Mick Brown looked at his men. He tried to keep the anger inside but he felt it burning

in his face. He had been embarrassed and robbed at his own club. The man

responsible had escaped to laugh at him.

Brown picked up the old revolver on his desk. He had lost the most important part of

his business to his masked enemy. He needed to get it back. That meant he needed

leverage against the vigilante.

The obvious connection was James Rafferty. The copper had been after him for a

long time. He had thought he had gotten rid of the pest with the frame he had set in

place with Corklin.

Now he had a masked man snooping in his business and Corklin was dead.

It didn’t take a mastermind to see that Rafferty had to be connected to both events.

How did he get his accounting book from the ex-copper? That was the question he

needed to answer.

He needed to answer it quick before the book could be decoded and the information

used against him.

Brown forced himself to calm down as he thought about his problem. He needed the

book back. He needed to get rid of Rafferty. He needed to stop this vigilante business

in its tracks.

He needed leverage on Rafferty.

“Rafferty still talks to people on the police force?,” Brown said as he stood. He had

a plan. It was risky, but it had to be done.

“Our man says he’s in thick with the Inspector Hawley,” said Tony Simpson. The

man didn’t see the connection.

“Find Hawley,” said Brown. “Start at the Yard first. We need leverage to get the book

back. We need someone we know Rafferty won’t sell out.”

“All right,” said Simpson. He put together the scheme in his mind in a second.

“Where do you want him taken?”

“Take him down to the place on the river,” said Brown. “We will have to get rid of

him no matter what else happens.”

“Right,” said Simpson.

Brown watched him leave. He hoped Simpson didn’t do anything to force the Yard

to look at him. He couldn’t afford any more trouble.

He grabbed the phone. He needed to make sure his backup books were still in place.

He couldn’t afford to lose both sets.

Two of his guys were still in the office. He needed to get them jobs. He decided that

Luke could watch the book keeper. No one could be allowed to grab him while they

were reeling from the break-in.

“Cantor?,” said Brown. “Someone stole my books. He might be coming down there

next. I’m sending Luke and some of the mob down there to keep an eye on you and

the master set of books. No one is allowed in, or out, until I call you. Good.”

Brown hung up the phone. He gestured at Luke. The minion nodded his head on his

nonexistent neck and left the room.

“Gilly, I want you to go down to the Rotten Unicorn and keep an eye out for

Rafferty,” said Brown. “I want to make sure I know where he is at all times. If he

calls someone, I want to know about it.”

“Sure thing, boss,” said Gilly. He trundled out on thick legs with a smile on his face.

There was a chance the mystery man wasn’t Rafferty. Brown thought that was a small

chance indeed. As soon as he got word that his mentor had been taken, he would

bring the books back immediately.

Things had to be brought back under control. He wasn’t going to allow some nutty

peeler take him on. Everyone would want to take him on if he allowed things to

continue.

Brown had silenced many a voice trying to stop his rise to the top of the criminal

pyramid. Rafferty was just one more who had to be put down so he couldn’t keep

meddling.

Once that was done, he would make sure to destroy anyone else trying to get in his

way.

He supposed he looked soft. He hadn’t really killed anyone in a while, nor really did

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

a big job to make his rivals say what happened. He mostly ran his business like a

business, and kept things rolling.

Maybe he should kill someone in a public way to let the people know he was still the

King of London.

While he was thinking about the future, he needed to get a safe in to replace the one

the masked man had destroyed.

Brown shook his head. He needed a better safe. He checked the rolodex in front of

him. He had a card for Louie’s Safes. He searched his memory and thought that Louie

had been a burglar before going into safe installation.

He called the number and waited for someone to come on the line. His patience was

rewarded with a sour voice of irritation. He smiled quietly.

“Louie?,” said Brown. “This is Mick Brown. Someone broke into my safe at the club.

I need it replaced.”

He listened for a moment.

“Just come to the club and look at the space,” said Brown. “Then I need you to put

the safe in as fast as you can.”

“No worries,” said Brown. “I know who broke in and I’m looking for him right now.”

Brown set a time and hung up. He had a few meetings to go to that he couldn’t have

at the club. It was his operations center, but it was also a conspicuous target for the

police to try to raid when they worked up the nerve.

