Gemini Rising

Gemini Rising IV : Best Laid Plans
by
Red Skye

This story is a sequel to Gemini Rising III: Scorpio's Sting Note: Where you see =Text bracketed in this way= it indicates a characters thoughts.

*~~~~~~~~~~*ooOO0=@=0OOoo*~~~~~~~~~~*
Part One
*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Fraser was unaware he had someone shadowing him as he met with Doug and pretended they were lovers out for a stroll. The hand holding he put up with the occasional grope he endured. But when the occasional kiss became a virtual tonsillectomy he baulked. Moments later he was drawn into an alley way and slammed into a wall.
His shadow found that very interesting, but was too far away to hear Doug hiss, "When I kiss you, you kiss me back, or so help me protection is the last thing you'll get when the next assassin comes after you."
Fraser's shadow watched Fraser's *lover* roughly take hold of the Mountie's face and kiss him roughly and thoroughly. His body pushed the Mountie's into the wall, his hands travelled down his body to cup the Mountie's buttocks and Fraser's hands came up to try and push him away.
As far as Fraser's shadow was concerned, it was getting more interesting by the second. He had to squelch the impulse to go to the Mountie's rescue, thereby revealing his presence as it appeared things were getting heavier than Fraser cared for them to be. Then the kiss broke up and his lover's mouth moved to his throat, and Fraser's neck arched, hell his whole body arched against his lover's as he expertly delivered a love bite to the Mountie.
The shadow had to duck out of sight as they moved apart and he peeked around his cover to look Fraser over as they turned. Now the Mountie looked as if he'd just been as thoroughly kissed as he had been, flushed, lip's a little swollen, what promised to be one hell of a hickey on his neck, hair a little tousled. His companion for his part just looked angry and strode off.
The shadow ducked as Doug stalked past with Fraser hot on his heels. As the duo moved out of sight, he prepared to move after him and a uniform cop stepped in his way and with a flash of his ID and Badge Welsh made him back off and moved off in the direction Doug and Fraser and headed off in. But he'd lost them.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray watched the Don moving through the crowded casino floor with another Mafia man at his side and two less than subtle guards on their heels.
=Interesting=
Then he was distracted by the action at the table, as a cheer went up and Sheba leaned forward to collect her winnings and flashed her assets much to the appreciation of all the men at the table.
=If you knew what she's hiding down there, guys, you wouldn't be drooling so blatantly= he thought.
"Pick a number Armando"
Ray looked the roulette wheel over.
"Two."
She put all her winnings on two and half the men at the table slid their chips to the same square, only half because the women at the table gave the other half lethal looks when they made to do the same.
The wheel spun and Ray watched the operator's hand slide over the edge of the table as it slowed.
=Luck *ha!*=
A cheer went up from the men who'd put their chips with Sheba's.
"And the lady wins again."
=If you can call rigging it so the ball always falls on her number winning=
Sheba raked in her winnings as the Don moved up behind them laying a hand on both their shoulders.
"Well it looks you've done well."
Ray was about to disagree, then remembered that he'd let Sheba take and play with all the chips the Don had passed to him and told him to have fun with. Sheba split the pile straight down the middle and pushed half his way.
"Why don't you have one last spin."
Sheba pushed her chips across the board and just to be contrary Ray slid his to another square and felt the Don's hand give his shoulder the sort of squeeze that left a bruise.
"Are you sure you want to play that number?"
All the people on the table slid their chips up with Sheba's and Ray ignored the less than subtle hint leaving his chips where he put them. Sheba just transferred her chips to his square.
"We can't break out lucky streak now," She bubbled and the operator spun the wheel before anyone else could move their chips to join hers.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray awoke as he heard his curtain's pulled across his windows. He bolted upright his hand moving under his pillow to freeze as a knife thudded into the wall and thrummed near his head.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Sheba! What the hell?"
"That was very stupid move you made today."
"Really, I expected you to do exactly what you did."
His eyes adjusted to the dark as she moved, kneeling on the bed and ripped that knife out of the wall. He tried not to react as she caressed his chest with that knife running it up to his throat.
"Really, that's not what the Don thinks."
"And what does he think?" Ray inquired hoping his voice was steadier than it sounded to him.
"He wonders why you spent as long as you did with your father after you received word that Alessandro was dead."
Ray laughed, but it died in his throat as the tip of her knife skittered over his throat.
"You *think* I wanted to stay with that manic. He's completely senile, he's lost his mind."
"He lost it a long time ago, but he is stinking rich and the only way you'd get your hands on his money is to go straight before he croaks it. Perhaps even betray us all, to prove you're worthy of his fortune."
Ray snorted.
"The only reason I remained there so long is that I couldn't escape that fortress of his any earlier. And believe me I tried. He had every window locked and wired.. Every door. I couldn't move from room to room with out one of those muscle men shadowing me."
"Then how did you escape?"
"I let him think the threat to use manacles and chains if I kept trying worked. Then when he was sure I was being compliant, I took the first chance I had, when he left me alone on his computer to get a message out. I needed someone to break in, to break out."
"So who got past his system and managed that feat?"
"Damon."
She sat back and he watched her start cleaning her claw like nails.
"So you don't care if his entire fortune goes to that foundation he set up to preform good deeds."
"I don't have to go straight to get my hands on it, he's senile and everyone knows it. It won't take much to prove he was senile when he left his entire fortune to them."
One of those long nails ran along his jaw and he was hard pressed to suppress the shiver it sent down his spine as it travelled on down his neck.
"I'm sure the Don will be happy to hear it," she said as that nail ran over his collar bone and then her fingers moved to pop the first button on his pyjamas.
Her knife thudded into the mattress before she pushed him back down and threw subtlety out the window as she moved to straddle his hips and ripped his top open sending buttons flying.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Kowalski looked up as a file landed on his desk to see Welsh looking down at him.
"Read it."
Then the Lieutenant turned walking back to his office. Kowalski looked down at the folder and recognised the name on the side, Damon Knight.
He opened the folder.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray wasted no time heading for Doug's apartment when he heard the Stallion was back from his *business* trip. He told him all about what he'd seen in the Casino and how the Don was starting to suspect there was something up. He didn't mention how Sheba's midnight visitation had ended.
"If he sent her to interrogate you instead of just plain slitting your throat open, then you're going to be made to do something to prove your loyalty very shortly."
"The question is what?"
"Kill someone no doubt. Something the feds wouldn't over look if you turned over on him. He might even suggest you kill one of them."
"Maybe I should get out, now, before that happens."
"Run now, and he'll have all the confirmation he needs and have you hunted down and killed before you can spill a word."
"So what do you suggest I do?"
"When he makes his move, you let me know who he wants eliminated and we'll stage a hit. It's amazing what you can do with special effects these days."
Ray smiled weakly.
"So how did thing's go with Fraser."
"It's not going to work."
"What do you mean it's not going to work?"
"Your friend is too stiff, he doesn't relax for a moment, he blushes and becomes flustered too easily for this charade to work. Oh he puts on the right act, but when it comes down to the touchy feely part of the role he's supposed to play.."
"Leave it to me, if you can get him to the Queen's Arm tomorrow night. I'll take care of it."
"If you can't convince him to play the part as it should be played, I will not continue with the charade."
"I'll make sure he understands that."

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
"Have a drink, Fraser," Ray invited the nervous Mountie.
"No thank-you, Ray."
Ray strode up the Mountie and forced the drink into his hand.
"I said have a drink. One way or another you're going to learn to relax when your necking with another man, and I know it helps to be a little on the tipsy side to do that."
Slowly Fraser raised the glass and sipped the drink, he almost screwed up his face in distaste. It reminded him or various medicinal potion's of a herbal nature his grandmother had made him drink whenever he'd had a sniffle as a child.
"Is that how you.. acquired your friend's assistance? By getting drunk enough to .."
"He wouldn't have touched me if I'd been drunk when I seduced him," Ray said as he walked away to sink down onto the suite's plush couch.
"But being more than a little tipsy helped me to enjoy it the first time he got frisky with me - which helped me to work up the nerve to seduce him."
"Was it really necessary too.."
"Yes, it was," Ray stated in a tone that made it quite clear that he would brook no further questions on the subject.
Fraser finished his drink in a swift gulp as Ray patted the cushion beside him making it clear it was time for the lesson to begin.
"I'm not tipsy yet."
"You will be before I get frisky with you, Benni."
Slowly Fraser crossed the room to settle down on the couch beside Ray and tried to relax, as ordered. It was quite difficult to do as Ray's hand wandered, over his back, arm and thigh.
"What does he call you, when he's.. being affectionate?" Ray asked.
"Mon Amiee."
"What do you call him?"
"Monsieur."
"Not good enough Fraser. If you want it to look right, it has to sound right too. What's the French for My Little Stallion."
Fraser stared at him.
"That'd go down a treat, his knick name at the Academy used to be the Italian Stallion, till it became obvious he had no interest in fillies. Now people just call him the Stallion."
"With you, he play's the role of the Italian Stallion, with me it is the role of the French sensualist."
"Then come up with a French endearment to call him that you won't choke on."
"I will try."
Ray leaned forward to pour another glass of the strong liqueur he'd chosen to get Fraser into an inebriated state. He was quite certain that it wouldn't take more than perhaps 3 glasses to do it. Offering the glass to the Mountie he watched Fraser scull it down.
"Easy Benni."
"It tastes foul."
Ray almost rolled his eyes.
"I'll have to tell Dougie to educate your palate while he's playing Romeo with you. He's a gourmet, good food and good wine is his thing. No... I take that back.."
Fraser handed the glass back and watched as Ray refilled it before settling back to resume his soft intimate fondling.
"He not only like's gourmet food, he makes it, and good doesn't do it justice. He makes the most incredible food you've ever tasted. Courtesy of his father who taught him to cook."
"His father was a gourmet chef?"
"A Gourmet Caterer who travelled the globe learning the art of cooking a truly multicultural feast. I remember the first time I met Dougie.. His father was running a restaurant called Smorgasbord, the food was incredible. It was the place to go if you really wanted to impress a date, not because it was exclusive or expensive, far from it, it was just so damn popular you had to make reservations weeks ahead or know someone on the staff who could get you a table at short notice."
"I thought you said you met him at the police academy." "Oh, that's where I got to know him, but I met him, before we went to the academy. He was still working as an apprentice Chef at the restaurant when I first met him. And he was interested in me from Day one. It used to impress my dates no end that one of the Chef's kept delivering our meals personally and treated me like I was a big shot customer."
Then he chuckled.
"The fact he alway's got oh so clumsy and managed to spill something messy on all my dates didn't impress them as much."
"When did you work out it was deliberate?"
"Oh I alway's knew he was gay."
"Oh."
"I found out the day I met him. I walked into the men's room just after some homophobic moron's followed him in with the intention's of *teaching him a lesson*. I walked in just as they jumped him, and took him by surprise. They made it quite clear why they were there."
"And what did you do?"
"What do you think I did, I tried to help him. Not that he really needed any help.. That guy has black belts in more than one form of martial arts. All I got for my troubles was a black eye and a bloody nose, and what they got was one hell of a surprise when he demonstrated his prowess in the arts and did a lot more than bloody noses and dish out black eyes."
The liquor was starting to have an effect on Fraser, he felt warmer and it didn't take much effort to relax under Ray's encouragement.
The third glass he drank while Ray told him all about how "Dougie" had fallen for him the day they met. When the glass was empty, Ray took it and set it aside, his gaze never straying from Fraser giving the Mountie the distinct impression he was being mentally undressed. Ray followed it up by settling back to drape an arm across the back of the couch to begin toying with Fraser's hair and ear.
"He was so.. discrete about it at first that I didn't realise it. It wasn't till we were at the academy together that I realised he was definitely interested in more than friendship."
"When did you realise that?"
"He was the first person I told about Angie accepting my marriage proposal. He looked like I'd slugged him one when I told him. All he could say, over and over was, "You're getting married."
"He didn't know about her?"
"As if I'd introduce her to the Italian Stallion, one look at him and she'd have been drooling over him. In fact, that's what happened when I finally did introduce them to each other. You should have seen her face when I told her she was the wrong sex to appeal to him."
He chuckled and his hand wandered to start toying with the buttons on Fraser's shirt.
""Are you *sure*?!" and "What a waste" were the first things she said, followed by, "How do you know?"
Fraser chuckled.
"S'funny."
"What is?" Fraser asked.
Ray popped one of those buttons open.
"When Angie and I went through our first rough patch, he was the one that helped me to smooth things out.. He helped me find our apartment, he was there during the worst times of the first year or two alway's helping us to sort out our problems, till I messed things up... With him. I imagine if I hadn't done that, things might have turned out a hell of a lot differently for all of us."
"How did you mess things up?"
Ray popped another button or two open and slipped his hand under the shirt to start caressing Fraser's chest.
"I over reacted to something he did," Ray said and pulled Fraser's head down to press a gentle kiss to his lips.
When Fraser didn't try to break away, he ran the tip of his tongue over the Mountie's lips and was rewarded by a slight parting of his lips.
Ray nibbled on Fraser's lower lip gently and his questing fingers found a nipple to tease. Fraser's lips parted further and he made a pleased little noise as Ray took advantage of it to start flicking his tongue over the sensitive flesh of his palate.
Fraser's hand shot up to stop his as Ray slipped his hand out from under the shirt, then he drew Ray's hand back to his chest before he cupped the back of Ray's skull with his hand and deepened the kiss.
=Mhhhmmm, now you're relaxed *chuckle*=

