Chapter 7

There was an awkward silence after the girls killed Lazar. Sergeant Josephine Halka spoke: “Maybe we went a little too far with torturing him. In the end, we were kind of doing it for fun. At least that last part with him suckcing your toes.”

Nicol agreed: “Yeah, you are right. Just don’t mention it in the report. I will use this video to get James on your side.”

Sergeant Josephine spoke with her coworker Judy in the police department: “Yes in the end we choked lazar with our feet. It was self-defense. He could have potentially drawn another knife from somewhere and killed us.”

Judy still seemed not quite satisfied with her explanation but she just said: “Ok. You are right. Although he already had a broken rib and a head injury.” After work, Josephine returned home to her husband and kids. To forget about her work she decided to make pancakes for her entire family. As she watched her kids argue about who ate more pancakes she thought to herself - it seems so weird that I killed people today.

Simultaneously with Josephine making pancakes, Nicol was meeting with James before her tournament. “So have you seen the video I send you.?”, Nicol asked.

James answered: “Yes. I have. I jerked off to it to be quite honest. Now I like you even more.” “Nicol laughed for a moment.

Then she spoke: “But what about your attitude towards snitching on Richard? Has that changed?”

James said: “I will snitch. That bastard killed my father. I don’t owe him anything. And also, how could I refuse a beautiful girl like you asking me to cooperate with your friend in the police.”

Nicol replied: “You giving me compliments will not result in you having sex with me James. I just want to be sure you get that.”

“Yeah, you do not have to keep telling me that. But no problem. “James replied in a slightly disappointed tone.

Monica Maldini had arrived for the tournament yesterday. Her mother Flavia who was her coach had accompanied her to the Italian contingents hotel. Monica was 20 years old and had just won the Italian national championships. She had just scraped into the North American Open Championship as the tournament was known last year. It was her first major competition and she had lost in the first round to Cristina the European Champion. She had improved enormously since then and had climbed up the rankings. She was only 5’ 3” but she was very strong and stocky, with legs like tree trunks with prominent calf and thigh muscles.

She was also very beautiful with short jet black bobbed hair, big brown eyes, and a winning smile. She was very popular amongst the other competitors. She trained hard which seemed to make her boobs shrink which annoyed her a little. So what if she was flat-chested. If anybody laughed at her she would smack them in the mouth. The other girls knew she was touchy about it so they never said anything.

Flavia and Monica’s dad, Carlo Barzini, had divorced when Monica was a young girl. Flavia wanted to protect her daughter from all the criminals that Carlo associated with. Monica decided that she would keep her mother’s maiden name so that she was not associated with them either. When he had some free time Carlo would travel back to Italy and Flavia allowed him access to Monica until he had to go back to sort out his affairs. She was the most precious thing in the world to him, and his trips back to see Monica meant that they had a close relationship. Monica loved her father dearly.

He had always been kind to her, even though he had committed some horrible crimes. She just wished he would walk away from it all. Her mother knew that her father was coming to see her at the hotel today so she had gone to do some shopping to give them a chance to spend some time together whilst Monica doing some light training. If she was going to go deep into the tournament it would be a long day tomorrow.

When Carlo arrived they hugged each other warmly. “How is my deadly little snake?” It was his affectionate name for her because she struck fast and hard.

“I am a ready father. I am a much tougher proposition than last year. They will have to fight well to beat me.”

Carlo looked at her appraisingly. Her shoulders were broader than even a couple of months ago when he had last seen her and she had that determined twinkle in her eye. “Who are your main competitors?” He asked.

“Well, there is Cristina who beat me last year.” She replied. “Then of course there is Ming the World Champion who won the tournament last year and the American Champion is Nicol. She lost to Ming in the final last year but I think she is the favorite this time.”

At the mention of Nicol’s name, Carlo’s face went red with anger. “You know that woman has killed your cousins Bill and Frank and 4 of my best fighters.” Monica put her hands on her father’s shoulders.

“Bill and Frank were scumbags, you know that father. They were always bullying me when I was a little girl. I know Nicol she likes to be in charge but she has always treated me with respect. What happened?”

Carlo told Monica everything he knew. “It looks like James Sollozzo and some of his associates are going to turn themselves in. They have enough information to put me behind bars for a long time. I am going to have to fight to survive.”

Now it was Monica’s turn to get angry. “You have no choice. You have to give yourself up.”

Carlo sighed. “I will think about it.” He replied. “Now I am hungry. Let us forget about our troubles for tonight and go and have a nice Italian meal before you win that tournament tomorrow.”

Monica put her arm around her father’s shoulder and they walked out of the hotel and into his chauffeur-driven car for what would be their last supper together.

James arrived at the tournament with his friend Will. Will was in the middle of his speech: “You have convinced me. If it is true that the police are on to us, I will snitch to start a new life. I look forward to working for your company in a legal way. I just want to have a normal job. I will snitch on this hitman I once met. He is called Dugin. He used to tell me stories about the women he raped and people he killed for fun. He truly deserves to rot in jail. The worst thing we did is I would say taking “protection” money from small businesses. We never killed civilians. You and I. We only killed those that chose to play the same game as us.”