The membership gave him cover, but he couldn’t abuse it. He didn’t need anyone

reporting what they had seen going on upstairs.

He couldn’t kill them all, and he didn’t have enough influence to make them all go

his way.

He pushed the button to summon Fred, the butler for the club. He pulled on his coat

as the old man came into the office. The butler pulled himself to attention.

“I have to go out, Fred,” said Brown. “Louie’s Safes are coming by to replace the

safe. Make sure they don’t take anything when they leave, other than the wrecked

safe.”

“Yes, sir,” said Fred. “I will watch them like a hawk.”

“Some of the boys will be back from their jobs,” said Brown. “Tell them to go down

to the place on the river. They’ll know where to go.”

“Yes, sir,” said Fred. “I will have some of the staff help clean up this mess.”

“Wait on Louie,” said Brown. “He’ll probably create a bigger mess switching the

safes around.”

“Very good, sir,” said the butler. “Nothing will leave this office while you are gone.”

Brown nodded. He left the room and headed downstairs. He had a couple of guys on

permanent club watching. He ordered them to keep an eye on Louie when the safe

man got there.

He stepped outside the front door. He looked up and down the street. His car rolled

down the street to pick him up. He got in the back and gave Kevin, the driver, an

address.

He had a lot of work to do to keep his status as the king of the underworld.

He smiled to himself. When he was a kid breaking in, he just assumed that you could

push anyone around if you were tough enough. The years since the Great War had

taught him it was better to get leverage on a guy and keep it than killing the guy out

right.

Putting an enemy down had to be done as a lesson, but it was something to do as a

last resort. Killing someone meant having to deal with his replacement somewhere

down the road.

And sometimes the devil you knew was better than getting to know a new devil that

you didn’t have any means to deal with at all.

Kevin pulled to a stop outside a restaurant that seemed to have been painted by a

blind man. Dents in the bricks had been caused by bullets. Brown got out of the car.

He noted his security was already in place as he walked over to an outside table.

“Monsieur Brown,” said Henri Dumas. He was lean, with a puffy face, and cravat

around his neck. His hair still retained some of the red of his youth.

“Fox,” said Brown. He settled into a seat facing his opposite number.

“You are the only one who calls me that,” said Dumas. He smiled.

“I remember things,” said Brown. “Have you come to a decision?”

“I will buy the weapons,” said Dumas. “I have the money transferred to a local bank

from my own in France. I am afraid that I will need them sooner than I thought.”

“Wait here,” said Brown. “I will have one of my men take you to the pickup spot. As

soon as I have the money, all you have to do is load the weapons on a boat and sail

away.”

“This is the account number,” said Dumas. He handed over a paper. “The bank is in

the next street.”

“Pleasure doing business with you, Fox,” said Brown. He stood.

“I heard someone is taking action against you, Monsieur,” said Dumas.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” said Brown. “All the same, test the weapons and move

them as soon as you can. You don’t want to be caught up in my troubles.”

“I understand,” said Dumas. He stood. “Bon chance.”

“You too, Fox,” said Brown. He turned and started for his car. He needed to get the

money from the bank, and then finish his round of meetings. He gestured for one of

his men to finish the rest of the deal with Dumas.

He still had four more deals to do, and those customers weren’t as smart as the Fox.

There was nothing he could do about that. He had learned over the years you could

only do so much with what you had.

He gave Kevin the next address on his list as he settled into the backseat of his car.

He wanted to get things done before one of his idiots decided that they could take

advantage of the masked man incident. He wasn’t about to lower his prices, or give

merchandise away for free.

He also didn’t want to make an example of a customer for the city to see. That drew

down the peelers, and he didn’t need that at the moment.

Once he had his talk with Rafferty, then he could try to smooth things over with the

people he worked with in the other syndicates. He didn’t want to lose business but

was aware that was a possible outcome to having someone invade your sanctum and

making you look like an idiot.

It wouldn’t be the first time he had quelled a rebellion and put down all challengers

to keep his part of the pie.

It wouldn’t be the last as far as he could see.

Everyone wanted to be the King.