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Doug looked down at the sleeping form of Ray tangled in the sheets of the suites large king sized bed admiring his sleek body, while battling the jealousy the sight of the contented smile on Ray's face aroused.
He wondered who he envied more, the Mountie - or Ray for getting that luscious Canadian into his bed. With a shake of his head, he dismissed those thoughts and silently stripped before untangling the sheets around Ray to slip beneath them and slide across the bed to take him into his arms.
Ray made his day by rolling over in his sleep to nuzzle at his throat and ear while muttering slurred endearment's in Italian. A nuzzle became a nibble, and aimless strokes became passionate caresses, and before Doug had time to realise it, love play turned to passionate sex leaving him crying out in rapturous ecstasy as Ray moved over him, and left his mark all over his neck and shoulders.
When it was all over he lay languorously content in his lover's tight embrace and slid into blissful oblivion to the sound of Italian endearment's murmured in his ear.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
"Ray.. I think we need to talk."
Ray looked over the rim of his coffee cup, dreading what Doug had to say, after all the man never called him Ray unless he was angry or in an extremely serious mood.
"About what happened at the hotel."
Ray felt himself flush faintly remembering his spontaneously passionate response to Doug's presence in his bed.
"You mean about Fraser," he said, feigning ignorance.
Doug decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"How did it go?"
"After I poured about half a bottle of liqueur down his throat, it went well. I might need to follow it up with another lesson or two - without the aide of alcohol to make him relax when he's with you, but.. I think he'll do fine now."
"Did you sleep with him?"
"That depends on wether you mean, the way I sleep with you, or full on sex."
"Either way."
Ray flushed a deeper shade of red remembering how he had ended up in the bed with the thoroughly aroused and totally uninhibited Mountie and how that had ended.
"We didn't have sex."
"Why don't I believe you, Ray."
"You should.. Because he got as excited as you did when you were drunk, and got the same reaction."
"Oh.. I hope that won't make it difficult for you to be able to.. deal with him."
Ray decided to go for broke.
"I can't handle it when I'm pinned down and someone is trying to fuck me because.. It happened once against my will."
Doug's eyes flashed with a dangerous light.
"Someone raped you."
"That's why I simply can't .. relax when the .. bedroom games lead to me playing sub to another man's dom."
"You can play Dom with me, any time, Mia Caro."
Ray smiled.
"So long as it is not the Mountie's name you cry when you cum."
Ray looked mortified.
"I didn't.."
Doug smiled faintly.
"No. You gave me a rather painful love bite instead." Doug said, rubbing at his shoulder.
"Sorry."
"Not that I'm complaining."
"While we're on the subject of what goes on in the bedroom, there is something .. about our .. love making that bothers me," Ray said.
"And that is?"
"No matter what I do. You never get .. hard, Doug."
"I can't.. I was.. knifed in the groin, and lucky to survive the shock.. It happened before they developed the microsurgery technique's they have today...and too much time has passed to repair the damage."
Ray was totally sympathetic.
"It doesn't mean I lack the desire for sex, that remains, I have simply lost my ability to function sexually in that way."
"Do you feel anything when I.."
"I can feel it.. And derive pleasure from being touched there.. I simply fail to react in the normal way to it. And if having a sex change would not lead to my becoming a target for rapists in my line of work, I'd have the operation."
"No one would try it with Gemini."
"There you are wrong, Mia Caro.. Heterosexual men seem to think that by dominating a woman sexually, they can control her, and there are those men who think that if they could take Gemini down a peg or two using sex as their weapon, she would no longer be a threat."
"From what I hear, most men in the Syndicate think that pulling a stunt like that is down right suicidal."
"It wouldn't stop them attempting to do it if they had the opportunity. And I'd rather talk about something else. Like.. what happened between us."
"I thought you .. liked it."
"I did. But it's never going to happen again."
He couldn't have surprised Ray more.
=Did he just say what I think he said?=
"Because, I know that it doesn't mean the same thing to you that it does to me. You always have ulterior motives for doing it and I don't think I need to tell you what motivates me."
=Oh, g-d, he did, he really means it=
Ray shook his head and caressed the pendant dangling from its chain around his neck - or tried to. With a shock he looked down to find the pendant and chain gone.
"You didn't take it off?"
"No.. I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me.. I didn't even realise I'd lost it until now."
=And it's not the only thing I've lost=
"I'll have to look for it."
"That's not the only thing you have to do."
"Oh?"
"I think it's time you played your part in protecting your friend, by acting appropriately."
"What do you mean?"

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Kowalski watched Fraser strip down till he was bare chested, to reveal one hell of a bruise at his side and a rather interesting pendant hanging from a chain that had obviously been broken and repaired more than once. A pendant he hadn't seen around Fraser's neck before - but one he'd seen the design of before. In the folder Welsh had dropped on his desk.
"That's an interesting pendant you're wearing Fraser," he commented as the doctor examined Fraser's severely bruised ribs.
Fraser covered it.
"Where did you get it?"
For a moment, and a brief moment at that, Fraser toyed with the idea of shocking his new partner by telling him how he'd ripped it from the throat of Raymond Vecchio in the throes of passion, and retained it as a keepsake of his friend.
"That is really none of your business."
"It became my business when you started seeing Gemini's Major Domo, Fraser."
"Oh, so you know who he is."
"I noticed you didn't deny it."
"There is no point in denying something that is the talk of the town."
"I'll say. You shocked a hell of a lot of people when you so publicly came out of the closet like that."
"Did I? Strange, most people remark that they alway's wondered wether or not I was gay because of the way I react to female attention."
"You realise that you're getting involved with a man who's Dangerous with a capital D, don't you?."
Fraser ignored him and gave his attention to the doctor as he felt a needle pierce his skin.
"Nothing broken, except the skin." The doctor informed him as he removed the hypodermic and set it aside before slathering some salve over the injury and bandaging it.
"The shot was for the pain."
"Thank-you."
"Try to avoid sleeping on that side, and stretching for a day or two."
Fraser nodded and reached for his clothes as the doctor tidied up.
"Forget the vest, we'll have to get you a new one."
Fraser pulled it on regardless.
"No, you are not going to report this."
"Fraser I don't have.."
"It was a drive by shooting, the licence plate was covered in mud, the car is a very popular colour and make, and I doubt an investigation will uncover the shooters identity, all reporting it will achieve is having me shipped back to Canada - Permanently."
"Temporarily until we can.."
"Permanently. Inspector Thatcher made that quite clear."
"Oooh.. I see."
"If she receives proof that the rumours are simply not tough talk I will be transferred back home, post haste."
"Understood."
"I hope so."
"You can't use that vest again. If you were shot in the same place, it won't offer any protection and the odds are you could be hit in the same place - Aren't they?" Kowalski said, looking to the Doctor for support.
"The odds of that happening are quite high." The doctor agreed.
"You will need to explain why I need a new vest, and that would lead to the inspector hearing about this incident and shipping me back home."
"You need a new vest."
"I will acquire a new one - and possibly learn wether or not I was a random target or the intended one of the shooter at the same time. And if it's the later, chances are I'll find out who it was too," Fraser said stroking the pendant.
"Ooooh. I think I underestimated you Fraser, remind me not to do that again."
Fraser nodded and pulled his shirt on over his vest.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray slowly sat up, holding his aching jaw, looking up at the man who'd backhanded him so hard he'd been thrown up against the wall and slid down it dazed.
Warily he climbed to his feet to face the furious Don and death in the face.
"I told you to wrap him around your finger, not start a fight with him."
"He's the one who started it by bringing that Canadian Gigolo into it."
"Canadian gigolo... You've seen him?"
"Yeah.." Ray said, with a faint snarl as he rubbed his jaw and fought back a wince of pain.
"I met him, when he brought the son of a bitch back to his love nest while I was still there, waiting for him to get back so I could .. wrap him a little tighter around my finger. I met him once before, and he swore he was just a little bit of fluff he'd picked up to have a little fun with."
"Describe him."
Ray described Fraser to a T.
"The Mountie."
"You're kidding me.."
"No. You just described him."
"Whaddya know... I was right.."
"So it would seem. How did you know?"
"He's got statuette's of Mounties, and a painting of one against a scenic backdrop at his love nest. And he wanted me to dress up in a Mountie's uniform once."
"This could lead to trouble, if the contract goes ahead now - he could start a blood feud over it.. And we'd be in the firing line.."
"We didn't take part in the compact."
"He doesn't know that - and you threw a hissy fit over the Mountie, that's going to make us a target unless you go crawling back and eliminate your competition for his affections.. *permanently*."
"Forget it I'm not.."
The next thing Ray knew his feet were dangling a good three inches off the floor, his head was slamming into the wall and he couldn't draw in a breath, because the furious Don had him a strangle hold that was getting tighter by the second. Ray didn't have to feign terror as the Don followed it up by taking Ray's own pistol and pressed it hard against the bridge of his nose.
"I'm making it an order."
"Understood," Ray croaked and was extremely relieved when the Don let him go to fall to the floor in a gasping heap before tossing the gun down.
"Don't disappoint me again, Armando."

