A confession

Not too long after falling asleep, I wake with a start, sitting straight up; forgetting the pain.

“Vince,” I said. “Help me get out of bed and into the shower. Once I’m in there, get Matt. I need to be discharged right away. I have a family emergency!”

“Babe, your family is fine. You’re not going until Matt clears you” Vince mumbled.

“You have no idea what’s going on. Just help me. Once you have Matt, go to the garage and get my Hummer…get the armored one,” I said.

“Wait. You have an ARMORED Hummer?” Vince asked.
“I’ll explain as I drive,” I replied.

“You’re not driving,” he said.

“Yes, I am. I promised Il Padrino that I’d be the only one to drive it. Go! Please just do as I say!” I said.

Vince nodded and helped me into the shower and then ran to get Matt to process my discharge papers by the time I showered and dressed, Matt and Vince were back in the room. Matt had a bag of bandages, ointments and creams. He handed me a wad of papers.

“Ματ, λυπάμαι, αλλά πρέπει να φύγω. Ο Νονός είναι σε κίνδυνο. Παρακαλούμε να πάρετε ιδιωτική πτέρυγα του έτοιμο και να έχει μεγαλύτερη και διακριτική τους συναδέλφους σας, έτοιμο να σώσει τη ζωή του νονού του. Αν δεν κάνω πίσω, ξέρετε τι να κάνετε (Matt, I am sorry but I have to go. The Godfather is in danger. Please get his private wing ready and have your most trusted and discreet colleagues ready to save the godfather's  life. If I'm not back, you know what to do.),” I told Matt hugging him tight. “I love you forever. Remember that.”

“Do what you do best,” Matt said as I nodded.

I grabbed my stuff and booked it to the Hummer. Vince was outside of it waiting for me.

“Open the back hatch for me. I need to make a phone call. You don’t happen to speak French do you?” I asked.

“Nope,” Vince said.

“Perfect. Thanks!” I said.

“Paolo, où est mon parrain en ce moment? J'ai besoin de lui tout de suite. Sa vie est en danger et j'ai besoin d'être là. Très bien. Je serai là en trente minutes. Oui, je suis dans le Hummer blindé. Et oui, j'ai mon médecin personnel en attente (Paolo, where is my godfather right now? I need to get to him right away. His life is at risk and I need to be there. Okay. I will be there in thirty minutes. Yes, I am in the armored Hummer. And yes, I have my personal physician on standby),” I said to Paolo.

I ran to the back hatch leading to the back of the Hummer. I grabbed  a stab proof and bullet proof vest and put it on. I grabbed one and tossed it to Vince.

“Put this on and hop in. We need to go rescue my godfather,  Don Giuseppe,” I said.

“Wait. Do you mean the mobster is your Godfather? As in your baptism Godfather or your mobster Godfather?” Vince asked in confusion.

“Both,” I said.

“Whaddya mean by ‘both’?”

“Growing up, I was always getting into trouble with the law. A friend dared me to break into Don Giuseppe’s house one afternoon after school. I did since he never had an alarm. I grabbed one of his expired passports and was climbing down a lattice from his room. I lost my grip and I started to fall. He ended up catching me.  He said that he had two options. The first one was to report me to the police and the second option was that he’d pay for my college education as long as I studied criminal justice and became an officer. Of course you know the outcome.  What I had to return was protect him whenever he needs it. I woke up because I sensed he’s in trouble,” I said.

“So he pretty much paid you off and you have to risk your life for that mobster?” Vince asked in disgust.

“I’m a police officer, Vince. It’s my job to protect and serve. My life’s always at risk for those who live in the state. He stood by as my godfather when I was baptized in the Catholic Church. That makes him family. He’s family; I have to go see if he’s ok!!” I said.

“Honey, you’re about 2 months pregnant and you just had an emergency appendectomy and you’re going to see if a felon is ok?”

“He’s not a felon exactly but he’s family. I don’t expect you to understand,” I said. “I’d take another bullet for Don Giuseppe.”
“Wait. You’d take a bullet for him? Or have you already? Is that the reason why you have that big scar on your collarbone?”

“Yes. He was getting attacked and I jumped in. I took a bullet for him as well as a knife stab; both were at the clavicle.”

“Wow,” Vince said.

I continued driving to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn to find my godfather. I sent him a ‘ping’ to his homing bracelet to let him know that I found what area he is in. He sent a ‘ping’ back to me so I could get his actual location.

“Vince,” I said as I strapped a gun to my holster. “I need you to stay here with the Hummer. The blue dot is the Don and the orange dot is me. If it blinks, it means that the person is ok. If it moves, the person is on the move. If it stops, there’s a problem. If it’s no longer there, then that person is dead. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get to that, ok? If it does, here’s my contacts name. They’ll get the person and bring them to Matt.”
“Is that what you were talking to Matt about? In some crazy language?” he asked.

“Kinda. And it was Greek,” I said. “If I die tonight, he knows what to do.”
“Um, ok,” Vince said as he kissed me.

I ran into the building full force. I was now in a shitload of pain due to the appendectomy and running but I had to get through it to get to Don Giuseppe.  As I got to the second floor, I slowed it down and was walking on the balls of my feet to minimize the sound. I felt a cold tip of a knife blade on my neck.
“We meet again,” I heard my former partner say. “Do you have anything to say before I kill you and your precious don?”