The Frenchman's Revenge (54 page)

Listening to Bai’s soft cultured voice
explicating
forgotten moments in the history of his
beloved
homeland
,
Ror
y
shook his head. It was hard
to square
the seeming incongruity
of
the distinguished, elegant man who had four accomplished Irishmen begging for his attention
with
the man in
Finn’s story
. A
nd
the man who had coolly burned to death twenty members of the Costa Nostra
.

With a flash
of insight, Rory understood the
compelling power of the man
holding court
at the head of the table.
Remembering the cold fury
in Bai’s eyes
when
he
threw the knife at
him, Rory
saw
pure animal
power
in human form, ready and able to take down anything and anyone who stood in his way. At that moment
,
he
knew
Bai was
as
charismatic
and as
dangerous
a man as
he
had met and
couldn’t suppress
the chill
that shook his spine.

A
fter
the dessert
was
cleared
and the guests were enjoying
brandy and
c
igars
, Rory and Sean Byrne exchanged a nod.
Sean rose and asked to be excused
,
citing an early morning meeting.
Rory was confident e
veryone at the table saw through the
pretext
,
but he
had told Sean
earlier
that
he needed to have a
private conversation with
t
he Frenchman
.

Turning to Bai,
Rory dropped the Irish guise
and
spoke
as the leader of an opposing gang
,
not merely
as
a
n entertaining
dinner guest.

“I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you privately.
Mike and Patrick are privy to my conversations and I would like them to stay.”

Bai nodded.

“
Nianzu is my lieutenant and Wyatt is my partner and closest advisor.”

Bai
stopped for a moment
and his eyes were cold and hard.
He took a long drag o
n
his Turkish cigarette and blew a cloud of aromatic smoke high in the air. He held Rory’s gaze and then said softly
,
“Elena is my wife and
,
as we established earlier, she is also my woman.”

Rory felt his face flush
and he
grimaced
,
acknowledging that he had not forgotten the earlier
incident.
From the look in his eyes Rory wondered if
t
he Frenchman ever would. Taking a chance
,
he
assumed
the
brash
air of
self confidence
that had gotten him out of tight spots in the past.

“May I call you Bai
?
The Frenchman
,
while rich with
symbolism
,
seems
formal among friends.”

“
Mais
bien sûr
.
But
,
of course. Please do.
I permit acquaintances to cal
l me
by my given name.”

Rory blushed again
,
wondering
if by chance Bai had been trained by the
cutting
tongue and flat ruler of Sister
Carmelita
,
who was the final impetus in the ten year old Rory’s departure from formal education.

Bai
seemed to relent
in the face of Rory’s obvious
embarrassment;
at least his next question was cordial, more in keeping with their dinner conversation.

“Tell me, Rory, how does Aldo Marcello get the minor East
Coast
gangs to defer to him, give him the power to run roughshod over them?”

“It’s no secret, Bai.
He is the most vicious, dishonorable human being that ever wa
l
ked this earth.”

“I gathered that. But there are a number of leaders who might be called vicious, perhaps
some
at this table.
What makes Marcello different?
What does he do to gain the loyalty of the other gangs?’

“It ain’t loyalty. It’s fucking, heart stopping fear.
He terrorizes them.”

“Hmm, be specific.”

“I take it you know Marcello created a
clever
scheme where out of the goodness of his heart and a third of the profits he
launders the
monthly
earnings
of the member gangs.
They get back less than
a third
of what they gave Aldo a
fter
he
supposedly
scrubs
of
f
any illegal stink.
”

“Yes, I am aware of his enterprise.
Why do the other gangs participate?”

“Marcello gives you one chance to join his little
syndicate
. Any gang leader who refuses finds one of his key men dead
,
killed in a barbarous way.”

Rory gave a harsh snort
,
then added, “In case you didn’t know
,
his moniker is
t
he
“
Barber.
”
He likes to do the killing himself; he is a master with
a
ten
inch blade. As long as his victims are securely tied, that is.
My understanding is that he has a special rack he uses to spread-eagle the unlucky bastards
; gives
him access to their most tender places and allows him t
he luxury of time.
He gets off on screams of terror, I’m told.”

