Swimming with Sharks (82 page)

“Wait a moment,” Engels said. “I need to take care of something else.”

Connors looked at Engels in astonishment as he headed toward Tate Jenkins.

“Mr. Jenkins,” Gordon Engels said, “you are also under arrest. You’re charged as an accessory to the murder of David Zuckerman and with aiding and abetting organized crime.”

The deputy director of the FBI stood up without saying a word. His expressionless face showed that he understood. They had his number. Connors stared at Gordon Engels open-mouthed.

“Deputy Khazaeli,” the US attorney general said to his officer, “arrest this man and read him his rights.”

“Gordon,” Connors murmured, “I don’t quite understand.”

“We have suspected Jenkins for quite a while,” Engels replied quietly. “Two nights ago, we tapped a phone conversation between Jenkins and Vitali. That was the final proof we needed. Jenkins has been Vitali’s man for years.”

“I can’t believe it.” Connors shook his head in disbelief. “Nick’s really been right all along.”

“Yes,” Engels replied, “Kostidis had been right all these years. But his hard luck was that he lacked hard evidence.”

The guests of the VitalAid Foundation’s charity ball watched in shock as their host and his guest were led though the large hall in handcuffs. No one moved from their seat, and the room remained dead silent until the men walked out to the foyer. Only then did people awake from their shock, and all hell broke loose.

Connors could hardly suppress a smile. His triumph was complete. Of course, he could have made his arrest more discreetly, but he had very deliberately created this humiliating scene for Vitali. The US attorney only regretted that Nick couldn’t witness Sergio Vitali’s arrest in the public eye.

Massimo Vitali suddenly appeared in the foyer. “What’s going on here?” he exclaimed when he saw his father and Jenkins in handcuffs.

“Who are you?” Lloyd Connors asked.

“I’m Massimo Vitali.”

“We arrested your father,” the US attorney said. “You should get him a lawyer as soon as possible.”

Vitali’s eyes flashed angrily at Connors; he was furious to be in this very unflattering situation. Deputy Spooner pushed him along.

“Papa!” Massimo exclaimed in agitation. “What should I do?”

“Call Bruyner!” his father shouted. “And…”

And? Nelson wasn’t there anymore, and Judge Whitewater was also gone. Tate Jenkins, his valuable connection at the FBI, walked handcuffed behind him, and even John de Lancie didn’t seem to be in his post anymore. The seriousness of his situation slowly dawned upon Sergio. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t get away so easily this time.

“Papa!” Massimo’s voice sounded desperate.

“Come on,” Deputy Spooner urged, “go, go!”

Massimo stared after them helplessly. Sergio’s security personnel and the hotel staff were also paralyzed, and the crowd of guests curiously gathering around the ballroom’s doors whispered in excitement.

“Is that really necessary?” Sergio Vitali protested as Spooner directed him toward the main entrance. “Can’t we at least exit through the back?”

“Oh no, sir. You’ll get the full program.” Spooner grinned with satisfaction. “Like a man of your status deserves.”

Vitali put on a grim smile and straightened his shoulders. He kept a stony face in the flurry of flashes, showing his contempt for the reporters, the TV cameras, and the gawking crowd. Royce Shepard opened the back door of the limousine, and Spooner pushed Vitali into the backseat.

“Don’t touch me!” Vitali snapped. “I’ll make sure that you’re writing parking tickets in the future!”

“I’m looking forward to that,” Spooner replied calmly. He joined Vitali in the backseat, while Connors gave a brief statement to the agitated reporters. Sergio Vitali’s face was frozen solid. As the reporters knocked against the window to get a good shot of him, he didn’t turn his gaze once. Lloyd Connors sat in the front seat as the car drove off with a flashing red light and wailing siren. Gordon Engels and Tate Jenkins followed in a second car, and there was a full convoy behind them.

Connors exhaled a deep sigh of relief. He’d done it! He had doubted the success of this operation until the very last second, but he’d finally accomplished what Nick Kostidis had tried for so many years: he had arrested Sergio Vitali—the secret godfather of New York City. The evidence was overwhelming, and the prosecution’s key witness was alive. The message that di Varese and Bacchiocchi had also been arrested came over the radio. Vitali didn’t react at all.

“You’re getting a big kick out of this, aren’t you?” he said after a while in a disdainful tone. “That pathetic bastard will piss his pants in joy once he hears about it.”

“Who are you talking about?” Connors asked coolly.

“That damned son of a bitch Kostidis.” There was a glow of murderous rage in Vitali’s eyes. “I likely owe this entire spectacle to him!”

“You’ve been arrested,” Lloyd Connors said as he turned around, “because you killed
at least
one person and brutally abused Ms. Alex Sontheim.”

“That’s bullshit,” Vitali said, shaking his head. “Where are you taking me? I have a thousand guests, and you’ve got nothing better to do than to arrest me because of a little whore who stole from me and lied to me! I’ll complain to the attorney general himself about this!”

“Complain to whomever you want.” The smile vanished from Connors’s face. He thought about Alex’s disfigured face. He thought about Mary and Christopher Kostidis, who had to die because Nick stood in Sergio Vitali’s way. He thought about David Zuckerman and Zachary St. John, both sacrificed by Vitali after they’d outlived their usefulness and possibly posed a threat to him. He thought about the lawyer in Los Angeles who had been murdered in such a brutal way, and the many other people who’d died because this man had ordered it.

“We’re going to take some fingerprints now, and a few pictures,” Connors said, “and then you can spend a night on the taxpayer’s dime. It certainly won’t be as comfortable as you’re used to, but maybe you’ll learn to like what’s waiting for you for the next hundred years.”

