Chapter 29

Friday morning after PT, I got called to the Company office. The Master Sergeant greeted me with a serious look on his face. Then the company Chaplain met me.

“O’Dell, there’s a phone call for you. Take it in my office,” the Master Sergeant said.

“I’ll be waiting out here when you’re done.”

Now I was scared. Something serious had happened to Jean or my Mom or Mr. C. I went in and closed the door and picked up the phone. No one was there, then I noticed the flashing light near the base of the phone and I pushed it.

“Hello?”

“Paul?” the call was from Mr. C. He could barely speak. “Paul, it’s Jean ... Last night ... at the club ... Paul ... they raped and beat my daughter. The doctors don’t know if she’s going to make it.”

I was stunned into a dead silence.

“Paul? Are you there?”

“Yeah Dad. Stay on the line and email the details so I can get home fast.”

I walked out of the Chaplain’s office and stopped at his secretary’s desk.

“Please pick up the phone and give the man an email address so he can send you the details.” I turned to the Chaplain and said, “I need to go home ASAP.”

I spoke under cold, complete control and then turned and walked out of the office and went to my room in the barracks and began to pack my things. I checked my wallet to make sure my bank card was there. I would need to get the fastest flight home possible regardless of price. When I was packed I went back to the Chaplain’s office.

“What do I need to do now? I need to get home immediately.”

They told me the process and moved me through it as fast as they could. I would have as much as 26 weeks of unpaid leave to care for Jean. Mr. C had filled the Master Sergeant in on what happened and sent the info they needed as soon as they asked for it. I sat in a daze.

People moved me from one place to another. I was in my room, stuffing things into my duffel. Then at some point I was on a bus to the airfield in Columbus, GA and then I was on a transport to Atlanta. I was hustled onto a commercial plane to Boise. I don’t remember buying the First-class ticket, but I was in First-class. Walking off of the plane first, I walked into the Boise terminal at just past 1430 hours.

I went to the baggage carousel to find James waiting for me. As soon as my duffel came out, he rushed me out to the SUV and then broke every law getting me to St. Luke’s in silence. I walked in and was met by Mr. C. He led me to Jean’s room. My mother, Lois, Barbara, Ingrid and Gregory Marks were all waiting outside her room for me. A doctor was there as well. I walked up to him and quietly asked, “Report, please.”

He looked at me, then at my uniform and understood my meaning.

“You’re Mr. O’Dell?”

“I am tell me everything.”

“Mr. O’Dell, she’s in bad shape, but we’ve got her stable. She has three broken ribs, two of them pierced her lungs. She has a jaw that’s been broken in three places. Her left arm has been broken and her right leg has a compound fracture. She has a severe concussion and numerous cuts and bruises. Also, she was raped. She has severe tearing to her vagina and to her anus.

“I’ve got her in an induced coma and she’s a fighter. While she was in the coma, we did surgery to repair the damage to her lungs, jaw, leg, vagina and anus. As of right now, all that is left for her to do is heal. The coma will be the best aide right now. She will need to be in it for at least a week. I’ll check on her a couple of times a day and the nurses will keep watch on her constantly.

“I believe that eventually, she’ll be fine in the body. She’ll have full use of her arm and leg. We checked and there doesn’t seem to be any damage to her internal organs. In beatings this severe we often see ruptured spleens or damage to the liver. Her mother said something about her having babies. We also checked and she isn’t pregnant and it would seem that there has been no damage to her reproductive organs. No internal injuries are presented.”

“Anything else?”

“Once we release her she’ll need both physical and emotional therapy to deal with what happened to her.”

“Doc, see to it she gets everything she needs. Money is truly no object.”

“Sir, we treat all our patients the same.”

My eyes bored into his and I repeated, “Everything. She. Needs. Price is no object. She is the fucking Queen of England to me. The First Lady. She gets the best. If there is a better doctor, get him or her here ASAP and put it on my bill.”

The cold tone to my voice implied a disastrous outcome if I was ignored.

“Yes sir,” the doctor said, calmly, not wanting to light the bomb standing before him.

I sat next to Jean and didn’t move.

Jean was in the induced coma for eleven days. The first day I sat with her and held the hand of the arm that was in the cast because the other arm was full of tubes and instruments that measured her bodies functions. Her head was wrapped up and her jaws were wire together. She looked horrible. I talked to her and encouraged her. I talked to her about our future children and our future life together. Our parents and friends were a constant presence.

