The CrimeLords' War (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 7)

by Liza O'Connor

  Lionel’s brow furrowed. “We followed the fellow back into Seth’s territory.”

  “Where exactly?” she asked.

  “To the old button factory across the river.”

  Tubs spoke up. “Seth doesn’t own that factory and he’d never hold a meeting on property he doesn’t control. Too much risk in doing so.”

  Vic smiled at Tubs for the excellent input.

  “Any idea who does own it?”

  He shook his head.

  She wrote Ben’s name on the top of a page and placed the first to do item under it.

  Go to the Library of Records and determine who owns the Button Factory.

  “I’ll need an accurate address for the building.”

  “123 Water Street,” the youngest brother, Hercules, said. “I know because when they were beating me with the pipe, I faced a tiled wall that said 123 Water Street.”

  “Excellent observation, Hercules.”

  He attempted to smile, but flinched in pain, no doubt regretting the effort.

  “Did the young man you followed go into the warehouse?”

  “Yes,” Lionel said. “It was pitch black inside. The fellow had a small lamp to light his way. We followed in the dark.”

  “I tripped on a pipe and made a god-awful racket,” Hercules admitted. “Lion helped me up, but by that time the fellow was gone.”

  Lionel sighed. “Instead of doing the smart thing and going home, I didn’t want to let Samson down, so we split up to look for our quarry.” He shook his head. “We should have never split up. Now we didn’t have each other’s back. We could have probably fought them off long enough to escape had we been together.”

  “You don’t know that,” Hercules muttered.

  Vic leaned forward. “How many men attacked you, Lionel?”

  “I prefer to be called Lion. There were over ten…big guys, fought dirty. They all had pipes or knives. No guns.”

  “Did you have a gun?”

  “I did. But I never got off a shot. I warned them to back off or prepare to die, then a pipe smashed down on my wrist. They were on me in a second, beating me unconscious.”

  She turned to Hercules. “And you?”

  “I thought I saw the hint of light and ran…more like stumbled after it. I slowed down just as I reached the door and then something hard smacked the back of my head. Next thing I knew, I’m tied to a chair, staring at the tiled address as a strange looking man asked questions and then smashed me with the pipe when he didn’t like my answers.”

  Vic leaned forward. “What did he ask you?”

  “I don’t remember,” Hercules said, his voice filled with guilt. “I didn’t talk. He kept beating me, but I didn’t talk.”

  “Hercules, what he asked you is far more important than what you said. I am trying to figure out who the one in charge is. The interrogator’s questions could help me determine who they are or at least their purpose. So try very hard to remember what they asked you. I don’t care what you answered. I just want their questions.”

  Hercules remained quiet for a long time. “He first asked ‘who sent you?’”

  “Excellent. That is most revealing. What else?”

  “Who do you work for? He asked those two questions over and over. Then he asked a new question. ‘Why did you follow the professor?’” Hercules covered his face. “I’m sorry, Samson, but the pain was more than I could bear. I said he was a thief and I wanted to find out who he reported to.’ For some reason that answer pleased him. It’s why he decided to stop beating me.” Hercules burst into tears of shame.

  Samson went to his brothers, kneeling before them. “I’m glad you told him. I would have never forgiven myself had either of you died. You did nothing wrong. Either of you.”

  Once Samson had settled his brothers and returned to his seat, Vic spoke. “His pleasure that they had followed ‘the professor’ supports my theory that they wanted him to be followed. That they had set a trap and we finally took the bait. Their earlier questions indicated that they feared someone else was onto them. Someone they feared could stop them.”

  “Someone else at the casino that night?”

  “Not necessarily. But it’s someone with influence or power to stop a crime lord war.”

  Samson snorted. “That’s got to be Xavier then. He’s the only one who can do that.”

  “Only if Tubs assists him.” Vic smiled at the strongest man she’d ever met. “So you go on the list as well. You have reason to send someone to follow the professor since you are not fully recovered.”

