Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
H e blinks as he tells me, “In Chicago, we think it’s surely time that the Seattle families were welcomed into the fold.”
“What kept you?” Why now , is what I’m really wondering.
“It’s time. Many would say it’s long overdue.”
I cock my head to one side. “And the Commission?”
He leans forward, confidential. “You know they can’t even meet now. They have to communicate by clandestine means and through intermediaries.”
“But they are still your ruling body.”
“The final authority.” He makes it sound important.
I add, “For all of you.”
“All of us .”
I shake my head. “All of you. Not us, here.”
He waves the hand that’s holding the crystal. Bourbon sloshes. I am loving the smell.
“Not as yet, no.” he says, “I take your point.”
I wonder.
“Second thoughts,” I tell him, “I’ll have a splash of what you have. Is that the twelve year old?”
He lifts a hand to snap a finger. “They didn’t have the twenty. Can you believe it?”
A second later, smart shoes snap across the floor and a suited flunky bends forward, offering me a silver tray with a glass to match Jerry’s.
I nod my thanks and take the glass. I let my eyes close for a second as I sniff. Elijah Craig. There are worse bourbons. The smoky spice aroma will be enough for me for now.
He raises his glass. I raise mine.
After he takes another healthy slurp, he says, “There have been indications that the Commission could look favorably on a grant of franchise for Seattle. For the states of Washington and Oregon as a whole, in fact.”
Indications. Look favorably. We are honored. The gods may make their faces to shine upon us.
As flatly as I can, I say, “Really.”
“With the right structure.” His fingers lift off the table, telling me, Let’s not get in a rush . “A more traditional structure. The right choice of hierarchy and ruling families. People who show the proper loyalties and respect.”
“You mean, show and demonstrate those loyalties and respect.” I wait. “With demonstrations in a material form.
“From the moment I saw you, I knew that we would understand each other.”
“How much?”
His hand waves, airily. “Let’s not get ourselves tangled up into the reeds. We can always find ways to make the details and numbers work. It’s about finding what’s going to work to our mutual benefit.”
Oh. Yeah. I can see this all being very mutual.
“So there’s something else to negotiate? Now you have me wondering. Something that comes ahead of the numbers. That is a surprise. What comes first, before what you want us to pay? What could possibly be more important than the tribute, the kick-up.”
“There’s no rush. Let’s get to know each other a little.
On the phone he was acting like a thug, a dictatorial bully. Now he’s trying to show me a sophisticated gentleman. I remember an FBI interrogator saying that it’s much easier to tell over the phone when somebody is lying. People lie and deceive more successfully with their eyes and their faces than they ever can with only their voices.
This guy, I think it’s safer and simpler to assume he’s lying all the time. Like a man with a lot of power and influence who never did much to get it, and who hasn’t needed to work to keep it. Like a spoiled kid, he tells sloppy lies and will always expect to be taken seriously.
“What do you have in mind?”
Jerry lifts an eyebrow as he cocks his head to peer at my legs.
He looks back up into my eyes and waits. His eyebrow is still cocked.
I don’t react.
“May I call you Lucrezia?”
“You may not.”
Suddenly, I’m too tired and weary of listening to his macho posturing. I just want it to stop.
“Okay,” I tell him, “cut the rebop, will you? Please? You want something, and you’re going to offer me something. An encouragement to get me to give it to you.” By the way he hesitates, as different expressions start to take shape ion his face, but then fall away again, I don’t think he knows how to deal with a woman taking charge.
Madonna , but he must be a chore in bed.
“Jerry,” I say, “We’re not going on dinner dates, we won’t be curled up on a couch together. We aren’t going to get seats for games or concerts. There isn’t going to be cookies and milk and the chance of Netflix and chill is less than zero. So. Cut to the chase. What’s the bottom line?”
“You have to understand how important all of this is. There are complicated issues at stake here. Some delicacy is called for. What I’m here to offer would mark a historic turn in the organization’s history.”
My skin prickles. “Let me help you along. We have a profitable territory. You want a slice. As far as I can see, what you’re ready to offer amounts to some kudos and a big-boys’ badge. You’ll want a regular piece of the action across the state.”
“Two states. Oregon and Washington.”
“What?”
“We propose that the Fortuna family will take the top position in charge of Washington and Oregon states.”
“What?” I don’t usually repeat myself like that, but I am blindsided. “You propose to give us what we already have, plus a big chunk of stuff that you also don’t have.”
“But we can help the Fortuna family take it. All of it. This is the future, Ms. Fortuna.”
“Donna Fortuna. If you don’t mind. And, seriously ? Have you got any knowledge at all of the region? The history? the demographics? Do you even know the terrain? How things work around here? Do you have any idea what you’re proposing?”