Over the course of the next day, I found out that Dominic was missing and Manny was dead. The police found Manny with a bullet hole in his back and another in his head but determined that his body had been brought to where he was found well after he’d been killed.

I knew both men would have put their lives on the line for the dancers, and Manny especially would for Jean. I called Ft. Benning and brought them up to date on my situation. The Master Sergeant suggested that I return to base until a few days before they brought Jean out of the coma because my time off would be without pay. He didn’t know of the money our families had access to.

After talking to my Mom and Dad, I decided to head back to the base. I realized that if I stayed here I would, at some point go off and take a lot of people with me, including people I loved. I got a hold of James.

“What do you need Paul?”

“James I’m going back to the base. I need you to dig around and find out as much as you can about who did this and give me a report when I get back. Then we’ll see what the police and DA do, or if they’re as dirty as I heard, what I have to do. Will you do that?”

“I’m with you all the way, Paul.”

I stayed another day and got my head right. I stayed in the house alone. Barbara and James brought their son, James Junior, over and Mom brought my little sister, Sandra, over as well. The house was full of the sounds of life and it brought me out of my deep hole of hate for what happened. By the time I got back on the plane to Benning, I was no longer a sub-human killing machine. But I was a vengeful husband and a by-God damn good shot, ready to make a plan.

Back at Benning I hit the range and blew a lot of Uncle Sam’s money sending rounds down range. Someone was going to be on the receiving end of my M2010 ESA rifle or something very close to it. Eight days after I left Jean in the hospital, I arrived back in Boise. I had a more orderly packed duffel with my clothes in it. I’d called James and asked him to pick me up. When I arrived I asked James to take me home before I went to the hospital. He pulled into the driveway and turned off the Lexus SUV.

“Come on in, James. I need your advice.”

He joined me walking into the house and then followed as I walked up the stairs and pulled down the stairs that led to our attic. I uncovered my father’s old gun cabinet and smiled as I took out the Remington 700 rifle and the Browning Auto 5 12-gauge shotgun that had been my fathers.

“I’m thinking that this is going to be a close up job, James. I’ll use the shotgun.”

“The 700 would allow you to be out of the area if you want to shoot. But it won’t take a lot of work for the police to figure that a sniper would use the rifle. The shotgun might be better.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Paul, you do realize that I’m going with you when we take these bastards down, right?”

“Nope. If it was the three guys, Jerry Monroe, Bobby Craft, and Fred Nelson; I want to take them down by myself.”

James looked at me with a coldness I’d only seen recently in the mirror.

“Listen Paul, that could have been Barbara in that bed, like Jean, or in the morgue, like Manny. I want a piece of these cocksuckers so the Outfit knows that they are being hunted and not just by you.”

I gave thought to James words. He was the brother I never had and in many ways the father I’d lost.

“You can cover me if they have friends,” I compromised.

“Done and done.”

We shook hands and shared a hug before James left for home. I took out the cleaning kit and began the breakdown and cleaning process on the two weapons.

The day Jean was to be brought out of the coma there were numerous people present. Aside from the doctor and me, there was a psychologist to help her deal with the attack. There were also a couple of police officers waiting with us in the room to see if they could get answers to their questions about the attacks.

I was holding her hand and when her eyes opened she looked at me and then at the police officers and tried to scream. She began to shudder and shake violently and the monitors went nuts. The doctor called for a sedative and the nurse injected it into her IV bag and she immediately calmed and went unconscious.

I found out later that the officers at the hospital were the same police who were on the take from the gambling outfit and were often fucking the dancers. I found out later that their real reason for being there was to find out if Jean could name her attackers and if so, take steps to deal with her. I also found out later that they were not in on Jeans rape. Lucky for them.

“Mr. O’Dell,” the psychologist said I stood there. She thought that my soldiers resolve was fear and shock. “Calm yourself, it’s going to take time for her to deal with what happened and how it impacts you and your relationship. She’ll see herself as damaged goods and will be worried that you won’t love her anymore.”

“That would never happen,” I said forcefully. “If you talk to her when I’m not here, you damn well better tell her that, first thing, OK? Don’t you dare even think that I would turn my back on her under any circumstance!”

“Of course, Mr. O’Dell. I’m sorry.”

I took a breath and looked her in the eyes.

“No. I’m sorry. I love her with all my soul. I don’t think that she’ll think anything otherwise. If she seems to be turning that way, please assure her that my love for her is as rock solid today as it was the day we married.”

She looked at my uniform and saw the small star on my sniper chevron.

