Jennifer's relationship with her a.s.sociates had changed. When the office had begun to take a succession of Mafia cases, Ken Bailey had come into Jennifer's office and said, "What's going on? You can't keep representing these hoodlums. They'll ruin us."

"Don't worry about it, Ken. They'll pay."

"You can't be that naive, Jennifer. You're the one who's going to pay. They'll have you hooked."

Because she had known he was right, Jennifer said angrily, "Drop it, Ken."

He had looked at her for a long moment, then said, "Right. You're the boss."

The Criminal Courts was a small world, and news traveled swiftly. When word got out that Jennifer Parker was defending members of the Organization, well-meaning friends went to her and reiterated the same things that Judge Lawrence Waldman and Ken Bailey had told her.

"If you get involved with these hoodlums, you'll be tarred with the same brush."

Jennifer told them all: "Everyone is ent.i.tled to be defended."

She appreciated their warnings, but she felt that they did not apply to her. She was not a part of the Organization; she merely represented some of its members. She was a lawyer, like her father, and she would never do anything that would have made him ashamed of her. The jungle was there, but she was still outside it.

Father Ryan had come to see her. This time it was not to ask her to help out a friend.

"I'm concerned about you, Jennifer. I hear reports that you're handling-well-the wrong people."

"Who are the wrong people? Do you judge the people who come to you for help? Do you turn people away from G.o.d because they've sinned?"

Father Ryan shook his head. "Of course not. But it's one thing when an individual makes a mistake. It's something else when corruption is organized. If you help those people, you're condoning what they do. You become a part of it."

"No. I'm a lawyer, Father. I help people in trouble."

Jennifer came to know Michael Moretti better than anyone had ever known him. He exposed feelings to her that he had never revealed to anyone else. He was basically a lonely, solitary man, and Jennifer was the first person who had ever been able to penetrate his sh.e.l.l.

Jennifer felt that Michael needed needed her. She had never felt that with Adam. And Michael had forced her to admit how much she needed him. He had brought out feelings in her that she had kept suppressed-wild, atavistic pa.s.sions that she had been afraid to let loose. There were no inhibitions with Michael. When they were in bed together, there were no limits, no barriers. Only pleasure, a pleasure Jennifer had never dreamed possible. her. She had never felt that with Adam. And Michael had forced her to admit how much she needed him. He had brought out feelings in her that she had kept suppressed-wild, atavistic pa.s.sions that she had been afraid to let loose. There were no inhibitions with Michael. When they were in bed together, there were no limits, no barriers. Only pleasure, a pleasure Jennifer had never dreamed possible.

Michael confided to Jennifer that he did not love Rosa, but it was obvious that Rosa worshiped Michael. She was always at his service, waiting to take care of his needs.

Jennifer met other Mafia wives, and she found their lives fascinating. Their husbands went out to restaurants and bars and racetracks with their mistresses while their wives stayed home and waited for them.

A Mafia wife always had a generous allowance, but she had to be careful how she spent it, lest she attract the attention of the Internal Revenue Service.

There was a pecking order ranging from the lowly soldato soldato to the to the capo di tutti capi capo di tutti capi, and the wife never owned a more expensive coat or car than the wife of her husband's immediate superior.

The wives gave dinner parties for their husbands' a.s.sociates, but they were careful not to be more lavish than their position permitted in relation to the others.

At ceremonies such as weddings or baptisms, where gifts were called for, a wife was never allowed to spend more than the wife above her station in the hierarchy.

The protocol was as stringent as that at U.S. Steel, or any other large business corporation.

The Mafia was an incredible moneymaking machine, but Jennifer became aware that there was another element in it that was equally important: power.

"The Organization is bigger than the government of most of the countries of the world," Michael told Jennifer. "We gross more than a half a dozen of the largest companies in America, put together."

"There's a difference," Jennifer pointed out. "They're legitimate and-"

Michael laughed. "You mean the ones that haven't been caught. Dozens of the country's biggest companies have been indicted for violating one law or another. Don't kid yourself about heroes, Jennifer. The average American today can't name two astronauts who have been up in s.p.a.ce, but they know the names of Al Capone and Lucky Luciano."

Jennifer realized that in his own way, Michael was equally as dedicated as Adam was. The difference was that their lives had gone in opposite directions.

When it came to business, Michael had a total lack of empathy. It was his strong point. He made decisions based solely on what was expedient for the Organization.

In the past, Michael had been completely dedicated to fulfilling his ambitions. There had been no emotional room for a woman in his life. Neither Rosa nor Michael's girl friends had ever been a part of his real needs.

