Page 21
“Ready for some action?”
“Depends on what kind.”
“We’ve got oodles and oodles of high dollar traffic coming in today. How about that kind?”
“Sounds good to me.” They were in the traffic control tower of a small airfield in northeast Philly as the new recruit looked at the seasoned air traffic controller who was teaching him the ropes. “Anybody I know?”
“Reno Gabrini’s plane is heading our way.”
“Reno Gabrini? Who the heck is Reno Gabrini?”
“Ever been to Vegas?”
“Many times. So what? He’s one of those showbiz guys that takes up residence there?”
“He’s a flamboyant guy that owns the PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Strip. His old man used to be big time mob, and they say Gabrini may still be too. He’s voted the King of Vegas year after year.”
The newbie was shaking his head. “I still don’t know him. But I know his hotel, I just never knew who owned it. I always wondered what it would be like to stay in a place like the PaLargio.”
“Sal Gabrini’s plane is on its way as well. He’s one of those mob guys out of Vegas, too, only he’s coming in from Chicago. And his brother Tommy Gabrini, a business tycoon, a guy they call Dapper Tom which is his mob name because he’s said to be mob too, is coming in from Seattle.”
“Why all of these big deals coming all at once, and why are they choosing to land at our modest little airfield?”
“I can’t say for sure,” said the veteran controller, “but their mob ties might have something to do with it. They wanna come in, but not at the big airports. They wanna fly under the radar. We get that with celebrities sometimes too.”
“They’re all Gabrinis. Are they all related?”
“Nope, just a coincidence. Didn’t I just tell you Tommy Gabrini was Sal Gabrini’s big brother? Of course they’re all related! How many Gabrinis do you know?”
The younger man frowned. “It’s not that serious,” he said.
“And they’re all related to Mick Sinatra,” the veteran added.
The newbie was interested now. Everybody in Philly knew who Mick Sinatra was. “Maybe that’s why they’re coming. There was some breaking news about Sinatra’s kids getting shot because of some drug deal gone bad that Teddy Sinatra was involved in, or something like that.”
“I didn’t hear anything about no drugs, but I heard they were ambushed. Which is probably why Hammer Reese and his wife are flying in too.”
The newbie frowned. “Hammer Reese? The CIA guy? What he’s got to do with Mick Sinatra?”
“He’s married to Sinatra’s half-sister Amelia Sinatra, at least last I heard they were still married. They have loads of issues in their marriage, according to the tabloids. So he might be here to help solve the case, I don’t know. I just know his plane is on the screen of incomings too. Somebody tries to off Mick Sinatra’s kids is a big damn deal.”
“I was wondering why all those SUVs started showing up out front. They must be security for all these big shots on their way.”
The veteran nodded. “That was my conclusion too. So get you some coffee and buckle up. We’re in for a long day today.”
The newbie got up excitedly. His second day on the job and already he’s going to see mobsters and billionaires? He was thrilled to buckle up.
But as they drank their coffee and supervised the first arrival, they were surprised by the name. Because the first plane that landed wasn’t a Gabrini nor a Reese. It was a Sinatra. A Marco Sinatra.
“I didn’t know there was a Marco Sinatra. Who’s Marco Sinatra?”
“I have no idea either,” the veteran controller said. “Maybe a distant cousin or somebody.”
But when five of those SUVs sped across the tarmac and over to the plane as soon as it landed, and big, burly bodyguards got out of those SUVs as if to make a wall of protection around this Marco person, the controllers were even more convinced that he wasn’t just a distant cousin or any remote person like that. By the reaction of the security alone, they knew he had to be a very relevant, very significant mainline Sinatra.