*~~~~~~~~~~*ooOO0=@=0OOoo*~~~~~~~~~~*
Part Two
*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray staggered out of the Don's office with his head, jaw and throat aching. He was waylaid by the Don's wife before he made it to the front door. A trip to the guest room where he was made to lie down followed. He was given a pain killer to take and had ice packs applied to his face and throat.
Once the pain killer kicked in and the ice melted. She patted his bruises dry then applied make up to his face and took his shirt, replacing it with a high necked skivvy that covered the developing bruises on his throat. He was warned that her husband was in a *very* bad mood due a renewed investigation into an old unsolved murder case, to do his best to avoid A:)The Don & B:) Going home, where he could expect a team of detectives intent on questioning him, at least until all the bruises faded.
"Which Murder?"
"They think just because he brought the Callegnini Palace from Callegnini's family that he killed Callegnini's Son."
Memories returned of being told how the police *knew* the Don had murdered the man in question, but couldn't prove it, during his briefing before he took Armando's place. He also remembered being told they'd been trying to bring Armando in to interrogate him about it - due to an anonymous tip off that he'd bragged about his involvement and how he'd destroyed all the evidence and killed 3 more people to cover his tracks and intimidated a witness or three. They suspected Armando had been trying to make a run for it, ironically meeting his death trying to escape it.
Getting enough proof to take the Don and his men down was his main mission, finding out who Armando had blabbed all too so they could pursue a murder conviction was his secondary mission.
He'd seen enough to put the Don and a number of his men away for a few years, but not enough to make it worth his while. To put the Don away for the rest of his miserable life he had to find out who knew all the dirt about the murder and bring him or her in. Ray's best guess was Sheba was behind it, she had the motive and she was in a position that meant Armando would have felt perfectly safe about blabbing the details in an effort to impress her.
The Don's wife snapped her fingers in his face and he started.
"Were you listening to me."
"Sorry, I was trying to think of how to avoid being interrogated about that murder."
"You can't avoid it. Sooner or later they will catch up with you. Just find somewhere to go to ground until the bruises fade."
Ray nodded.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray wasted little time heading for Doug's apartment. He smelt food cooking and inhaled deeply.
=Italian. Was he expecting me?=
He was heading for the kitchen when Sheba appeared in the archway with a recipe book in hand wearing one of Doug's shirts and not much else by the looks of it. Ray stopped dead in his tracks.
"What are you doing here?!" He demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"I came to see Damon."
"He's not here. He's gone to Chicago on business."
=Translation he's gone to see Fraser again. I wonder how he explains that to Gemini.=
"Oh so what are you doing here, in one of his shirts."
"My apartment down stairs is being fumigated."
"You live here too?"
"Why shouldn't I? I've got a half share in this apartment block."
=Now I'm confused, if you *own* half this place why do you need to work for the Don???=
The phone rang and they both looked at it. Sheba crossed the room to answer it. Ray listened to her Oh, Uh-ha and I understand.. Before she hung up.
"Damon?"
"My intended guest," she said in a sulky tone as she stomped off for the kitchen.
While the last thing he wanted to do was spend a night in the same apartment with the dangerous Dominatrix, two things made Ray follow her, the first, that he pretty much had no where else to go. He couldn't return to his apartment and had to hole up somewhere or risk blowing his cover. The second being that if he played his cards right, he could find out if Sheba was the tipster who tipped the police off to Armando's involvement in the murder they were reopening the investigation into.
He followed her into the kitchen and perched on one of the kitchen stools to watch her toss the cook book and dump the rather intricate desert in the making down the garbage disposal. When she reached for the pots on the stove he stopped her.
"Why waste a good meal like that?"
She glanced at him over her shoulder.
"Are you still here?" she sneered.
He gave a mental smile as she moved away from the stove to clean up the bench top instead.
"Unless you want to piss off the Don you'll have to put up with me being here."
He didn't exactly find the way she started sharpening one of the kitchen knives she'd been using very encouraging.
"They're reopening the Bellettini Murder case, they've already been around to interrogate him, and they're looking for me."
"And you came here looking for Damon to make sure he doesn't talk about it."
=It wasn't Sheba, it was Damon= he realised.
"You know I could get you out of my hair, permanently by telling the Don how you told him *all* the gory details. But then, I could always tell the cops how you killed that Architect's son, after you got what you wanted out of him, or how you killed the DMV guy who erased the registration records for the car, and I'm sure they'd love to know who was driving the car involved in the hit and run on that clerk you bribed to destroy all their evidence."
=I'm sure they'll find it *very* interesting=
"You could, but then you'd have both the Don and Damon out for your blood."
She gave a little smirk.
"Oh, I think you've out lived your usefulness to Damon as a bed warmer.. Or haven't you heard he's found a new man to take your place."
=*Bweep bweep bweep, warning - Extreme Danger=
"And Bellettini was his father."
=What???!=
"He's been taking care of every man on the Prime Suspect list for years. I'm surprised he didn't gut you when he found out you covered up for the man who killed him."
=I'm on the wrong side of the bench to make a fast escape, and I lost my pendant.. So I gotta think of some way to settle this without getting that knife buried in me=
"Maybe it's because he knows tough talk when he hears it."
"Really, from what I hear, your story was pretty damn accurate."
=Maybe if I ran real fast I could make it to that secret passage in the bedroom.. Nah.. I don't know how to open it on this end and she'd probably hurl that knife at me and sink it into my back before I got to the corridor. Oh the hell with it.. I'm a dead man whatever I do=
"You're sooo bitchy when you get stood up."
The knife thudded into the block, and thrummed as she picked up another and started sharpening it.
"Look who's talking the man who threw a real hissy fit when Damon brought his air brain back here for a little fun."
"Ooohh.. The claws are out."
"What's the date?"
=**???**=
He didn't know what to make of that question, but answered it after a moments thought. A calculating look crossed her face before she slipped the knife into the knife block and turned away to return to the stove to check the meal.
She tasted tested something then told him to go set the table. Highly relieved, he scuttled off to do it, and by the time he'd finished and returned she was dishing it out.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Welsh set his phone down and looked up as his door flew open and Kowalski burst into the room with a sheath of papers.
"I know what's going on."
"With what?"
Kowalski kicked the door closed.
"With the guy Fraser's seeing, Damon Knight, you think he's Douglas Montray, or Douglas *Bellettini-Montray* but he was supposed to have been killed when he went to prison."
"You found proof that he wasn't."
"Oh, he died there all right, but the reason you think Damon Knight is Douglas Montray is that Damon is Douglas' twin.. His Siamese twin in fact, they were identical right down to their finger prints."
"What?!"
"They could finish each other's sentences, if one was hurt, the other one yelped. And what's more, for Damon was constantly impersonating Douglas, for five years after he *allegedly* died in Italy. According to the records I tracked down, he was alleged to be on boat that exploded and sank. No bodies were ever found, but no one expected to find any remains.. The explosion scattered wreckage for a hundred meters over the water. A week later, Douglas came to the US, the day after he came, his father returned to Italy, and the day after he arrived there, he returned to the US with Douglas.. Douglas didn't go back to Italy with his father, his father went back with his passport, to get Damon out. And after that Damon he lived with them above the restaurant his father ran. Whenever Damon went out, Douglas remained at home, and vice versa."
"How did you.."
"I traced half a dozen employee's who worked for their father, 3 of them worked for the man in Canada and knew all about the twins and according to them, the Mafia came after Montray's kid's in Canada.. The family split up, Their mother took their sister and went back to Italy, Dougal took the boys and started travelling the globe. Till they were 18, then they went to Italy to join their mother and he came back to the US to get his boy's off the hook by finding a long lost relative."
"How would that get the boy's off the hook?"
"Some Italian Duke left his whole fortune to the first born male of the line - or the first *surviving male* of the line, who reached their 21st birthday. Some Mafia guy in Italy had a son who was next in line to inherit if the Montray boys died before they hit 21."
"Aha.. And this long lost relative.."
"Was Emma Louise Bellettini, one of the daughter's of the Duke.. Who came to America in the 20's and vanished. Any of her male descendants would be in line for the fortune, if they were born before the Montray boys."
"And.."
"It would seem, that not long before his Murder, Dougal Montray the boy's father had a visit from the private detective he hired to find the relative, they both took a trip to Vegas. An when he returned, they had a big party to celebrate the fact he tracked down Emma, who was still alive, and she was married during the thirty's to some gangster, and had his son, not long after he was gunned down, to protect the boy from her husbands enemies she had him put up for adoption and knew who adopted him. Dougal told everyone at the party the woman was going to find her son, and that as soon as she contacted him to tell him where he was, he was going to be on the first flight to Italy to tell the Duke's exec where to find the real Heir. Which meant Damon could stop playing dead, find his pretty little wife and get on with his life."
"Then Dougal was murdered."
"Three day's later, two day's later, the private detective arrived, with bad news, Emma Bellettini had apparently fallen down a stair case at home and broken her neck. Quite a feat for a woman who's arthritis was so bad she couldn't climb the stairs in the first place."
"Someone tipped off the Don."
"Someone on the staff was his spy, that person killed himself a week later, and it was suicide, he left a note explaining that he hadn't realised they'd kill Dougal to keep him from revealing the existence of another heir with a direct claim on the estate."
"Did they tell you anything else about Damon?"
"He kept the restaurant going with his brother's help, till he went to the academy. They hired someone else to run the place, but continued to live in the apartment above it. Oh, and I think I worked out why Vecchio stopped dealing with Douglas."
"You did? What happened?"
"I think he found out about Damon & that he and Douglas were playing switcheroo all the time - including when Douglas was at the academy, whenever Douglas was on duty, it was Douglas, so once they came to work here, it was Damon and not Douglas that Vecchio was socialising with."
"What makes you think Vecchio knew?"
"Two of the people I talked to said whenever Vecchio had a fight with his wife, he'd end up there, and whenever it was a don't come back kind of fight, he'd spend the night in the apartment and whichever twin was out would be intercepted and warned to find somewhere else for the night."
"Let me guess according to them, no one intercepted the twin who was out when he got back."
"Right.. Damon was in, Douglas was out, the guy who was warned to intercept him when he got back wasn't able to intercept him, and it happened on the worst possible night. The fight Vecchio had with Angie was supposed to have been a real doozy, Vecchio was drinking pretty heavily and Damon matched him drink for drink trying to get the story out of him before he took him up to the apartment. And the guy the who was supposed to stop Douglas only realised he was back after they closed up for the night and he saw the bike in the garage. By which stage it was too late. No one knows exactly what happened.. Vecchio was gone by the time they returned in the morning. Douglas got stuck into them for A.) Not warning him, and B.) for letting Vecchio & his brother get dead drunk, and Damon was gone along with every dollar from the safe. They never saw Vecchio or Damon again."
"That explains what happened to Damon.. But it's not quite right.."
"What do you mean.. It explains everything, that's why Vecchio never explained why he cut his ties with Douglas, he may have been furious about being taken for a fool like that, but if he explained, he'd be putting his friend's life at risk."
"Let me put it this way. Which one of the twins got good and drunk with him?"
"Damon."
"And where do his tastes lie.."
Kowalski's eyes widened as he realised what Welsh was getting at.
"Right, he turned up with the same sort of bruises the man leaves on Fraser's neck when he's in town. McGrath tried to get Vecchio to file a charge against Douglas right up until he *allegedly* caught him stealing weapons. But Vecchio point black refused to confirm McGrath's suspicions, even when he was ordered to please explain his reasons for cutting off his so called best friend."
"But Knight's got a wife. That's who the other passenger on the boat was. He was reunited with her about 5 or 6 years ago. What's going on with Fraser is all a sham."
"You think so? Why? Because he's got a wife, haven't you ever heard the term, Bi-sexual," Welsh said, knowing that it was a sham but wanting to hear Kowlaski's reasons for calling it one.
"Fraser hinted that there more going on than I knew.. He wouldn't explain.. But.. Well, I've seen them together a few times.. For someone who's supposedly head over heels he's less than comfortable with his S.O."
"So you noticed it too."
"What do you mean *too*?"

