Free Black Scorpion by Jon Land

continued. “Run now, pirate, and you just may live another week. You picked the absolute worst ship on the sea to hijack.”
    Raven jammed him up against the wall, pistol pressed against his forehead. “I’m going to kill you.”
    Emotionless, Marmara glanced up at the barrel. “That would change nothing. You think I have a choice? I don’t do what they say, they kill my family.”
    â€œWhat who says?”
    â€œI answer that, my family dies, too. So, pirate, make my day and pull the trigger.”

 
    THIRTEEN
    C ARSON C ITY, N EVADA
    â€œAnd do you consider staging exhibition fights against mixed martial arts champions proper behavior for a Las Vegas casino owner?” Kern resumed, after clearing his throat.
    â€œDurado Segura took exception to being asked to turn his title into what he perceived to be a joke. It was supposed to be a simple event carried out for charity, but Mr. Segura overreacted. Perhaps you should ask the two women trapped in the cage whether my intervention was warranted or not. And, if you don’t mind me asking, Mr. Chairman, what does such a thing have to do with my gaming license in the state of Nevada?”
    Kern leaned forward, as if provided with the opening he’d been waiting for. “Everything, Mr. Tiranno, it has everything to do with that, since it indicates you’re no stranger to violence, does it not, sir?”
    C ALTAGIRONE, S ICILY 1975
    Riding atop his tractor, Attilio, more grandfather to Michael than farmhand, was still smiling when his face exploded, the old man’s teeth vanishing in a burst of gore from his ruptured skull. The tractor continued forward on its own, the hands of its faceless driver still clinging to the wheel.
    pffffft … pffffft … pffffft …
    From where Michael was standing in the barn, the clacking sounded like sodden firecrackers, the bullets that spawned them taking the farm-hands Ercole and Stefano down in their tracks in the middle of the grazing field. The sight of them falling drew his father’s attention. Michael saw Vito Nunziato lurch up from the table set upon the house’s screen porch and lunge for the lupara shotgun he had propped up in the corner where screen and wall met.
    pffffft … pffffft … pffffft …
    The bullets ripped through the screen, spun his father around before he could reach the shotgun, and slammed him backward against the wall. Michael’s mother reappeared in the doorway in that moment, dropping to the porch’s plank floor the pair of plates she was carrying. Michael thought she may have screamed, but the sound of the plates shattering drowned everything else out.
    *   *   *
    â€œI suppose I’m not,” Michael said finally. “Everybody knows my casino was one of those struck in the terrorist attack on Las Vegas a few years ago. But that’s not why I’m here today, is it?”
    â€œNo, Mr. Tiranno, it’s not. That attack is not the subject of today’s hearing. Since you brought up the past, though, did you enter into a partnership agreement with a man named Max Price upon coming to Las Vegas?”
    â€œBriefly.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œHe bought out my interests.”
    â€œYou mean, forced you to sell.”
    Michael managed a smile. “If you consider making a five million dollar profit on a five hundred thousand dollar investment to imply force, then, yes, Mr. Price forced me to sell.”
    â€œHe built the Maximus Casino on land you had secured, and then that casino exploded.”
    â€œI believe imploded is the proper term. You can find all the details in the FBI’s report exonerating me from any culpability. The same report blamed a gas leak.”
    â€œThen it’s a good thing this board is not bound by that conclusion. You were investigated, were you not?”
    â€œNo,” Naomi corrected before Michael had a chance to.