“I won’t stay in jail for more than twenty-four hours!” Vitali hissed, but his arrogance was gone and his anger had given way to a helpless embitterment.

“The judge will decide that tomorrow morning,” Lloyd Connors replied in a calm voice. “Not you and not me.”

Nick Kostidis was startled out of his sleep in the middle of the night. It took him a few seconds to comprehend where he was and he realized in surprise that he wasn’t alone. Alex lay next to him sound asleep. Then he remembered that he had visited her. He’d simply fallen asleep in sheer exhaustion, and Alex had taken off his shoes and put a blanket over him. Nick smiled. The dial of his wristwatch indicated it was two thirty in the morning. He thought about Lloyd Connors. Had the US attorney managed to arrest Vitali? Nick got up carefully in order not to wake Alex and tiptoed over to the small bathroom. He closed the door and switched on the light. Stepping in front of the mirror, he stared at his face. He had spent the past six months in a world of nightmares, but now he had awakened from them and knew that he wanted to live again. And he owed it to Alex. The strong feelings he had for her seemed like a tender glowing light at the end of a long night, a thin, bright beam of hope that could lead him away from his vale of tears. In the face of these incomprehensible and irrevocable experiences, he had submitted himself to senseless self-pity for much too long. Now it was time to make a decision about the future. He wouldn’t go the US Attorney’s Office tonight as he had initially promised Connors. He didn’t want to see Vitali, and he didn’t care to know what had happened. It was strange, but he was really completely indifferent. He would hear about it all tomorrow morning.

Nick switched off the light and quietly went back to the bed. In the dim light coming in through the small window, he saw that Alex had woken up.

“Nick?” she whispered sleepily.

“Yes,” Nick said as he sat down at the edge of the bed and looked at her.

“I let you sleep,” she said quietly. “You were so exhausted.”

“Thank you,” he replied. Alex smiled. She really was enchanting.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Quarter to three.”

“In that case, we can sleep a few more hours.” She lifted the blanket, and Nick slipped beneath it.

“Do you think they arrested him?” she whispered.

“I don’t know,” Nick answered. “Probably.”

The church bell chimed the quarter hour.

“Nick?”

“Yes?”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

He pulled her close. Thanks to this woman, his heart, which had turned into an icy block, had melted again. “I’m happy too,” he whispered, and carefully stroked her battered face.

“Will we ever be able to lead a normal life again?”

“I hope so,” he replied quietly. “I really hope so.”

Her eyes were close to his, and they looked at each other for a while, not saying a word.

“What are you going to do now?” Nick finally asked, though he feared her answer.

“I think I need to leave the city,” Alex responded. He nodded slowly.

“I understand that,” he said, his voice husky. “Where will you go?”

“I’ll probably go home for a while to my parents in Germany. I need some time to think,” she said. “And Oliver invited me to go to Maine with him.”

“And? What will you do?” Nick didn’t feel pain or disappointment. He knew she would leave. She needed time to heal her wounds.

“Maybe I’ll go. Oliver is a really good friend,” Alex replied. “What will you do?”

“I’m still the mayor for another year,” Nick said. “Someday, all this will be water under the bridge. Life goes on, and I’ll keep doing my job.”

“You’ll never leave New York, will you?” Alex asked quietly.

“I’ve thought about it,” Nick admitted. “I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else, but after everything that’s happened, I sometimes think that it would be better to move away from here.”

“The city would lose the best mayor it ever had.” Alex reached out her hand and tenderly touched his cheek, “and you wouldn’t be able to cope for very long without the hustle and bustle, the noise, the skyscrapers, and all that.”

Nick laughed quietly. “You think so?”

“Yes,” Alex said and smiled. “This city is like a disease. Once you’re infected by it, you can’t get rid of it.”

“And what about you?” he asked. “Do you have the disease?”

Alex turned her face so that she could better look at him. Her smile had vanished.

“I think I have a different disease. It has a lot to do with this city.”

Nick felt his heart start pounding. “Aha. And what disease is that?”

Alex rested her face on her hand.

“I’ll tell you,” she said quietly, “if you don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t breathe a word. What is it?”

“I fell in love with the mayor of New York City,” Alex whispered.

“Really?”

Alex nodded silently.

“Imagine,” Nick said, his voice hoarse, “and he fell in love with you.”

An enchanting smile brightened her face, and he was suddenly filled with such a rush of happiness that it almost hurt. He leaned over and kissed her gently.

“Could you imagine returning to New York one day?” he asked. Her smile widened, and her eyes looked deeply into his.

“If I can’t have you without this city,” she replied, “I may have to accept it for better or worse.”

On hearing these words, a wave of delight overcame Nick, and his heart jumped so wildly and happily that he thought it would burst. He
put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. Alex loved him the same way that he loved her. Even if she left tomorrow, he knew that it wasn’t the end, but a new beginning.

Alex and Oliver sat in the monastery’s lounge and watched the morning news. There was an extensive report on the shocking nighttime arrest of Sergio Vitali. Footage showed him leaving the St. Regis, handcuffed and escorted by authorities to a waiting car. Alex saw his expression, his murderous rage. She shuddered because she knew this look all too well. She felt no triumph or joy, but just a deep sense of relief. It was over. US Attorney Connors had Vitali arrested in front of all his guests at his big charity ball, and the reporter recounted all of the criminal charges. He mentioned Alex and even showed a small picture of her. The murder charges and all of the other allegations against her had been cleared for good.