, noticeably silent throughout the exchange, chimed in. “The president should force some of the major ‘solvent’ banks to take the TAP funds, even though they don’t need them or want them. Then the Treasury must allow the banks to repay the funds after all the ‘stress tests’ are completed.” Chase believed it would give the appearance TAP was working and instill confidence that the Treasury funds would eventually be repaid. “It will also encourage the banks to unfreeze the credit market and start lending to consumers and small businesses.”

  “It might work,” Hank mumbled.

  They all agreed the president lacked the experience to cope with the crisis on his own, as they agonized over the fact they were in many ways responsible for putting the country at risk. Shortsighted as it may have been, La Fratellanza’s focus had been on their ultimate goal, not on the ultimate consequences.

  Now harsh reality befell them.

  “Hank, you are best equipped to guide the president through the labyrinth before it gets out of control, along with our careers and our futures,” Seymour insisted.

  “Chase, I’ll need your help to lay out a plan, one I can get the president to accept!” Hank demanded.

  As more calm set in, this select group of intellectuals, began to work together to find solutions.

  “While Hank and Chase work together to bring the financial crisis under control,” Paolo concluded, “we need to find Simon. He may be the only one who can help us climb out of this mess.” Paolo waited a moment, then looked at each of them intently and said, “The only sure way to find Simon is to enlist the support of Noble.”

  They acknowledged they didn’t know what was on Simon’s agenda, but concluded it had to be more than just their “game.” There had to be something even bigger in it for him. They agreed and felt Paolo should be the one to approach Noble.

  “You’ll have to admit to Noble that you knew of Simon’s whereabouts all along,” Seymour reminded.

  “I’ll make my mea culpa, but then I’ll have to bend the truth a bit and tell him there are rumors Simon was involved in some unknown way in the financial crisis.”

  “Don’t tell him they were rumors,” Chase suggested. “Convince him that Simon was the one who instigated the crisis. I can give you enough information to make your case believable.”

  “You should also tell Noble that Simon was working hard to gain access to the TAP funds at the Treasury,” Hank added.

  “All we really know at this point is that he just simply walked away,” Paolo argued.

  “I agree, but if we need to intensify our efforts to find Simon,” Hank implored, “we can escalate the search with the help of a number of competent sources. We didn’t elect a president without acquiring some power!”

  “We also agreed that we don’t understand what is happening, and if we involve anyone else, we run the risk of exposing La Fratellanza—and, worse, the president,” Paolo appealed. “Noble is our only hope.”

  Hank backed down. “Point taken.” Then he strongly cautioned Paolo. “Do not mention anything about La Fratellanza or any of our activities.”

  Paolo agreed and left for Washington to meet with Noble.

  21

  THE CONFESSIONAL

  Noble was surprised to receive a call from Paolo so soon after spending time together, especially sounding so agitated. Only a few days earlier in the week, Noble enjoyed a delightful dinner with Natalie and Paolo at their home in Reston. They engaged in their usual intellectual repartee and laughed at most of what was flowing from the political rumor mill. The camaraderie was what they enjoyed most.

  It was Sunday morning when Noble received the call.

  “I need to meet with you as soon as possible, somewhere completely private,” Paolo stammered.

  Noble’s first reaction was fear that something was wrong with either Natalie or the baby, but there was no evidence of it at their dinner.

  He remembered the time when Natalie had confessed, “It was his irresistible charm that led me to fall in love with him and marry him so quickly.” During their whirlwind courtship, Paolo oftentimes referred playfully to their relationship as kissmet.

  “I was never sure whether it was his clever play on words or his Italian accent that made it sound so endearing,” Noble once admitted to his sister.

  Feeling partially relieved as he reflected on his memories, Noble suggested Paolo meet him at the Blackfinn, but he resisted. He said he needed a place more private, so Noble agreed to meet him near their favorite watering hole in Franklin Park, near the corner of K and Thirteenth Streets.

  However, Paolo had one more person with whom he needed to speak.

  —

  Since the birth of baby Mario, Natalie became increasingly suspicious that something was horribly wrong—Paolo was not his former self.

  Sometimes, Paolo was distracted, as if his mind was completely absorbed. Other times he would be irritable, a trait Natalie had not seen before in her husb
and. When he seemed withdrawn, she tried to reach out to him by engaging in conversation, which often led to arguments when she attempted to gauge his thoughts.

