Silent Sanction: A Novel Read online

  Silent Sanction

  A Novel

  #1 in the Wade Hanna Series

  Joseph D’Antoni

  Royal Oak Press

  Copyright © 2014 by Joseph D’Antoni

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

  Publisher’s Note: This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Silent Sanction - Joseph D’Antoni. -- 1st ed

  www.DantoniBooks.com

  Dedication

  To the men and woman who toil in the preservation of the fragile Louisiana swamps, bayous and wetlands for the next generation.

  PROLOGUE

  Louisiana Swamp

  The idyllic night reminded Wade Hanna of long, lazy summer days he spent in the swamp and on the bayous years before. As a child, Wade would bait and retrieve nets of crawfish for the pot of boiling seasoned water and the bright red crustacean feast that followed. His days of fishing and hunting in the swamps gave way to teenage years and life spent mostly in the city.

  Early childhood for Wade was not all serene and filled with the natural beauty of his surroundings. He often went to bed stinging with beatings from his alcoholic mother. Wade feared the mystical creatures he was told inhabited the area around his family’s isolated camp in the swamps near New Orleans. He heard tales of Voodoo rituals that cast spells on people’s lives and influenced the future. Wade would often think about these stories when fishing alone in the swamp behind the camp.

  For Wade the swamp was an escape from an unhappy home life. He was at peace in the swamp even with all its strange creatures, mystery and danger. When he looked into the eyes of large alligators close to his boat and observed the poisonous cotton-mouth moccasin snakes he understood their world. The swamp was a strange sanctuary filled with unexplained mysteries and humans that practiced old rituals but he had a comfort in those surroundings that he didn’t have anywhere else.

  Wade often passed the house of an old lady when he traveled the bayou on his way to the swamp. Wade was told never to stop at the old lady’s house or talk to her. Neighbors insisted she was a Voodoo priestess who practiced rituals. When the old lady was out on her porch Wade would wave from his boat as he motored past her. She would return his wave holding up a carved wooden scepter. She always made the same strange up, down, and circular motion with her scepter as he passed. Wade took her gesture as a blessing of some kind. Perhaps it was the toothless smile of the old lady that gave Wade confidence that her ritual was a positive sign.

  Wade thought he had outgrown mystical stories and replaced them with the realism of school and hard work. He no longer believed in Santa Claus, or stories of shadowy swamp spirits influencing a person’s life; he was now in his teenage years and living fulltime in the big city.

  Four Years Later

  New Orleans, LA

  It was Monday night at Le Jean’s neighborhood restaurant in New Orleans. Wade and his friend Ed Langer both ordered the special. Both young men were born in New Orleans, and knew from early childhood that red beans and rice are always served on Mondays.

  “You want Andouille or a pork chop with your beans?” Paul Boyne, owner and head chef asked.

  Both Ed and Wade replied, “Pork chop, please.”

  The two men continued their dinner conversation. Ed told Wade about his recent fishing trip and the new location he had discovered not far from the city.

  “I found this spot in an outlet canal just off the lake. It was teaming with redfish. They were feeding with their fins out of the water near the bank. We caught a mess of reds on frozen shrimp. They wouldn’t hit on the artificial bait. I’ll take you back there. It was a blast and not far from home.”

  “That sounds great. Let’s set up a time.”

  Their red beans and rice dishes appeared from the kitchen. The guys were hungry and both dug in. As they ate Ed changed the subject of conversation.

  “What do you think about the presidential election?”

  Wade considered Ed’s question for a moment pausing with his spoon between his thumb and forefinger.

  “It doesn’t much matter.”

  Ed quickly reacted in frustration to Wade’s apparent lack of political interest.

  “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”

  Wade looked at Ed with a questioning expression.

  “All presidents elected in a year ending in zero have been assassinated.”

  Ed’s mind immediately flashed to the 1960 election year. He thought about Wade’s response. His mind raced trying to match president’s names with the year they were assassinated. He started with Lincoln. The task was more daunting than Ed first thought. He caught himself staring into space. Realizing he couldn’t complete the task from memory Ed responded.

  “What’s the significance of ‘zero’ in all this?”

  Wade looked up from his plate and slowly responded.

  “Zero is the most important digit we have. It represents a dimension where time and space intersect. It’s the only digit we have that represents the absence of everything material. It is a spiritual symbol and also the source of the ten year presidential curse. Zero symbolizes passages into the unknown where time, space and events cross. It’s not a good time for any new president to take office when the zero is in play.”

  “Are you real when you talk like that?” Ed commented.

  “Of course, but reality is only one layer of many intertwined within the time-space continuum.” Wade replied.

