New York/New Jersey
Confined to a motel room in Newark, Nick and Tyler discussed their future plans. Being wanted by the FBI did not leave Nick too many options. He had no illusions about disguising his appearance, knowing it would simply be a matter of time before he would be picked up. As for Tyler, they couldn't hold him on anything, and if he simply used another name to get around, they wouldn't be able to track him so easily. Finally, Nick decided he was going south to some quiet island with white sandy beaches and warm sun.
“And a few hot women wouldn't hurt!" he said smiling. "I'm too old for this life any longer." What he really wanted to do was find Jay Messina and just hang out.
Tyler's thoughts turned to his father. He needed to find him though he didn't know how, or what to do when he did.
It was around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 30th, when there was an unexpected knock on the door. Tyler quickly got up and nodded for Nick to step behind the door.
"Who is it?" Tyler asked.
"Mr. Santiago, you have a phone call," someone outside said.
Tyler walked to the door, took a deep breath and opened it.
"Hello, Tyler."
Tyler stared at the man at the door and didn't recognize him.
"Do I know you?" Tyler asked as the man pushed himself into the room followed by another man.
"I'm your father," Theo said.
Tyler stared at him, and finally recognized him from the photos.
"Uh... Yes, you are. Aren't you?" Tyler said not knowing what to do or say.
"Where's that asshole, Nick Costello?" the other man asked.
Nick came out of the closet not knowing what to expect.
"Holy shit! Theo! Jay! What the hell are you two doing here?" Nick asked laughing as he walked over to Theo and gave him a hug followed by one for Jay.
"As usual, we are here to save your asses," Jay said, smiling.
Jay walked over to Tyler and introduced himself.
"But how? How did you find us?" Tyler asked.
"Oh, that was easy. We simply went down the list of contacts Theo had left for you. After we convinced them we were on your side, they were happy to give us your aliases. Then we started tracking your banking transactions. Thank God you registered with your credit card, or we wouldn't have been able to track you here," Jay said.
"Oh, by the way, Tyler, the Giordano family is looking for you. I think they want to introduce you to one of their bullets," Jay said.
"Why? I didn't do anything to them," Tyler responded.
"It's my fault. I am sorry, Tyler, to bring this on you. It was never my intention," Theo said.
Tyler turned and looked at his father and smiled.
"It's ok, Dad. I know you tried everything to keep me and Mom safe," Tyler said.
While the others continued the conversation, Theo was caught up in the fact that Tyler referred to him as Dad. "This is my son," he thought to himself.
"Hey, Earth to Theo. Snap out of it," Jay said.
"Sorry. What's happening?" he asked.
"It is obvious the Giordanos won't stop till they get both of you, so we need to come up with a plan to halt them in their tracks. Anybody got any suggestions?" Jay asked.
"In exchange for sparing Tyler's life, I promised Miss Giordano that I would come knocking on her door tomorrow, and since this is all my fault, I plan to keep that promise," Theo told everyone.
"Are you crazy? She'll blow your head off the minute she sets eyes on you. She isn't going to keep her promise. Man, you killed her brother and they don't forgive. It's their code," Tyler said.
"Well then, I guess we don't have much of a choice," Nick said.
"I'll make some calls and get us some weapons. In the meantime, Nick, they are also looking for you, but we don't know why. So you know what you need to do," Jay said.
Tyler listened intently to their plan and finally interrupted with, "You are all out of your mind. You don't stand a chance. That place is heavily guarded. No one gets in without a thorough search."
"Yeah, that is a problem," Jay said as he continued to lay out the plan, completely ignoring what Tyler had just said. They chatted well into the morning hours discussing various options. Back and forth the conversations went until around 3:45 a.m. when they had all decided there was no more to discuss. It was now time for action and time was of the essence.
Theo turned to his son and smiled.
"Tyler, again I am sorry it had to come to this. I'd give my life freely knowing that you would be safe. But Jay is right, Felicia Giordano cannot be trusted to keep her word, and so the choices are clear," Theo said to his son.
"Good luck, Dad," Tyler said as the two men hugged tightly.
Next, Theo walked over to Nick. "You asshole. I actually cried when I thought you died," Theo said.
"Aw. You say the sweetest things. You want to kiss me?" Nick said with a big grin on his face.
Theo stared at him as if he had two heads. "What?" Theo said backing away from Nick. They all burst out laughing.
"Prison does strange things to men," Jay said now laughing hysterically.
"Goodbye, my friend," Nick said to Theo as the two men hugged.
"Better not get yourself killed, or I swear I'll kick your ass," Theo told Nick.
"You sure you don't want to kiss me?" Nick said, laughing as he made his way to the door. Turning around he looked at the three men, nodded and walked out into the night.
Theo watched as Nick departed, and then turned to the other men and said, "That man is crazy."
Both Tyler and Jay smiled.
Next it was Jay's turn to say goodbye. "You two stay safe. Tyler, I'll see you later tonight. Theo, good luck and if our paths never cross again, know that it was a pleasure to have known you," Jay said as he opened the door, looked out, turned to Theo and said, "It looks like a good day to die," then closed the door behind himself.
Tyler was taken aback by Jay's last words. "What did he mean by that?" Tyler asked Theo.
"It's what we use to say every time we went into battle. ‘It looks like a good day to die,’" Theo responded. "But I didn't know what it meant, ‘cause I sure as hell wasn't planning to die any one of those times."
Instead of getting some sleep, father and son spent the next few hours getting to know each other. Theo told Tyler about Nikki and that he wanted to take her to South America with him.
"But you just met her," Tyler said.
"Yeah, but we kissed," was Theo's response.
"I see," Tyler responded. Tyler realized that his father was who he was: a man who was honest to a fault.
The rest of the morning was spent on idle chatter before they left to get some breakfast.
"We won't be coming back here again," Theo said as Tyler watched him wipe down every item they had touched. An hour later they left the motel for the last time.