Chogm

37

Dusk was just extending its shadowy fingers over the scene. Surfers were wending their way home from the beaches, colourful surfboards slung firmly on top of colourful cars and vans. Zinc cream glowed beneath mirrored sun glasses on the faces that seemed to glow in the red rays of the setting sun. The homeward bound traffic from the beaches confronted head on the homeward bound traffic from the city. The occupants of these cars watched enviously the stream of cars and wished that the quest for wealth wasn't as strong as it was, and that occasionally they could take time off to enjoy the sun, sand and scenery offered by the beaches.

It was from this particular melee that a large black car emerged, the blind eyes of its tinted windows obscuring the occupants from any outside interest. It pulled into the kerb outside the block of flats in which Russell and Jenny were once more dozing.

"John, we've got company."

Burroughs sat up and raised the seat to its upright position and his eyes followed Jerry's pointing finger. As the car pulled up the passenger side front door opened and a large man in a too tightly fitting suit got out and walked to the rear door which he opened. A much smaller man in white slacks, pink shirt, broad brimmed white hat and holding a pink handkerchief to his nose got out. Both men went into the building.

"What do you make of that?"

"Trouble and in big doses. Let's go!"

"The Triumph throbbed into life and moved quickly towards the limousine. Reaching it John moved quickly. Before the driver had a chance to realise what was happening he found himself being dragged from his seat. He didn't notice being put carefully back into his seat as he was suffering from the effects of being hit firmly with a blunt object, in this case a good old fashioned cosh.

"Okay let's get on with it." Both John and Jerry ran quickly into the building and up the stairs. At each floor one of them looked through the glass panel of the stair well door to see if the other two men could be seen. On the seventh floor they were rewarded by the sight of the larger of the two men going to work on the door with his size thirteen foot. The door didn't last long and the two men were soon inside the flat.

"What do you want?" Russell's voice could not hide the fear that he felt.

"We want you two. Now we can do it the easy way or I can ask my friend here to apply pressure." The voice was smooth and soft, the implications the opposite.

"Can we get dressed first?" Russell asked.

"Tony, check the room to see if there is another way out of here." Tony lumbered into the bedroom and briefly scanned it.

"Do you mind!" Jenny's indignant voice came from the room"

"Sorry lady." He backed out of the room. "No other way out Boss."

"Alright, but no funny business."

As Russell went into the bedroom John stepped into the flat, "I would suggest that for your health's sake you two gentlemen put down your weapons and stand over against the wall, facing it if you please, rest your hands on it and your legs apart please." The two men complied with the order, but instead of frisking them both John and Jerry applied their feet to the groin of the other two men. Both men slumped to the ground in agony. They were quickly trussed up like turkeys.

"It's safe to come out now." John said.

"What did you do to them?" Jenny asked as she came into the room.

"Made them boy sopranos again, at least for the time being. I presume that you know these specimens?"

"Yes, the one with the coconut ice colour scheme is the one that I told you about."

"It seems as if you people are not safe no matter where you are. You'd better come with us."

As they hadn't fully unpacked it took a matter of minutes for them to throw their clothes into their bags and leave.

"Your phone isn't working." John said as they left.

"No, it hasn't been connected yet. Why?"

"We should get someone to come in and take care of your friends."

"There's a public phone box on the corner."

"How did you know that, you haven't moved from your flat all day."

"We noticed it on the way in and thought that if we needed to ring you it wouldn't be too far away."

"Where were you when the fun was happening a couple of hours ago?" Russell asked.

"Oh what fun was that?"

"A bit of shooting, a lot of shouting and police and TV crews everywhere. I think that our friends are at each other's throats now."

"That was the general idea. We are going to your office to catch up with the latest and then we will decide what we need to do to keep you out of trouble until this dies down."

"Here we go again. You know our feelings on this don't you?"

"Yes and the answer is still to get you away."

"We survived their first attempt, who is to say that they will be any more successful the second time round especially if they are blaming each other now."

