The Mafia Trilogy

by Jonas Saul

  He checked to see if anyone approached on the sidewalk. It was empty but for two men on the other side of the street walking away from him.

  Back in the restaurant, one of the cops had disappeared.

  Darwin decided to go in, walk toward the back and take a seat in the corner. He would order something small and wait. And watch.

  If John’s source was correct, Yuri Pavel would enter the restaurant at any time with Rosina, and Darwin would make his move.

  Whatever that is.

  The door chimed as Darwin entered the restaurant. The bartender looked his way and nodded, then turned back to the cop.

  Darwin wondered if the cops were looking for him. Would John have told anyone where he was heading?

  Too late now.

  He moved through the tables, past the bar and the cop, making sure the brass knuckles remained hidden behind him, and kept moving toward the back. One of the couples looked up at him as he passed, but no one’s eyes lingered.

  The Russian-looking-newspaper-reading old man didn’t stop reading.

  At the back, he sat facing the front of the restaurant.

  Before the waiter could come to his table, the other cop exited the bathroom, met his partner at the bar and together they headed for the front door.

  Good, they’re not here for me.

  At the front, the men moved apart. One of them turned off the sign and pulled down thick black shades over the window.

  What the hell is this?

  Everyone in the restaurant got up and walked toward the front.

  What the fuck is going on?

  He broke into a full-body sweat.

  The couple closest to his table had left their plates piled high, beverages full.

  Adrenaline flooded his system. His stomach dropped and his hands shook. He clenched his already sweaty palm tighter on the brass knuckles.

  The only person still sitting was the old Russian man, his back to Darwin. The fork clinked against the plate and he continued to eat.

  When the shades were pulled down on all the windows, one of the cops locked the front door.

  Darwin couldn’t make it past the dozen people congregated near the front if he ran. He hadn’t seen Rosina yet. He didn’t come here expecting this.

  How much of this was planned? Did John Cavendish call ahead? That sneaky feeling that John sold him out crept up again.

  “It’s a Darwinian world out there, isn’t it?”

  The old man set his fork down. Darwin couldn’t tell what the man was eating. The man, who Darwin assumed was Yuri, dabbed at his face with a napkin.

  “Come, sit with me. It’ll be easier to talk that way.”

  The crowd at the front dispersed. Most of them walked through the doors that Darwin assumed led into the kitchen. The two Toronto cops moved behind the bar where they began to take their shirts off. Both of them dressed in black turtlenecks.

  They’re not cops …

  “Darwin. Don’t make me ask you again.”

  He looked at the back of the man’s head. He had picked his fork up and was now digging into his food again.

  Paralysis kept Darwin rooted to the chair. He didn’t want to move until he saw Rosina. He had no idea what to do now.

  One of the fake cops walked out from behind the bar. As he did, he pulled a hairpiece off his head and smiled at Darwin. His sleeves were rolled up, displaying an array of tattoos. Darwin recognized him instantly.

  Miklos.

  The man who attacked Darwin after Darwin had knocked one of Arkady’s soldiers that day in the warehouse.

  Miklos was Arkady’s crazy bare-knuckle fighter. Where was Arkady, then? He had to be close.

  Miklos approached. “Nice to see you again, Darwin.” He cleared his throat. “Yuri never asks twice for anyone. That is going to cost you.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “We didn’t get to finish what we started in the warehouse.”

  Darwin stood and bumped the small table aside with his thigh. It moved a foot and then settled. Miklos stepped even closer, crowding Darwin. He was imposing, exuding violence. Miklos craned his neck sideways, cracked it, flexed his fingers, cracking his knuckles too. Then he hopped from his left foot to right and back again.

  Before Miklos could take the first punch, Darwin swung his arm up and connected with Miklos’ cheek, the brass knuckles slamming home on solid bone.

  The violence oozing off Miklos dropped by half as his skin split and squirted blood. He stepped back and touched his cheek, his eyes wide in surprise. Darwin took the moment to advance and hit him again.

  Miklos lost his balance and fell backwards over a table. Darwin pounced, punching him over and over, letting all the pent-up rage out.

  Arms grabbed Darwin from behind and lifted him off. He struggled but they held firm. At least three men secured him and lifted him to his feet.

  Miklos stayed still on the floor, his face a bloody mess of flesh and ruined bone. Darwin caught a glimpse before he was hauled away and thrust toward Yuri’s table. The brass knuckles were ripped from his bloody hand as the men walked him around Yuri and then turned him to face the man.

  Yuri raised his face, still chewing. He set his newspaper on the table by his plate and gestured with his fork at the empty chair. The men pushed Darwin down and let go.

