[TheStellarEnsemble.com] The Godfather - Mario Puzo

would never let me start a war a couple of years later just for revenge. Also, the Tattaglia Familyis behind him.”“If they had gotten the old man, what would you have done?” Michael asked.Sonny said very simply, “Sollozzo is dead meat. I don’t care what it costs. I don’t care ifwe have to fight all the five families in New York. The Tattaglia Family is going to be wiped out.I don’t care if we all go down together.”Michael said softly, “That’s not how Pop would have played it.”Sonny made a violent gesture. “I know I’m not the man he was. But I’ll tell you this andhe’ll tell you too. When it comes to real action I can operate as good as anybody, short-range.Sollozzo knows that and so do Clemenza and Tessio, I ‘made my bones’ when I was nineteen,the last time the Family had a war, and I was a big help to the old man. So I’m not worried now.And our Family has all the horses in a deal like this. I just wish we could get contact with Luca.”Michael asked curiously, “Is Luca that tough, like they say? Is he that good?”Sonny nodded. “He’s in a class by himself. I’m going to send him after the threeTattaglias. I’ll get Sollozzo myself.”Michael shifted uneasily in his chair. He looked at his older brother. He rememberedSonny as being sometimes casually brutal but essentially warmhearted. A nice guy. It seemedunnatural to hear him talking this way, it was chilling to see the list of names he had scribbleddown, men to be executed, as if he were some newly crowned Roman Emperor. He was glad thathe was not truly part of all this, that now his father lived he did not have to involve himself invengeance. He’d help out, answering the phone, running errands and messages. Sonny and theold man could take care of themselves, especially with Luca behind them.At that moment they heard a woman scream in the living room. Oh, Christ, Michaelthought, it sounded like Tom’s wife. He rushed to the door and opened it. Everybody in theliving room was standing. And by the sofa Tom Hagen was holding Theresa close to him, hisface embarrassed. Theresa was weeping and sobbing, and Michael realized that the scream hehad heard had been her calling out her husband’s name with joy. As he watched, Tom Hagendisentangled himself from his wife’s arms and lowered her back onto the sofa. He smiled atMichael grimly. “Glad to see you, Mike, really glad.” He strode into the office without anotherlook at his still-sobbing wife. He hadn’t lived with the Corleone Family ten years for nothing,Michael thought with a queer flush of pride. Some of the old man had rubbed off on him, as it83