  “Lascia mi stare,” was his usual retort. She had learned painfully that it meant, “Leave me alone.”

  The Paolo of old always displayed a keen sense of humor and an upbeat attitude, but his disposition had changed dramatically. While Noble didn’t pick up on the signs, Natalie couldn’t miss them, and she feared her life with Paolo was at risk. She pleaded with him several times to confide in her, without success, and it only heightened the tension. Finally, Natalie found the situation unbearable and decided to confront Paolo. She wanted him to explain his strange behavior.

  However, Paolo reached the breaking point first. It happened the day before, after his meeting with La Fratellanza, a meeting he believed would probably be his last.

  Before Paolo met with Noble, he knew he first had to explain his abnormal behavior to his wife.

  As he sat across from Natalie, her hand in his, he told her everything: about La Fratellanza, about the president, and about his plan to meet with Noble.

  He began with his time at Harvard and worked up to his most recent meeting with his fraternity brothers. Going against La Fratellanza’s wishes, he left out nothing. After he divulged everything he knew, and had exhausted all his explanations, he pleaded with her, “Please, my love, I ask you to be patient, and I promise I will set things straight, for you and for Mario.”

  Initially glaring with the impassioned look of a prosecutor, Natalie sat painfully silent. However, when Paolo had finished, and she attempted her cross-exam, she broke down in tears. Not all her legal training had equipped her to cope with the situation, and she melted in her husband’s arms. Her love had not faded, and she wanted the man she married to return.

  As much as Paolo hated to leave, he relaxed his arms from their passionate embrace and softly whispered, “Ti amo più della vita,” telling her he loved her more than life.

  Then he rushed off to meet Noble.

  —

  For a Sunday afternoon, the park was unusually empty. Washington had either more churchgoers or more sinners—Noble suspected the latter—and that they were sleeping off their indulgences. While the sun was warm, the air was chilly, and Noble had hoped he could convince Paolo to move their meeting to the Blackfinn once he arrived. Edging up to twenty minutes after the appointed hour, Paolo finally entered the park where Noble was patiently waiting, and trying not to shiver.

  After a quick apology for being late, he began rapidly sputtering words that sounded more like Italian, but in fact, they were English. What Noble was able to glean from Paolo’s rants was that he had confessed to Natalie, telling her everything, about something, about which she promised to say nothing. And he trusted her.

  So far, he wasn’t making any sense.

  Now Noble was seriously concerned that his family was in trouble. The cold he felt before was now a chill of a different sort. He could have never imagined what he was about to hear. With heart-wrenching sincerity, Paolo expressed regret to Noble for all the distress he had caused his sister. At that point, he demanded, “Paolo, sit down and explain to me what’s going on!”

  Thanks to Paolo’s behavior, Noble was approaching his own state of panic.

  Paolo proceeded to share the intensely personal conversation he’d had with Natalie. Then he pleaded, “I need you to understand what I’ve done, and then I need your help to undo the harm.”

  As they sat on a bench, away from the few pedestrians, Paolo took a long, deep breath and then started from the beginning. First, he went over Simon’s role, then told him about La Fratellanza, and then about the president. He expressed regret repeatedly for not having divulged any of this to Noble before and for lying about Simon’s whereabouts.

  As Noble listened and took in the seriousness of the matter, he was also thinking about the many opportunities Paolo had before to tell him the truth. Their weekly get-togethers at the Blackfinn would have been an ideal, opportune time—and certainly, he had opportunities before he married Natalie.

  Noble caught himself fighting the temperature, shivering as his thoughts drifted back to the Blackfinn, where it would be warm and cozy. Now, despite the cold, he desperately wanted Paolo to continue, uninterrupted.

  Paolo carried on for another hour. Sometimes in a highly emotional state, other times composed. “The financial crisis was not engineered by us, it was just a lucky break, which we used to our political advantage,” he stated emotionally. “All it took was some effective spin from La Fratellanza to catapult Baari into the Oval Office.”

  He calmed down slightly, and spoke about Uncle Rob, about the microchip, and the “shadow” thesis hidden in their theses. After a slight pause, in an awkwardly measured voice for Paolo, he said, “We now fear that Simon has disappeared.”