  “Put yourself on that list too,” Samson said.

  Vic shook her head. “I’ve never stopped a crime lord war,” she protested.

  Tub chuckled. “My money’s on you if you ever try.”

  “Mine as well,” Samson added.

  Casey and Fagan nodded in agreement.

  “And you were the one they went after this morning,” Tubs reminded her.

  While she appreciated the compliment of being the most feared person in England, it didn’t sit right with her.

  “Xavier has proven experience in this matter. Why wouldn’t they have feared him?”

  “Maybe they know he’s occupied right now,” Tubs suggested.

  Vic held up her hand as she focused on Lion and Hercules. “Understand, anything you hear in this room can never be shared. If you are tortured, lie and make up something, but never repeat what you hear tonight.”

  They both nodded.

  “Vic, I don’t think we should discuss this here,” Tubs warned.

  “I think we have to. The reason why I ranked over Xavier as the threat to their plan is because Xavier is not just occupied, he’s being handled by the group doing this. Once they have me out of the way, then Seth out of the way, they will kill Xavier as well.”

  Tubs shook his head. “They won’t need to. Killing Seth without permission will probably send him to prison.”

  Her mind replayed Xavier’s confession that he was supposed to marry Ariana ten years before, but thankfully didn’t. Instead, the young woman married a fellow her father preferred, a man she didn’t love.

  Ten years later, she still loved the arrogant Frenchman Xavier pretended to be. Vic had originally found her love of the Frenchman hard to believe. Arrogance was hardly an aphrodisiac.

  She closed her eyes, recalling the woman’s look of adoration towards Xavier. Pure love. Too pure. A woman raised by an evil father and then married to a man of his liking wouldn’t be half so innocent and pure. Self-survival would force her to build a shell around herself.

  Xavier was being played. “Samson, the thefts on your casino and this war with Seth are nothing but distractions. I believe the real purpose is to destroy Xavier. Do you remember the blonde Frenchman and woman we met in the private hallway?”

  He frowned but nodded.

  “Her name is Ariana. And I am almost certain she is the mastermind in this, and she intends to destroy everything Xavier loves, then kill him slowly. This grand plot isn’t for profit. It’s to remove England’s most effective counterspy.” She looked up at the group. “By telling you that, I have committed treason and can be hung.”

  “Then why did you?” Samson asked.

  “Because I need all of you to help me save Xavier. I cannot go to the proper authorities and present my case. First, they would never believe it. But what they would believe is that Xavier shared information with me that he was not allowed to do, thus while they might save Xavier from Ariana, he would almost certainly be hung for treason soon after.”

  She focused on the room of worried men. “Therefore, it is up to us to save Xavier. We cannot use Scotland Yard nor External Affairs. We must end the crime war, protect me from further assassination attempts—which there will be—and locate and bring in Xavier, whether he wishes to be rescued or not.”

  “Should we be looking for Xavier or a blond Frenchman?” Samson asked.

  “Good point. The only way you’ll recognize that th
is blond Frenchman is Xavier, is by his excessive arrogance and piercing black eyes. He remains tall and slim, but his nose has been altered so it appears less hawkish and more owlish.”

  Vic studied the worried faces before her.

  “The floor is open to suggestions on how we accomplish this task.” Vic hoped for a great deal of suggestions because honestly, she was way over her head.

  Chapter 14

  Tubs spoke first. “First thing is to protect Vic. Given our limited numbers, I don’t believe this house is secure enough. I suggest tonight we move him to a more defendable location.”

  Vic opened her mouth to object but Samson spoke first. “I strongly disagree. First of all, I believe both Vic and you will be needed to bring Seth in line. He’s lost a great number of his second tier and right now he’s convinced I did it. My men are on alert. They will defend themselves and my property. If we don’t convince Seth there is no war, then we’ll have a war all the same.”

