The mention of Rostov’s organization gave Dan a queasy feeling in his stomach. He wondered what the implications would be for him if the two syndicates came to an agreement. Would he be part of the deal?
Ted returned with the drinks and they sat down together.
“Manny just took a call from Rudi Meyer,” he said quietly to Dan. “Things must be going well upstairs because they decided to dispense with the heavies. Rudi’s bringing them down.” He jerked his head in the direction of Jamie and his friends. “I guess that’s why they decided to let our boys go, too.”
“Those outfits have been at each other’s throats a long time. I suppose it makes sense to reach some sort of agreement.”
“Oh sure, they’d have parleyed a long time ago if Rostov hadn’t been such a jerk. But the way I see it, there’s more to it than that.”
“Oh?”
Ted took his time, clearly enjoying a receptive audience. “Word is, Hernandez is ambitious – too ambitious to want people to look on him as a caretaker for Rostov. A deal like this would strengthen his position.”
Manny came over to their table. He looked agitated.
“Rudi Meyer’s bringing their security people down here to wait. I ask you, Dan, what am I supposed to do with these guys, charge them or give them free drinks?”
“Don’t worry, Manny. I’ll have a quick word with Rudi when they get down here.”
A few minutes later Rudi Meyer entered with four men. He sat them down at a table on the far side of the bar, away from Hank and the others. Dan buttonholed Rudi on his way out.
“Rudi, Manny wants to know if he should charge their drinks.”
“No, we can stake them for a few drinks. They should only be here an hour or so.”
Dan noticed that Manny was mouthing something at him and jerking his head in the direction of the Casino. He copied it to Rudi. “What about the girls?”
“Hell, no. Keep the girls out of the way. Just tell him to give the guys a few drinks.”
Manny was already at the table, taking their order. Dan went over and waited for him at the bar counter and this gave him the chance to take a closer look at the visitors. The one who was currently talking to Manny was a mountain of a man with a completely bald head; he looked like an ex-wrestler. There wasn’t anything unusual about that. No weapons were allowed on the premises, so it made sense to have at least some people around who were used to unarmed combat. Of his three companions two were slightly built, and there was an air of calm malevolence about them. Dan felt a chill, remembering the man in the background during his encounter on Mars.
Professional psychopaths. They’d kill a man as easily as they’d swat a fly.
The third was different. He was restless, drumming his feet on the floor and constantly looking around him.
When Manny returned, Dan quietly passed Rudi’s message to him, picked up two more bottles and returned to his table. He glanced back at the bar. On one side Hank and the others were sipping their drinks. On the other side three of the newcomers were doing the same. But by now the restless one had spotted the company bunnies, who had been chatting quietly in the entrance of the Casino, and he was looking them up and down. The girls noticed it right away and their expressions changed. Two of them moved away and Kelly came over to sit with Ted. Dan joined them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the restless man get up and walk towards them.
He stood over the table. Ignoring Ted and Dan, he said to Kelly, “Okay, baby, let’s go somewhere quiet.”
Kelly looked in alarm at Dan, who spoke without looking up.
“You’re way off base, buddy. Butt out.”
The man’s face came down, close to Dan’s, a flushed, chubby face, with large dark eyes and bushy eyebrows.
“Did you speak?” His thick lips were curled back in derision.
“You heard me. Butt out.”
The man smiled in wonderment and glanced over at his companions but they were sitting quietly with their drinks and taking not the slightest notice. He turned back to Dan, but before he could say anything Dan added quietly:
“Look, there’s a bunch of our guys over there who only need the whisper of an excuse to take a crack at you. So while your boss is busy upstairs trying to make peace, you’re down here starting a war. You think he’s going to be pleased?”
“You punk, I’ll…”
Dan suddenly became aware of another presence at the table. It was Jamie.
“Dan,” he said in his usual drawl. “This guy giving you any trouble?”
The swarthy man turned. Jamie looked small enough, Dan supposed, not to represent a threat. “Keep your fucking nose out of this, half-pint,” the man said.
