FEARLESS FINN'S MURDEROUS ADVENTURE (44 page)

Nico called me from Newark Airport in New Jersey to tell me his granny is dying and she’s asking for him; he must’ve smelled something fishy coming down the line. His memory’s not working so great though. I took flowers to his granny’s grave twenty years ago. Good luck to him anyway.

I don’t want to just hang around waiting for the Russians to be taken care of, so I called Earl and suggested that we fly to Taipei. We have to nail down our asset leasing programme with the Taiwanese duck farmers – and get some extra dough in case Finn needs it. Earl’s up for it, so we’re flying out of Hong Kong in the morning.

———

Nakita Sylvina said ‘Finn, Finn’ this morning while I was brushing her hair. I think she is a little in love with him – the father she never had. I pray that she will soon feel the same way about Vincenzo. He has not been to visit since we came to this big scary house, but I am sure it is not his fault.

The Chinese men never smile; they say nothing as they walk around the garden and roam around the house. The men at the gate carry machine guns, and they never stop looking around…as if they are expecting a white bear to jump out at any minute.

I have tried to make this a game for Nakita Sylvina. We’re pretending she’s a princess, and that the men are here to protect her from the pirates who are trying to steal her away before the handsome prince finds her. And bless my little angel, she plays along to make me happy.

Poor Nakita Sylvina has been through so much since leaving Moscow. When she asks if I have I heard from Babushka, I have nothing to tell her. I have written to my mother, but so far I have no reply. This does not worry me yet, as the postal service in Russia can be rubbish, especially in winter. When the snow is deep the post mistress throws the letters in the fire to warm her home, rather than tramping through the snow to deliver them.

This afternoon I will ask one of the Chinese goons guarding the gate to get a note to Uncle Sui. In the note I have asked Uncle Sui when Vincenzo will come to visit me and Nakita Sylvina.

———

The flight’s been bumpy – to put it mildly – and this landing looks like it might be rough. But the rain gives me the perfect excuse to put on my tight-fitting coppola. Vinnie needs to be reminded who he is…where he comes from.

We’re meeting a bank president with billions of dollars in his vaults, and I need Vinnie to have the backbone and the steely eye of a true Cosa Nostra. Our job is to persuade the president to get the suspicious peasant directors of the duck farmers’ bank to lease us their certificates of deposit. I don’t think fast talking will cut it; this man is going to need some serious convincing.

———

We’ve had a lot of turbulence, and it’s raining cats and dogs as we prepare to land in Taipei. I get the feeling that Earl’s a little nervous about landing….

Earl pulled his coppola cap over his eyes as we descended the stairs from the China Airlines jet. The rain is running off his cap, but it doesn’t settle on his shoulders. He’d look right at home in the mountains of Sicily.

As we walk to the limousine, Earl’s strutting across the tarmac of this airport in Taiwan like he owns the joint. I’m reminded of times from my childhood in a small village outside Palermo. I’d be walking hand in hand with my grandfather, and sometimes the children whispered as we passed. I asked Grand Poppa why they said ‘look at the twisted cap’ when they saw him wearing his special tweed hat. “Respect Vincenzo, respect….The coppola is the cap of the Cosa Nostra. We control the lives of their fathers…who have learned to respect us. And the children…they know that they too must show us respect.”

Seeing Earl with the brown tweed cap makes me feel proud to be a Sicilian. I haven’t felt this way for a long time. It doesn’t matter that Earl’s not Sicilian, and probably not a made man…a Cosa Nostra.

———

A pretty Chinese girl came to the house just after lunch. She has dolls and lovely clothes for Nakita Sylvina, and very expensive outfits for me. I thought she was sent by Vincenzo, but I was wrong.

Her name is May-Li, and she is Uncle Sui’s granddaughter. Nakita Sylvina and I met Uncle Sui soon after we came here. He is our generous host, and the man Vincenzo and Finn speak of so highly.

“My grandfather has dealt with these Russians in Macau before. Everything will be fine. But for now, we request that you and Nakita Sylvina remain inside the house, and definitely do not go beyond the gardens.”