"You survived because we were there. We may not be the next time."

They stopped briefly at the phone box while John rang his contact in the Federal Police. His manner when he returned to the car was one of extreme anger.

"What's the matter?" Jerry asked.

"I'll fill you in when we get to the office but let me say I'm not a happy chappy right at this minute."

The car pulled up in the carpark of the National News and they all walked through to Brian's office. The greeting that they received was not the one that they either wanted or expected.

"Where have you been?" The urgency in Brian's voice was enough to gain the attention of all of them.

"Why, we didn't think that the bombing of the Hilton was all that important to us."

"The bombing of the Hilton has nothing to do with this, your mother is frantic with worry. She has been ringing every thirty minutes since about eleven this morning. She won't tell us what has happened only that it is very important that she talk to you."

Jenny walked over to the desk and dialled her mother's number. "Mama what is the matter?"

"Jenny! Where have you been?" Her mother had lapsed into Italian. "Your Papa is dead."

"Papa dead. How did this happen?"

"Where is Russell?"

"He is here with me now, why?"

"Has he been with you all the time?"

"Yes, what are you saying?"

"Before he went out your father got a phone call from someone who he thought was Russell saying that you were missing. He was on his way to help look for you."

"I was not missing and Russell has been with me all of the time. The call was obviously to get Papa to leave the house. Whoever it was knew that he would only leave if he thought that I was in danger. It must be someone that knows both Russell and me."

"They told me it was a car accident."

"Who told you?"

"The policemen who came to tell me about it."

"Have you seen him?"

"Yes. He looks so peaceful."

"Do you believe that it was an accident?"

"No. The other driver did not stop. They say that they are looking for him but I think that they don't look so hard."

"We'll see what we can find out from this end. Russell and I will be right over."

"You had better tell Russell to ring his mother. I called them when I was trying to find you and I'm sure that she will be as worried as I was. I will see you soon. Take care."

"We will, 'bye Mama." Jenny hung up the phone and turned to Russell. "I suppose that you heard that?"

"Yes. What happened?"

"Papa is dead. The police told Mama that it was an accident but she is not convinced."

"We will go over there straight away."

"Not before you call your mother. Mama had to call her when she was looking for us, she might be worried."

Russell rang his parents' home. "Mother? Oh Franklin would you be so kind as to call Mother?" There was a pause while his mother was summoned. "Mother it's Russell."

"Where have you been? Maria was frantic with worry when she called here."

"You have heard the news then? We are on our way over there. I just rang to say that we are all right and for you not to worry about us."

38

On their arrival at Jenny's parents' house they were greeted by her brother Tony and his wife. "She is all right for now, in fact I have not seen her so calm for long time and it worries me. I think that Maria and I should stay with her for a day or so just in case she starts to feel the shock of what has happened."

"That will be fine by me although I think that she will surprise you as to how well she will take this news. She is a lot tougher than you give her credit for."

They were led inside where they found the older Maria seated on the lounge waiting. When Jenny and Russell entered the room she got up and gave both of them a hug and held them to her for several minutes. "This thing that happened to Papa, this is connected with what it is that you are working on?"

"We believe so yes." Russell answered.

"Then I say to you that we must avenge Papa's death. I will see whoever it was punished and if the police can't find the man that did this I will find him myself and I shall see my husband avenged. This I swear on the Blessed Virgin."

"Mama, you can't get involved. These are bad men and they will not hesitate to kill you if you try anything." The worry in Jenny's voice was evident.

"I will. There is a tradition where your father and I came from that honours the 'eye for an eye'. Your father would wish it."

"Father was not one for these traditions." Tony said.

"Father was one for these traditions." Jenny replied. "You haven't heard him talk about his wartime experiences lately, because if you had you would not have said that."

"But he has honoured the traditions of this country in his business and personal life since becoming an Australian all of those years ago."

"He may have taken out Australian citizenship but he has never renounced his heritage."

