Gemini Rising


Note: Where you see =Text bracketed in this way= it indicates a characters thoughts.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*
"Trouble."
"What kind?" Armando Langoustini AKA Raymond Vecchio asked the man who by
default had become his boss.
"Word is that Gemini's on the warpath and out for blood."
=What's new?= it seemed to Ray that ever since he'd accepted this assignment the name Gemini kept cropping up. Funny how he'd never heard of this Gemini before. He'd yet to learn if Gemini was a gang or a person, but whatever it was, it was big and it was impressively good at striking fear into the hearts of those in the know.
"Why?"
"Seems someone messed up one of Gemini's women, and trashed one of her brothels."
=Ah, at last= Now he knew Gemini was a lone woman who obviously ran some form of organised crime syndicate or chain of brothels one or the other.
"And you know what happens whenever someone messes with any of Gemini's people."
"They don't live long to regret it," Ray said, it was just a guess, but he
managed to keep it from sounding like one.
"The last thing I want is trouble from Gemini, take Alessandro down to the
Los Alamos Road Brothel .. and make sure that Gemini learns that I have no wish to go to war with her people over this unfortunate incident."
Ray nodded, wishing he felt secure enough in his role to plead other business to avoid having to spending any time alone with the sadistic Assassin who seemed to be a walking advertisement of the wisdom of keeping the death sentence, for the murderously inclined, on the books.
He assumed Alessandro was being sent to learn who had messed up one of
Gemini's women and deal with him, before Gemini disrupted business hunting him down.

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

He was less than surprised when on stepping out of his car with Alessandro
in the brothel's underground security car park to find a group of well armed, and well dressed men surrounding them.
Identities established, they were lead to another section of the garage, where they were told Gemini would be meeting them. He was surprised when the men were replaced with women, who looked like high class whores but were armed to the teeth. They were completely surrounded and the women looked mean enough to shoot them for the hell of it. But that wasn't what surprised him, though, it was how Alessandro reacted to them, doing something he'd never seen the man do before - show fear.
"You are either incredibly stupid, or extremely arrogant," Ray heard a voice he knew well say from the shadows.
He looked around startled unable to believe he was hearing it, needing to see the speaker's face.
Ray introduced himself and informed the as still hidden speaker of his boss man's wish for peace. He almost jumped ten feet when he felt hot breath on his neck, but managed to conceal it.
"I'm not interested in peace, only justice."
"And you'll get it."
Ray heard a dozen guns being cocked and ready for firing, and glanced at Alessandro, to see the man was now sweating profusely.
"Follow me Mia Caro and we will discuss this matter in greater detail," that voice said, a command not to be questioned or disobeyed.
Ray looked around to see the tall muscular form of a man with quite long hair, clad in a tailor made Armani suit moving through the shadows. He didn't need to be prodded into following the command, orders or not, he would have followed the man, if only to see his face and confirm his suspicions about the man's identity.
It didn't cross his mind that if he was right, then his life was as good as over till he followed the man through a door and into the building.
All he could do was bluff and pray he hadn't been recognised, or that it was coincidence that this muscle bound giant sounded like the man who's looks and build he shared. And it was only then he realised Alessandro hadn't followed him through. He turned back, only to be commanded to forget about him. A glance around to see the man in full light confirmed Ray's worst fears. It was Douglas Montray, The Italian stallion as he'd been known among the police academy's cadets for his incredible looks and build, the result of having a gorgeous Italian Mother and a devastating handsome French Canadian Father. He could speak 14 languages, 5 fluently, among them French, English, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.
And language wasn't the only cultural product of Japan Douglas had been proficient in, he had also acquired quite a few martial arts skills along the way. Ray wondered which of Doug's traits had lead to Gemini choosing him as her right hand man. His multilingual talents, his body and looks, or the fact that he was one of the most lethal men around, with or without weapons.
"Come."
With an effort he forced himself to obey that soft spoken command and followed Doug through the twisting corridor, up several flights of stairs, until they reached a dead end. There Doug reached out to touch the not so decorative plaque that was set in the center of the wall. Ray couldn't help but notice the plaque's design was one of the astrological symbols for Gemini.
The wall suddenly swung back to reveal a brightly lit corridor beyond which Ray was waved into. The secret door was swung back into place, and Ray resumed following Doug sure now that he was a dead man. Why else would the man reveal the existence of his secret bolt hole.
"If you're going to impersonate a man, I suggest you find out what his favourite scents are, Sunshine."
The gauntlet had been thrown down, Doug always called Ray that, when he wasn't calling him Mia Caro.
"I don't know what you mean," He bluffed.
"Armando always smelled of cheap aftershave, deodorant and medicated shampoo. You wear a rather expensive brand of aftershave and matching deodorant."