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray leaned over the basin, groaning, as he watched the water wash the sink he'd just threw up in clean. He splashed water on his face and tried to remember what happened after he'd eaten dinner, before he'd woken up just a short minute ago in the bed of the master bedroom.
Try as he might, Ray couldn't recall a thing. Patting his face dry he wondered if the bump on his head he'd gotten from slamming into the wall had left him with concussion. He certainly felt like it. His head throbbed fit to burst and just sitting up had made it explode and left him racing to the bathroom.
Returning to the bedroom, he stopped dead and swayed in his tracks as he saw Sheba lying in the bed he'd just left, and from the looks of things, she was most likely naked under those covers. He looked down at himself for the first time realising he was naked.
Reaching around behind himself he found the tracks of her nails down her back, spun and bolted back to the bath to throw up again.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray was walking the marble filled corridor that was decorated with Art Deco master pieces and six eight foot tall stunning Art Deco style statue's wired up to hold the lobby's light fitting's when the door man stepped away from the doors.
"Mr Langustini?"
"Yeah?"
"Mrs Knight asked me to intercept you and ask you too return to the apartment."
"Did you say "Mrs Knight?!"
The door man nodded. Ray described Sheba and he nodded again.
"She's Damon's *wife?!*"
"Yes, sir."
Ray spun on his heel and marched back through the lobby.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
"Sheba??"
"In the bathroom."
He found her dressed in one of Doug's robes, the spa running as she opened the cabinet picked out a glass bottle and poured it into the spa.
"The Don would be most displeased if you were seen with those oh so obvious bruises."
"I wonder what he'd say if I told him about the stunt you pulled last night."
She gave a very evil chuckle.
"I wonder what he'd say if I told him about how you spilled your guts to Damon - And don't waste you're breath telling me it was all just tough talk."
"What the hell did you lace that food with?!"
"Oh, just a little something to make you friendly."
=Friendly she calls it=
"And a little something else that will make you drop dead in about 40 hours if I don't give you the antidote."
=Oh shit!=
"It's a horrible way to die and I don't think I have to tell you what you have to do to make me give you the antidote."
"Maybe you didn't notice it the other night, you stupid bitch but you don't have what it takes to turn me on."
"We'll see about that, Strip."
"Go to hell."
"You'll be there in about 40 hours if you don't do what I tell you too."
If looks could kill, the one he shot her would have vaporised.
"Do it."
He reluctantly stripped and she sat on the edge of the spa watching him. They way she looked his body over made his skin crawl. The way she fixed her gaze on his groin made him think of a predatory animal.
"Stand over there," she commanded pointing to a place directly in front of the spa.
He moved to the indicated place crossing his arms over his chest, resisting the urge to cover another part of his body. Then she started touching herself, first stroking her breasts, and body, then as one hand moved over her breast the other moved to her sex. His eyes dilated and his sex came to hard throbbing life as he watched her play with herself until she brought herself to climax.
=You win=
Then she crooked a finger. With a sigh, mentally cursing his traitorous body for betraying him, he obeyed her summons.

*~~~~~~~~~~*ooOO0=@=0OOoo*~~~~~~~~~~*
Part Three
*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray discovered two very disturbing details about Sheba. The first much to his surprise - at the worst possible time-was that she was off all things, still technically a virgin. Which made him wonder just went on the night before, or if he'd been royally set up. But that wasn't the most disturbing discovery - That was discovering how high Sheba's appetite for sex was. As soon as they left the bathroom, she shoved him down on the bed and ordered him to do it again. He used his hands and mouth to bring her to climax after half an hour of pure foreplay not being up to any thing more quite so soon. He watched her as she lay on the bed with a contented little smile on her face and found himself thinking that he'd never seen her looking quite so beautiful as she did at that moment.
She reached up to run a finger down his nose, then her hand hooked around his neck and pulled him down for a very through kiss.
"You're even better than Damon."
He ran a finger along a jaw then her lips in a feather light caress that was a prelude to another kiss, and another bout of love making.
=Make yourself as valuable as you can, then she'll keep her mouth shut and give you the antidote= He thought as he worshipped her body.
Somewhere along the way she started to return the favour, and after her mouth closed over his sex to stimulate it in way's that made him whimper and moan with delight. He stopped thinking about why he was with her and gave himself up to the passion.
She shrieked with delight as he proceeded to take his own sweet time, licking, nibbling and sucking his way from head to toe, giving extra attention various parts of her body. Her highly vocal cries of pleasure only served to turn him on a lot more. The shuddering moan she gave when he finally entered her, slowly, tested his patience to the limit. She pulled his head down for a passionate kiss as he hovered trembling over her the tested his patience even more when her lips moved from his to his ear.
"G-d, I love the way it feels when you do *that*," she said huskily referring to the way he buried himself in her and waited for her to make the next move.
She seemed quite content to just kiss and stroke him, then her hands slid around his body to start working on his nipples and that was the end of his patience. She arched under him as he began thrusting against her trying not to go to hard or fast for her, then he thought what the hell, I've done my bit to please her time to please my self.
She wrapped her legs around him in a way that amazed him, and exerted a display of strength in that legs that didn't surprise him half as much. He was forced to resume the pace she liked and it drove him nuts. She was so tight, and the position her movement's had put her in seemed to make each and every thrust he made very pleasurable for her.
He felt her climax around him, and found himself joining her. She wrapped her arms around his trembling body as he collapsed over her, then her legs slowly released him.
"My god.. How did you do *that*?"
"My Mother's second husband was a Gymnastics coach. He spent 6 year's trying to get me up to scratch to try out for the Olympics.. The last 2 putting me on a near starvation diet to try and keep my body from developing my natural curves.. Then I ran away, found my real father again, and let him cluck and fatten me up again. Then my mother tracked me down and I ran away and lied about my age to join a circus.. "
"Guy's like that ought to be taken out and shot.. That's child abuse disguised as something else."
"Oh I got my revenge, made Mama happy, and had him tossed out of the Gymnastic association destroying his chances of ever being able to coach professionally again in one fell swoop."
"How?"
"There's a circus in town.. Come with me tomorrow and I'll show you. It's the last place anyone would expect to find you in."
"I haven't been to a circus in a long time."
"You'll enjoy it."
"Not with the threat of death by poisoning within hours hanging over my head I won't."
He almost groaned when she said she'd give him the antidote if he pleased her *enough*.
=G-d, she's a raving nympho=