"This true." Maria Senior said. "When he was dealing in business, if the other person crossed him his vengeance was swift and powerful. These people only crossed him the once and the word very soon spread around that he was not a man to be crossed. He was fair at all times."

"We first have to find out who did this and that won't be easy because the police will not be very co-operative."

"We know who it wasn't because we were entertaining one of them at about the time this happened so it couldn't have been him, but that doesn't rule out the other one and if it is him he will probably be hiding behind Diplomatic Immunity so we won't be able to touch him."

"Don't be so sure. If we can locate him we will wait for him to come out and then we will take him."

"I hope you don't intend to kill him yourself."

"We will not have blood on our hands but I am sure that someone will be only too happy to do it for us."

"How do we find out if it was the one that you think it was?"

Jenny moved to the phone and rang a number. Francine answered. "Francine, Jenny."

"Where are you? I was worried sick when I got home to find your note and no forwarding address."

"It's a long story and I haven't got time to tell you all that there is to tell but briefly, we rented this gorgeous flat at Tamarama, overlooking the beach and settled in for some pleasant getting to know you things when these two men burst in. Russell and I were scared out of our minds with fear, and just as we thought that they would do something nasty, two other men walked, calm as you like into the room and knocked the other two out. We got out of there as quickly as we could."

"Where are you now?"

"Staying with family but I don't think that we can stay here much longer because they have killed my father."

"When did all this happen?"

"This afternoon, Francine, we don't know what to do or who to turn to. All that we know is that we are not safe here. I don't know where we can be safe."

"You should have stayed here, I'm sure that you would have been safe here."

"No, we didn't want to involve you in our problems."

"Look, I have some friends who will be able to help you, I will speak to them and ring you back when I have something arranged. See you."

Thirty minutes later the phone rang. "Jenny, Francine, it's arranged. I'll meet you there as soon as we can get there."

Jenny hung up the phone. "Interesting."

"What is?" Russell asked.

"Francine has never been here and she didn't ask me for the address but she still said that she would meet us here with some of her friends and hopefully help us out."

"Maybe she has your address from your records at work."

"No I don't think so because I was not living at home when I signed up with the agency. There's another thing that bothers me."

"What is that?" Russell asked.

"I got the impression that she wasn't ringing from work or her home. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she was close by when she rang."

As if to confirm her observation it was less than fifteen minutes later that Francine's Datsun swept up the driveway and skidded to a halt outside the house.

Francine was the first to emerge from the car and was greeted warmly by Jenny and Russell. The passengers slowly and gingerly extricated themselves from the car. Both of them looked a little the worse for the experience of driving with the erratic Francine.

"Jen this is Jim Crossley and Aaron Silverman, they are the investigators who do occasional work for the agency."

Both men expressed their pleasure at the meeting and, from their attitude it was obvious that they were used to extracting their fees in a more physical manner than was ethically correct.

"What I, we, require from you is enough information as to the identity of the driver of the truck that killed my father for us to see that justice is not only done but seen to be done. The form that this justice takes is of no concern of yours. We will try to carry it out in a legal manner but if that is not possible then we will just have to take the law into our own hands, and the less you know about that the better. We will pay you the standard fee for your work, I think the usual terms is for us to pay half now and the balance on a satisfactory completion of your task."

"Our fee is based on the resources that we employ in carrying out our job. We have a standard charge of two hundred dollars per day and we ask for two days in advance. We will keep you informed on a daily basis as to our progress and at the end of five days, even if we do not have any firm results we will invoice you for five hundred dollars. At that time we will discuss whether you wish to continue with the hunt. Is that fair?"

"Yes that seems fair enough. What we can guarantee you is, if you are successful in this case you may find yourself receiving more work from the Italian community, however, if you are unsuccessful, you can kiss any chance of work from that quarter good-bye. Is that clear?"

"Yes." The two men realised that, looks to the contrary, Jenny was turning out to be a hard headed business woman. She had left them little room to manoeuvre.