  Darwin adjusted himself, righted his shirt and settled into the chair. The three men moved behind the bar. The people who Darwin had thought were patrons had all disappeared except for the three men behind the bar.

  Yuri looked back at his plate of pasta and dug in as if Darwin and him were old pals catching up over a bite.

  Darwin rubbed his knuckles. Everything was intact. He touched the stitches in his head and was happy to discover they hadn’t popped.

  “We have business to discuss,” Yuri said.

  Darwin shook his head. “No. We don’t.”

  Yuri put his fork down, dabbed at his mouth with a white napkin and leaned back in his chair. He roamed his eyes over Darwin, checking out his shoulders, his arms, and then finally, he met his eyes.

  “I was expecting something a little different.”

  “Sorry to disappoint.”

  Yuri’s mouth twitched. It looked like he wanted to smile but decided against it.

  “You’ve created quite a name for yourself.”

  “How much did you pay Officer Cavendish to sell me out like this? Tell me, how much am I worth?”

  “That’s none of your concern. But what is of great fucking importance to you is Rosina.”

  Darwin whacked the table with his fists. “Where is she?”

  The men behind the bar jumped out and approached. Yuri waved them off.

  “If you want to see Rosina alive, you’re going to remain calm and listen. Can you do that? Or would you like to die now?”

  Darwin didn’t respond. He removed his hands from the table and placed them at his sides.

  “Good.” Yuri moved his plate, setting it on the newspaper. “I have a proposition for you, but first we talk.”

  “What kind of proposition?”

  Yuri brought up his index finger. “First we talk.” He lowered his head and raised his eyebrows. “Understand?”

  “Talk fast.”

  The men moved back behind the bar.

  “You have somewhere to go?”

  “I haven’t killed anyone in a few weeks. I’m getting the itch.”

  Yuri pulled out a small box and set it on the table. From inside the box he lifted out a fat cigar. After lighting it, he dropped the box back inside his suit jacket pocket. He puffed the cigar to life and gazed at Darwin through the smoke. “Are you threatening me?”

  “No. I’m threatening those three behind the bar. Miklos and I started a fight a few weeks back. I was trying to finish it before they interrupted.”

  “I know about that fight. That’s why I brought Miklos here today. I needed to see it for myself. The rumors about you could be all lies.”

  “Don’t believe a
ll that you hear. I’m newly married, looking to spend a quiet life with my wife. It’s you and your kind who keep getting in the way.”

  “That is too bad.” Yuri dragged on the cigar and blew the smoke sideways. “Was it that shit Cavendish that gave you the brass knuckles?”

  “Yes. My turn. Where’s my wife?”

  “There are four weapons pointed at you at all times.”

  “Where’s my wife?” Darwin asked again, this time louder.

  “I have no idea. Probably with Arkady. He’s skipped town.”

  Darwin wanted to dive across the table and jam the cigar into one of Yuri’s eyeballs.

  “Then who are you?” Darwin asked. “Why are we meeting? Why are you wasting my time?”

  “Because I’m the only one who can get you your wife back.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I want Arkady. Since I believe he has Rosina, and you want her, we have a mutual goal. Arkady won’t kill her if he thinks he can still get to you. At the same time, he won’t walk into a meeting with me. He knows I’ll have him executed for what he has done to my town.”

  “Toronto’s your town?”

  “Toronto has always been a city that’s too big for one family—until now. Arkady was my last problem. He has hurt the Italians badly and now the Triads. Once he’s gone, Toronto is mine.”

  “And you think I want to help you?”

  Yuri tapped ashes off his cigar. He gestured at one of the men by the bar. “Two vodkas.”

  His attention back on Darwin, he said, “Reason number one, you don’t have a choice. Reason number two, Rosina.”

  Darwin waited. The small shot glasses of vodka appeared before them. The man set the bottle on the table close to Yuri.

  “Drink.”

  Yuri picked his glass up and drank it all down.

  Darwin glanced at the glass and decided to go for it. He needed a drink. When he was finished, he slammed the empty shot glass down as hard as Yuri did.

  “Good,” Yuri said. “Now we talk like men.”

  Yuri poured more into both glasses. He set the cigar down and steepled his fingers.

  “Darwin, I’m a patient man. It’s a discipline. You learn it in prison. Patience allows you to think, strategize. Are you patient, Darwin?”

  “Sometimes. But when it comes to Rosina, never.”

  Yuri smiled this time. The tension in the room felt lighter. Darwin’s pulse slowed, but he stayed alert, ready.

  “When I grew up in Russia, we didn’t have much money. My father left my mother to raise us. We had rats in our small one-bedroom apartment. I watched while my mother would strangle the rats with her bare hands to protect us.”