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
He awoke in Doug's big bed to find himself alone and the scent of coffee brewing in the air. He climbed out of bed stretching out the kinks and heard her voice through the open door way saying "Thank-You, Doctor."
Wondering what she was talking to a doctor for he moved into the bathroom to attend to the call of nature and shower. While he was showering she stepped into the shower with him a tube of shower gel she put to good use to get him well and truly in the mood.
She didn't seem to be in the mood for any extended fore play and showed of her flexibility again wrapping herself around him as he pressed her against the wall. This time she didn't try to exert any control over him but he was in no hurry and revelled in the feel of her wrapped around him in more ways than one.
She was very affectionate after and dried him off with a fluffy towel, nuzzling her way around his body, before he dressed, then she lead him out to the dining room for a large breakfast.
No sooner had he finished that when she wandered into the lounge and pulled the curtains closed. He stepped into the room to be pounced on and drawn to the couch where he called her insatiable and she popped a tape into the stereo, climbed on the table, and stripped to the beat of You Can Leave Your Hat On, much to his enjoyment. Then she put on a display of her gymnastic ability's for him, finishing by standing on her hands before him and dangling her feet in his face to run a toe along his jaw.
He obliged her by sucking on that toe and giving her foot a lot of attention. He watched her arms tremble then lock, and switched his attentions to her other foot. When he finished that, she flexed her arms and flipped herself into his lap wrapping her arms around him to kiss him thoroughly. Her hands worked quickly to unbutton his shirt and then deal with his pants and wasted no more time getting down to business.
"G-d. From Virgin to Nymphomaniac in one day."
"*Technical* virgin. I've been a very *frustrated* nymph for the last year."
=Oh *great*..Now she's going to be all over me like a rash *aaaall* the time=
He stopped worrying about that as she began moving over him and he let himself go with the flow. Neither of them noticed the sound of the key in the lock, or the door opening, as they cried out in joint rapture. But they didn't remain ignorant for much longer.
"What the.."
They both looked around wide eyed to see Doug slack jawed in the door way, with a wide eyed and red faced Fraser looking over his shoulder. Fraser stepped back into the corridor and Doug recovered fast and spun, to slam the door.
=I'm dead=
Sheba scrambled to recover her clothes and Ray managed to get his pants on before the furious man turned to face them fists clenched, shaking with rage.
"So this is how you get your revenge on me for telling you it wasn't going to happen again.. You fuck my wife in my own home!" He roared.
Ray flinched.
"Oh do stop bull roaring," Sheba cut in.
"I don't know who I'm more furious with, him for doing it, or you for going along with it."
Sheba threw Ray's shirt at him.
"Like our marriage vows meant anything to you, they didn't stop you screwing around with Armando or Raymond."
Doug shot a look at Ray who was pulling the shirt on and looking anywhere but in his direction.
"You think I don't know about Raymond, that cop you got the hots for.. The one you stayed in Chicago for years to chase after. Or the other one, who walked in behind you, I hear he's a Mountie.. By the name of Benton Fraser.. There are a few men who'd love it if I slit his throat from ear to ear. Like Armando here, would you like me to get rid of the competition for you, and save you the trouble my little treasure?"
"Get out before I do something you won't live to regret driving me too," Damon growled in a tone that suggested he was on the verge of doing something lethal.
She spun leaned over Ray told him to meet her in the lobby in an hour - or else, then stomped off to the bedroom. Ray looked down at his trembling hands trying to do up the buttons on his shirt.
He heard Doug stomp through the apartment and gave up on the shirt after Doug stomped after Sheba. He stripped off his pants found his underwear and got it on before he pulled the pants back on and followed it up with his socks. He was just grabbing his shoes when he heard the bedroom door slam then Doug stomping back. He jammed his shoes on then stood to face the fuming man.
"She started this didn't she?"
Ray nodded.
"When did it start?"
"Yesterday.. Well... actually.. before you went away.."
"The night she came to interrogate you."
Ray nodded.
"But she didn't get anywhere.. The way she acted turned me off."
"I'm surprised she even bothered to try again."
"She laced the food with something.. I don't even remember what happened the first time.. And she said.. There was something else in it.. Poison.. That if I didn't do exactly what she wanted.. I'd be dead in 48 hours."
Doug spun and bolted for the kitchen. Ray heard him open a door and the sound of bottles hitting a bench top a few moments later. Steeling himself, he strode across the room and opened the door to let Fraser in.
"Who was that woman?"
"Sheba Knight.."
"His sister?"
"His wife."
Fraser stared at him, unable to believe he just heard him say that.
"She threatened to kill me if I didn't put out. Given a choice in the matter I wouldn't have touched her."
Fraser waved a hand in Ray's face, inferring that Ray must have gone blind, and got a mock punch for it.
"I'm confused. I thought he was Gay."
"I am, and she's been making me pay and pay and pay ever since I told her," Doug's voice floated back from the kitchen.
"Did she know what time you were due back?"
"Yes, I told her how long I'd be away when she asked if she could use my apartment."
"She planned that."
"I should have worked it out as soon as walked in."
Ray heard something smash then Doug's voice, cursing in a few different languages. Fraser's eyes widened.
"I wouldn't want to be in her shoes right now," Fraser said sotto voice.
"Can you understand what he's saying?"
Fraser nodded.
Doug returned, then pointed.
"The guest bedroom's the second door on the left in the hall, go and get yourself settled. There's a phone, you might want to make use of it to explain your disappearance to your associates."
Fraser nodded and walked away. Ray watched Doug watching him leave, and both of them listened for the sound of the door closing behind Fraser.
"She wasn't bluffing was she?"
"No."
"Why the hell did you have something like that here in the first place?"
"It starts to become very noticeable at 40 hours.. You'll start to sweat heavily, your temperature will soar, you'll start throwing up, suffer cramps that'll reduce you to a screaming & whimpering heap..And you'd agree to just about anything to get the antidote at that stage."
"You don't have it, do you?"
"She must have removed it to make sure you didn't find it."
"As if I'd know what to look for, or where to look for it."
"What were you doing here in the first place?"
Ray told him all about his encounter with the Don and the fact the Bellettini case had been reopened.
"About damned time."
"Sheba said he was your father.. I thought Montray.."
"He was.. Solomon's father was a gangster back in the 30's who was gunned down before he was born.. To protect him, his mother put him up for adoption, his mother was one of the Dukes daughters, the one who emigrated to America."
Ray's eyes widened.
"A private detective my father hired, to continue the search after he got nowhere, found her, alive. My father spoke to her, and announced the fact the day before he was murdered. He told her about the Duke's death, his will, and she told him about her son and promised to track him down. All my father cared about at that stage was getting me out of the firing line.. He didn't care that it would cost me the Duke's estate. He was going to wait for her to tell him where to find her son and take him to Italy.."
"But he was killed before that happened."
"She was murdered 3 day's later.. It was ruled death by misadventure.. She supposedly fell down a stair case and broke her neck.. The detective came and told me about it, and said it was quite a feat for a woman with such severe arthritis that she couldn't get around without assistance."
"You took the challenge to find him."
"No.. I didn't have to. Her exec did it for me. She had a sizeable fortune of her own, courtesy of his father, a virtual palace he built here in Vegas before he was gunned down. It was filled with art deco masterpieces worth more than the actual property.. I know, after Solomon died I had a salvage team gut the house of all it's art deco treasures and sold half of them at auction, they fetched over 10 million dollars. It paid for the construction of this place."
"You sold that place to the Don, didn't you?"
"He threatened to have his men break every bone in Solomon's Exec's body if he didn't convince me to sell.. I sold it to him, after I gutted it and found what the Don and every other Mafia man who tried to get Solomon to sell it to them was after.. Then I torched it.. All he got was a pile of ash, an empty underground vault with a message painted in big white letters that said, checkmate you loose."
Ray snickered.
"Armando was with him when they finally found the Vault, he said the man was so livid with fury that he almost had a stroke when he found out I got to it first."
"Was there anything in the vault when you found it?"
"Solomon's mother's will specifically stated that *everything* inside the mansion and the estates boundaries was his..Including the precious treasures she inherited from her mother. Solomon could never work out what that meant, neither could her exec.. Solomon didn't live long enough to find out about the Vault and the treasures stored in it. But the Mafia knew.. They threatened to kill her son if she didn't hand it over."
"That's why she put him up for adoption."
Doug nodded.
"Then she told them to rot in hell and vanished on them.. According to the exec she was a lot like Sheba."
"Why the hell did you marry her?" Ray asked then thumped him hard in the chest.
"And why the hell didn't you tell me she was your wife."
"I didn't think I'd live to see my 21st.. I saw her in the circus.. She had this act that made me think she was the perfect woman to take as a wife.. Someone who could defend herself, and our son.."
"You just wanted to have a son who'd keep your cousin from inheriting."
"That was why I started courting her.. I was quite amazed when she accepted my proposal."
"Why? You're a great catch, you're positively gorgeous and had a exciting career, and big prospects."
"She didn't know about my prospects. Though she knew about the racing side of things. It surprised me because she was known to reject just about every man who tried to court her.. And she had a lover.."
"Another woman?"
Doug nodded.
"Yes, one of the acrobats. I don't suppose she showed you what she can do in that area."
"She did."
"Incredible isn't it."
"I'll say."
"After I saw her show off her acrobatic talents I stopped thinking about her as just a walking womb, I told my Sensi all about her, he said, Marry the woman then bring her to me. Which is pretty much what I did, before I headed for the states. He turned her into the lethal weapon she is now. I was supposed to go back for her.."
"But you didn't."
"She was safe there.. And I wasn't much use to her. Instead of going after her, I tracked down my great Aunt and her exec was oh so excited when I showed up and told him my father had sent me. He told me he'd tracked down her son, as she'd asked him too.. I called my mother, and told her to find out what he'd need to do inherit. He arrived a week later, in clothes that had seen better days. He'd been living on the poverty line for over a decade and was so excited when he was told he inherited her mansion and family treasures.. Even more excited to meet a relative. I didn't tell him about the other fortune, and the Exec didn't know about it."
"Why didn't you tell him?"
"I wanted to find out if he could handle it first. And you should have seen the way he handled the Mafia men who tried to intimidate him into selling up so they could get their grubby little hands on his rightful inheritance."
"Good."
"I learned a thing about how to handle them myself from him. My particular favourite was the way he handled the one who spent the whole time he was making his pitch polishing his gun. He just laughed, put on his thickest Irish accent and said is that supposed to scare me Boyo, why where I've been living for the last 20 years, boy's in short pants are carrying Machine guns and blowing up churches. *Catholic Churches.* I'm Protestant. Oh, by the way did I mention I'm also IRA.. That Mafia man scuttled fast."
Ray laughed.
"He was a master at intimidating them. He alway's used to say, I didn't spend 20 years in Ireland without learning a thing or two Laddie."
"How did he become *your father*?"
"When I knew he could handle my uncle I told him about the Dukes estate, my Uncle and how tried to kill me, how he'd had my father, and his mother killed to try and make sure they never learned about him so his son would inherit. Donnatella came and took him and his mother's exec to Italy.. And she came back, without him and told me how he'd gotten control of the fortune out of my uncles hands.. And called a few friends to come and see his mansion.. And when my Uncle showed up with a few of his friends they let him in, and he was up on one of the balcony's over the grand entry and said, I hear you like blowing things up. So do I.. then, with the aide of a rocket launcher the car my Uncle arrived in blew up."
Ray laughed.
"And so did the car's his bully boy's arrived in. Donna say's my Uncle literally shit himself with a he was splashed with Petrol from a drum over the door, and Solomon lit up a cigar and kept waving it his way."
Ray cackled.
"While he told them, I was alive and well and knew who killed his mother, and my father.. And then told him his Friends would make sure he had lethal accident if anything happened to him or me.. Then he tossed the cigar and my Uncle and his men bolted to avoid being fricasseed.. And Solomon came back with a load of antiques and said he'd be a happy man if I let him adopt me and make me his legal heir to keep it from falling back into my uncles control."
"I don't get it, shouldn't your cousin have inherited by then?"
"He inherited, but he was mentally incompetent and my Uncle controlled it in his name."
"Ah."
"Till Solomon came along."
"How did he die?"
"He used to visit his parents graves every Sunday, without fail.. He planted roses on his mother's grave and tended to them.. One Sunday, instead of opening the door to him, I opened it to the police who told me his body had been found by her grave by a person visiting the grave next to it."
"You're doppelganger told me how he died.. After I fed him a cocktail of drugs that made him talkative."
"Why?"
"After I got him exactly where I wanted him, he proved to be less than satisfactory company.. And thought sleeping with me gave him carte blanche to start moving in on Gemini's territory. I decided to teach him a lesson and take care of the Don.. And got the shock of my life when I asked him to tell me the Don's darkest secret."
Doug reached out and tipped up Ray's chin and touched his bruised throat.
"You don't know how lucky you are to be alive.. What you described to me is what he described as the prelude to Solomon's murder. And it happened the same way, Solomon pissed him off.. And he lost his temper and killed him, right in front of Armando.. Who did try to stop him.."
"Or said he did."
"Oh, he couldn't lie.. I made sure of that. He was telling the truth.. When he tried the Don threw him off and he hit the next grave - head first... When he came too, The Don was trying to get him into the car, he looked around and saw Solomon - Very dead - Before he was shoved into the car, and the Don took off out of there like a bat out of hell. He said he needed stitches for the gash he got, and I looked, he had a scar hiding under his hair."
"Sheba told me he killed two men to cover up what the Don did."
"It was more like three.. He heard about the vault, and hit the jackpot when someone he got into his debt offered to give him the plans that would lead him to it if he tore up the IOU. He got the plans and killed idiot who stole them from his father who was the architect who built the place. But he killed the wrong man."
"Oh."
"A very old man approached me at Solomon's funeral, he told me he built the palace for Solomon Snr and his wife, and gave me his card and told me to give him a call later. I did after the exec told me about the visit from the Don's men.. I asked him if he knew what it was the Don wanted to get the place that bad for.. He showed up on the doorstep half an hour later and gave me an eye popping tour of the place.. It was riddle with secret rooms, passages, tunnels and.."
"The vault."
"As soon as he opened that I *knew* why the Mafia were so eager to get their hands on the place. And it was so easy to get it out, the Don's spies didn't even realise that while we were having our furniture carried out that it was packed full of the vaults treasures. And a few of Solomon's friendly explosives experts helped us to blast a tunnel that we used to move out the biggest items, and the art Deco treasures the salvage team stripped the house of without being seen. Then I let them commit a little arson - but warned them to make sure the fire didn't open the tunnels for everyone to see.. And put on the appropriate act wailing and screaming at my beautiful palace burning to the ground."
Ray snickered.
"And then sold it to the Don, who had a fit when he realised he'd been outfoxed."
"Armando said he didn't work out it was me, till the architect and I joined forces again to build this place. That was right about the time the local Mafia discovered it was a bad idea to try and put the squeeze on me."
"Is that when you joined forces with Gemini?"
"She said she'd help me avenge Solomon's death."
"Do you still claim your deep undercover?"
"Oh, but I am.. I own this place, the mall and quite a few other properties around here.. Not to mention the Ancestral Home of the Bellettini clan, and few hundred Million dollar's worth of jewels, antiques, paintings, stocks, and companies the Dukes financial people invested his money in, in Europe. What do I need to resort to crime for? My role for Gemini is simply the same Role Solomon played.. Intimidation is the name of the game."
Then he tapped Ray's nose.
"And I don't need to play her game any more, because your doppelganger told me who killed Solomon which is why I can do what you asked of me and she can go whistle."
"And what about Sheba? When the Don goes down, she's going to go down with him."
"Sheba's a smart and observant woman. Who knows more about the Don and his activities than he realises. When the day comes, no doubt, she'll turn states evidence in exchange for amnesty."
"They wont offer it to her, not if she's killed for him."
"Like I said, she's a smart woman.. He's ordered her to kill 6 people.. Who she took out into the desert.. And then suggested they flag down the first truck and disappear, or they'd end up as crow bait."
"I don't believe it."
"Oh she's killed people, but like me, it's alway's been in self defence. And what happened here is a prime example of why he trusts her implicitly. When she wants to be, she can be quite ruthless," Doug said taking Ray's arm.
He lead Ray to the bathroom found some make up and covered up his bruises.
"What do I do about the Don's threat?"
"I'll think of something.. By the time Sheba's through with you, I should have a plan.."
"She threatened to tell the Don I'd blabbed all to you as well."
"She's do it too.. Until I set my eyes on Armando, she lived here with me.. She defected to the Don in revenge and to A.) Piss me off, and B.) To give him a hard time."
"I suppose you heard the rumours about her and the Don."
"Yes."
"That's all they are."
Doug smiled faintly.
"You're quite certain of that."
"Very.."
"She was probably waiting for the right opportunity to pull the stunt she pulled with you - To cause me the maximum grief."
"Would you please do me a favour."
"It'll be a cold day in hell before I take that witch back after this."
"Yeah, well, don't expect to see much of me from now on then, because I'm going to be too busy trying to keep her from getting me killed by keeping her happy - in bed. She's a bloody Nymphomaniac."
"The secret to keeping her happy is.."
"Oh I know what she likes.. It's the only way I could keep her from wearing me out to a frazzle and she didn't have any complaints. I'm the one with the complaints. She's insatiable."
"Well she hasn't taken any lovers I know of since she rejoined me.. Which means my passionate little wife has got a years worth of sexual frustration to work off."
He sent Ray staggering for the door with a hearty slap on the back.
"Have fun."
Ray caught his balance then spun to face him.
"Just in case she decides to play hard ball and doesn't give me the antidote.. I want you to take care of Fraser."
Damon nodded and was thoroughly started when Ray walked back up to him grabbed his shirt and yanked him down for a kiss full of passion. When it was over, Doug looked at Ray with slightly glazed eyes.
"You remember the day we met?"
"Uh-hu.."
"When I said *Wow* it wasn't because you'd just made mince meat out of five guys, it was because I'd just set eyes on the most incredible looking person I'd ever seen, and you missed a great opportunity.. I know you were tempted to kiss me while you were tending to my poor face.. And I was hoping you would, but you didn't, and you blew it. If you'd kissed me then, I would have been all yours."
"You mean.."
"I'm Bi and alway's have been, I've just never admitted it - till now."
Doug touched his face.
"Does that mean what I think it means?"
"You can take it anyway you like," Ray said, then turned and walked out leaving Doug staring after him a look of amazement and chagrin on his face.