Bai nodded
in confirmation and Rory saw what looked like a mix of anger and pain in his eyes.

“Yes, one of the young girls Aldo
captured
described Aldo’s penchant for sexual gratification
from the terrified screams of his victims.
”

Rory
continued,
his voice thick with disgust
.

“The recalcitrant gang gets their
man
back –
in a box—not big enough to hold a full grown man, you understand, unless he was chopped in pieces first. It doesn’t take more than one, two at the most
,
of their members tortured to death to bring the smaller gangs around.
And Aldo keeps them in line by filling their ranks with informants.
God help any one who tries to bamboozle him. They don’t live to see the sunrise.”

Bai sat quietly smoking for several minutes
,
looking at the Irish leader.

“I understand that you have resisted the lure of Marcello’s
syndicate
,
oui
?”

Rory flushed
and puffed up his chest with
pride.

“You’re damn right.
The only gang Aldo hasn’t been able to terrorize is mine.”

“Why is that?”

Rory smiled and
allowed his satisfaction to show.

“Because I’m as good with a knife as that
s
on of a bitch
and I don’t need a fucking rack to hold the men I’m killing
; even
that prick Aldo
understands
the difference
.
And my men trust
me;
they
know I
’d
go to my grave to
protect
them
.”

Looking down at his bandaged wrist
,
he added with
a
n
awkward
grin,
“
M
aybe
I’m
not as good as you are
,
but I
assum
e
no one is as good
with a knife as
you
are, correct?”

Bai
shrugged
,
a graceful lift of his shoulder
s
.

“My knife skills are adequate.”

Rory quirked an eyebrow and wondered to himself if ever in his life he had met a cooler or more ruthless son of a bitch.
He concluded
,
with a slight shake of his head
,
that he hadn’t. He shouldn’t have been surprised by Bai’s next question. It just underscored how fucking smart he was.

“Who does Marcello answer to?
”

“
Interesting question, Bai.
Not many people would think to ask it.
But you are on to something. Aldo presents himself as the king of the hill. He
is a lot of things
,
but he ain’t a
politician.
He doesn’t
pretend
to be anything but a vicious son of a bitch. His wo
rld
is the likes of me
.” Rory said with a grin. “
We do
n
’t pretend to be polished
. We
gain loyalty with our fist
s
and our weapons.
No,
I’ve
long
thought
that Aldo has a silent partner
,
someone as vicious as he is
, someone
who handles the fuckers who fear exposure more than they do violence.
Aldo
’s backed by
a network of politicians and moneymen like the fucking
bankers
who grease his laundering scheme. Someone with
‘
different skills
,
’
shall we say
,
created that network and keeps the powerful
assholes
in line.
I don’t know if Aldo is the boss or
the
silent one is.
All I can say is that
they have created a powerful
partnership
that
makes them the strongest gang
in New York
coming and going
.” He added with a devilish grin, “Except mine.”

It was only after he had
ta
l
ked at length about a
range
of subjects
that
Rory realize
d
he was being
interrogated
by a master. Without much thought
,
he had given Bai critical information about the workings of
Marcello’s
gang and
his own and
got little or nothing in return.
He decided it was time to ask the question that mattered most to him, the one he had travelled from
New York
to ask
t
he Frenchman.

He took a clearing breath
,
then
gave Bai what he hoped was his most charming smile.

“Have you ever thought about sharing? There’s room at this table for both of us.”

Bai quirked an eyebrow and a wicked grin tugged at his mouth.
He drew on his cigarette
,
then shook his head.

“Y
ou can ask around
,
Rory
,
but you will get the same answer from anyone you ask
.
I don’t share
.”

He looked over at
Elena
,
mak
ing it clear
he
was
talking about her
, then added, “Or anything else.”