The Adventures of the Jade
Dragon
Episode
6
Chapter 13
Elenah Firenza, also known as Stiletto looked up from the report she had
just been handed. "Mario," she frowned, "this just won't do." Her
voice was clear, almost musical, but it contained a definite hint of
menace.
Her capo nodded. Mario Polenta
was the only one allowed to see her unveiled, and was her contact with the
rest of her criminal organization.
He had served her since the murder of her father ten years
ago. Her father had been killed
by members of a rival gang. Elenah had been only
sixteen at the time, but she thrust herself into the role of mob boss, displaying
a ruthlessness and intelligence that had earned her the respect of her
followers.
When she had first assumed the role of leadership, she had taken to wearing
a veil to disguise her youth. But
as she gained experience she had found it useful to keep her identity a
secret. It enabled her to lead
a double life. To the public
she was Elenah Firenza,
Italian noblewoman and accepted
socialite. To criminals she was
Stiletto, one of the most feared crime bosses in
She was not happy with the report Mario had handed
her. Too many of her criminal
activities were getting out of hand.
Two of her “clients” had missed their protection
payments. “Pay a visit to
these two,” she ordered.
“I want their businesses
destroyed.” Her carefully
manicured finger traveled further down the
list. Two of her agents had bungled
a drug operation.
“And these
two. I want them
dead.”
Mario nodded. Probably the two
bunglers had simply screwed up. But
even criminals had their standards, and Stiletto’s were higher than
most. It would serve as a warning
to the rest of the low-level criminals who did most of her work for
her. Next time they would think
twice about losing any money they were entrusted
with.
A knock sounded at the door. Mario
went to it and unlocked a small mail slot in its
middle. He returned with a sealed
envelope.
Elenah tore open the
envelope. She quickly scanned
the note inside, and then read it again more
slowly. She pursed her succulent
lips. The note seemed authentic,
but she had learned long ago to trust no one.
The note was in Retinoff’s beautifully crafted
script. She had his first letter
and the handwriting matched exactly.
But it was the content of the message she did not
trust. The mad Russian was asking
for another meeting, but this time in a different
location. She did not trust
this. At the last meeting all
of the assembled crimelords had agreed to meet in his
headquarters. This latest letter
suggested a meeting near the docks.
That was a little too close to the lair of her chief rival for her
comfort. However, she knew the
location. It was a small Chinese
restaurant just off the waterfront.
It should be safe enough, provided she sent some of her men ahead
to check it out.
She took out a pen she wrote a terse reply and handed it to the
man. “Give this to the man
who brought the note,” she ordered.
Mario left the room and returned a minute
later. “Check out the Half
Moon Restaurant. I’m going
to be meeting there tomorrow with Retinoff and
the other crime bosses and I want you to make sure there are no
traps.”
“Will do,
Stiletto.
I’ll make sure it’s safe.”
She waved him away and returned to her work, but her mind wandered to
Retinoff’s
note. He was calling the meeting
two weeks earlier than agreed upon.
But his note had told of good
news. She hoped he was
right. During the last six weeks
the city’s superheroines had played havoc with her
profits. She was barely breaking
even. Something would have to
be done about them and fast.
Excited by the news, she found it hard to concentrate on her
work. She got up and went into
the bathroom. Perhaps she would
go home early today. She picked
up her hairbrush and gave her raven tresses a few
strokes. She studied herself
in the mirror. She was a very
attractive woman. Tall and shapely,
with a narrow waist and full breasts, she filled out the low cut dress she
was wearing most fetchingly. He
somewhat dark Italian features gave her a look of sultry beauty that turned
heads wherever she went. She
was only twenty-six and in her physical
prime. One day, she promised
herself, she would settle down. Her
life of crime had kept her so busy that she had not had the time to take
a lover or even a boyfriend. That
was something she would have to rectify.
A virgin at
twenty-six. That was heading
into old maid territory. If
Retinoff’s scheme worked she would be able
to consolidate her crime empire.
Then she could turn over most of its operations to her capo and devote
herself to finding a lover and a husband among the social elite of
She smiled, and her radiant beauty shone forth from the
mirror. It was a wonderful dream,
but perhaps one day it would come true.
Tomorrow she would meet with
Retinoff.
She wondered at his good news.
Perhaps Zhuang
Zhijian had come through
early. She certainly hoped
so. Her business would not last
much longer with those damned superheroines constantly on the
prowl. How gratifying it would
be when she finally got her hands on one or the other of
them.
Retinoff had promised that they would each
get one to torture and torment as they saw
fit. It was certainly something
to look forward to. She licked
her lips in delicious anticipation.
Then, putting on her hat and coat, she exited the room by a secret
door and made her way unseen to the
streets. It was time to go
home. Tomorrow, with any luck,
she would get the news she hoped for.
The Half Moon restaurant appeared safe.
Mario had checked it out for her.
Apparently, Retinoff was already inside
waiting for her. The other crimelords
had not yet arrived. The back
entrance was secure and she would be able to see anyone coming in through
the front. She walked in through
the front door.