There was a brief pause. Jamie stood motionless and said nothing. Then suddenly – with the speed of a snake striking – he grabbed a bottle off the table and broke it over the bigger man’s head. He staggered back and fell into a chair swearing, blood welling from a cut in his forehead. Dan looked round quickly. Hank, Oscar, and Felipe had not moved but they were clearly alert and poised for action. On the other side of the bar the three men were still seated at their table, sipping their drinks as if nothing had happened. Dan guessed they’d been told to stay cool and they, at least, were following instructions. Meanwhile their companion was holding a tissue to the gash in his forehead, which was bleeding copiously, and yelling threats and abuse at Jamie.
Manny was motionless at the bar, gazing in disbelief at what had happened. Dan went over and asked him to pass the first aid kit he kept behind the bar. He selected a suitable pack and, ignoring the protests and swearing, wiped the man’s greasy black hair aside, sponged off the blood as best he could, and applied an adhesive dressing.
“This is just a temporary fix, buddy. That’s a nasty cut. I should stop by the hospital and have them see to it properly.”
The man was still shouting. “You wait, half-pint. You ain’t heard the last of this. Doin’ that to me. Little shit!”
But Jamie was already going back to his place at the bar. The ex-wrestler came over making a placatory gesture with the palm of one hand, and half-led half-carried his ranting companion back to their table. As they passed Dan heard him say:
“Shut up now, Marco. Come and have a drink. If you behaved yourself this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.”
Kelly watched them go and then got up quickly. She was hugging herself defensively with both arms.
“I’m off, Dan. Jeez, what a creep! Made my flesh crawl. Thanks for lookin’ out for me.”
*
After a while Raoul Hernandez departed with his entourage. It was a nasty incident but it could have been a whole lot worse, Dan thought, and it was over now.
At least, that’s what he thought.
23
The first Dan knew about it was when he noticed some staff talking in hushed tones in the lobby. Dan frowned and walked over to the reception desk.
“Something up, Julian?”
“Yeah. Two cops came in about half an hour back. Detectives, plain clothes. Wanted to see Raymond Virgilius. I checked their IDs, then got Rudi to show ’em up. Felipe seems to know something about it.”
He pointed. Felipe was talking to some other staff. When he saw Dan he took him off to one side.
“It’s Jamie, Dan. He’s dead.”
“Oh my God. How did it happen?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t show up this morning. I never known the guy miss a day. I’m thinking maybe he’s not too well, so I go round there. The place is all taped off and crawling with cops. There’s a guy standing guard at the entrance, so I ask him what the hell’s going on. He says, ‘Who are you?’ I say, ‘I’m his buddy from work, that’s who.’ So then he tells me there’s been an accident and he wants to know where we work. I tell him. It’s not a secret. He wants me to hang around to answer questions but I ain’t stupid. I say they need to talk to Virgilius first. An hour later the cops turn up here.”
Dan had a sinking feeling.
“Was it what went on last night – you know, with that asshole from Rostov’s outfit?”
Felipe’s mouth set. “If I find that lousy shit—"
Dan jerked his head in the direction of the lobby. The two detectives had just emerged from the elevator.
*
After the police had left his office Raymond Virgilius made a few enquiries of his own. Then he put in a call to Raoul Hernandez.
“Hello, Raoul. Raymond Virgilius.”
“Hi, Raymond. How’s it going?”
“Raoul, I just had the police in here about one of my employees, Jamie Sullivan. It seems they found his body outside his apartment block with his skull crushed. It happened last night, after our little get-together.”
“I am sorry to hear this, Raymond. Is there something I can do?”
“Well, yes, there might be. Forensic examination isn’t complete but the police found some burns on his clothing. They said it looked like he took a pretty heavy charge from an electrolaser. So whoever did it paralysed him first and then hit him with something heavy. The word here is that one of your security people, a guy called Marco, got the worst of a quarrel with Jamie in the bar. It couldn’t be, could it, that he decided to follow Jamie home and complete unfinished business?”