His voice darkens.“We know how things work.”
I’ve shoved him so far to the edge of his comfort zone, he’s teetering on freefall.
I can’t hide my impatience anymore. “This is not Chicago, Jerry. We’re not about industries that are a hundred years old. This is where most of the planes that fly around the world are built. We make the software that drives the world. Here was where the biggest revolution in consumer marketing the world has ever seen came from.” I draw a breath. I’m going too far. But I can’t hold back any longer.
“You’re seriously going to come from the city of meatpacking, trucking, and smoking factories to lead us up the path to the future? Excuse me?”
His neck glows red.
“It’s going to happen, Lucrezia.” His tone of arrogance makes my teeth grind. “Whatever you think about it, this it’s coming. You just need to decide if you’re going to be on the bus or under it. Think about whether you want to be the one to hold this whole region back and stand in the way of everybody’s
“Well, I’ll keep all of that in mind, Jerry.” I start to get up to leave.
“Look.” His hands lift off the table. “We can take care of you.” He opens his hands. “Step aside. Leave with some grace and let the boy have his dignity and honor. We’ll see that you’re well looked after. Nice house, nice lifestyle. No worries, you won’t have to work again. If one of the two younger boys wants to go on seeing you, I don’t suppose anything will be done to stand in your way.”
I don’t trust myself to speak.
He says, “I’m here with gifts, Lucrezia. Sweeteners. But I haven’t come to negotiate. I want your agreement. And I need it now.”
His chair scrapes with a metal howl of pain. When he stands, he’s huge.
He moves around the table to stand in front of me. The shocking size of him pins me back in the seat. He stands, looming close in front of me. Stiflingly close. Too close for me to read the expression on his face.
His eyes ignite when I reach up and take hold of his balls through the tailored silk suit.
“They’re big,” I tell him. “Even swollen, maybe.”
I tug firmly downward and tilt my chin. His eyes flash and dance as he moves his face closer to mine.
Loud enough that he can hear, but no-one else can, I tell him, “You should maybe get them checked.” His eye twitches. “If you still have them later today.”
I close my hand tighter. “Definitely swollen, I’d say. Now,” I soften my voice more. “I’ve got a ten-inch blade that I could shove straight up your ass. You wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.”
The entitled bully in the back of his voice is making me mad. “My men would kill you in an instant.”
I smile as my head shakes. “We’re too close together. They won’t risk it. I could make you walk out in front of me.”
I squeeze. Hard enough to make his eyes pop wide.
His voice skips as he says, “You came here armed?”
My grip tightens and I give him a taste of a corkscrew twist.
“You brought about a hundred and ten men, all of them packing. You begrudge me a little hacksaw blade?”
I stand, quickly. I keep a solid hold on his balls. My head hardly clears his chest. His face stays calm, but beads of sweat, a shining arc of needle sized drops stand out around his hairline.
He asks me, “Where’s the blade?”
I smile. “Did I say that was all I was carrying? You came with a small army. A girl needs to be prepared.” I look hard into his eyes. Hie eyelids tremble.
“Now,” I ask him, reasonably. “Do you want a thick and heavy gush of blood all the way down the legs of your nice silk pants, or can we quickly reach a more civilized conclusion?”
“You won’t get away with this.”
“And you should freshen up your game. You’ve been watching clunky old movies. But when people say ‘You’ll never get away with this,’ don’t you ever notice that the other person pretty much always does end up getting away with it, whatever it is?”
“I’m telling you, Ms. Fortuna…”
“Do not disrespect me, Jerry. Do not do that again.”
I grip his balls harder
“You come here, to my town, where I run one of the top families. You go behind my back and start talking with my lieutenant. You don’t even contact me but you start some kind of negotiations about me, and without me.”
I pull down on his balls until his knees begin to bend.
“I grew up in the life, Jerry. I know how it works. We learned one thing above all and that is honor. Honor means respect.”
My fist closes tighter. “If you come to my town again, make it a point to show some to me.”
I sniff his French designer cologne. “A lot of great scents are made in Florence. you should try some.” After all his nonsense about tradition. “I will think about what you’ve said.”
I do have a hacksaw blade, it’s true, but if I have to use it, this will all go to shit faster than an all-in bet on an inside straight.
Two Ruger LCP Max automatics. I seriously hope that I don’t have to show them, much less fire. My guess is there’s at least one more man in here than I have rounds in the magazines. Even if I got out of this room intact, I wouldn’t have much more than a couple of blades to get past the battalions outside.
Daddy used to say, If you go ready for war, go ready enough to win .
My teeth clench.