"It was a gift from an admirer," Ray said truthfully, he had been presented with his first bottle of the scent as a gift from someone, he'd forgotten who, but he'd never forgotten the gift, it had become his favourite scent.
"I was the one who presented you with it."
=Oh, shit=
He found himself being lead into a room containing a large desk, dominated
by a computer system and papers. Opposite sat a plush lounge, long enough and wide enough to serve as a bed if the need arose.
"There is no point in trying to bluff your way out of it. I know exactly who you are, I know that Armando is dead, and how he died."
=And wanted the pleasure of killing me yourself.=
He watched as Doug lowered himself to the throne like chair behind that huge desk.
"I was rather hoping they'd see it as a chance to slip a ringer into the mob's midst."
"Were you?"
"I knew that if they did, it would be you, and that sooner or later our paths would cross." Doug said, before sitting back in his chair.
"Are you scared? Don't be, I wouldn't harm a hair on your head."
=This from the man who tried to rape me the last time we saw each other=
"I owe you a rather large debt."
=What the hell is he talking about, if anything I owe him a huge debt, after all he did save my life, twice=
"For doing what I was unable to do."
"And what would that be?"
"Killing my father's killer."
Ray was startled. He'd known about Doug's father being murdered. It had been the reason Doug had joined the police force, to learn all he could about the murder, find his killer and bring him to justice. That was before he lost all respect he had for his fellow officers, and his belief in the American justice system.
"I've had to kill a few people in my time on the force, refresh my memory."
"You may have had to kill numerous criminal's in self defense, but I doubt you've forgotten being forced to kill a fellow officer.. Especially when that officer was your mentor."
=Mac=
"Are you telling me he killed your father."
"He did, and you became his target when you became far to interested in that case for his liking."
=And here I was thinking it was just because I made a big mistake and told
him I'd found out there was a dirty cop in the squad and knew how to work out who it was.=
"I couldn't have planned it better my self. How he must have squirmed when
you babbled on about my father's unsolved murder and how you were studying the case to find his killer. How many times did he tell you to drop it, I wonder."
=More times than I could count, and here I was thinking it was just because he was worried out I'd find out he'd been fixing the records and covering up for the real killer.=
"You did a large number of people a big favour when you killed that S.O.B."
"I was defending myself."
"Oh, I never doubted it."
"How do you know he was your father's killer?"
"McGrath was the ultimate Mob hit man, buried in the ranks of the police. He aided many mafiosi to escape prosecution when they were caught."
"By fixing the records and intimidating witnesses."
"Ah so you found that out for yourself."
"After I killed him, there was this big investigation, and it uncovered the fact that he'd been on the take for years. And he was so damn good at covering his tracks that it didn't come out till I worked out there was a dirty cop on the team when I was investigating your father's murder."
"*You* were investigating *my father's murder.*"
"Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Why?"
"I owe you for saving my life, I might hate your guts, but that doesn't change the fact I owed you big time for putting your own life on the line to save mine. I couldn't think of a better way of repaying you for that by giving you what you wanted - to see the man who murdered him pay for it."
"O.k, that's one bird what was the other reason."
"I wanted to prove I had what it takes to make Detective and I wasn't going to do it walking the beat, breaking a case like that wide open was my key to making the grade. And the detective working the case said he'd make sure I got full credit and put in a good word for me if I learned anything new 'cause all he ever got was dead ends."
"Oh I know all about that.. He made the same deal with me when I he caught
me pulling the records and found out I was interested in solving the case."
"He kept his word, and saved my career from going down the gurgler after I
shot Mac.."
"Did he now."
"Yeah, I got all excited when I worked out the records had been fixed and
ran my suspicions past him, he started digging around and found I was right, someone had fixed the records and disposed of evidence.. My big mistake was telling Mac that I'd made a break through in the case and found out there was a dirty cop and how I was going to prove it. I expected a totally different reaction to the one I got."
"I bet, he was the best there was.. That's why no one ever suspected he was a Mafia man.. And you can take my word for it, he did more than you think."
"Oh."
"He also killed more people than your rapacious associate Alessandro."
=I can believe that=
"Alessandro's the one who messed up one of your whores."
"Pleasure workers."
"What are they going to do to him?"
"Dispense justice."
"For gods sakes, Douglas, you once took an oath to uphold the law and.."
"The man you know is dead, he died the day he was shot in the back and framed for a crime he didn't commit."
=By Mac= Ray realized, remembering how the apparent Mafiosi plant had allegedly caught Doug raiding the evidence locker to steal confiscated heavy artillery. On the strength of Mac's word alone Doug's career was over and he'd been sent to one of the worst prison's in the state.
"Your father would be spinning in his grave if he could see you now."
"My father died defying the Mafia who drove him out of his native land and
cost him his family."
"And now you're part of it."