*~~~~~~~~~~*ooOO0=@=0OOoo*~~~~~~~~~~*
Part Four
*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray waited for the elevator to arrive when he heard a door open. The elevator seemed to be stuck at the lobby, and he punched the button again.
"Over here."
Ray looked, to see the door for the fire stairs open and slowly approached.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Doug answered the phone to find the door man on the line informing him that there were police officers in the building.
"Did you initiate the standard response procedure?"
"Yes sir."
"What do they want?"
"They want Mr Langoustini."
"Do they have papers?"
Doug moved into the office which among other things contained a bank of screens that displayed what the buildings many security cam's were filming.
"Yes, sir."
He saw Ray moving into the stair well with Sheba in her bombshell blond disguise pulling items from her large shoulder bag.
"Did you inform my wife of their presence?"
"I didn't need to sir."
"Are they with you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Tell them Mr Langoustini has already left the building."
He watched Sheba hand Ray a wig and affix a fake goatee beard to his chin as he listened to the door man tell the police Mr Langoustini had left the building already.
"Gimme that." he heard a voice say.
Obviously the door man let him have the phone because that sneering voice was on the line telling him they knew Armando was in the building because it had been under observation ever since he'd arrived.
"My it took you some time to get a warrant, could that be because you couldn't find a judge who considered your reasons for obtaining it to be all that legal."
He heard someone else take the phone and berate the other officer, then a more polite officer took over. He recognised the voice as that of the Detective who was given Solomon's case to investigate.
"Mr Knight, we'd like to question Armando about your Father's murder."
"Has the case been re-opened?"
"We found the car."
"You *have*. Where?"
"It was pulled out of lake three states away. We found it following a tip off. We've got photographic evidence the car was used by Armando at the time period in question and half a dozen witnesses who saw it speeding out of the cemetery at the time of death. That makes him one of our prime suspects."
"Who is the other?"
"Can't you guess."
"Have you questioned him?"
Sheba's make up kit transformed Ray's face.
"Yes, he's sticking to the story he had at the time."
"What makes you think Armando will change his?"
"There's a question of who his loyalties are too now. We've heard there's been some dissension in the ranks."
Ray's coat was taken and stuffed in the bag and Sheba handed him her overcoat. Ray pulled on the over coat and the transformation was complete.
"As much as I'd love to help you catch the man who murdered my father, I can't help you now. Armando has left the building."
"We have a warrant."
"And I have another guest.. That's why he left."
"Don't make us start breaking down doors."
"Give me the Door man."
The phone was handed back to the door man as Doug watched Ray follow Sheba down the stair case.
"Restore the lifts."
"Yes sir."
Doug hung up.
"Damon!"
Doug looked around then hurried to the guest room to find Fraser leaning on the window sill, his back to the glass.
"There's someone on the rooftop opposite with a camera."
Doug approached Fraser.
"Are you sure?" He asked in French.
"Positive. I saw the sun glinting off the lens inside that fake air tower."
Doug's hand slid over Fraser's shoulder and as he leaned closer he scanned the roof top seeing the air towers.
"Which one?"
"Third to left where one shouldn't be."
Doug nibbled on his ear, and focused on the third air tower as Fraser's arms wrapped around him. He saw a glint of light from within the tower as the person within it moved forward, could imagine them snapping a photo or two. He pulled back, his arm sliding down Fraser's arm, then moved away, pulling Fraser after him.
"How did you spot that?"
"There are six other towers which are all equally spaced. That was is the odd one out, and it as no rivits on the base plate. Ergo, it's fake.
"Aha."
He lead Fraser out of the room and into the hall.
"Go hop into the shower, and keep a towel handy we're about to have visitor's of the uninvited kind, if you want to avoid being interrogated.. Kick up a stink when they walk into the bathroom."

