Wheelchair

By Mickey Mongiovi

EL CAJON, Calif. – Author Mickey Mongiovi invites readers to join in the excitement of a mob mystery in his thrill-a-minute novel, Wheelchair (now available through AuthorHouse).

            Henry is an average guy. After serving as a weapons specialist in Vietnam, he retired and opened a gun shop in a small town near an army base. Happily married with two kids, Henry is happy with his quiet life.

            When he unintentionally witnesses a mob murder, he becomes the target of the organized crime unit in his town. On their first attempt to take Henry’s life, they miss him but accidentally kill his wife and kids instead. Devastated and longing for revenge, Henry seeks the help of his war buddy, Ace, a mechanic who owns a small repair shop. They take their story to the police, but when Sheriff Frazer proves to be unhelpful they realize they’re on their own.

            The second attempt to kill Henry leaves him paralyzed and ends Ace’s life. Completely alone, Henry realizes he is in over his head. Then he meets Rusty, Ace’s feisty wife. Seeking revenge for her husband’s death, Rusty renews Henry’s hope of justice for his family and best friend. With Rusty’s knowledge and connections on the street, they are able to track down the mob members responsible for their loved ones’ deaths.

            A powerful motor developed by Ace before his death and Henry’s knowledge of firearms levels the playing field between the vigilantes and the heavily armed mob as Henry and Rusty fashion an elaborate wheelchair gun ship. Now a human killing machine on a mission for justice, nothing can stop Henry!

            Mongiovi currently lives in El Cajon, Calif., and works for the Barona Mission Indians in

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 9, 2006
• ISBN: 9781467080606

Book preview

2006 Mickey Mongiovi. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/25/2020

ISBN: 978-1-4259-0826-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4670-8060-6 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

I

DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO:

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A Wonderful Man

A Good Policeman

And A Proud Marine

My Dad Mario Mongiovi

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INTRODUCTION

L et me take this opportunity to introduce a man who was from a town in California, Henry Johnson. Henry was a veteran of Vietnam. You might say he was a war hero, a few medals here and there for bravery. So I guess we can say we have a hero on our hands.

While serving in Vietnam, Henry, (an Airborne Ranger), served as a weapons specialist. Henry knew more about guns than anyone else in his company, so it didn’t take long for him to make sergeant. Henry was well liked by his men. Henry just had that kind of personality. When they went out on patrol, Henry would tick close to his men like glue. Never would he take unnecessary chances with any of their lives.

As any other man, Henry had a breaking point. When he reached that point, all hell broke loose. The three times Henry reached that point was in Vietnam. That’s when he earned his medals.

Ace was a black man from Alabama. When you would see one, you would see the other. When one of them went on patrol, the other would go on it too.

They both had a saying, When one lies, the other would swear to it. That’s why we stick together.

Henry and Ace had something in common. They both belonged to bike clubs in the States, which they talked about all the time. They joked about how the good old Army changed all that. They would tell each other all about their bikes and things they did back in the States.

Too much water under the bridge to go back now, Henry used to say to Ace.

Ace knew it was true but still couldn’t stop talking about his Harley back Stateside.

Henry and Ace were going to get out of the service together and on the same date. They made plans as to what they were going to do together once they got out. By the time they got out of the service, things were very different. Henry met Sarah and got married, and Ace met Rusty, and he married her. They all four lived in the same town but didn’t share the same apartment together, like they planned.

Sarah gave Henry two beautiful kids, Jimmy, now seven, and Tinea, she was five years old now.

Henry opened up a gun shop, since this is what he really loved to do, work on guns. As for Ace and Rusty, well, they decided not to have any children, and Ace opened up a machine shop. By the time Ace had gotten out of the service, he changed his mind about opening up a shop with Henry. He wanted to start his own business.

This is where our story begins … a town somewhere in California where bootlegging of guns was taking place. And by accident Henry ended up right in the middle of it all What happened forced Henry to build the unbelievable WHEELCHAIR!!!

