Chapter 14 10-1

The hospital was small, with only one door, and Michael looked down on the street from the window: there was a curved courtyard in front of the door, with steps leading to the street in front of the courtyard; the street was empty, not even a car.It seems that anyone who wants to enter this hospital has to go through this gate.Knowing that time was short, he ran out of the ward, down four flights of stairs, and out the wide door.Not far away is the ambulance parking lot. He saw that there were neither ordinary cars nor ambulances there. Michael stood on the sidewalk outside the hospital, lighting a cigarette.He unbuttoned his jacket and stood in the light of a street lamp.In this way, his face can be seen clearly and recognized.A young man came from Ninth Road, walking quickly, with a bag under his arm.The young man was wearing a military uniform and had thick, unkempt black hair.He walked under the light, and Michael saw that the face was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he met him.The young man stopped before him, and, extending his hand to shake Michael's, said in a strong Italian accent:

"Master Michael, do you remember me? My name is Enzo. I used to be Nazorin's assistant to the baker, and now he is his son-in-law. Your father managed to get the government to allow me to stay in the United States, which is tantamount to saving my life. " Michael held his hand, and he remembered who Enzo was. Enzo went on to say, "I'm here to pay respects to your father. Will they let me go to the hospital at this late hour?" Michael smiled and shook his head. "I'm not allowed to go in, but thank you anyway, I'll tell the old man later that you've been here."

A car rumbled down the street, and Michael immediately became alert.He said to Enzo: "Leave quickly, there may be trouble here, there is no need for the police to pester you." He saw the look of terror on the young Italian's face.Getting into trouble with the police could mean deportation or disqualification of citizenship.But the young man stood motionless and whispered in Italian: "If there is going to be trouble, I am willing to stay and help, and I should be grateful to the godfather for this." Michael was very moved.When he was about to advise the young man to leave quickly, he had an idea: why not let him stay?Two men in front of the hospital were enough to scare off a gang sent by Sollozzo, and one man was almost certainly helpless.He handed Enzo a cigarette and lit it for him.On a bitter December night, the two of them stood under the street lamps, the yellow glass of the hospital window broken by the green Christmas tree branches, and the dim light shone on them through the mottled glass.As they were finishing their cigarettes, a long, low black car turned from Ninth Avenue into Thirty Street and came toward them, almost touching the curb of the sidewalk.The car hadn't come to a complete stop yet, Michael opened his eyes wide, trying to see the people in the car, and he flinched involuntarily.The car seemed to come to a stop, but then sped forward again, evidently the occupants recognized him.Michael handed Enzo another cigarette and noticed that the baker's hand was shaking.

To his surprise, his own hands did not tremble at all. The two of them were smoking cigarettes on the street. They had been smoking for less than ten minutes when suddenly a police car whistle pierced the silent night sky. stop.Immediately behind were two police vehicles equipped with short-wave radiotelephones.Suddenly the hospital gates were filled with uniformed police officers and detectives.Michael breathed a sigh of relief, and he stepped forward to meet them. Two burly policemen grabbed his arms.Another policeman was searching him.A tall and bulky police officer, with a gold-rimmed cap, came up the steps, and his men deferentially moved out of the way to make way.In spite of his arrogance, with a ring of spontaneity peeking out from under his hat, he moves with vigor.His face was red and muscular, like beef.He came up to Michael and said in a rough voice:

"I thought you gangsters were all locked up. Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" A policeman standing next to Michael reported, "Sir, he's unarmed." Michael ignored the officer's question, but looked at the officer carefully, his face and blue eyes calmly.An undercover detective said: "This is Michael Corleone, the old man's son." Michael said to him calmly, "Where did the detectives who were in charge of protecting my father go? Who turned them away?" The police officer was furious when he heard this: "You bloody rascal, what are you, you actually meddle in my business? I transferred them away. Italian gangsters killed each other, and how many people died is none of my business. According to I see, in order to protect your father from being knocked out, I would not lift a finger, now you go away. Damn! Get off this street, you little hooligan, don't come here when it's not visiting time Come to the hospital."

Michael was not angry at the police officer's abuse.He is thinking about something.Could it be that Sollozzo was sitting in the car that passed earlier and saw him standing in front of the hospital?Could it be that Sollozzo questioned the police officer over the wireless phone, "I paid you to lock up all the Corleone family members. What did you do? There are Corleone people near the hospital? Is it all so ignorant?" Did my son say it was carefully planned? Everything fit perfectly. Michael still calmly said to the police officer: "I won't leave this hospital if you don't set up sentries to guard my father's ward."

The police officer didn't bother to answer Michael's question.He said to the detective standing beside him: "Phil! Lock up this hooligan." The detective hesitated. He said, "Report sir, this kid is unarmed. He is a fighting hero and has never been involved in illegal activities. The horror stories in the newspapers are not credible." The officer, flushed with rage, glared at the detective.He roared: "Damn it, I said lock him up." Michael was still clear-headed, not angry, and said deliberately sarcastically: "Sir, how much did the 'Turk' pay you to sacrifice my father?"