“Let me assure you that she’ll hear nothing different from me. You can take the word of a Marine for that.”

I could tell that she was serious and I nodded and shook her hand.

Later that evening, Jean woke up again and I wasn’t in the room. She was looking around the room and seemed to be upset. When I came back in, she saw me and her eyes began to tear up.

“Hi love,” I said softly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. I went to talk to Mom. Mr. C and Ronnie have gone to meet with Mr. Antonelli and his people to try to get some answers from his end.”

Jean made movements like she wanted to talk but nothing I could understand. With a feeding tube in place and her jaw wired after having the three breaks repaired, talking was impossible. A nurse presented us with a pad of paper on a clipboard and a pen. I set them on the rolling table and handed her the pen. Holding the pen was difficult with the IV line and monitor attached but she was able to roughly print out words.

“I’m sorry”

“Sorry? For what? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Didn’t stop them”

“You couldn’t have.”

“Manny?”

I looked at her and shook my head.

“He was shot in the head. The police say they don’t know who did it.”

“Dom?”

“He’s disappeared. No one knows if he’s alive or dead. I’m sorry, the cops can’t find him.”

“Cops evil. On the take.”

I remembered being told that by someone, maybe Manny or perhaps Dom.

“Don’t worry, my love. I’ll make sure things get taken care of.”

Jean nodded and closed her eyes.

James got my attention as he put his cell phone in his coat pocket. He nodded his head for me to meet him in the hall. He seemed shocked about something. I walked out of the room and saw that he had moved way down the hall towards the chapel and had a deadly serious look on his face.

“What’s wrong, James?”

“Paul, Barbara just called me,” he paused tears forming in his eyes and at the same time his neck turning red. “It’s Leo and Ronnie, Paul. They’re dead.”

“What!? How!?” I said, trying not to scream it out.

“Mr. C and Ronnie were going to lunch before Leo’s appointment with Mr. Antonelli. They were walking from the SUV to the restaurant when a car pulled up and shot them. The shooters used shotguns and Barbara told me that they both died instantly.”

I rocked a little on my feet and leaned against the wall.

“You stay here. I’ll go and tell Joyce and Lois,” James said, his hand on my shoulder steadying me.

“No! Don’t say anything until Jean goes back to sleep. Then take Mom and Lois to the chapel. I don’t want Mom and Lois breaking down in front of Jean. This is the second man my Mom has loved that has died. She may need the doctor. I think Lois will be solid as a rock and then break down in private. They’ll need to keep an eye on her at the house.”

“We’ll tell Jean when she’s stronger. She needs to stay positive. She’s already blaming herself for the rape. I don’t need her blaming herself for her father’s death.”

“Right.”

“I assume that since Barbara knows, the security team knows?”

“Yeah. Angel is coming with another SUV. She’ll take everyone to the house. I’ll stay with you.”

I stood straight up and shook my shoulders a bit. Then I looked at James.

“I need you to find Dom. I need to know if he’s in on this attack and hiding from us or if he’s hiding from the Outfit. Then I need to get a hold of Antonelli. I want him on our side, active, and pissed.”

James asked Mom and Lois to step into the hall. He got the attention of a nurse and took her with them to the chapel before telling them the news. It’s a good thing the nurse was there, Mom fainted and was rushed to the ER. Lois was more stoic and stayed with Mom. James was on the phone to Barbara to make sure the house was secured and the children were safe. Barbara had the place locked down tight.

Angel arrived at the hospital and called James from outside. James went to the ER and when told about the possible danger of a hit in the hospital, the doctor released Mom under the condition that they take her home and get a nurse to stay with her. James got her and Lois down to the SUV and Angel got them safely to the house.

I stayed outside of Jean’s room and got on the phone to the police. When I told them I was connected with the murder of Leo Carlesetti they got me in touch with the detective in charge.

“This is Detective Parrot. I’m told you have information about the Carlesetti case?”

“I’m Paul O’Dell, his son-in-law, and I’m at the hospital with his daughter who was beaten and raped a couple of weeks ago.”

“What? I haven’t heard about a Carlesetti being raped.”

“She’s my wife. Her name is Jean O’Dell now.”

“I didn’t know. I’ll have a couple of officers at the hospital in a few minutes.”

“Detective! The Outfit has cops on their payroll. You damn well better be sure you send a couple of clean cops. My father-in-law was just shot out in public. My wife has been raped, beaten and tortured. I’m starting to think that I and the Carlesetti family need to step in.”