CHAPTER 1

T he alarm goes off, a man’s arm reaches out from under the blanket and turns it off.

A soft-spoken woman’s voice from the other side of the bed asked, What time is it?

It’s six early o’clock, Henry said, as he rolled over and kissed Sarah on the cheek.

Six early o’clock? Where did you learn to speak English? Sarah asked, giving Henry a kiss back.

Sarah pulled the covers down and sat at the end of the bed, stretching and saying, I better get up and get the kids up. They have to get ready for school.

Yeah, I better get up too. I have a busy day for myself, Henry said,

Sarah got out of bed and put on her robe, then went downstairs to the kitchen and started fixing breakfast, after waking the kids. When breakfast was almost finished, Sarah went upstairs to make sure the kids were up and getting ready for school.

Jimmy, are you ready for school? Sarah asked, walking into the room.

Yes, Mom, Jimmy answered.

How about your sister? asked Sarah.

I woke her up soon as my alarm went off, answered Jimmy.

"Well, then go downstairs and get ready to have breakfast. I’ll check on your sister, Sarah said.

Sarah went into the other room and walked inside. There, in front of her, stood a little girl of five years old with coloring books in hand, ready for school.

Well, I see you’re ready, so I won’t even ask, Sarah said, smiling.

Good morning, Mommy, Tinea said, giving her mother a kiss and then marching out the door.

Sarah followed Tinea down the stairs and into the kitchen where everyone else was sitting down ready to eat breakfast.

After serving breakfast, Sarah sat down to eat at the end of the table.

She looked at Henry and asked, Anything new in the news?

Henry, with fork in one hand and newspaper in the other, not taking his eyes off the paper, answered, Not really. Same old thing again. Army still seems to keep missing all their guns. If this keeps up, the soldiers are going to start carrying sticks, cuz there won’t be any guns left.

Are they misplacing them, or losing them, or is someone stealing them? Sarah asked.

It says here that it’s under investigation, and they’re not making any comments now until they investigate further. They did say that the weapons were missing one by one at first, and now they seem to be missing more and more.

Sounds like some serious stuff, said Jimmy.

Yeah, stuff! said Tinea.

Yes, it is. If they get into the wrong hands, it could cause a big problem, replied Henry.

Sounds like a big operation, Sarah said.

That it is, replied Henry. When you start messing around with the government, you better know what you’re doing, because they’ll bring the whole world down on you. I should know. Ace and I tried and it always backfired on us. Oh, we had fun trying.

When I grow up, I’m going to be a Airborne Ranger just like you, Dad, said Jimmy.

Oh my God, that’s all we need, two troopers in this house, your mother and you, Henry said, laughing.

Hey, wait a minute. How did I get into this Army stuff? Sarah asked, smiling.

Everyone at the table was laughing when Tinea made a sudden stop to her laughing and turned to look at her mother with one quick turn and asked, Aren’t mommies supposed to play with dolls?

Sarah looked down and Tinea and said, Honey, I’m too old to play with dolls, but I love watching you play with your dolls.

Are you going to take the kids to the bus stop and have them wait in the car until the bus gets there? It’s raining outside, Henry asked Sarah.

Looks like I have to. I don’t want them getting wet.

Sarah turned to Jimmy and Tinea and said, You kids get your school books so we can get started. I don’t want you missing the bus.

Yes, Captain Mom, Jimmy said jokingly.

Sarah looked out of the corner of her eye, smiled and said, All right, trooper, you’re not in the Army yet.

Mommy is not a Captain Mommy, she’s a Doll Mommy, Tinea said, putting on her raincoat.

That’s right, honey. You tell them, Sarah said to Tinea, looking at Henry.

Henry smiled and winked at Sarah and said, You make a beautiful captain.