"Au Countraie, I run a very organized private security firm, and the only people who get hurt are those who trespass on my turf and try to muscle in on the action, threatening, killing or raping those who pay me for protection."
"Call it what you like, it's still a protection racket and it doesn't make
you better than them."
"You have no idea how I run my business so don't assume to judge what you have no knowledge of."
"How could you do it, Dougie? How could you bring yourself to get involved
with organized crime in the first place after all it cost you? It destroyed your career, your family, your father.."
"As I said, Mia Caro, don't assume to judge what you know nothing about. I
run a private security firm, not a protection racket"
"Pull the other one, it play's Handel's Messiah."
"Believe what you will, it doesn't change the facts."
"The fact that you've become the very kind of man who ordered your father's assassination."
"There's no point in continuing this discussion."
"You said I could have anything I wanted. All I had to do was ask.."
"My word is my bond. That has never changed."
Ray snorted at that.
"Yeah, right, what happened to your oath to uphold the law, serve and protect huh."
"I told you, I run a private security firm. You're associate will be turned over to the police, once the women are through getting their little piece of justice."
=Yeah, by killing him no doubt, real justice would be for that bastard to meet a nasty death=
"Fine, if your word is still your bond, then I want your word that no matter what happens you will never reveal my true identity or the fact you know Armando was killed and replaced with a ringer."
"I never intended to reveal it, Caro."
"I want your word on it, Douglas."
"You've got it. And the debt still stands, I would keep your secret regardless of the fact I owe you a debt."
"Until it became more profitable to reveal it."
"I will take it to the grave if necessary."
"Why?"
"When you betray the one you love - you suffer for it, for the rest of your days."
"Love! You call almost raping me *love*!!!" Ray roared.
"I was drunk and you were driving me insane. Flaunting yourself, flirting and touching me that way."
Ray flushed deeply. As much as we wanted to deny it, Doug's accusation was a valid one. Which was the only reason he'd kept the near rape a secret all those years. He'd known he'd that he was as much to blame for what had happened as Doug had been. He was simply glad that Doug had found the strength of will and self restraint to stop before a thorough mauling of a sexual nature became full on rape.
"And you *were* enjoying my attentions, at first."
Ray's flush grew deeper.
"But I stopped once it sunk into my addled brain that you did not appreciate my affections once I crossed the line."
"It took you long enough."
"And it was your idea to get stinking drunk in the first place so you have only yourself to blame. Had I not been so drunk it would never have happened."
=Like hell=
"You never made any secret of the fact your interest in me was sexual."
"And you never made any secret of the fact you found my tastes disgusting."
"And I thought I could trust you - and you proved you couldn't be trusted. So why should I trust you now?"
Ray back stepped as Doug stood.
"I have given you my word, you have no choice, you must accept it or kill
me to keep your secret."
"Or I can end this charade right now."
"And do untold damage to your career."
"I don't think they'll censure me for dropping out after finding out
Gemini knows who I am."
Emotions flittered across Doug's face so fast Ray couldn't decipher them,
but he knew he didn't like them and found himself back stepping again and
wondering if he ran whether or not he'd be able to find his way out before
they caught him.
He was taken by surprise when, with a deep breath, Doug sat back down and
leaned back in his seat.
"And I'm sure they'd love to know who Gemini is," Ray taunted and was
rewarded with confirmation of his suppositions.
"And they will consider having you committed to a sanatorium for having a
nervous break down under pressure, as everyone knows Douglas Montray died
in prison."
Ray started, remembering only then that he'd be told as much himself, by Doug's lawyer, when the man had informed him Doug had left him his most precious possession in his will. And that's when it hit him, the man was supposed to be dead, but he was clearly alive, and this man was no ringer, only Doug had known what happened that fateful night he'd been too ashamed to tell anyone else.
"Wait a minute.. You're a deep cover agent! That's why you knew about Armando, you're the one I was told about!"
Doug simply smiled at him, and suddenly rubber legged Ray staggered over to the couch to drop down on it.
"You bastard.. You enjoyed making me squirm, didn't you. You did that to me to getting your revenge on me for rejecting your advances in the past."
"Let's not get into another round of accusations and counter accusations here."
"You were supposed to get in touch with me weeks ago."
"The time wasn't right."
"And it is now?"
"You were sent here, I didn't summon you, and you didn't chose to come here. Now your associates have no reason to suspect you of complicity. You can return to playing Armando and report to your Boss that Gemini is satisfied that justice has been done and there will be no turf war."
"How did you know he'd send me? He could easily have sent someone else."
"It was elementary, Mia Caro.. The first time I saw your twin - I drooled. The Don alway's sends Armando around to do a little sucking up whenever he needs to get in my good books to avoid trouble."
"But no one knows you're Gemini."
