The Frenchman's Revenge (23 page)

He warned, “
Be careful, Martin. I believe you meant to say
whoever
was responsible
for the attack
could have burned down the whole city
.
I’m confident a politician of your
ilk
,
like
so many others we
’ve
been blessed with in this challenging decade
,
will want to be particularly careful
not to slip
in
to
slander
.”

Ignoring Martin’s angry snort, Bai continued.

“Indeed
,
I do
know
the damage fire
could do to the city.
For that reason
,
I’m pleased that a large contingent of our
Sing
Leon
members
happened to be in
the city
last night
to aid
the fire chief
.
A true stroke of luck to have fifty
volunteer firemen show up precisely when they
were
needed
,
don’t you agree
?
”

Bai paused for a moment and looked at each of his guests
, his
sardonic grin hardening to match his cold
,
mirthless eyes
.

“I would like to
return to the issue of
the underage prostitutes
who
were
work
ing
in
M
adam
Torrent
o
’s
establishment prior to last night’s incident. I am curious
,
Jim.
W
ere
the crime
s
against those girls
overlooked
by the fine legal and political organizations you respectable men represent
because the children
involved
we
re Chinese
?
”

“Jesus, Bai.
God
,
no!
You know me better than that.
You know that isn’t true.
Hell, w
e can’t just go
on
private property
without permission and confiscate someone’s property.
You know that!
”

“
Yes,
as a matter of fact
,
I do.
I’m well aware of that
legal nicety
, Jim.
By the same token
,
you
cannot come on
my property without my permission.
To be clear. As much
,
or as little
,
as I enjoy your company
,
this is as far as any of you will be going today.”

“Bai,
please
understand. We are trying to help you.
Chri
st, the
Marcello gang i
s
the most vicious gang in the
Costa Nostra
. T
hey’re
gonna tear
you apart if we don’t get those
g
irls back. They think their property has been stolen.”

The sheriff
shook his head in
distress
and looked around the table at his colleagues for support.
When no one else spoke
,
he t
ook a
deep
breath and let out a long sigh.

“Hell, I
never
thought I
would
suggest
this
. I
n fact
I
can’t believe I’m saying it
. E
xcept that
I know you are an honorable man
,
as is you
r
father. And
Christ, Wyatt and I have been friends for twenty years.
I want to protect you
,
S
on
.
Have you thought of trying to share some of
your
territory
with those assholes?
It might work.
”

S
eeing
Bai’s impassive expression
,
he implored, “
These guys are serious
, Bai
. They’re backed up
,
tighter than
a swarm of bees crawling up the
q
ueen bee’s ass
.
Ask Peter here
. O
ur counterparts in N
ew York and
Boston
tell us there’s
barely a police force
in any Eastern city
that isn’t owned
two thirds or more by
one
of the gangs
.
”

Bai
took out his wolf’s head clipper and began clipping the end of his cigar.
He took his time lighting it
. W
ith a broad smile
,
he leaned back in his chair and puffed on the cigar
, looking at the sheriff through half closed eyes.

“Y
ou
’ve
know
n
me for how long
, Jim?
About twelve
years now?
In that time
,
h
ave you ever known me to share anythin
g?”

Jim
groaned
and put his head in his hands in despair.

“Look
,
gentlemen.
Just as
M
artin
, our esteemed
l
ieutenant
g
overnor
,
has a well earned reputation for… well
,
perhaps
it is
better left unsaid
what
Martin
has a reputation for
,” Bai
said with a
n ironic
grin at the
openly corrupt politician wh
o
was seething
with
rage
,
“I
also have a
reputation of
which all of you are aware
. It is a reputation I have earned
with blood and treasure
. I
t is one
that
I cherish.”

He paused for emphasis
and turned back to the sheriff.

“No, Jim,
I don’t share. And no one comes into my territory or my enterprises and t
akes
anything human or otherwise that belongs to me or that I am responsible for. As the leading Chinese entrepreneur in this country
,
you can be damn sure that includes Chinese children who are being
ra
ped
by
depraved animals
.”

He sat up straight in his chair
,
all semblance of good humor gone
. He
looked from the
s
heriff to the U.S.
m
arshal.

“And
,
parenthetically, Jim, and you
,
too, Pete
r
, while the police and marshal service in the East is fifty percent
or more
mob controlled, yours is at least that
. Hell,
they’ve been here less than two years.
”

Peter said, “That’s not possible, Bai. We’d know it if it was.”

Bai raise
d an
eyebrow
and put up his
hands, making
it clear that he could back up his statements.

“I’m
not sure what happened last night
. M
y sense of it is that
Mr. Marcello
does
n’t do a
particularly
good job of protecting
his
men
.
It is my understanding that
every goddamned one of them
died
last night
.

“
In contrast,
Jim and
Peter
can confirm that
we protect our own
. A
nd we protect our friends.
G
iven last night
,
I think we protect ours
a hell of a lot better than the mob does.
Allowing twenty
of my
men to
be
burned alive
is not something that
will
eve
r
happen on my wat
ch.”

Bai
sat quietly for several minutes smoking his cigar
. N
o one spoke.
He could tell by
the look on his face that Alex
was horrified.
Bai realized that
,
unlike everyone else at the table
,
Alex had no knowledge of what
had
happened.
He thought with a grimace that it was probably a good thing that his soon to be brother
-
in
-
law didn’t have any
misconceptions
about the severity of the issues
confronting them.

He turned to Greg
.
“Greg, and you
,
too, Tim.
Keep
your eyes open
.
It’s not just law enforcement that these guys are infiltrating
. There’s nothing they like better than
squeezing the balls of
a corrupt politician
.”

He grinned at
the lieutenant governor.
“C
areful,
M
artin
. N
othing is sweeter to the mobs than blackmail.
You better p
ray to God
they don’t get anything on you
. If they do,
those fuckers
will make you pay through
your ass
for the rest of your li
fe
.

“
But
I t
ell you what
. I
f you
or anyone you know
want
s
or needs
protection
, y
ou can pass th
e
word
they
might want to think about us
. No one is more
protective of
our friends than we are.
I might
add
, no one
--
including the mob
--
is more ruthless with our enemies.
Nianzu or Quitin are your best contacts
.
”

Bai ground his cigar out and sat u
p
straight in his chair. He
put both hands on the table
in front of him
.

“One final note.
We
have no intention of letting the Italians or the Irish take over this city
,
or frankly this country
. T
hat is something
Mr.
M
arcello
, Mr.
Calhoun
, Mr.
Regen
,
and all the rest
of them
will
soon understand
.
They may
be backed
by
countries in
Europe
,
but
we have
a whole fucking co
ntinent
backing us.
The mobs w
ill always
have
re
cruits
from
Ireland and Italy
,
but the boats also run between China and America
.
As the
gangs
can tell you
, you
’d
be amazed how many human being
s
you can cram in the bottom of
cargo
ships
. E
ven though
there is
a prohibition against Chinese immigration
, given
the way I train my men
,
they
blend nicely in
any
environment
. And, I might add,
can do extensive damage
.”