19. The Boss of Paris (4 pgs.) – Champions Renaissance

ACT I - CHAPTER 19

THE BOSS OF PARIS

Wednesday February 28

Tour D’Cygne Fencing Club

Paris France

Franco Gambino and Lenel Anston were walking to their meeting with the other members of The Family.

Lenel was limping and still recovering from falling off his motorcycle in Munich. They changed their clothes and put on their robes to enter the temple to perform the Masonic-style ritual in a semi-dark room.

“The Family appreciates your efforts, Comrade Hawk,” Franco told Lenel, leading the meeting along with thirty other influential men in European politics. Hawk was the name of the initiate, the secret name that Lenel used within the group to differentiate it from his profane name.

“In recognition of your loyalty, from now on you are the Boss of Paris,” Franco added at the end of the ceremony.

Lenel stood up and was led by the master of ceremonies to the center of the room. He then received the sword of power and the staff of mystery along with the applause of the rest who surrounded him in a circle. In the ritual they knelt in a gesture of submission to the new leader. The obedience ritual consisted of placing the tip of the sword on each person’s head and waiting for them to say: “Faithful to you until death without asking.” Each one did so, repeating the ancient mystical oath that the dynasties had preserved since the Bronze Age.

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Lenel was Boss of Paris, but he did not trust Franco or the leadership of The Family, whom he considered hypocrites. He would rule Paris with a strong hand to do God’s will.

“This servant must retire to make way for the new generations who will continue our ancient work,” Franco added in his final speech.

Upon leaving the meeting Franco invited him to his apartment to celebrate. Five minutes later, five people Lenel didn’t know arrived. They had dinner sitting at a large wooden table discussing the ancient tradition of their families, an ideal had remained intact for more than forty generations in the most absolute secrecy.

“The experience that we have accumulated over centuries is not in vain and now you will know how to channel our work to continue accumulating power in our order. Cheers to the Hawk!” Franco offered a toast.

“Cheers!” the others repeated.

“The Family is happy and calm and needs Hawk not to fall into the trap of unnecessary violence,” said the oldest of those sitting at the table.

Lenel knew it was a warning not to try to kill Alexandre again.

“What if he falls into the trap?” Lenel asked defiantly, drunk on his new power.

“The Family is not going to be happy or calm,” answered the eldest. He was white-skinned, bald, thin, with a skull-like face, brown eyes, and of medium height.

His name was Genaro Spoletti, and he was the hidden boss, of a hidden sect, within a hidden mafia who ruled The Family. He was wearing a large gold chain and crucifix on top of his black shirt. Underneath was a silver chain with a medallion that had the crescent moon and star symbol on one side and a Buddha on the other.

“If The Family is generous… you have to be generous with The Family,” he added.

“I am generous with The Family because my ideal is to follow the divine will,” said Lenel.

They remained silent for several seconds.

“I’m not talking about divine ideals, bambino, I’m talking about the will of The Family,” said the old man. “The Family wants to be generous with you, but you must be generous with The Family. We don’t want you to suffer another motorcycle accident. That case is closed. Capisci?” he added.

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The old man was making up a story that someone from The Family had made him fall off its motorcycle on the highway, after shooting at the car Alexandre was riding in. Lenel felt indignant, but he did not allow himself to be frightened.

“Are you asking me to put myself at your feet for receiving control of Paris?” Lenel asked him. The old man did not respond nor did anyone say anything and everyone remained motionless for a minute in a deafening silence. “Do you want me to stop having faith and deny my own convictions because you ask me to?” Lenel asked again, seeing that one of the bodyguards took a huge butcher knife, leaving it in front of Genaro.

The silence was repeated and grew louder.

At that moment Lenel understood the cost of controlling Paris. They would kill him or cut something off if he didn’t obey. He felt that he had fallen into a trap and wanted to leave, but it was too late. Another part of his brain thought, How are you going to do divine justice without political power? He felt trapped in a contradiction and his mind produced a thick mental fog so as not to see it.

“Excuse me,” Lenel said, went to the bathroom and vomited. He did not know the cause of his body’s reaction nor would he allow himself to discover it.

When he returned to the dining room, he was weak, pale, lost and split in two. They were standing around the table.

“Bambino, this will make you feel better,” Franco said, handing him a glass of champagne.

“Cheers to the Hawk who joins the Family,” said the elderly Genaro.

“Cheers!” they all said and Lenel’s voice was barely heard. The sparkle in his eyes had disappeared.

The old man gestured to the bodyguard to put away the chef’s knife with which they were going to cut off his finger. It hadn’t been necessary. The Hawk had been tamed. He would obey the will of The Family.

“We need you to control it, capisci?” the old man said to Franco when Lenel left.

“Capisci.”

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“Does Hawk know anything?” asked the old man.

“No.”

“Are the codes safe?”

“Yes.”

“Did you review all the possibilities?”

“If you have doubts, why not change them?” Franco asked.

“I’m surprised you ask that Franco, you seem like a bambino, do you want to wait another twenty years? That’s how long it would take us to perform an operation like this again. Up to this point we have not failed in any of the steps. In five months, we will crown the effort of our lives and our ancestors. The Great Family will remember us as the fathers of the new world,” said the old man.

“To make omelettes you have to break eggs, right?” Franco said.

“And how else? But be careful! Now more than ever we have to be careful. We don’t want the bambino to ruin everything. Capisci?”

“Capisci.”

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