“May-Li, please thank your grandfather for the beautiful gifts. And I promise we will not go beyond the gardens. Do you know when Vincenzo will be visiting us?”

“Vincenzo?” She obviously has no idea who I’m talking about. “Is he the IRA man’s friend coming to see my grandfather?”

“You mean Finn Flynn?”

At the mention of Finn’s name May-Li became giggly like a school girl. She’s blushing under her make-up and her cheeks are rosy – just like a Russian girl. “The tall man with the yellow hair? For a
gweilo
he is very handsome….Don’t you think? My grandfather says he comes from kings of Ireland and Scotland and is a very brave man…but foolish with women.”

“Yes…that’s Finn Flynn. He brought my Nakita Sylvina here, all the way from Moscow. I think she is a little in love with him, like a daughter for her father. He was very kind to her on the journey. Did you meet Anna, Finn’s girl from Sweden? Nakita Sylvina never stops talking about her. She says that Finn will marry Anna…but that could just be a little girl’s imagination.”

May-Li suddenly changed the subject and called for one of the guards. She told him to go to the bakery to get cakes because we are going to have a little tea party in the garden.

Perhaps I should not have mentioned the idea of Finn getting married?

———

Me and Earl got massages in the hotel, and we had a couple of steaks for dinner, but no wine. Our heads have to be clear in the morning for our meeting with the president of the Taiwan Poultry Farmers’ Co-operative Bank. We turned in early, but I borrowed Earl’s notes so I can read them over in my room. I want to get the proposal straight in my head before making my first pitch to a real live banker.

On the surface, our asset leasing programme seems simple enough. We’ll lease certificates of deposit from the duck farmers, and they’ll receive a lease payment and four per cent interest. Of course that’s almost as much interest as they’re getting from the bank, so the sweetener is that the lease payments and interest will be paid into Swiss bank accounts.

Once our company leases the certificates, we’ll get an insurance company to issue a policy guaranteeing that the money in the certificates exists at the Taiwan Poultry Farmers’ Co-operative Bank. Then our company will use the insured deposits to get money out of American S&Ls – to pay the interest and make a profit.

The important thing to the Taiwanese is getting their money out of Taiwan. They can’t take more than a few thousand US dollars out of the country, so everyone tries to get around the currency laws. The certificates of deposit we want to lease are all between two hundred fifty thousand and five million US dollars each, and there are two thousand duck farmers at the bank who qualify for our programme. So our asset leasing programme could put millions into Swiss bank accounts…and the Taiwan tax man doesn’t need to know.

But first we have to convince the bank president to recommend the programme to his depositors, the owners of the bank. We expect the bank president will have his hand out, and the strength of his recommendation will depend on his commission. Earl said he’ll handle that negotiation one on one…no witnesses. That’s fine with me. I’ve never bribed a bank president before.

———

I’m real impressed with the way Vinnie presented the asset leasing programme. You’d never guess it was the first time he’s talked about it to anyone besides me. He even dropped a hint about an ‘aspect that might be of personal interest’ to the bank boss. That was a pretty original way to describe a bribe, I reckon. Anyway, it did the trick.

We were invited to have lunch with the bank president, right there in his office. Quick as a flash, Vinnie cried off, claiming he had to catch a flight back to Hong Kong, but he suggested that I stay there and cover any ‘outstanding details’. I could’ve kissed the guy. A chip off the old block – Uncle Angelo would be proud of him…damn proud!

As soon as Vinnie left, the banker wanted to know what’s in the deal for him. When I said twenty-five basis points – that’s a quarter of one percent – he nearly ripped my arm off and wanted to know how much we can lease.

When I got back to my hotel room I immediately telephoned Angelo.

“So, tell me…how did young Vincenzo do?”

“Angelo, I gotta tell ya, for a while, I thought it was you in the room reeling in the banker.”

“That good? Was he really that good, eh? You’re not jerking me around are you Earl?”

