The Baby And The Brandy (Ben Bracken 1) by Robert Parker Page A

fathom.
    ‘By guys, you mean the Berg?’ I ask.
    ‘Yeah, Michael and Leonard. They were the ones I saw.’
    ‘Michael picked you up didn’t he? And the other man was Leonard?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘And how did the conversation go?’
    ‘Felix was in tears, he didn’t want to give me anything. Just a busted, broken old man. I told him if he didn’t give me a name I’d be forced to go out and see what I could do for myself. He didn’t seem unduly keen on that either.’
    ‘So he had to take the lesser option?’
    ‘Right.’
    A moment of quiet, while an image comes into my head of Jack verbally sparring with a tearful old man. Jack continues.
    ‘I said that if he didn’t give me a name, or tell me what he knows, I would hold him responsible for whatever is to come next.’
    ‘And that did the trick?’
    ‘It did.’
    I wait for Jack to finish and answer the question I don’t need to ask.
    ‘Sparkles Chu.’
    ‘Sounds like a Korean pop prince. Who is he?’
    ‘He runs the restaurant I told you about, as well as a criminal organization specializing in cocaine, a touch of meth, and arms.’
    ‘Sounds lovely.’
    ‘The Floating Far East appears to be their centre of operations. And that’s where we are going tonight.’
    I remember my homework, a map of Manchester springing into my head, but on a zoom from the heavens right down to a riverside street 600 yards from where we stand.
    ‘I know it. Any special intel you have on it, that you can’t get from the internet?’ I ask.
    ‘Not really. Just that it’s a restaurant out front and there’s a room at the back that seems to be a meeting room. Michael told me.’
    ‘So far, so cliched. How do they know this? What’s their source?’
    Jack actually lets his eyes circulate to check for anyone that might be in hearing range. ‘They used to do a little business together, although nothing too major. Or so they say. But Michael has been there a couple of times representing Felix and the Berg’s interests, and has seen Sparkles there holding court.’
    ‘But how do they know that this guy Sparkles was the trigger man?’
    ‘According to Michael they had recently tried to up the ante with Sparkles and his friends, collaborate on some higher profile business. This time it was Dad that made the approach, after Michael had opted out on the basis that he was unsure whether to work with them again. Dad thought it was a good idea. He went there, had a conversation, but it didn’t go as planned. He came back with a death threat.’
    Icy hatred seems to sweep over Jack.
    ‘They didn’t like the manner of his proposal,’ I say, to bring Jack back to the here and now.
    ‘I suppose not.’
    ‘But that doesn’t irrefutably tie Sparkles to the hit. How is Felix sure?’
    ‘He’s not. But he’s the only name he has. He said Dad didn’t go around collecting grudges. On the contrary, he had a fair way of business that made friends rather than enemies. And Sparkles and the River seem to be the only party big enough to attempt it.’
    ‘The River?’
    ‘I just picked it up from them. Whenever they referred to the party that operates out of that floating restaurant, they referred to it as the River. A pet name, I guess.’
    ‘Hey, what self-respecting criminal gang don’t have one?’
    My joke falls flat. I change direction.
    ‘Are this group of Eastern origin? And by Eastern I mean China?’
    ‘I would imagine so, yes. Although I’ve never laid eyes on them.’
    ‘This morning, just before I came to see you, a man tried to kill me in my hotel room.’
    Jack’s eyebrows head for his hairline, his pupils going widescreen.
    ‘More specifically, it was a man of, I believe, part-Chinese origin. And he wasn’t trying to kill Ben Bracken, he was trying to kill Jack Brooker.’
    Jack scowls with venom. ‘And you only mention this now?’
    ‘Figured you had enough on your plate, without thinking you are a marked man.’
    ‘They were trying to tie off loose ends.