"'Bye Jen." Francine ushered her reluctant passengers towards the Datsun. "Don't worry, if anyone can find this man Jim and Aaron can. We'll keep in touch." Her parting words were lost in the noise of scattering gravel and the exhaust as the car fishtailed out of the driveway.

No sooner had they gone when Tony came out of the house. "These men are involved in this business."

"How do you know?" Russell asked.

"I have seen them around talking to our people who are involved in this business."

"What business?"

"We are reluctant to admit that our community is involved in gambling and prostitution but these businesses have been part of the Italian way of life for centuries, and it is something that will be impossible to prevent."

"Why would these people want to take over such businesses?"

"Prostitution is a way of keeping open their drug operations. They make sure that the girls are hooked on drugs and need to keep working to feed their habit and then they offer to supply their doses free if they were able to push drugs to their customers. As for the gambling, there are many people in high places in government and the police who are compulsive gamblers and by allowing them to get into debt they are able to manipulate their allegiances for their own ends."

"But they shouldn't need to take over your community's business interests. Why don't they just walk in and compete with you?"

"They don't like competition. They much prefer a monopoly situation."

"Can't you go to the police with your information?"

"We spit on the police. We have given them solid evidence in the past and they not only have not acted on that information but have actually got kick backs from those concerned. No the police are definitely not to be trusted."

"But you will not be able to deal with these men if they have the protection of the police."

"We are sometimes successful by using the same methods as they use on us."

"Maybe, and I'm not making any guarantees here, but I may just be able to help you." Russell said.

"How can you help?" Tony asked.

"By writing an expose on their involvement in organised crime."

"Maybe when this thing is over, but until that time we cannot allow you to write anything."

"Why not?"

"Because it would drive into hiding those people who can help but who are reluctant to on the basis that they may be singled out for treatment by the other gang members."

"Then what do you propose?"

"We will put the word on the streets that we are looking for these people. We have a large network of taxi drivers, bus and train drivers, service station attendants and small business men who can watch almost everything and everybody. It will not take long to find them."

"Then what?"

"We will face that problem when we reach it. You will stay here and keep Mama company while we do this."

"But can't we do something else?" Jenny asked, "We will feel so useless here."

"You will be doing a more useful thing by staying here."

"Can we let our friends know where we are and what we are doing?"

"Yes. Now I must go. Take care of Mama and each other."

Russell rang Brian at the National News office. "Where are you and what are you doing?" Brian's voice greeted his.

"I am still at Jenny's parents' house. There seems to be a lull in the festivities for the time being but the Italian community has rallied to the cause and probably hundreds of them are scouring the countryside for our friends."

"How is Jenny's mother taking the news?"

"Pretty quietly. She is amazing, the reserves of strength that she is showing now are something that makes me quite envious."

"Okay, just you see that you keep right out of trouble. I want you back here in one piece."

"Your concern is touching." Russell hung up.

The day progressed incredibly slowly for both Russell and Jenny. They sat on the lounge chair and the time sat heavily on their minds as they pondered their next moves and formulated all sorts of different contingency plans.

All the time that they sat in the lounge room they could hear Mrs Petrelli fussing around in the kitchen. Presently she came into the room with a tray on which was a pot of strong black coffee and a plate containing a variety of Italian pastries.

They sat for a time in silence, sipping their coffees with a distinct lack of enthusiasm that was reflected in their attack on the pastries. After what seemed like hours much of the coffee and almost all of the pastries remained on the tray. "Under normal circumstances," Jenny thought, "Mama would be fussing around trying to get me to eat hundreds of these things because she thinks that I'm too thin."

Under the circumstances none of them were at all interested in eating so none of them felt inclined to encourage the others to eat.

Sometime later the phone rang and when Jenny answered it she found a dejected Tony on the other end. "We have found out nothing yet, it's almost as if there is a wall of silence around this whole matter."