  Tub sighed. “Then we need Xavier, because Vic’s never dealt with Seth before.”

  Vic’s fists clenched. “We don’t know where Xavier is. Our best shot of ending this war is to do so now,” Vic insisted.

  “I’m with Vic.” Samson said.

  “Let me try it on my own first,” Tubs asked.

  Vic shook her head. “Seth never saw you as anything but deadly muscle. He won’t believe this convoluted theory if you tell him.”

  Tubs nodded and sighed. “What’s your plan?”

  “Maybe Casey and Fagan could bring him to our office, where Samson, Tubs and I will be waiting.”

  “We need to do it in the basement,” Tubs objected. “No windows.”

  “That hardly seems a cordial meeting place. Perhaps we should have it here in the library…although we’ll need a third leather chair so we are all equal.”

  “I’ll have one of mine delivered,” Samson offered.

  She smiled at him not just for the chair, but supporting her participation. Her gut told her she was going to be needed.

  “And what are you going to say to Seth?” Tubs challenged.

  “That he and Samson are both being played by a foreign spy wishing to disrupt England.”

  Tubs nodded in approval. “That will work. Telling him the full truth would have probably made him refuse to call off the war. He would dearly love to get rid of Xavier, only after what happened the last time, he’s afraid to risk it.”

  Tubs referred to the British army attacking Dragon’s Cloud and razing the building to the ground and dismantling not just Seth’s sex slave business, but almost every business he possessed. It weakened his hold on his territory so much his own brother tried to take over, and other crime lords began to encroach on his grounds. All his miseries occurred because he had tried and failed to kill Xavier.

  Vic talked out what Seth should be told. Tubs and Samson challenged her with pushbacks that Seth might make. Once they had created explanations for these challenges, and had their individual orders, everyone hurried off leaving only Vic and Tubs.

  Tubs smiled at her. “Xavier would be so proud of you.”

  “He’s not dead and he’s not going to die. We will retrieve him.”

  Tubs nodded.

  Gregory’s soft knock to the door occurred then he entered with a worried Ben in tow.

  Vic grimaced. “Ben…I apologize. I headed over to see you this morning, only I got distracted.”

  Ben’s eyes rounded. “Nearly killed twice is what I heard. That’s not a distraction.”

  He brought with him a great deal of files and the box of jewelry.

  “Now’s not a good time,” Tub stated.

  “Actually, it is. I would much rather help Ben, than chew my nails.”

  Vic moved to the desk and offered Ben a chair on the other side. When he sat down, he smiled. “This chair is much nicer!”

  “Yes, well clients aren’t allowed in here, so Xavier can risk having comfortable chairs. So how did the jewelry recoveries go?” She smiled, happy to focus on a matter so inconsequential.

  Ben frowned. “The additional questions before I presented the jewelry worked very well.”

  “Then why the furrowed brow?”

  “On the opal, I retrieved the wrong one but the lady insisted it was her opal. I showed her the other opal which fit her description to the tee, but she insisted the prettier opal was hers.”

  Vic smiled and shook her head. “So much for sentimental importance.”

  “Should I have not have let her have the one she insisted was hers?”

  Vic paused, noting his worry. “What did you do?” she asked.

  “I let her have it.” He bit his bottom lip waiting for her response.

  “So our client was happy and will no doubt recommend us to others.”

  “But what if the proper owner comes to us to find her opal?”

  “Refuse to take the case. It is far too long after the parade to expect anyone to recover the jewelry now. To be honest, had the thefts not incurred in Samson’s territory, I would have told you to refund all the cases of lost jewelry. Normally, we only take cases containing unique, high priced items.”

  “Oh…sorry about that,” Ben stated.

  “Well, I’m glad the cases arose. It gave you a chance to deal with a great quantity of customers. And hopefully, you have learned from the experience.”

  Ben frowned. “I learned very pretty ladies can be most dishonest.”