  Ed was pensive about continuing this topic of conversation. He had encountered Wade’s mysterious explanations in the past and thought it would be a good time to change the subject. Ed knew there was common interest and pragmatism with Wade on the subject of race car engines. He thought a discussion of recent changes to the Chevy 350 cubic inch engine block might bring Wade back to reality.

  Ed and Wade had recently renewed their friendship after many years of not staying in touch. Ed had known Wade in grade school. He knew Wade always had some strange spiritual beliefs and sometimes spoke in mysterious ways. Ed couldn’t completely understand Wade then or now. Ed thought a change in subject matter might bring the conversation back to the world he understood.

  As Ed began his new topic the background music changed. Wade partially lifted his open hand toward Ed signaling a request for silence. The upbeat Dixieland jazz tune had faded into the lyrical, slower beat of “Saint James Infirmary” by Bobby “Blue” Bland. This blues recording stood up well against other recordings by many great music legends, the message, as ever, somber and foreboding. On this night, both men were happy enjoying a good dish of rice and beans as they listened in silence to the rest of “St. James Infirmary”.

  After they ate, the two men started walking back to Ed’s car which was parked three blocks away. Wade seemed preoccupied. He could not stop the melody of “St. James Infirmary” playing in his mind. The street lights flickered before broadening their full green luminous glow. The sun was slowly sinking below the horizon as the men walked in the muted evening light.

  Wade suddenly stopped in his tracks. Looking down, he saw a bird’s nest a few inches from the toe of his shoe. Another step and he would have crushed it. He carefully picked up the fragile structure, turning it to admire the intricate weaving of twigs and grasses. Any inhabitants had long since vacated.

  “Look at this.” Wade said, turning his hand slowly under the street light so Ed could admire t
he artistry of the woven structure. He continued, “All this was done by a creature whose brain is half the size of a pea.”

  “Amazing complexity. Perhaps it’s a sign?”

  Wade understood what Ed meant. Bird nests were frequently used in mystical rituals by the spirit worshipers in New Orleans’ early culture. Wade carefully put the nest back in a high crook of the nearest tree.

  “Why did you put it back?” Ed asked.

  “I don’t know - maybe it can be used by another creature, or perhaps as an offering.”

  Wade mulled over Ed’s comment about the nest possibly being a ritual sign. Finding an empty nest would have spiritual significance for the future, for some people. Wade wondered, “Can people’s lives be influenced by mystical signs of things to come? Why was I the person to discover the nest? Why didn’t it appear in front of Ed’s foot? Why hadn’t it appeared in front of a person who passed under the tree earlier?”

  Wade knew that the small brain of whatever bird had built the nest could not have designed the complex woven matrix of grasses and small twigs. He knew the bird could not have done the math to compute the structural strength and bracing needed to safely hold its inhabitants. He knew the bird’s small brain was not capable of determining the best placement of the nest in the tree to protect it from the elements and crushing branches. For a moment, he lost himself in thought about the nest. All the information needed to create this nest had to be passed down genetically. The transmitted information was ingrained in the bird’s nervous system before it had emerged from its shell. The bird’s instincts simply carried out the imprinted instructions. Almost all of the nesting bird’s future was predetermined … already known and outside its control or determination.

  Wade wondered. Could this same predetermined process apply to humans? As the young men completed their walk, the somber words to “St. James Infirmary” returned to Wade’s thoughts. The remaining block was traveled in silence as the men approached Ed’s car.

  * * * *

  A few months later, on the other side of the city, Detective Jake Pisano of the New Orleans Police Department, Downtown Division, and head of undercover operations for an emerging auto theft syndicate sat waiting to order. He was seated in his favorite restaurant ready to enjoy a bowl of hot crawfish etouffee. With him were two officers from the Uptown Division of NOPD. A manila file folder lay between them.

  As soon as they’d ordered, Pisano pointed to the folder. “So what’s the story here?”

  The arresting officer answered. “We caught them in the act near Audubon Park, with parts in hand and a large 14 inch screw driver which we wrote up as a weapon. The taller one is a low level sales guy for Coletta. The kid driving seems clean but is involved in car racing. They’re dead meat to us. We thought you might have a better use for them in your operation. Otherwise, we’ll finish processing and turn them over to the DA’s office. They’ll definitely serve time on this one.”

  Pisano briefly flipped through the folder asking a few minor questions before folding it shut. “Let me review the file more carefully and I’ll get back to you.”

  The conversation quickly turned to city politics and the upcoming mayoral race, which was heating up. After the meal Pisano thanked his fellow officers.

  He told them he would be in touch.

  1

  Washington, DC

  The Pentagon - Arlington, VA

  1960

  At the Pentagon, a Joint Chiefs committee meeting on the Cuban-Soviet threat is underway in preparation for a presidential briefing. The committee has just heard two briefings from the CIA section heads on Russian activity in the region. The briefings included information on recent meetings between Cuban President Fidel Castro and two high-ranking Soviet military officers.