Sarah got up and walked around the table where Henry was sitting, walked around behind him and put her arms around him. Then she whispered in his ear, I’m so blessed to have such a wonderful family such as this one.

Henry got up and turned around, put his arms around Sarah and said, There’s a lot of love here in this house. I feel blessed too.

A voice interrupted them. Hey, Dad, Jimmy asked, that isn’t Airborne, is it?

No, replied Tinea. That’s dollhouse play.

Henry laughed rolling his eyes and walked over to where his raincoat was hanging and said, Busted!

Everyone left the house at the same time, Sarah in the station wagon with Tinea and Jimmy off to the bus stop, Henry in his car off to the shop.

As Henry drove to his shop, he started thinking about what Sarah had told him earlier about being blessed with such a family as they have. Henry started thinking about everything that they did together. What would I do without them? His reason for living would be over. Every man needs a reason and they were his.

Henry saw his shop just ahead, so he pulled in the first parking place he came to. He parked his car, got out of the car, went over to his shop and opened the door and went in. He turned his CLOSED sign around so it would say OPEN.

Henry was getting everything ready to start the day’s work when two men walked in with expensive-looking suits on. Both men walked over to the counter, reached into their inside coat pockets and pulled out a small I.D. folder, held it in front of them and let it fall open; the top part had an I.D. card and the bottom half had a badge.

F.B.I., one of the men said with a straight face.

Henry looked at the man, smiled and asked, How can I help you gentlemen?

Are you the owner of this gun shop? one of the agents asked.

Yes, I am, answered Henry.

And your name is? the agent asked, waiting for Henry to finish the sentence.

Oh, Henry Johnson, the owner of Johnson’s Gun Shop. What can I do for you gentlemen? asked Henry.

This is my partner Agent Brian, and I am Agent Kelly. We would like to ask your permission to look around, if it’s okay with you, Mr. Johnson, said Kelly.

Sure, no problem here. Let me introduce you to the place, replied Henry.

We would appreciate that very much, Brian said.

While Henry showed the agents around the shop, Agent Brian explained the purpose of their visit.

The reason we come here, Mr. Johnson, is that there have been a lot of weapons missing from the Army base, and Mr. Kelly and I were assigned to the investigation as to their whereabouts, Brian said, looking over all the guns Henry had.

I figured it was something like that. I have been reading about it in the paper, Henry said,

Henry took them to the back of the shop where he fixed the guns. Agents Kelly and Brian looked at every gun carefully.

Kelly asked Henry, You ever get any military weapons or know about any military weapons, Mr. Johnson?

Only the legal limitation, answered Henry.

Henry heard the front door open.

He excused himself, If you gentlemen will excuse me, I have someone up front. If you don’t mind, I have to go.

Go ahead. We won’t be long, replied Kelly.

Feel free to look around, Henry said, as he walked to the front of the shop.

Walking in the front door was a black man in his late thirties, medium build, medium height.

Ace! How you doing? asked Henry.

Without.

Without and not looking for any, right?

You got that shit right.

Ace continued, Ain’t had none, ain’t got none, ain’t gonna get none, and don’t want none. Now, tell me I don’t sound like a nigger in bad-ass shape.

Pretty desperate, I have to admit, Henry said,

How’s everything with you, buddy? asked Ace.

Well, so far, so good. A couple agents from Washington came down here to investigate that situation about the weapons at the Army base. They’re in the back now checking out everything, said Henry.

Ace started laughing. I’ll come visit you in jail. I’ll write to you.

Bullshit, Henry interrupted, I ain’t going anywhere.

Agents Kelly and Brian came out of the back room.

Henry looked at them and asked, Everything okay?

Everything looks pretty good. There isn’t anything there that isn’t supposed to be there, said Kelly.

Oh, gentlemen, may I introduce you to my friend Ace Wilson?

Ace, this is Mr. Kelly and Mr. Brian, said Henry.

Ace and the agents exchanged handshakes.

"Mr. Wilson, have