Jennifer was different. He needed her as he had needed no other woman. He had never known anyone like her. She excited him physically, but so had dozens of others. What made Jennifer special was her intelligence, her independence. Rosa obeyed him; other women feared him; Jennifer challenged him. She was his equal. He could talk to her, discuss things with her. She was more than intelligent. She was smart.

He knew that he was never going to let her go.

Occasionally Jennifer took business trips with Michael, but she tried to avoid traveling whenever she could because she wanted to spend as much time as possible with Joshua. He was six years old now and growing unbelievably fast. Jennifer had enrolled him in a private school nearby, and Joshua loved it.

He rode a two-wheel bicycle and had a fleet of toy racing cars and carried on long and earnest conversations with Jennifer and Mrs. Mackey.

Because Jennifer wanted Joshua to grow up to be strong and independent, she tried to walk a carefully balanced line, letting Joshua know how much she loved him, making him aware that she was always there when he needed her and yet giving him a sense of his own independence.

She taught him to love good books and to enjoy music. She took him to the theater, avoiding opening nights because there would be too many people there who might know her and ask questions. On weekends she and Joshua would have a movie binge. On Sat.u.r.day they would see a movie in the afternoon, have dinner at a restaurant and then see a second movie. On Sunday they would go sailing or bicycling together. Jennifer gave her son all the love that was stored in her, but she was careful to try not to spoil him. She planned her strategy with Joshua more carefully than she had planned any court case, determined not to fall into the traps of a one-parent home.

Jennifer felt no sacrifice in spending so much time with Joshua; he was great fun. They played word games and Impressions and Twenty Questions, and Jennifer was delighted by the quickness of her son's mind. He was at the head of his cla.s.s and an outstanding athlete, but he did not take himself seriously. He had a marvelous sense of humor.

When it did not interfere with his schoolwork, Jennifer would take Joshua on trips. During Joshua's winter vacation, Jennifer took time off to go skiing with him in the Poconos. In the summer she took him to London on a business trip with her, and they spent two weeks exploring the countryside. Joshua adored England.

"Could I go to school here?" he asked.

Jennifer felt a pang. It would not be long before he left her to go away to school, to seek his fortune, to get married and have his own home and family. Was that not what she wanted for him? Of course it was. When Joshua was ready, she would let him go with open arms, and yet she knew how difficult it was going to be.

Joshua was looking at her, waiting for an answer. "Can I, Mom?" he asked. "Maybe Oxford?"

Jennifer held him close. "Of course. They'll be lucky to get you."

On a Sunday morning when Mrs. Mackey was off, Jennifer had to go into Manhattan to pick up a transcript of a deposition. Joshua was visiting some friends. When Jennifer returned home, she started to prepare dinner for the two of them. She opened the refrigerator-and stopped dead in her tracks. There was a note inside, propped up between two bottles of milk. Adam had left her notes like that. Jennifer stared at it, mesmerized, afraid to touch it. Slowly, she reached for the note and unfolded it. It said, Surprise! Is it okay if Alan has dinner with us? Surprise! Is it okay if Alan has dinner with us?

It took half an hour for Jennifer's pulse to return to normal.

From time to time, Joshua asked Jennifer about his father.

"He was killed in Viet Nam, Joshua. He was a very brave man."

"Don't we have a picture of him anywhere?"

"No, I'm sorry, darling. We-we weren't married very long before he died."

She hated the lie, but she had no choice.

Michael Moretti had only asked once about Joshua's father.

"I don't care what happened before you belonged to me-I'm just curious."

Jennifer thought about the power that Michael would have over Senator Adam Warner if Michael ever learned the truth.

"He was killed in Viet Nam. His name's not important."

40.

In Washington, D.C., a Senate investigating committee headed by Adam Warner was in its final day of an intensive inquiry into the new XK-1 bomber that the Air Force was trying to get the Senate to approve. For weeks, expert witnesses had paraded up to Capitol Hill, half of them testifying that the new bomber would be an expensive albatross that would destroy the defense budget and ruin the country, and the other half testifying that unless the Air Force could get the bomber approved, America's defenses would be so weakened that the Russians would invade the United States the following Sunday.

Adam had volunteered to test-fly a prototype of the new bomber, and his colleagues had eagerly seized on his offer. Adam was one of them, a member of the club, and he would give them the truth.

