[TheStellarEnsemble.com] The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Tessio didn’t think that the loss of Paulie Gatto would upset Sollozzo, in fact he thoughtthat the Turk might have anticipated it, indeed might have welcomed it. A useless mouth off thepayroll. And he would not be frightened by it; after all, would they be in such a situation?Michael spoke up diffidently. “I know I’m an amateur in this, but from everything youguys have said about Sollozzo, plus the fact that all of a sudden he’s out of touch with Tom, I’dguess he has an ace up his sleeve. He might be ready to pull off something real tricky that wouldput him back on top. If we could figure out what that would be, we’d be in the driver’s seat.”Sonny said reluctantly, “Yeah, I thought of that and the only thing I can figure is Luca.The word is already out that he’s to be brought here before he’s allowed any of his old rights inthe Family. The only other thing I can think of is that Sollozzo has made his deal with theFamilies in New York and we’ll get the word tomorrow that they will be against us in a war.That we’ll have to give the Turk his deal. Right, Tom?”Hagen nodded. “That’s what it looks like to me. And we can’t move against that kind ofopposition without your father. He’s the only one who can stand against the Families. He has thepolitical connections they always need and he can use them for trading. If he wants to badlyenough.”Clemenza said, a little arrogantly for a man whose top button man had recently betrayedhim, “Sollozzo will never get near this house, Boss, you don’t have to worry about that.”Sonny looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. Then he said to Tessio, “How about thehospital, your men got it covered?”For the first time during the conference Tessio seemed to be absolutely sure of his ground.“Outside and inside,” he said. “Right around the clock. The cops have it covered pretty good too.Detectives at the bedroom door waiting to question the old man. That’s a laugh. The Don is stillgetting that stuff in the tubes, no food, so we don’t have to worry about the kitchen, which wouldbe something to worry about with those Turks, they believe in poison. They can’t get at the Don,not in any way.”Sonny tilted back in his chair. “It wouldn’t be me, they have to do business with me, theyneed the Family machine.” He grinned at Michael. “I wonder if it’s you? Maybe Sollozzo figuresto snatch you and hold you for a hostage to make a deal.”Michael thought ruefully, there goes my date with Kay. Sonny wouldn’t let him out ofthe house. But Hagen said impatiently, “No, he could have snatched Mike anytime if he wanted102