  Brigadier General Lyman Lemnitzer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower are on their way to a secure meeting with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the absence of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Charles Mathews is running the meeting, which now centers on U.S. response options to the Soviet military buildup in Cuba.

  General Mathews asks members of the committee, “When will we have the high altitude atmospheric wind study?”

  “I expect the report any day now.” responds General Coleman.

  “We don’t have days. The president needs to know where a radioactive cloud will travel if released over Cuba. That will affect our nuclear response options.”

  Admiral Winters of the Navy comments, “That will only give us data on the fallout under one of our nuclear scenarios.”

  “That’s’ correct but you know the president. He will want to see that response option down to the smallest detail.” replies Mathews before moving to another agenda item

  “Do we have the Air Force option report on a conventional weapons response?”

  General Taylor of the Air Force has a ready response. “Our report on the conventional weapons response will be ready in three days. I can tell the Committee that because of Cuba being only 90 miles away, our air strike options are virtually limitless. The report will cover 5 strike options explained in significant detail.”

  “Can we have an update on the special forces initiative order by the president?” Mathews is demanding, not asking.

  Admiral Winters replies for the Navy, “We’ve completed our command transition from former UDT units to separate SEAL designated units under their own command, with their own budgets, as the president directed. SEAL Team 2 has completed the new training and is ready to deploy for Cuban action at a moment’s notice.”

  “Good,” replies Mathews. “The Chairman will be pleased to hear that.”

  Cold War tensions with the Soviets in Cuba, smoldering hot spots in Korea, expanding involvement in Viet Nam and social and racial demonstrations at home are all aligning in President Eisenhower’s final year of his last term in office. He wants to give the incoming president the benefit of his military planning and strategy initiatives, knowing festering world military problems are more likely to come to a head on the next president’s watch.

  New Orleans, LA

  Life in the city for Wade had developed into its own cadence with only infrequent excursions to the swamp he loved. One home ritual practiced by his family was to assemble after dinner in the study to watch the national and local news on television. Wade’s father thought all worldly events of any significance flowed from the truthful voice of Edward R. Murrow. A younger reporter coming on the scene was Walter Cronkite. The young upstart reporter Cronkite was establishing himself well in the eyes of Wade’s parents. His parents thought that watching either Murrow or Cronkite could be relied upon as acceptable sources of the news. The Times Picayune was the established city newspaper and it was delivered to the house daily. Whatever details were needed to explain or expand the abbreviated TV coverage could be gathered from the Picayune.

  Attendance with predetermined seating arrangements in the study for children was mandatory at all evening broadcasts. Wade’s father would emphasize important upcoming news topics by the advanced announcement, “Now listen to this or take note of that.” Television was a relatively new invention and getting the news daily from this electronic box was considered revolutionary in his parent’s world.

  As the mid 50’s merged into the 60’s, Murrow and Cronkite broadcasts reflected the American mood on current events and politics. There were only 3 or 4 channels to listen to and Murrow and Cronkite reported the news at the same time every night. The different news cover stories centered on emerging national topics. While individual topics changed most evenings the overriding news in the early 60’s centered on world tension and a domestic society in turbulence.

  In 1960, John F. Kennedy announced his intention to run for President against the vice-presidential incumbent Richard Nixon. The U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which started in 1950 with a pledge of $15 million to help France control local uprisings, was escalating, and by
the mid 1960’s U.S. involvement was becoming more eminent. In 1955, South Vietnam declared itself the Republic of Vietnam and elected Ngo Dinn Diem as President. Eight years later, on November 2, 1963, Ngo Dinn Diem was executed by the revolutionary party in his own country. On August 2nd and 4th of 1963, the news reported North Vietnamese attacked two U.S. destroyers in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. The U.S. had a continuing military presence in that country from the early '60s, but the first U.S. combat troops officially arrived in Vietnam in March of 1968. The U.S. buildup for the Vietnam War clearly centered on the draft and increased military spending.

  During the early '60s, Wade Hanna was the right age for the military draft. Like most other teenage American males at the time, Wade spent time carefully considering draft and enlistment options.

  By the early '60s the South had become the center of the new Civil Rights Movement. Flash points of civil unrest throughout the South had already ignited. In 1955, a fourteen-year old Chicago resident, Emmett Till, while visiting family in Mississippi, was kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. In October, 1962, James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. The violence and riots that followed caused President Kennedy to send in 5,000 federal troops. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested and jailed during an anti-segregation protest in Birmingham, Alabama. In that same year, on June 12, Medgar Evers was murdered outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Throughout this time period, violent and non-violence demonstrations took place throughout the South. By the mid '60s Civil Rights and anti-war demonstrations had already started in other parts of the country.