"Correct, but they all know that anyone who wants to negotiate with Gemini
has to go through me and it wouldn't be the first time Armando was sent to sweet talk me into getting Gemini to accept a deal being offered or to ignore something going down."
"Did you sleep with him?"
Doug smiled for a moment before an obvious alarm wiped the smile from his face. He reached out to operate his computer and Ray rose to approach the desk.
"What is it?"
"We're about to have company."
"I thought this was a secret lair."
"Think of this as the reception room for Gemini's real lair and you'll get
the general idea," Doug said quickly shutting down the system.
"Come here.. They're going to expect a certain scenario when they walk in
and your life depends on their expectations being filled."
Reluctantly Ray approached Doug, who reached out to yank Ray's coat half off, pull his shirt out and unbuckle his belt before fumbling with his own clothes.
"Shouldn't we be on the couch."
Doug drew him down to straddle his lap, and messed up his hair.
"We haven't been here that long. Mess up my hair."
Ray reached out to run his fingers through Doug's lustrous looks and felt somewhat envious. His absent thoughts scattered as he felt Doug's mouth on his throat and a hand at his groin. He jumped and was rewarded by a little growl and a sharp bite of his neck before that hot mouth was at his ear.
"Chose what you find least attractive, some heavy petting or death."
With a sigh, Ray forced himself to relax, and let Doug stroke, pet and nibble away. There was none of the leisurely love play that had preceded the near rape he remembered from the past. But what helped Ray submit without any further arguments was the lack of arousal in Doug, something that could prove awkward if he didn't do something about it.
He tugged at Doug's pants, making him start, then his hand slipped through
the fly to start stroking Doug's sex through his underwear, he felt and heard him groan against his throat.
"So...Was Armando the type who liked to leave his mark too?" he asked and just for the hell of it, gave Doug a stroke that made him squirm and moan.
"Yeeeesss.."
Ray ceased fondling Doug long enough to pull his shirt open to study his long neck, before he put the bite on it and resumed his intimate petting. He remembered the last time he'd been this close up and personal with him, how much he'd enjoyed it in his inebriated state, until heavy petting turned to something more serious and he hadn't been able to stop it before..
=No.. Stop thinking about *that* and concentrate on how good what he did before that felt.=
It worked, he emersed himself in the memory and when the door opened and the self appointed leader of the Pleasure workers, and one of the men who'd 'Greeted' Armando and Alessandro walked in, there was nothing fake about the level of intimacy both men were so deeply engrossed in. And so engrossed were they that they didn't notice the intruders, till one coughed, loudly.
Blushing furiously Ray jumped away, facing away from them to try and bring
order to his clothing, while Doug turned the chair around and did the same.
"How many times do I have to tell you to *knock* first when I have company
here."

*=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*

Ray slipped into the drivers seat, and reached for his seat belt as Doug closed the door and leaned through the open window, to caress his ear.
"I don't know whether or not to be grateful or irritated with them for arriving when they did," Doug said thinking of how wonderfully uninhibited Ray had become shortly before the distraction.
Ray was of the same mind and that only made it worse. Anything he might have said died a premature death as Doug cupped his chin and turned his head to kiss him, deeply and thoroughly. As he returned the kiss measure for measure, Ray told himself it was purely for show, to convince the interested party of three who were watching from near by.
"If that Don of yours will let you out of his sight for the night, you know where to find me," Doug said when it was over and he'd caught his breath.
Ray nodded and buckled up, grateful for small mercies when Doug ducked back up and stepped away from the car. He was preparing to reverse when something sailed through the window to land in his lap. He looked down at it startled and picked it up, to find a gold chain with one half of a stylized Zodiac symbol for Gemini on it. He looked up, wide eyed, to see Doug walk away without once looking back.
Looking down at the pendant, he remembered where he'd seen it before. Doug
had placed it around his neck while he, Ray, had been recovering in hospital after having been shot by bandit's fleeing the scene of a robbery. He remembered too the other time Doug had saved his life, how he'd disobeyed orders breaking away from the barricade he'd been maintaining with his partner to rush to his side, and stand over his fallen friend gun extended, his whole body screaming go ahead - give me the excuse I need to blow your brains out scum. They'd got the message loud and clear and backed off to eventually surrender without further violence.
Doug had received a royal dressing down, and a medal for it, and presented
Ray with the pendant on the same chain. He knew it was the same chain, because he'd worn it, until *that night*. He'd broken the chain tearing it away from his own throat to hurl it at Doug along with a few choice obscenities and the demand that he stay away and find someone else to play his sick perverted games with.
And he remembered the story Doug told him about the pendant and what it meant to him. Without another thought, Ray placed the chain around his neck and tucked it out of sight under his shirt, before he finally put the car into reverse and swung it around to drive away, wondering if and when he'd see Doug again, and what he'd do if Doug pushed his luck.


Return to Due South Fiction Archive