Retinoff was sitting at the back of the restaurant, his
face toward the door. He only
had a single henchman with him.
That was reassuring. It
meant he was probably not up to any
mischief. She approached him,
Mario following. She was, of
course, completely veiled, and dressed in a fetchingly low-cut black
dress. As she neared the little
Russian, something began to bother her.
There was something not quite right about the
setup.
She slowed, her eyes fixed on the diminutive
crimelord.
A chill went down her spine.
The man facing her was not
Retinoff!
Instinctively, she turned to leave, but she was already too
late. Standing in the doorway
was the hulking form of Shark Stevens.
He must have been hiding behind the
door. In his hand he held a Browning
.45. It was pointed directly
at her and Mario.
“That’s right, Stiletto.
This is a trap. And you
are the prey.” Steven’s
voice was quiet, but threatening, every syllable dripping
evil.
Elenah knew that she was in serious trouble, but she tried
to brazen her way out of it. In
a completely calm voice she addressed the rival crime
boss. “What is the meaning
of this? I was asked to attend
a meeting by Retinoff and I find this imposter
in his place.” She gestured
toward the false Retinoff, who was still seated
at the table. “What is going
on here?”
“Stevens gave her a leering grin.
His eyes flicked over her swelling
bosom.
“Ain’t you a cool
one? Of course, I always knew
you had guts. But I’m in
control here and you better cooperate.
Tell your capo to give up his gun.”
Elenah realized that she did not have much
choice. It would do her no good
if Mario tried to defend her and was simply gunned
down. “Do as he asks,
Mario. It’ll be
alright.”
Mario opened his mouth as if to protest, but seemed to think better of
it. Slowly he took out his Beretta
nine millimeter and lay it on one of the
tables.
“Good boy,” sneered Stevens.
Then without changing his expression, he shot Mario point
blank.
Elenah gasped in horror, but kept her
composure. Her lifelong friend
and advisor had just been killed, but she was helpless to do anything about
it. She realized now that she
should have taken the precaution of bringing more of her men with
her.
She thought about the two razor edged knives strapped to her
thigh. She knew how to use them
with deadly efficiency, but there was no chance to get to them with
Stevens’ gun pointed at her.
She was beginning to sweat a little, even though it was not a particularly
warm day. There had to be a way
out of this, but she had to keep calm.
If she just waited long enough there would doubtless be an opportunity
to escape. She just has to wait
until Stevens relaxed his guard.
So preoccupied was she with thoughts of escape and fear of Stevens’
motives that she did not even hear the man who had been standing beside the
false Retinoff until he clamped a damp rag over
her mouth. She gasped in surprise,
too late recognizing the sweet smell of
chloroform. She swayed as the
anesthetizing fumes swept over her. Already she felt unconsciousness forcing
itself upon her. She took another
breath. A buzzing sounded in
her ears and then she knew nothing.
Elenah slowly opened her
eyes. It took her head a little
while to clear, but soon she became aware of her
predicament. She was hard up
against a wall. From the pain
in her arms and shoulders she must have been standing there for quite some
time, as her arms were pinned behind her and fastened to the wall by some
means she could not determine. When
she had been unconscious most of her weight had been supported by her arms
and they ached agonizingly. She
tried to stand and relieve the lightning bolts of pain that were shooting
through her arms and shoulders.
With a groan, she managed to stand.
She stood panting from the effort.
It was then that she noticed Stevens quietly watching her from a chair
about ten feet away. She was
in a medium sized room, about twenty feet
square. It was sparsely furnished
with a chair, a table, a set of cupboards and a counter, and a small
cot. Scattered about the room
were various tools and restraints.
With a feeling of horror, Elenah recognized
many of the tools as instruments of
torture.
Other than Stevens, Elenah was alone in the
room. The man rose when he noticed
that she was awake.
“Sorry to bring you here like this, but I couldn’t think of any
other way for us to meet
privately.” Stevens
smiled. Neither his smile nor
his tone of voice seemed the least bit
apologetic.
Stifling a moan, Elenah pulled herself
together. She had to find a way
out of this mess. “Why have
you brought me here? Do you want
to start a gang war? I demand
my immediate release.” She
forced herself to sound outraged, in spite of the helpless fear that filled
her mind.
“I don’t think you are in much of a position to make demands on
me,” returned Stevens, moving a little closer to her. “As to why
you were brought here, I have several
motives.”
Elenah held her tongue although she wanted to fill the
air with curses. She had to find
out what Stevens was up to. And
as he said, she was not in much of a position to make
demands.
“I propose a merger of our two organizations,” continued
Stevens. “But on my
terms. You order your men to
turn over control of all your operations to my
men. In return I let you keep
25% of the profits.
“What the Hell are you talking
about?” In spite of her
helpless situation, Elenah was truly
outraged. “How dare you
make such an offer? Me turn over
my organization to you – a two-bit waterfront
hoodlum? You must be
kidding.”
“There’s no joke,” replied Stevens, his voice deep and
menacing. “You are not in
a position to refuse me anything I want.