“What? Jesus! Look, Raymond, it is the first I have heard of this. Let me ask around. I will come back to you. Give me ten minutes.”
When Raoul returned the call ten minutes later he sounded grim.
“Raymond, Marco Zoltan hasn’t been in today, and no one has seen him since last night. There is no reply from his lodgings either. It looks like he’s taken a runner. But whatever happened was personal. What we agreed, we agreed in good faith. My word is my bond, Raymond. If I find that punk before the police do, he’s dead.”
Virgilius’s tone was measured. “I’m pleased to hear that, Raoul, because I’ve got three guys here who just said exactly the same thing.”
He broke the connection and summoned Rudi Meyer to his office.
“Rudi, we’ve got to contain this thing. I want you to go down and have a word with Hank, Oscar and Felipe – and Larssen, you said he was involved too. Tell them what’s happened. On no account is there to be any retaliation. This was a personal thing and I’m not going to let it jeopardize a brand-new business relationship. I’m going to cooperate fully with the police. If the gendarmes come round asking questions all of them must cooperate, too. Tell them I said so.”
“Okay. What about this Marco guy? Our boys are sure anxious to catch up with him. Will that be a problem?”
“No, that’s not a problem. They mustn’t neglect their normal duties, of course, and they mustn’t be careless. But if Marco Zoltan turns up in the river next month I’m not going to shed any tears and neither is Raoul. In fact with both of our outfits and the police on the lookout for him he’ll be lucky to last that long.”
“They’ll be pleased to hear that. I’ll tell them.”
*
Dan was upset about Jamie. He also felt guilty, because Jamie had intervened on his and Kelly’s behalf. What he couldn’t understand was how Marco had got the better of a guy as tough as that. He put it to Ted and Ferris.
“You didn’t hear?” said Ferris. “He used an electrolaser first.”
“What’s an electrolaser?”
Ted laughed. “You’ve led a sheltered life, Danny.”
“Yeah, well we didn’t cover offensive weapons at the Academy.”
Ted leaned forward, his clasped hands on the table, the fingers interlaced. He loved to adopt this didactic mode. “Cops use it for riot control because normally it doesn’t mark the skin. It fires a powerful laser first. That ionizes the air and creates a narrow conducting channel. An instant later it throws several million volts of electricity down it.”
Dan blinked. “Isn’t that lethal?”
“A full charge is, if you catch it in the chest. Heart goes into fibrillation – just like an electric shock. So they usually turn it down a bit and aim at the legs. Puts the muscles in spasm, like a real bad cramp.”
Ferris jerked his head towards the bar. “Felipe over there got hit once. The others had to carry him back. He was in bed for days. Every time he moved it set the cramp off again. He said he’d sooner catch a slug any time.”
“If it’s a police weapon how did Marco get hold of one?”
“There are loads in circulation. Probably more than other sidearms. I mean, if you’re planning to hold up a store, why risk a murder rap?”
*
Hank, Oscar, and Felipe seemed to be taking Jamie’s death surprisingly well. Any feelings they had about it were channelled into the desire to get their hands on Marco and into rehearsing in some detail what they would do when they caught up with him. They were, Dan supposed, something like soldiers who lose friends when they’re fighting in the front line.
Marco Zoltan was found in the desert two weeks later. The eyes may have been taken by birds but that didn’t account for the other missing body parts, the disembowelment, or for the torso itself, which looked like it had been opened with a welding torch. No one claimed responsibility but there was now a noticeably more relaxed atmosphere in the bar.
It was a reminder for Dan that for all the corporate ambience of Virgilius’s organization violence was never far below the surface.
People like Hank, Oscar, and Felipe were in a dangerous line of work and they knew the risks when they took it on. But death or personal injury hadn’t been in the job description for any of the other staff, least of all the girls. So what happened a few weeks later hit Dan especially hard.