Adam had taken the bomber up early on a Sunday morning with a skeleton crew and had put the plane through a series of rigorous tests. The flight had been an unqualified success, and he had reported back to the Senate committee that the new XK-1 bomber was an important advance in aviation. He recommended that the airplane go into production immediately. The Senate approved the funds.

The press enthusiastically played up the story. They described Adam as one of the new breed of investigative senators, a lawmaker who went out into the field to study the facts for himself instead of taking the word of lobbyists and others who were concerned with protecting their own interests.

Newsweek and and Time Time both did cover stories on Adam, and the both did cover stories on Adam, and the Newsweek Newsweek story ended with: story ended with: The Senate has found an honest and capable new guardian to investigate some of the vital problems that plague this country, and to bring to them light instead of heat. There is a growing feeling among the kingmakers that Adam Warner has the qualities that would grace the presidency.

Jennifer devoured the stories about Adam and she was filled with pride. And pain. She still loved Adam and she loved Michael Moretti, and she did not understand how it was possible, or what kind of woman she had become. Adam had created the loneliness in her life. Michael had erased it.

The smuggling of drugs from Mexico had increased enormously, and it was obvious that organized crime was behind it. Adam was asked to head an investigating committee. He coordinated the efforts of half a dozen United States law enforcement agencies, and flew to Mexico and obtained the cooperation of the Mexican government. Within three months, the drug traffic had slowed to a trickle.

In the farmhouse in New Jersey, Michael Moretti was saying, "We've got a problem."

They were seated in the large, comfortable study. In the room were Jennifer, Antonio Granelli and Thomas Colfax. Antonio Granelli had suffered a stroke and it had aged him twenty years overnight. He looked like a shrunken caricature of a man. The paralysis had affected the right side of his face so that when he spoke, saliva drooled from the corners of his mouth. He was old and almost senile, and he leaned more and more on Michael's judgment. He had even reluctantly come to accept Jennifer.

Not so Thomas Colfax. The conflict between Michael and Colfax had grown stronger. Colfax knew it was Michael's intention to replace him with this woman. Colfax admitted to himself that Jennifer Parker was a clever lawyer, but what could she possibly know of the traditions of the borgata? borgata? Of what had made the brotherhood work so smoothly all these years? How could Michael bring in a stranger-worse, a woman!-and trust her with their life-and-death secrets? It was an untenable situation. Colfax had talked to the Of what had made the brotherhood work so smoothly all these years? How could Michael bring in a stranger-worse, a woman!-and trust her with their life-and-death secrets? It was an untenable situation. Colfax had talked to the caporegimi caporegimi-the squad lieutenants-and the soldati soldati-the soldiers-one by one, voicing his fears, trying to win them over to his side, but they were afraid to go against Michael. If he trusted this woman, then they felt they must trust her also.

Thomas Colfax decided he would have to bide his time. But he would find a way to get rid of her.

Jennifer was well aware of his feelings. She had replaced him, and his pride would never let him forgive her for that. His loyalty to the Syndicate would keep him in line and protect her, but if his hatred for her should become stronger than that loyalty...

Michael turned to Jennifer. "Have you ever heard of Adam Warner?"

Jennifer's heart stopped for an instant. It was suddenly hard for her to breathe. Michael was watching her, waiting for an answer.

"You-you mean the senator?" Jennifer managed to say.

"Uh-huh. We're going to have to cool the son of a b.i.t.c.h."

Jennifer could feel the blood drain from her face. "Why, Michael?"

"He's hurting our operation. Because of him, the Mexican government is closing down factories belonging to friends of ours. Everything's starting to come apart. I want the b.a.s.t.a.r.d out of our hair. He's got to go."

Jennifer's mind was racing. "If you touch Senator Warner," she said, choosing her words carefully, "you'll destroy yourself."

"I'm not going to let-"

"Listen to me, Michael. Get rid of him, and they'll send ten men to take his place. A hundred. Every newspaper in the country will be after you. The investigation that's going on now will be nothing compared to what will happen if Senator Warner is harmed."

Michael said angrily, "I'm telling you we're hurting hurting!"

Jennifer changed her tone. "Michael, use your head. You've seen these investigations before. How long do they last? Five minutes after the senator is finished, he'll be investigating something else and all this will be over. The factories that are closed down will open up again and you'll be back in business. That way there won't be any repercussions. You try to do it your way and you'll never hear the end of it."

"I disagree," Thomas Colfax said. "In my opinion-"

Michael Moretti growled, "No one asked for your opinion."

Thomas Colfax jerked as though he had been slapped. Michael paid no attention. Colfax turned to Antonio Granelli for support. The old man was asleep.