“You hid the money under your maiden name, Clarice. Do yourself a favor and stay quiet. Every word out of your mouth drops your image in Sonny’s eyes if indeed it can go any lower. He knows the truth about the investigation and your role in it. He’s the best thing you two have. Instead of using him to cover your crimes, use him as your conscience when you consider selling out your country.”
Clarice, to her credit, shut up. Phil came out with his jacket. He hugged Sonny.
“I’m sorry I put you through this, Sonny. I’ve done some stupid stuff before, but this I admit is without doubt the dumbest move I’ve ever made. Thank you for getting Nick to agree to help me.”
Sonny glanced at Nick before nodding his acceptance of Phil’s apology. “I’m glad you got caught, Dad. I love you. I don’t want you going to prison, but I don’t want you part of something that kills thousands of our citizens. That is exactly what you were doing. Nick may be a very dangerously bad man, but he fights against bad guys. I hope you can change this so no one gets hurt and Nick can somehow manage to keep you at the passport office in your old job. I don’t want to move again.”
“I’ll see what I can do to at least earn your trust again. No more lies.” Phil turned to Nick. “I’m ready.”
Nick led the way out to John’s car. Gus was in the backseat. “You ride shotgun, Phil. We’ll talk when we get to the meeting place.”
“You’re not going to kill me… are you?”
“Nope. I gave my word to your son I wouldn’t kill you. I also promised to keep you out of prison. That will be a tough one coupled with helping you keep your job.”
Nick opened the passenger side front door. Phil hesitated but then slid in next to John. Before Nick entered next to Gus, Phil felt a sharp poke as with a needle on his neck. He grabbed over his shoulder at the stabbing instrument but missed. As he faded to black, he saw Gus waving at him, vaguely wondering if he would ever see another human face.
When next he did, Phil wasn’t sure he wanted to. Nick stood over him. Phil watched the black-lighted illustrations of mutilation, torture, and death with the terrified realization he may not die but he may wish he had. Strapped naked to a gurney with even his head held in place, Salvatore tried each of his limbs for movement to no avail. The soft eerie sounds of screams accompanied by a theme song he recognized as the one from the ‘Exorcist’, Phil could tell the screams were real recordings.
“Good Lord! Why… why have you brought me here like this?”
“That was a nice speech you gave Sonny. I liked it. I really did. Unfortunately, over the years I’ve become very cynical about the power of words. Because you were caught and facing a prison sentence, you figured to mouth all the right things, and I’d give you a stern talking to about apple pie, Mamma, and being a good citizen. I don’t work quite that way, Phil. I’ve found when I show a person what’s in store for them if they ever cross me or America again, they tend to actually live by the nice words they speak about honor. Once I’ve shown you the light, we’ll go over how we’re going to right the wrong you did.”
Nick took a deep breath as Gus walked over and handed him a stun-gun. “You’ll be one of the only people alive ever to emerge from this room alive. I’m going to repeat a movie line because it fits the situation so well. Say hello to my little friend.”
Phil started screaming before Nick even touched him. Then he learned why those screams accompanying the theme music sounded so real instead of a staged audio effect. A half hour later, Phil blubbered uncontrollably, sobbing out promises to do anything Nick told him to do… anything. Nick handed the stun-gun to Gus again.
“What do you think, Gus? I can see in John’s eyes he thinks it’s only the pain talkin’, right John?”
“I see and hear some sincerity,” John replied. “I believe Phil knows you would do much worse if it were required. Is that not so, Phil?”
“Yes! I…I know what will happen… if I don’t make this right. Please…please let me!”
“He lives in our town, Gus. You’re the conscience of our little band. What do you say?”
“Phil will help us now. I’m not sure how long his good intentions will last. He’s spent a lifetime skirting responsibility and spending more energy pretending to be honorable than if he had simply lived honorably. He’s a fraud, but I do believe he’s your fraud now. When you have to remind him of it in the future, I don’t believe you’ll have to do much convincing.”
“I like your summation, Gus. Let’s do our question and answer session as a warmup. If I detect Phil might be telling us half-truths and fiction I’ll light his pecker off for a twenty minute interval. Does that sound reasonable to you, Phil?”