Chapter 3

Jason hoped to resolve the problem with the Chippies without the residue of violence expected from the Goslins. There was little chance of that, but both he and Betty still hoped for the best.

That night, Jason dressed in his "working clothes" and set out for the headquarters of the Chippies. Stanley Rush was the leader of the Chippies and no more likable than Vic Swan; however, he was reputed to be a little more intelligent. Jason hoped that this latter characteristic would make him more amenable to reason.

The Chippie headquarters was on the top floor, the third story, of a brothel of much lower class than that run by Betty. Jason entered passed the doorman by pretending to be a potential customer. His rough dress was in keeping with the usual attire of their clientele, so he attracted no special attention as he walked in the front door. Jason walked up the stairs instead of turning into the reception room of the brothel, but nobody noticed. Jason couldn't help marveling at this foolish lapse in security.

He made his way to the third floor without ever being challenged, and saw that there was only one guarded door on this floor. This had to be the door to Rush's office, so Jason boldly marched up to it and announced, "I have an appointment with Mr. Rush. Please let me in."

The guard was somewhat surprised that he had not been informed of the scheduled meeting, but went along with Jason's request. He perfunctorily knocked on the door and opened it. Just as he was about to announce Jason's arrival, Jason shouldered him through the door and followed right behind before the guard could recover his balance.

Rush was sitting behind his desk, smoking a cigar, and getting a blowjob from one of the house whores. He was obviously startled, but did not get up nor pause in his blowjob. His only reaction was the question, "What the fuck do you want?"

Jason pressed a mermaid's breast on his staff and the blade popped out. This he pressed into the neck of the prone guard just hard enough to make the guard realize how close to death he was. Jason pushed the door closed and said, "As soon as the lady is finished, I'd like a few words with you. Then I will leave with an apology for my uncouth entry."

Rush slapped the woman on the back and said, "That's enough. I've lost interest right now. Come back in an hour to finish up." The woman returned Rush's cock to his pants and buttoned them up before getting to her feet and leaving the office. Jason realized that he was taking a chance in letting the woman leave, but he doubted that she would call for more guards to investigate the strange goings-on in the boss' office. Just in case, he locked the door after she left.

Rush turned his chair around to face Jason across the desk and said, "OK, you've got my undivided attention. What do you want?"

"Simply put, I want you to stop putting pressure on Big Ass Betty to join your gang. She is not interested in joining either you or the Goslins, so I want you to stop harassing her. If you don't, I will have to apply pressure back in your direction. I spoke to Vic Swan last night, and I am sure that you have heard by now what happened at the Goslins' headquarters last night. I don't want a repeat of that scene here if I can avoid it."

"Fuck you, I'll do what I damned well please. That whore has no choice, either she joins us or she joins the Goslins."

"Tsk, tsk, Mr. Rush, you were reputed to be more intelligent than that. Don't you think that I can do as much to you as I could to the Goslins? Please reconsider your words before I have to take action."

At this, Rush shouted, "FUCK YOU!" and pulled on a bell rope hanging to the side of his desk. Jason reacted by driving the blade of his staff through the neck of the luckless guard before snapping his staff around and taking off, at the elbow, the arm pulling on the bell rope. With what seemed like a follow-through motion, he lopped off the head of the disagreeable Mr. Stanley Rush. Seeing that there was no one left to negotiate with, Jason opened the door and stepped into the hall.

He got there just in time to see three men running up the stairs and charging toward the office door. Jason shouted, "IN THE OFFICE, QUICK! MR. RUSH IS IN TROUBLE!" The three guards didn't pause, but ran passed Jason into the office. Jason took the opportunity to sprint down the stairs and out of the building. Once he reached the street, he ambled on his way as if he was in no hurry to go anywhere. He turned the corner and stopped long enough to clean the blood from his staff with a rag he was carrying for that purpose, then he retracted the blade. He tossed the rag aside and calmly walked back to Big Ass Betty's bordello to report on his latest escapade.

Betty didn't know whether to laugh in relief that Jason was back safely or cry in fear over the possible revenge to be taken by the Chippies. To be on the safe side, she did both. Jason tried to comfort her by hugging her, but she wanted a session in bed to relieve all of her pent up emotions. Jason decided that the least he could do was cater to her wishes.

It took several hours of sexual play to satisfy Betty, but she was finally ready and able to sleep. Jason was more tired now than he had been when he returned from his visit to Rush, but it was a good tired, and he, too, had no trouble sleeping.

They got up from bed about 10:30 AM and Jason had a hardy breakfast of eggs, steak, potatoes, and coffee, while Betty ate some fruit and tea. They got dressed and Betty did some work on the mundane business affairs of running a bordello.

Jason had accepted Betty's invitation to move in with her, permanently, so he went to his hotel to check out and clear his suite. It was early afternoon when he returned to the bordello, and Betty had just received some disturbing news. Vic Swan had sworn to wipe her from the face of the Earth for what her "employee" had done to him. This really pissed off Jason, and he vowed to visit Swan that evening to "straighten him out." Betty was afraid for him to go, but was even more afraid for him not to go. However, no matter what she might have said, Jason was determined to follow through with his visit to Swan.

Jason changed into his working clothes. He picked up his staff, grappling hook and rope, and five throwing knives, this time. He also added a cosh to his arsenal. The latter might save some wear and tear on his hands.

Jason followed his previous route to Swan's office and was at the window to the office in no time. It was hard to believe that this window was still unguarded, but, hardly had Jason shown up, when he was rushed by two men who had been hiding in the shadows. Jason heard them coming, so he had time to deal with one of them with a throwing knife planted in his chest just over the heart. The other man was met with a quick flick of the wrist that brought the staff down on his head. Jason used the man's own knife to cut his throat. Jason retrieved his throwing knife from the dead man's chest and returned to the window to see if he had made enough noise to alert the people in the office.

Apparently not, since they were still where Jason had last seen them. Swan was behind his desk going over the pages of a ledger. Since he did not have the use of his hands, a man who looked to be a bodyguard was turning the pages for him. Jason could see a man over by the only door to the room, and those three people were all that Jason could see through the window without giving away his presence.

Of the two men that Jason could see, the man by the door was the greater danger, since his movements would not be hindered by the intervening desk. Therefore, Jason planned to take him out first. Jason placed his staff in the special carrier on his back, slipped the carrying loop of the cosh over his left wrist, and grasped a throwing knife in his right hand.

Jason waited until the occupants of the room were distracted: the guard at the door was scratching his asshole, the guard at the desk was turning a page, and Swan was concentrating on the ledger. At that moment, Jason used the cosh to smash the window. As soon as the glass had fallen out of the way, he threw a knife into the neck of the guard at the door. That man did not fall because he was pinned to the wall by the knife through his throat; he died before he could pull it loose.

Jason dove through the broken window and rolled to a standing position. He pulled his staff from its carrier and had both blades extended before the other bodyguard could do more than stare at the dead guard pinned to the wall. Swan looked like he wanted to do something, but he was too handicapped by his two broken arms. Jason leaped onto the desk and used his staff to decapitate the guard standing there. That guard fell to the floor, and silence returned to the office.