The inspector looked back at him, and then said to the two stout patrolmen: "catch him!" Michael felt his arm was tightly grasped, unable to move.He saw the officer's massive fist swung toward his face.He struggled to get out of the way, but before he could, the fist hit him on the cheekbone like a grenade had exploded inside his skull.His mouth was full of blood and broken bones, which he knew were broken by his teeth.He felt the side of his head swell, as if filled with air.His legs felt so light that he would have fallen down if it hadn't been for the support of the two policemen.But he was still sane.The plainclothes detective stepped up to him, blocked the officer from hitting him again, and said:

"Jesus Christ, sir, you wounded him." The officer raised his voice and said, "I didn't touch him. He jumped at me to hit me, and he fell. Do you understand that? He resisted arrest. " Through the red mist, Michael saw several more cars coming to a stop close to the curb of the sidewalk, and everyone getting out of the cars.He recognized one of them as Clemenza's lawyer.The lawyer was speaking to the officer now, softly but firmly. "The Corleone family has hired a private detective company to protect Mr. Corleone's safety. Officer, these people with me have gun licenses, and it is legal for them to carry guns. If you arrest them, then you There must be a lawsuit tomorrow."

The lawyer winked at Michael and said: "Are you going to sue? No matter who hurt you, are you going to sue?" he said. Michael had trouble speaking, he couldn't keep his hips together.But he still forced him to say it: "I slipped," he said, "I slipped and fell." He saw the officer glance at him triumphantly; he barely smiled at the glance.In any case, he had to conceal the anger that controlled his mind and the cold hatred that permeated his body like winter.With his true feelings at this moment, he didn't want to announce it to anyone in the world.Just like the old man would not reveal his true feelings when he encountered a similar situation.He was then taken to the hospital where he passed out.

When he awoke the next morning, he found that his jaw was in wire and four of his left teeth had fallen out, and Hagen was sitting on the edge of his bed. "Did they drug me?" Michael asked. "It was done," said Hagen. "They had to get a few bone fragments out of the gum; they said it was too painful. Besides, you passed out right then." "Is there any other wound on my body?" "No," said Hagen, "Sonny wants you to go back to Long Beach, do you think you can hold it?" "Insurance is fine," Michael said. "Is the old man all right?" Hagen beamed brightly. "I think we have settled the matter now. We have hired a private detective company and set up guard posts in this area. I will tell you more about the situation in the car later." Clemenza drove, Michael and Hagen sat in the back, and Michael felt his head buzzing. "What happened last night, have you found out?" Hagen said calmly, "Sonny has an insider named Phillips, the detective who tried desperately to protect you, and he gave us the inside information. Officer McCluskey has been greedy since he became a patrolman, and he has a big appetite. Big. Our family has stuffed him quite a lot, but he's a greedy man. He's ruthless in his dealings. But Sollozzo must have stuffed him with more. So McCloskey put the hospital All of Theo's men were arrested. Some of them had guns too, but to no avail. Then McDosky removed the official guard detectives from the old man's door, saying they had other tasks and Said to send another policeman to replace them, but the policeman messed up by accident, and McCloskey was telling lies. He took bribes and deliberately put the old man in a vulnerable position. Effortless Puth said McCloskey was a man of one mind. Sollozzo must have paid him a lot of money at the beginning and promised to pay him countless more in the future once it was done. the benefits of." "Will it be reported that I was injured?" "No," Hagen said. "We're keeping quiet about it. No one wants to make it public. The police don't want to, and neither do we." "That's good," Michael said. "Is that Enzo boy all right?" "Nothing happened," Hagen said. "He was smarter than you. He disappeared when the police came. He claimed he was standing right next to you under the street lamp when Lozzo's car went by." .is this real?" "It's true," said Michael, "he's a nice boy." "He'll be taken care of," Hagen said. "Are you feeling all right?" There was a look of concern on his face. "It looks serious." "No problem," Michael said, "what's the officer's name?" "McCloskey," said Hagen, "by the way, I have some news that may brighten your day that we, the Corleone Family, are finally moving up the competitive scoreboard. Bruno Tattaglia, it's dawn today." Four o'clock before—'. "What's the matter? I thought we'd just sit and talk." Hagen shrugged and said: "Sonny's been hardened ever since that strange thing happened at the hospital. There's a general mobilization of the Armed Forces, covering both New York and New Jersey. Last night we drew up a list. Mike, I'm going to try to convince you Sonny held back. Maybe he will listen to what you say.The whole problem could still be solved in other ways, without much violence. " "I'm in charge of talking to him," Michael said. "Is there a meeting this morning?" "Go ahead," Hagen said. "Sollozzo finally got in touch with us and said he was going to sit down and negotiate with us. A contact was making the arrangements. That would mean we won. Sollozzo knew he He miscalculated, he wanted to save his dog's life." Hagen paused for a moment. "Maybe he thought we were weak because we didn't fight back immediately. Now that one of Tattaglia's sons died suddenly, he thought we were serious about it. He broke ground on the old man's head, which was tantamount to carrying out a terrible war. It’s a gamble. By the way, I’m telling you that the whereabouts of Luke have been confirmed. They killed your father the night before they plotted against you. It was at Bruno's nightclub, imagine what it was like! " Michael said, "Must have caught him off guard." At the entrance to the boulevard between the houses in Long Beach, a long black car was parked sideways, blocking the road.Two men stood leaning against the hood of the car.Michael looked up and saw that the windows on the upper floors of the buildings on both sides were wide open.Christ, Sonny is really getting down to business. It was Clemenza who parked the car at the entrance to the mall; the two sentries were Clemenza's men, and Michael and Hagen walked around the car and into the mall.Michael greeted them with a raised eyebrow, which took the place of the military salute.The two men nodded in return.There were no smiles or greetings from either side.Clemenza led Hagen and Michael Corleone into the house. Before they could ring the bell, the door was opened by a sentinel.The sentry was apparently staring out the window.They entered the corner office and found Sonny and Tessio waiting for them.Sonny went up to Michael, took his brother's head in both hands, and teased him: "Very beautiful."