  Yuri took another swig from his glass. Darwin left his untouched. One was enough. He couldn’t get drunk.

  “Do you understand what I’m saying?” Yuri asked.

  “Yes. You learned at an early age to protect what’s yours by strangling the rats.”

  “Very good. In Toronto, I’m trying to build political and financial connections. I’m running a business. I can’t do that with renegades like Arkady causing too much attention.”

  Darwin waited.

  “The Gambino and Fuccini Families needed to be reduced or removed because they were directing subordinates to use intimidation and violence to collect a mob tax from me here in Toronto. I tasked Arkady to handle it. I understand you got in the way but ended up helping the cause. For that, we drink.”

  Darwin guessed that Yuri liked to hear himself talk.

  “People asked who you work for. The FBI is stymied by you. The media call you The Blade, even though, as I understand it, you have a phobia of knives.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “How’s that? They can cure phobias?”

  Darwin turned his head far enough to show Yuri the stitches.

  “They operated on you to remove a phobia?”

  “No, I banged my head after Arkady tried to kill me. It caused swelling on the part of the brain that handles phobias. They seem to have disappeared.”

  “Well, well, that’s good news because I wouldn’t know what to expect when I introduce you to The Scythe, my main executioner.”

  “The Scythe? And why would you introduce me to him?”

  Yuri nodded while he poured more vodka. “He’s back at the house. You’ll meet him later.”

  “You don’t travel with him?”

  “No, he likes to stay hidden nowadays. He gets queasy around food.”

  “What? Queasy around food? Why?”

  “He got shot a couple of times in the gut. Lost part of his stomach and his ability to eat certain foods. Half the time he ends up in the hospital on an IV if he eats the wrong thing. Scy worked himself up so much about food that he can’t even be near it anymore. He juices.”

  “Juices?”

  “Yeah, fruits and vegetables in a juicer. That’s how he gets his nutrients. Once in a while there’s the odd thing he will eat, but …”

  “What does he eat?” Darwin asked, genuinely interested.

  “I don’t think we’re here to talk about the eating habits of my employees.”

  The three men stood idly by, lingering behind the bar.

  “What next?” Darwin asked.

  Yuri turned and addressed one of the men. “Go check if Miklos is still with us.”

  Darwin had momentarily forgotten about Miklos.

  The tallest of the three men sauntered down the restaurant toward the back. He stopped and knelt down.

  “Barely. His pulse is slow, but he’ll make it.”

  “Finish him and clean it up.”

  The man pulled a long blade that glinted in the light from above him. His arm stroked across the front of Miklos, near his neck, back and forth a couple of times.

  “He’s gone.”

  “Good. Clean it up.” Yuri said to Darwin, “He worked for Arkady. I only brought him under my fold as your first test.”

  “Thanks for thinking of me.”

  “As soon as they clean up the body, we’ll leave.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “You will be a guest in my home until word reaches me of Arkady’s location. Then you will set up a meeting with Arkady and I will swoop in,” he made a flying gesture with his hand, “and finish Arkady as my mother did to the rats.”

  “What if I refuse to help you?”

  “You will die a very painful death. One only the devil could enjoy.”

  “That doesn’t leave me many options.”

  “No, no it doesn’t.”

  The cigar had gone out due to lack of use. Yuri tried to light it again.

  “You want to know the irony of my situation?” Yuri asked.

  “Of course. Since I walked in tonight, that was second on my list of things I wanted to know.”

  Yuri stared at him. “Do you find the sarcasm keeps you alive?”

  “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

  Yuri blinked. He drank and placed both hands on the table. “The American government paid for the flight that brought me over here from Russia. Can you believe that?”

  “Nope.”

  “I’m a vor v zakonye, which means thief in law.” He unbuttoned the top of his collar shirt and pulled it open. “See this giant eagle tattoo on my chest?” Yuri looked down, then back at Darwin. “This shows my status as a vor. We’re sworn to abide to a code, or what we call human law. Never work a legitimate job, or join the army. Never pay taxes and never help the police in any way for any reason, except to trick them. Back in the days of the gulag, the Russian prison system before the 1960s, vors had a secret language that even the authorities couldn’t decipher.”

  “Impressive.”

  “Is that disrespect?”

  “No. I’m serious. It really is impressive.”

  Two men lifted Miklos’ body and carried him to the kitchen door.

  “When I was twenty-two-years old, the Soviet Union released me from prison, early I might add, and s
tamped my passport, Jew. That allowed me to leave the USSR. I was flown to a transit camp near Rome, which was operated by the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society. After four months, in 1982, the American government paid for a flight for me to New York. Isn’t that something?”