I can hear the emotion in Angelo’s voice. He’s finally convinced – Vincenzo’s completely redeemed.

“No Angelo, I’m not jerkin’ you around.”

“
Fantastico
! Now…here’s the way we’ll play it Earl…the boys down in Panama City will take everything the duck farmers have, and then some.” After twenty years working for the Mob I’m not easily surprised, but I’m breathless. I tried to fit a word in, but that’s not easy when Angelo’s on a roll. “First, I want the Russian broad and her kid out of there, now. I’m sending the Gulfstream tonight…have them ready by noon tomorrow. We’ll fly them to Canada and put them up in the house in Alberta. OK?”

“OK Angelo, they’ll be ready….But the duck farmers…
everything
they got? We’re talkin’
billions
Angelo…and I mean
billions
! How’re you gonna lease all they got?”

“Don’t worry about it Earl. That Panamanian son-of-a-bitch Noriega can issue treasuries. We’ll cash the treasuries at Citibank and use the money to lease the duck assets. The greedy bankers will jump at the treasuries.”

“You got a ballpark figure?”

“Eh, you want to work out your commission already?! Let’s say…eight billion for starters.”

I did a quick calculation of 25 basis points – what Vinnie and I will get out of eight billion greenbacks – that’s around ten million each! Not bad for doing nothing but talking!

HONG KONG: NOVEMBER, 1985

I did what
I could to absolve Vinnie of the guilt he’s feeling over Susie’s slaughter. I don’t want his misplaced feelings of responsibility affecting the two things he can do to help. He needs to organise passage for me and Mac, and dig up money – in case the shite hits the fan and we have to leg it out of Asia in a hurry.

During my Trinity College days I read some commentators on human behaviour who claimed that revenge is a dish best served cold. I doubt these authors were ever called upon to kill for revenge; I have been…too many times. But killing these savages from the Siberian steppes, the gutters of Moscow – or wherever these butchers were born – will be a pleasure.

My philosophy is get on with it; don’t let your feelings fester or overwhelm you. The quicker you dispatch those who need dispatching, the quicker you’ll find a sort of peace. It will probably be a numb, troublesome peace, but peace nevertheless – and that’s what you need most of all.

I know from bitter experience that revenge, however brutally executed, offers no shelter for a tortured soul. It might help you achieve a state of numbness, but it won’t get rid of all the pain. Once you’ve killed whoever needs killing there are no longer live human beings to direct your fury at, and sometimes that can serve to frustrate you further. As much as you’d like to, you can’t kill the same people twice.

———

I’m not sleeping very well, especially since Anna left. I thought exercising might help, but it hasn’t. I shadow boxed for hours – because there aren’t heavy punching bags in five-star hotel health clubs. I ran twenty-five kilometres on the treadmill, lifted weights, and swam thirty laps of the pool. But no matter what I do, it doesn’t tire me. All the exercise is having the opposite effect – I’m more awake, more alert, more keyed up.

Thankfully, Mac is arriving tonight; I’ll go to the airport in a few hours to collect him. Roger Wynne has organised a suite for Mac across the hall from mine, and he had the hotel’s special seven foot bed – that was built for German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s visit – moved in for Mac. Roger told me there will be a limousine on standby to take me to the airport, and anywhere else I want to go.

The front desk just phoned. Chief Superintendent ‘Chopper’ Conway rang while I was in the health club; he wants to see me. As much as I’m reluctant to meet any policeman, even one as switched-on as Chopper, I better make the effort after I collect Mac. I rang Central Police Station to confirm that I’ll attend there around eight p.m. to meet Chief Superintendent Conway.

Mac isn’t due in until five thirty, so I’ve a couple of hours to kill before I leave for the airport. I’m wound up and I can’t stand still for more than a minute. This is no condition to be in when I greet Mac off his flight; it doesn’t do to spook him before an operation.

I headed over to the FCC to play pool with Sam, the basement bar steward. He beat me four frames in a row. A lesson in humility is just what I needed.