  Slowly, he removed his Rolex watch from his wrist and gave it to Noble, turning it over and displaying the initials LF on the back, and indicating the location of the microchip. A microchip that contained each thesis detailing what was supposed to be their imaginary plot to defraud the American people.

  “It started as a game, and now the game is over.” Paolo sighed, feeling totally spent.

  Noble could feel his face flush, and not from the cold, but as he remembered the leather-bound copies somewhere still in his possession. Where are they?, he asked himself.

  In an attempt to persuade Noble further, Paolo avowed, “Over the years, we had convinced ourselves that while we were aware we were straddling the line of justice, we had never crossed it.” He paused. “It was always Simon who managed to lure us in, just to do one more thing to ensure success. However, ‘one more thing’ never stopped. Now the president is in office, the economy is in a free fall, and Simon left all of us to take the rap,” he whispered in dismay.

  He admitted La Fratellanza was afraid they would be held accountable for manipulating the system and placing a totally untested person to lead the country at such a fragile time. “While each of us feels we are not directly responsible for the crisis, we are beginning to feel responsible for the outcome,” he confessed.

  During that cathartic moment, Paolo explained that his fraternity brothers, out of fear, instructed him to tell Noble that they thought it was Simon, who had converted the college game into reality—and more important, that he had devised it on his own.

  “That was all I was supposed to divulge.” Bowing his head, Paolo said, “But out of love for my family, my country, and my loyalty to you, I’ve left nothing out, and truly want to set things straight. We know you have the resources to ferret out Simon, and we need your help. I promise if you find him, La Fratellanza will devote all its efforts to solve the financial crisis.” Paolo, sounding more like Natalie than he did the president’s communications director, had presented his case.

  Throughout his summation Noble remained silent, allowing Paolo’s words to flow. All the while, he felt distraught over his brother-in-law’s participation and over the pain he and Natalie must be sharing.

  Noble let the silence fall between them for a while longer. Then he proceeded to tell Paolo what he had already uncovered. “I suspected that the president is a fraud, but I was never able to discern the ultimate purpose.”

  Paolo appeared shocked, but Noble didn’t react.

  Now, with the disappearance of Simon, Noble was able to confirm his suspicions—at least that the plot was more involved than he had originally believed. Noble did not share his feelings directly with Paolo, but assumed he had reached the same conclusion.

  Noble needed time to study the theses on the microchip, especially the “shadow” thesis. He needed to find clues within its pages, leading him to the ultimate end of the game. As soon as he gathered sufficient evidence to support his findings, his next step would be to review all he had discovered with Hamilton.

  He needed to return to his office immediately.

  “At this point, I don’t k
now what, or if any, crimes have been committed, but I am giving you advance warning that we may have to interrogate all of you.” He promised Paolo that the information he had supplied, other than what La Fratellanza had instructed him to convey, would stay confidential, at least as to its source.

  Paolo appreciated his brother-in-law trying to protect him, but knew he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

  “Go home and say nothing to the members of La Fratellanza, other than the fact that you reported their suspicions about Simon, and I will start the investigation.”

  They left the park in opposite directions.

  —

  Noble hurried through Franklin Park and down Thirteenth Street. While on the way to his office, he called Hamilton on his cell phone. “I just had an epiphany!” he cried out. He explained to the director that he had just met with Paolo, who dropped a mega bomb of information on him and some startling revelations came to light, but first he needed to check out one more piece of the puzzle.

  “I need to see you first thing in the morning, eight o’clock, in your office. It is of vital importance.”

  Noble’s revelation came when Paolo made the statement that they did not engineer the financial crisis, that it was just a lucky break. He knew the truth lay somewhere in the theses.

  Ironically, Noble had just rushed past the Church of the Epiphany on the northwest corner of G Street.

  —

  Noble returned to his office and locked the door behind him. He then reached into his desk and retrieved his microchip reader. It was the latest in technology, a Datamars ISO MAX V Microchip Scanner. The 2009 technology made the reading and downloading of information relatively easy. Fortunately, this particular Datamars model was capable of reading nine-, ten-, and fifteen-digit microchips operating up to 134.2 kHz.

  “Thank you, Simon, for creating the microchip with nine digits at one hundred twenty-five kilohertz,” he said aloud.

  Noble quickly attached the USB connection cable and downloaded all five theses into an Adobe format on his secure computer. He inhaled deeply, let out a long breath, then sat back and began to read the text.