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray and Sheba waited in the stair well by the lobby door. A light above the door turned from red to green and there was a click. Sheba opened the door and walked out with Ray on her tail. The doorman opened the door for them as they approached.
"Are they gone?"
"No, Ma'am, they're in the building. They've gone up to speak to Mr Knight. There's another pair of them outside in unmarked cars, you should catch a cab instead of taking your own car."
"Remind me to give you a raise," Sheba said as she passed through the doors.
The doorman smiled walking out behind them. They stopped at the curb and the doorman flagged down a cab opening the door for them. Sheba directed the cabbie to take them to the circus, looked at her watch and sat back going through her bag. Ray leaned forward when she turned to hold out a bottle of mineral water and a pill box.
"Time for your pill, snookums."
He rolled his eyes and caught the look of sympathy from the cabbie in the mirror before he popped the pill into his mouth washing it down with a mouthful of water. She took the bottles and pill case and tucked them away.
"Have you visited the circus?" She asked the cabbie noting the wedding ring on his finger.
"Oh, yeah, I took the wife and kids, they loved it."
"So what sort of acts do they have?"
She listened to him go on to list and describe most of the acts as he drove through the city. Ray found her interest in an assessment of the acrobat's act amusing. The cab pulled up outside the gates as he concluded he'd seen better.
"Thank-you."
She gave him a hefty tip and hustled Ray up to the gates, buying tickets for all the rides, finding out when the show started, then wrapped her arms around his arm and lead him into the grounds. She took him on half the rides, the other half he refused to go on with her, she called him chicken, he flapped his arms and squawked making her laugh and swat him before she went on the hair raising, stomach churning rides.
He was thoroughly enjoying himself by the time she brought him lunch and sat through a multitude of acts listening to her nit pick or praise the performers skills. While all around them, people held their breath's or chewed their nails, she yawned, loudly and caught the ring master's eye when she tossed popcorn at the performer while he was taking his bow while everyone else clapped.
"It seems we have a member of the audience who thinks they can do a better job," The ringmaster said pointing at her.
She did the classic who moi reaction, exaggerating it.
"Yes, you Ma'am. Do you want to get up there and show everyone how it's done."
"I wouldn't want to humiliate your performer," she said in a loud voice.
"OH-HO."
She rose, dropping her bag in Ray's lap.
"You're not going to take him up on it."
"Watch me."
She strode into the ring much to the surprise of the ring master and the crowd whooped and clapped as she kicked off her shoes. Then she called to one of the aerial acrobats in the wings asking for their gloves. They were tossed to her and the audience hushed as she pulled them on then climbed up the ladder. Not a soul drew in breath as she stepped on the tight wire then traversed it. There were claps and cheers as she reached the other side without mishap. Down below the tightrope walker yawned loudly and froze in mid exaggerated yawn as she flipped back wards, grabbing the wire and did it on her hands. The cheers when she reached the middle and stood on one hand, did the splits, then flipped to the other hand were deafening, and Ray clapped and cheered as loud as the rest.
She took hold of the wire with both hands, turning and moving her hands into a classic gymnasts pose to swing her body around, spinning around the wire, one, twice, three times before she preformed a routine or two that would be familiar to anyone who watched gymnasts preform. She finished the routine standing on her hands on the wire again, before she traversed the other half on her hands again, doing a flip to land on her feet on the other side. The crowd gave her a standing ovation. She gave a neat little bow before she climbed down the ladder and thumbed her nose at the ring master who doffed his hat to her. She signalled Ray who came down to the ring and walked arm in arm with her down the entertainer's alley.
He waited till they were clear of the tent and his ears stopped ringing from the cheers to express his amazement and admiration.
"The day he saw me do that, was the day Damon proposed to me."
Ray laughed.
"I'm not surprised."
"Hand me the water and tissues."
Ray rustled through the bag as she peeled off the gloves and winced when he saw that the palms of her hands were red raw. He poured water over them and dabbed them dry.
"I bet completing that walk across the wire on your hands hurt."
"No net, or I'd have tried a flip to my feet, but I wasn't willing to attempt it without a net below."
"Is that how you got your revenge on your step father by preforming that?"
"In part."
She wrapped her arms around his and led him through to the concession stands which were still doing good business.
"Mama lured him out, on the pretext of discussing her divorce settlement with him. He never paid up, she offered to cut him a deal. There were *two* coaches from Official Olympic teams there, she made sure they were seated between them while I went through my act."
She stopped by the hoop stand.
"Pick something you like.. I'll win it for you."
Just for the hell of it, Ray pointed to the huge fluffy teddy on a high shelf.
"How many hoops?"
"24, in a row," the stand's worker informed her with a bored voice.
She paid for the hoops, then threw hoop after hoop after hoop. The bored worker stopped lounging around and gaped as hoop after hoop found it's mark. Ray got his teddy bear. Sheba got a crowd of interested watcher's who followed her to the next stand. It had a big board covered with pictures of prizes and bulls eyes. She brought six darts, studied the board then sank every dart into the bulls eye. Her crowd of witnesses clapped as she collected the prizes then distributed them to the children among them.
They all followed her as she found the stand where you had to knock down the bottles with the balls. Ray laughed when she knocked them all down and the children shrieked with delight when she distributed the prizes amongst them.
Her last stop took them to the sharp shooters stand. She asked what she'd have to make to win the pure white teddy that was the same as the brown one Ray carried around, then proceeded to knock down every target on the range. Her audience clapped and cheered as she was handed the teddy and then she made a lot of children's days as parents asked her to shoot for them and paid for her to keep going. The stands owner wailed as she managed to clear out the top shelf of giant stuffed toys before she said enough.
They walked away with a teddy each.
"That's what I used to do.. I have a natural dead eye. I can hit anything I aim for. I was offered a job when I did that, and cleared half the stands of their prizes because I was enjoying myself."
"And that's how you got your revenge on your step father?"
"I had three assistants, in the first half of the act, I threw big hoops over them. Then they put apples on their heads, and held out playing cards, and I used an archery set to put an arrow through each apple, and a gun to put a hole through the center of each card. And I finished it off with an assistant standing at a board, while I threw daggers, cleavers, and throwing axes to ring him with steel. The coaches in the audience were from the Sharpshooters team and archery team. And they followed the circus for a month trying to convince me to join their teams."
Ray laughed.
"My mother leaned forward crowing that's my girl, and off course they started raving to her, while he just tried to sink through the floor. The finishing touch was to preform the high wire routine, with six flips, and I ended it with a somersault while the aerial acrobat's swung in on both sides, I caught the hands of one of them, he swung me up and let me go at the apex, I did a triple, with a twist and a double before I caught the hands of the other one, and my stepfather just wailed."
Ray cackled.
"It took me three months working with them every day to perfect that.. And I only did it once.. But it was worth it.."
"Just to see the look on his face when you did."
"It was even better when I walked up and the coaches pounced again to ask me to join their teams, and I told them exactly why I wasn't interested they both looked at him, and said oh really.. The next day they came back and told me they had him banned from ever coaching professionally again. And would I pretty please join their teams."
"And you said, sorry not interested."
"Precisely."
She dragged him to another booth where they got their photo taken with the big bears and two copies, then it was back to the gates to hail a cab.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
On their return to the apartment's the door man informed them that there was at least one unmarked car still out there keeping the tower under observation. She promised to talk to Damon about getting him a raise.
Ray followed her to her apartment where she made dinner and he watched her closely. She laughed and told him there was nothing but all natural ingredients but he didn't stop watching till she served it out and handed him a plate. He walked to the dinning room with her and watched her set the table then listened to her tales of circus life.
He didn't object when dinner lead to the bedroom, and then to the bathroom, where they made love in the shower, or when it lead back to the bedroom where she made love to him until he was ready to play again. He fell asleep wrapped in her arms, and woke late the next day, unable to believe his eyes when he saw the time on the clock.
He rolled over when he heard her open the door and she entered balancing a breakfast tray on one hand at her shoulder. She literally fed him breakfast in bed and gave him a kiss that more tender than passionate before telling him there were clean clothes in the bathroom and leaving him to clean up. He expected her to join him and was surprised when she didn't.
A search of the apartment for lead him back to the bedroom, he found the secret entrance to the secret passage open and moved through it, going up the winding stair case to pass through the open entrance to Doug's apartment.
Doug was in the kitchen which was filled with the scent of his favourite oils and fragrant foods. He was packing a collection of food canisters into a large bag. When he saw Ray he popped a cup into his microwave and continued packing till it buzzed at him.
"Where's Fraser?"
"I sent him back to Chicago."
"Already???"
"There was a drive by shooting the other day, he was the victim, but he had a vest, and played dead. He told his friend at the precinct what number to call him on if he needed to talk to him, and his friend rang in around 6 last night. The same car involved in the shooting was involved in another incident and ran off the road. They caught the driver and the shooter who are both behind bars. If he I.D's the car as the one involved, they'll stay there for quite some time."
Ray sat down on a stool and accepted the steaming cup of coffee he was handed.
"He's very observant, your friend.. Like someone else. Sheba knows."
"Knows what?"
"Who and what you are."
"What?! How did..? Did you tell her?"
"She told me."
"How did...?"
"The Don noticed there was something different about you.. It wasn't just the fact you changed your aftershave. It was the way you treat her. She's been trying to work it out, and it came to her last night, she's seen him naked. Semi & Fully naked, he used to swim at the Don's place. Once he came out of the pool minus his bathers. You're missing scars he had, and have scars he didn't. And you're also.. more well endowed than he was."
"So what is she going to do now?"
"She knew I knew it.. I was a lot more familiar with his body than she was. We discussed it, and we've come up with a plan to protect you and explain away the differences between you and Armando and avoid being ordered to kill anyone else.."
"Oh.. And what is it?"

*~~~~~~~~~~*ooOO0=@=0OOoo*~~~~~~~~~~*
Part Five
*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
"No."
"But.."
"Forget it. I'm not doing it.. If I was the suicidal I'd have told the Don to go to hell the other day."
"But.."
"There is no way in hell I'm going along with it."
"It could work."
"Yeah, sure, but there's a higher chance it'd get me killed, come up with a better plan. Something with a higher chance of succeeding, and less chance of getting me killed."
"Well I thought it was a good plan."
"You would it was your plan. Got any aspirin?"
"Headache?"
"That's putting it mildly.. It's getting worse with every passing minute."
Doug stretched over the bench to take Ray's chin in his hand and tilted his head to look at his eyes.
"Did Sheba give you the antidote?"
"Yesss.. I think so she gave me a red coloured capsule to take."
"It's probably just a stress related migraine."
Doug pulled away, taking the coffee to pour it down the sink. He boiled the kettle pulling out a fresh cup and made Ray a cup of fragrent herbal tea.
"Drink that, then go lie down in the bedroom, in the dark..."
Ray sipped at the tea found it palatable and slowly drank as Doug finished packing the food canisters away.
"Who's that for?"
"Stock for the safe house. Your friend ate everything I had in the freezer and it needs to be restocked."
"Oh."
"And there's a little security matter that I also have to take care off so I'll be gone for a few hours. If you still have the headache when I get back, I'll see if the Doctor who leases one of the apartments will pay a house call."
"It's just a headache."
"I know someone who said that.. Three hours later they were dead. Sometimes it better to err on the side of caution. Besides if it is just a stress related migraine, that tea and a nap in the dark should take care of it."
"But I just woke up."
"Sleep well?"
"I slept most of the day away."
"Wear you out did she???"
If he'd been in reach Ray would have swatted him.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Frankie Fletcher was minding his own business when he opened his car and slid into the drivers seat. He closed the door and froze when he felt cool metal against his neck and the sound of a hammer being cocked. Looking in the review mirror he saw a black clad Ninja rising up.
"Didn't any one ever tell you that peddling the joy dust in J'Fa Turf is a suicidal action."

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Fraser looked up from the report he was filling out as a very thick file envelope landed with a thud on his desk right on top of the report.
"Sometimes when you play with fire, you get burned," Kowalski said before he turned and walked out of the office leaving Fraser staring after him.
After a time he turned his attention on the file and flipped it open to but nothing could prepare him for the shock he got when he found a series of pictures of Ray in flagrante delicto with Doug followed by another series of picture's of himself, with Ray giving him a love bite, that first night at Doug's apartment, then there were pictures of him with Doug being kissed, in an embrace, being fondled by Doug, and those were followed by pictures of him with Ray in the suite at the Queens Arms. His stomach lurched and he slammed the folder closed jumping to his feet to rush from the room to bolt for the men's room, barely making it to a basin in time before he threw up.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray slumped in a chair at Doug's kitchen nook nursing a cup of coffee and a faint head ache. He heard Doug approach, but didn't look up till a bag was dumped on the bag before him. He looked and did a double take at the sight of Doug, dressed all in black, Ninja style, a black hood and gloves tucked into the wide belt around his waist along with a bulge that looked suspiciously like he had a gun tucked out of sight too.
"What the hell??? Why are you dressed like a Ninja again?"
"I had some business to attend to," Doug said moving away to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.
"How are you feeling now?"
"Much better. The headache's almost gone."
"Good. I've been thinking about your not so little problem and the solution to your problem is right there in that bag."
"Is it going to get me off the hook?"
"Yes."
"Will it help me avoid having to kill Fraser to make the Don happy?"
"Yes."