  Vic smiled. “Then it was worth the effort,” she assured him.

  “I brought back all the other pieces. What should I do with the lady’s real opal?”

  “Put that one in the safe, just in case the husband insists on the one he bought her.”

  “I can’t open the safe,” Ben whispered.

  “Well hand it over and I’ll put it in the safe here.”

  Ben pulled the opal from his pocket and gave it to her. Vic placed it in the drawer and then refocused on Ben. “So how is the missing husband case going?”

  Ben smiled proudly. “The lady says they have only been married a few months and are very much in love. The gentleman is eight years her senior.”

  That didn’t meet any of the possibilities Vic had discussed with Ben before. “So what is your next move?”

  “Go to the friend’s house and see if he is there. If not, interview the butler.”

  “Well done! Anything else?”

  “I have three new cases for you.”

  Vic grimaced and took the files.

  “Should I not accept any more cases right now?”

  “Only take cases you believe you can solve on your own. I have to lay low while they figure out who wants me dead.”

  “But Gregory said Fagan shot the fella.”

  “True, but he was a hired assassin.”

  “Oh.” He stood and grabbed the three cases.

  “May I at least advise you how to go about solving them?” she asked, shocked by Ben’s response.

  “I’m afraid I’m making a mess of matters at the office. The people who asked for investment advice are getting upset because it’s taking so long.”

  “That we can solve,” she declared and wrote a quick note on a sheet of stationary and placed it in an envelope and wrote an address on it. “Go to the file cabinet and pull the latest report for each of the requests, if you cannot find a report, then you must let the customer know we are very busy and cannot take the assignment at this time. For the rest, take it to this gentleman and take very good notes. If you do not understand something he says, ask him questions. He loves to explain financial matters. Everything I know, I learned from him.”

  Ben smiled and handed her back the three files he had snatched.

  She looked them over. “You can definitely handle the first one, but never mention it to Xavier, and if your investigation turns up that the puppy has run afoul of another pot pie store, then take the case to Barns at Scotland Yard. He will tell you he is too busy and important to deal with such matte
rs, but remind him I am out of commission, so he needs to learn to delegate.”

  Ben wrote furiously on his notepad. “He’s not going to arrest me for being bossy, is he?”

  “Not if he ever plans to work with us again…and you can tell him that if needed.”

  Ben relaxed and made note of her comment.

  Vic opened the second case, and rage surged through her. “We won’t take a case from this man.”

  “Should I return his interview fee?”

  “No. You spent your valuable time interviewing him. He knows very well we will not do business with him. I’ve no idea why he came for an interview.”

  Tubs’ head popped up. “Who is it?”

  “Sanders Block. We took a case for him before you came on. He wanted us to find his daughter. He lied about every particular in the case. His misdirections delayed us finding the girl by two weeks. While we searched in the wrong places, the poor child starved to death.” She sighed heavily. “While we could not prove it, I belief he misled us purposely, so he could murder the child while looking like a dutiful father doing everything possible to save her.”

  She then threw the file in trash can.

  “I’m sorry,” Ben whispered.

  She realized her seething rage had terrorized her very fine employee. “It’s not your fault. Xavier let him know in no uncertain terms never to blacken our doors again. If he thought we’d forget him in a mere three years, he is sorely mistaken. Connors believed she died just a few hours before we found her.”

  She covered her face, recalling all too well the child’s bruised face and body.

  “What did he want this time?” Tubs asked Ben.

  “It doesn’t matter!” Vic yelled.

  Ben jumped up and carried the trash can to Tubs so he could pull out the file.

  Vic frowned at Tubs, but returned her focus to the last case. Her brow furrowed as she read the interview notes. “When did this interview occur?”

  “Nine a.m. this morning.”

  “I’ll keep this one.”

  “What should I tell the client?” Ben asked.

  “Nothing. I’ll handle this personally.”

  “But Gregory said—”