The deal with Rostov’s outfit had unsettled some of the existing partners, and this sparked off a flurry of meetings at senior level. Although some of these took place at Virgilius’s headquarters Dan was still kept busy, flying their own managers out to reassure and soothe their opposite numbers in a way that only face-to-face contact could accomplish. Eventually things calmed down and he had the chance to put in an appearance at the bar. He was sitting with Ted and happened to remark:
“Where’s Kelly tonight?”
A couple of the other girls were sitting up at the bar close enough to hear him ask and they got up and moved away. One of them had a sour expression.
Ted said casually, “She’s in hospital.”
“Oh? What’s the matter with her?”
“She got beaten up last night.”
“What?” Dan’s fist closed around his arm. “How did it happen?”
Ted fidgeted uncomfortably. “Don’t ask me. I was out on a job. Ferris knows. He took her to the hospital. Ask him.”
Ferris had been deep in conversation with somebody on the other side of the bar, but he must have guessed what they were talking about because he came over quickly. Dan relinquished his grip on Ted’s arm. Ted shook himself free and pointedly smoothed the sleeve of his immaculate suit.
Ferris pulled up a stool and sat down. “You askin’ ’bout Kelly?” he said. “I had to pick her up and take her to the hospital. She’s hurt pretty bad.”
“Who did it to her?”
“She was with this guy Braggazzi last night. I guess he was here for one of these pow-wows they been having upstairs. Came down afterwards to try his luck at the tables. Seems he lost quite a bit of money. He was in a vile temper. Blamed Kelly. Said she was reading his cards and making signals.”
“She wouldn’t have the first clue how to do that.”
“You know that and I know that. Chances are he knew that, too. Anyway, eventually he calms down and pays up and asks her back to his room for a nightcap. As soon as she gets her there he locks the door and starts banging her around. Then he calls in these two stooges who go round with him – you know, his bodyguards – and they take it in turns to hold her down and rape her.”
“Jesus! And this was last night?”
“Yeah. I left her at the hospital in the early hours.”
“Was it her who told you what
happened?”
“No, she wasn’t in no shape to tell anyone anything. It was…” He grimaced, then leaned forward. “Listen, Danny, this is strictly between us, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Neil Martin told me. You know Neil? Works for Rudi Meyer? Maybe you don’t, he’s never down here. Seems Virgilius has little faith in this guy Braggazzi, so he asks Rudi to keep an eye on him. When he says that, he means twenty-four-hour surveillance. Rudi passes the job to Neil. Neil’s good at that, he’s ex-CIA. He follows the guy everywhere. He also has the room bugged and that’s how he gets to see what happens. I figure he might know something so I nail him after I get back from the hospital. As a rule Neil keeps his mouth shut tight but he didn’t like what he saw so he told me.”
“Has anyone been to visit her?”
“No.”
“What, not even the girls?”
“Especially not the girls.”
“Poor kid. I’ll go see her. Where is she?”
“Woodhall. In the ninth district.”
“I’ll find it. Anyone wants to know where I am – that’s where I am.” Dan started to get up, then turned back to them. “Listen, Ferris, this Braggazzi. Who is he?”
Ferris shrugged. “Runs a pretty big outfit, I hear, mainly out East, but interests all over.” He looked closely at Dan. “You’re not thinking of going after Braggazzi are you, Danny? Don’t tangle with him. He’s bad news. You’ll get hurt. Just mind your business. It’s not worth it.”
“That’s right, Danny,” said Ted. “She’s only a little broad, fer Chrissake.”
“Yeah, a little broad who’s hurt bad enough to be in hospital.”
*
Dan found the hospital all right and managed to catch the doctor to have a word with him. The man was friendly and totally matter-of-fact.
“Fracture of the right zygomatic arch. Laceration, extensive bruising on the face and... er... other areas of the body.”
“Will she…? Will she be marked? Permanently, I mean.”
He grimaced. “Hard to say. No guarantees. We’ll do the best we can. One of the lacerations is quite deep, and that may scar. Whoever hit her in the face must have been using a knuckleduster or something. There’s the shock, too. That may take a lot more getting over. We’ll just have to take it one step at a time.”
Saturn Run (The Planetary Trilogy Book 1) Page 12