Wild Cards V by George R. R. Martin Page A

most of the drugs in Jokertown. Harlem has stopped paying our portion of the numbers. We’re getting hit from the top and the bottom. They took over our biggest drug factory in Brooklyn.”
    â€œWe’ve got to get prepared. You’re the only active don left. I talked to Tomasso’s capos; they’re all with us just like the others. I only wish I could point them in the right direction. Right now, I’m just trying to keep business going so we have the money to survive and fight back. Calvino tried his hand at negotiating. So far, it doesn’t seem to have worked. We had both of the remaining dons covered at all times. That’s how we got this tape.” Chris picked it up and tossed it into the air. “Remotely controlled explosives, P.E., we assume. They were probably within sight of the cars to make sure they got Don Tomasso.”
    â€œSo they knew about the kids.” Rosemary glanced up at him.
    â€œProbably.” Chris shrugged. “So far they haven’t been particularly careful about civilian casualties. They’re terrorists.”
    â€œThey’re bastards.” Chris nodded and Rosemary knew he was already working out the details of backtracking the explosives. One of the things she had learned in the last few months of working with him was that he was superb at taking her objectives and desires and accomplishing them through his position as her front man to the Families. She had known she would never be accepted as the head of the Gambiones by the capos. They required a masculine figurehead. So Chris ran things in public, and she, Maria Gambione, pulled the strings. Except that it had not worked out quite like that. Chris could almost read her mind. He had the practical experience she lacked. They made a great team. Without him she would never have pulled it off.
    â€œThe Shadow Fist is causing us trouble, but I didn’t think that it had the organization to accomplish all of this. On the other hand, we know they are working with the Immaculate Egrets and the Werewolves from Jokertown. Together, they’re giving us a lot of trouble. But a bunch of gangs…”
    â€œWith the right leader…” Rosemary spread her hands.
    â€œWith the right leader anything’s possible. But we would have heard something about him. How could they keep him under that sort of deep cover?” Chris shrugged. “I’ll check it out, but I won’t hold my breath. I had another idea. Think about Tomasso’s murder. Those cars would have been under twenty-four-hour guard by teams of his most trusted men. How the hell did they plant those bombs?”
    Chris pulled a chair out and sat down backward.
    â€œHow?” Rosemary had learned not to get too impatient with Chris’s occasional use of Socratic method. As in law school, it taught her much.
    â€œAces, again. Just like Don Picchietti. Who else could pop in and out without being seen? Nobody really knows how many there are or who they are or what they can do. What if some of them decided that wearing funky costumes and being altruistic was silly? Jokers, too. Look at the Werewolves. Get back at the nats. That’s a pretty fierce army we’re talking here. Look at where the action is going on most of the time. Jokertown. Maybe it’s because we control it and they’re trying to get us, or maybe it’s because the jokers have decided that they want their own piece of the action.” Chris had leaned forward to emphasize his point. “If these guys aren’t all aces, they’ve got some working for them. And I think that’s the way to go. If we don’t get our own aces, we’re going to get slaughtered. We can’t compete.”
    â€œI like that. I could use the district attorney’s office to get volunteers. A little steering of their efforts and a number of our troubles could get solved. We’ll get higher-quality aces that way too. Pity a lot of