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
"I've got good news and bad news," Ray announced to his Don two days later trying to ignore the fact the man was polishing his already gleaming pistol.
"The Mountie is still alive."
"That's the bad news, the good news is that I'm back in the Stallion's good books."
"And how did you achieve that feat?"
"He got me high as a kite to get me to agree to join him in a threesome with his Mountie.. It's some perverted little fantasy of his."
The Don closed his eyes and shook his head.
"And he gave me this to make me more amiable to it." Ray announced tossed Doug's bag on the table.
The Don looked at it, then peered inside his eyes widening as he reached in and scooped up a handful of gleaming capsules.
"How many..?"
"I stopped at 1,000 and I wasn't even a quarter the way through."
"What does he want in return for this generous gift?"
"They were a gift, to me.. To buy my acceptance of the Mountie in our bed."
"I see."
"And he has a message, for you.. I think you can guess what it is."
The Don didn't need to be told what it was.
"Why don't you just leave, join him."
"Gemini has no love for Mafiosi.. She might look the other way at our relationship, but she'd slit his throat and mine, if I tried to worm my way into her organisation. And then she'd come after you on the suspicion that you're trying to infiltrate the organisation with a view to taking over."
"Have you seen her yet?"
Ray shook his head.
"But I think I came close to it.."
"I wonder what she thinks of his gift."
"Buying me off was her idea, not his."

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray walked out of the Don's office a mass of conflicting feelings, physically he felt better than he had in days. But emotionally, it was another matter. He'd almost rejected Doug's plan to buy off the Don with the drugs. He didn't know where Doug got them, and didn't want to. Now he had handed them over he had to find a way to keep them from hitting the streets.
He was trying to work out how to do it when he ran into Sheba in the halls and was dragged into the Don's library. He wasn't in the mood for any hanky panky and made it abundantly clear before he stomped out on her. He was completely unaware that his departure and the irritated Sheba's reaction to it had been witnessed by the Don, adding him more fuel to the fire of suspicion.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Ray returned to Armando's place using a back entry and only turned the lights on in one room. The windowless study where Armando kept all his records. Eating plain bread and washing it down with water, he watched the code breaker programme he'd convinced a hacker to part with work on finding the password to Armando's records. It told him it was a 14 letter combination and in a burst of inspiration he shut the programme down and tried Queen-of-Sheba as the pass word and thumped his head on the desk top as it worked and he finally got access to the records.
=Jackpot=
He began opening files, and started thumping his head on the desk again. They were all encrypted. Sitting back he looked at the jumble of symbols on the screen, staring at them quite some time, then smiled as he realised there was nothing normal about all the symbols and hit select all. A click on format and font to turn the document to Times New Roman worked he could clearly read the document.
"Yes."
He searched the room for computer disks and found a sealed box stored at the back of a drawer. He worked through the night converting every file to readable text, then saved them all to disk. The disks were slipped back into their plastic storage case, which was wrapped back in the plastic film then encased with a roll of tape.
The files were safely stored away in a hiding spot he doubt anyone would stumble upon it and wrote a note telling Fraser where the disks could be found, along with instructions to pass the details onto the authorities if anything happened to him. He slipped it into an envelope and stamped it before he turned off the light. He crept through the house and before he slipped into bed he tucked the letter into the inside pocket of the coat he'd chosen to wear the next day.
Ray's sleep was disturbed by another midnight visit from Sheba who interrogated him in her own special way again, then spent the next few hours torturing him in the nicest way possible before slipping out of his bed, and apartment to pay the Don an early morning visit to inform him of the results of her interrogation and set his mind at rest by pulling her high collar down to show him the makings of what promised to be a livid love bite.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
"How did it go?"
"He took the bait."
"And the caps."
"Yeah. But I don't think it did much to settle his suspicions. He told Sheba to pay me another visit."
"You're going to have to do something to banish his suspicions."
"Oh, now I've finally cracked Armando's records, I think I can do that."
"Find anything incriminating?"
"There are hundreds of files to go over.. I've been studying them for the last three days and you're just trying to distract me."
"Distract you?? From what??"
"You gave me near on half a million dollars worth of drugs to give to the Don. So much for running a legitimate security business."
"So I lied."
"And I'm starting to wonder if you were lying about other things too."
"It's too late to start having second thoughts Raymond, you're already in way over your head. Back out now and you know what the price would be."
=Fraser's life.=
"Who the hell are you working for?"
"Have some Sushi, Amoroso."
Ray's suggestion about what he could do with his Sushi was not very polite and Doug just laughed at him.
"I confiscated the drugs from a dealer who was trying to peddle it in the area. Normally I'd have it destroyed, but his attempt to buy me off gave me an idea.. and you know what that idea was."
He spiked a sushi portion with one of his chop sticks and held it out to Ray.
"Have I mentioned that you're positively ravishing when your angry."
"Speaking of ravishing men, what's up with Fraser?"
"Me thinks your friend has had second thoughts about proceeding with your plan."
"What?!"
"He's been holed up in his consulate for the last week. My sources tell me he hasn't set foot outside it in a week."
"Are they sure he's there, he said something about being transferred back home if.."
"He's there. I sent a few people in to slip him a message trying to arrange something, they all saw him, two slipped him messages that he ignored. I sent someone else in today, who tells me he slipped her a message in return, I'm expecting her to deliver it any time now."
The sound of a chimes and a savage dog growling and barking filled the room.
"Must be her now."
Doug rose to walk away. Ray watched him leave the room, then reached out to take a sushi portion. He took a bite and ended up spitting it out, jumping up to race to the kitchen where he spat into the sink, ripped open the refrigerator and grabbed the milk gulping down mouthfuls straight from the carton.
Doug returned with an envelope marked with the Canadian signilia on the corner.
"That's a disgusting habit."
Ray stopped drinking, for a moment to glare at him, then resumed drinking the milk waiting for it to take care of the fire in his mouth. Doug raised a brow then shrugged and opened the envelope and extracted another.
"This message is for you."
Ray looked around, then held out his hand. Doug handed it over and returned to the dining room. Ray tucked the message away in his coat and was about to spit out the mouthful of milk he had when he saw something amongst the half masticated mouthful of sushi he'd spat into the sink that made his blood run cold.
Looking around, he grabbed a pot off the rack and spat into it.
"Doug!"
Doug returned at a run and Ray pointed at the sink. Doug moved to the sink and looked into it and froze for a minute, then he reached for a draw ripping it open and pulled out a latex glove snapping it on before he reached into the sink and pulled out the capsule that rested amongst the mush.
Ray started rising out his mouth with mouthful after mouthful of milk, spitting it out into the pot as Doug sniffed the capsule.
"It's Poison."
"Perhaps. How much did you eat?"
"None of it.. The spices in it are so hot it burned my mouth so I spat it all out."
"Keep rising with milk."
Then Doug reached out to take a knife from the knife block on the sink and hurried back into the dining room. Ray finished the last of the milk in the carton and dumped it on the bench and pulled open the fridge to grab the fresh carton and worked his way through that before Doug returned skin of the sushi roll. He held it up before Ray and there he saw a message applied with vegetable dye.
-Your going down, A-
"Alessandro!!! But he's dead, he's supposed to be dead."
"What did your friends message say? The last time, Allessandro sent him a death threat too."
Ray pulled the envelope out and ripped it open and pulled out a piece of paper wrapped around two photograph's. Ray looked at the photograph blanching then looked at the note.
Doug reached out and took the photo to see the photograph was of a naked and aroused Fraser standing at the foot of the bed in the suite at the Queen's Arms, and a naked and equally aroused Ray was falling back onto the bed, their clothes what could be seen of them in the shot were scattered over the floor. One look and he understood what made Ray blanch. As he looked back at Ray it was to see the colour returning to his checks as his eyes blazed with fury as he looked at the second picture.
Doug took it as Ray snatched his cel phone out of his coat and hit the speed dial and raised it. Doug cursed under his breath when he saw the picture of himself kneeling on the bed, arms on the wall head thrown back, forever caught crying out in ecstasy while Ray was wrapped around him, *very* obviously fucking him.
Before Ray could relay his message there was a crash from the lounge and Doug spun and raced away.
The phone was answered at the other end and a testy Italian wanted to know who was calling. Ray remembered his call.
"It's me, Armando, we've got trouble. Alessandro faked his own death, he's *alive* and out for vengeance."
Doug raced back through the room, and slammed the button next to the fan's. The trap door opened and he shoved Ray toward it.
=Oh shit that was what I thought it was=
Ray looked back to see a squad of suit's and uniformed police pouring into the room, guns drawn, screaming at them to freeze and then he went down and dropped over the edge of the chute, then Doug's foot was in his back shoving him into the chute and he slid into the slide chute. He heard the cover slide back into place at the same time as he heard bullets start flying.
He didn't see Doug go into a dive roll, and come out the other end of the island bench to race into the corridor zigzagging as cursing cops fired on him and yelled for him to halt. Then smoke erupted from the fan as it went into reverse and a smoke bomb hidden inside it belched out smoke.
By the time the police reached the corridor, they were no where to be seen, and a door kicking search later turned up no sign of the two men.

*~~~~~~~~~~*=@=*~~~~~~~~~~*
Fraser looked at the phone ringing on his desk and had the sincere desire to rip it right out of the wall. Instead he punched a button, and picked up the handset.
"Benni, it's me."
"Ray!"
"I don't have much time, I got your message."
"Damon, Douglas or whatever he calls himself, is not what you think, Ray, he lied to you, he is not an undercover agent for anyone."
"I not so long ago came to that conclusion myself, Benni."
"What's more he's an assassin," Fraser continued.
"What?!"
"He's a trained Ninja assassin, possibly Yakuza, there are numerous death's he's suspected of being behind and photographic proof that he killed a drug runner, and then gave the drugs he took from the runner to you, and that you passed them onto the Don. They think you - We've crossed over and after seeing those picture's it's not surprising."
Ray's groan was loud.
A light began to flash on the phone, Fraser ignored it.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw those photographs. Please tell me they're clever fakes."
Ray's answer was to hang up. Fraser sighed and then punched the flashing button down.
"Constable Benton Fraser speaking."
What followed made his skin crawl as he heard a playback of a recording made at the Queen's Arms.
"Who are you! Why are you doing this!"
There was no answer, just a continuance of the recording, over layed by the chilling laughter he'd come to know so well and he slammed the phone down and dropped his head into his hands.
The door opened a fraction and Kowalski peered around it before he stepped in and closed the door loudly. Fraser jumped looking up.
"You look terrible," Kowalski stated.
"If you've come to rub in the fact that I made a stupid mistake that will probably cost me my career again, get out!" Fraser snapped.
The phone rang again, and Fraser struck out sending it flying across the room with a sweep of his arm. Kowalski jumped at the suddenness of it then clearly heard laughter overlaying something else. Fraser spun in his chair rising and moving through the room to find the phone's cord and ripped it out of the wall socket.
"Are you still here," Fraser snapped.
"Fraser, I'm really sorry about this.."
Then he pulled out a warrant and held it up for Fraser to see it.
"You're under arrest."

*~~~~~~~~~~*ooOO0=@=0OOoo*~~~~~~~~~~*
The End.
Continued in Gemini Rising V: Resurrection
Standard disclaimers apply.
Copyright February 21, 1998 Red Skye.

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