If you don’t give it to me I will just take
it. Without your leadership,
your organization will crumble.”
Elenah felt a sense of
despair. She knew that Stevens
was probably right, but she could not bring herself to give into him without
a fight. She cursed herself for
being so careless as to get caught.
It had cost the life of her most trusted lieutenant and it would probably
result in the loss of her position as one of
“No,” she said. “I
refuse. There is no way I will
surrender to you.”
“I think you better
Elenah.
So far I have asked politely.
But I am not going to beg you to
surrender. I will give you one
more chance. Cooperate or face
the consequences.”
Elenha’s eyes widened.
Stevens knew her real name.
But of course he did; she was no longer wearing her
veil. He must have recognized
her from her pictures in the society columns of the
newspapers. He caught her
reaction. “Yes,” he
nodded. “I know who you
are. Your secret is
out. The crime boss known as
Stiletto is none other than trumped up socialite
Elenah
Firenza.
Won’t it be interesting to see the reaction of your friends when
I tell them that the daughter of a phony Italian noble is actually a member
of the mob?”
“My father was nobility! You
have no right to insult his memory.”
Stevens laughed. “I have
news for you. Your papa was no
more than a minor member of the Italian
underworld. He fooled the idiots
who make up high society in
Elenah was stunned.
Stevens seemed to know everything about
her. She felt a chill in her
gut. Stevens had killed her
father. She had thought the killer
was some minor thug, not another
crimelord.
She now understood the deadly peril she was
in. She was especially unnerved
by the way Stevens looked at the V of her low-cut dress.
“Alright,” she agreed.
I’ll cooperate. What
do you want me to do?”
Stevens took out a sheaf of papers from his jacket
pocket. “I want you to give
detailed instructions to someone in your organization that knows your
handwriting. Tell them that they
are to turn over all aspects of you business to my
men. And warn them of the
consequences if they do not.”
Elenah nodded
agreement. With a smile of triumph,
Stevens stepped right up to her and released her
arms. She almost fell, but he
caught her and guided her to the chair.
He helped her sit down and set the papers and a pen and ink in front
of her. Then he watched while
she wrote what he dictated. When
she had finished, she knew that her role as a crime boss in
“Good,” said Stevens.
“Now get out of that chair and put your hands behind your
back.”
“What do you mean?” Elenah asked, real
alarm sounding in her voice.
“I did as you asked, now let me
go.” As she spoke, her hand
slipped down her leg toward the hidden knives on her right
thigh.
“It isn’t quite that simple,” said
Stevens. “I can’t just
let you go home. You’d backstab
me in a second. Besides, you
and I have some unfinished business.”
“What business?”
Elenah voice rose in
fear. She had just discovered
that her hidden knife sheaths were empty.
“Looking for these?”
Stevens held up the two razor-edged blades that had been concealed
beneath her dress. “You
don’t think I would bring you in here without checking you for weapons
did you? I didn’t get this
far in my career by being stupid.
Now, out of the chair and put your hands behind your
back.”
Elenah did not move.
“What are you going to
do?” She was breathing hard,
but trying to calm herself. It
would do her no good to panic.
“Well, I reckon that as long as I’ve gone to all the trouble to
bring you here, you and I might as well have a little
fun.” He placed his
meathook like hand on her
shoulder.
Elenah reacted without
warning. She did not have her
knives, but there was more than one way to take out a
man. Stevens was so close that
he could not avoid the blow she aimed at his private
parts.
He did not scream, but with a grunt doubled over, holding his
testicles.
Elenah was out of the chair, aiming a kick
at his head. Had she not still
been suffering from the effects of having been drugged and tied up for several
hours, she would have made contact.
But Stevens was able to lurch away from
her. Incredibly, despite the
kick to his gonads, he was still on his
feet. The man was amazingly
tough. She pressed home her attack,
aiming another kick between his legs, but Stevens had recovered enough to
dodge the blow, and as he stepped aside he lashed out with one of his ham
hands, catching Elenah on the side of the
head.
Elenah felt as if she had been hit by a
truck. She crashed into the table
with such force that she was flipped over the top of it and landed on the
other side. She struggled to
get up, but her head swam. Stevens
lumbered toward. She half rose,
and then her legs went out from under
her. It gave Stevens the time
he needed. Hurling his huge weight
of top of her, he pinned her to the
floor. Wrenching her arms
behind her back he lashed her wrists
together.
Elenah moaned in pain and
despair. She had tried to escape
and failed. There was no telling
what fate Stevens would have in mind for her now.
“Bitch,” swore Stevens, holding his
crotch. “You’re gonna
pay for that.”
Elenah did not reply.
Stevens had trussed her up.
Her hands were tightly bound behind her back and he had bent her legs
up to her wrists and hog-tied her.
In the struggle the front of her dress had been torn open, revealing
a good portion of her high, perfect breasts, which were covered only by her
brassiere. Strangely, Stevens
had not called for help. Instead
he had plunked himself down on the chair, seemingly waiting for the effects
of Elenah’s blow to his testicles to wear
off. At length, he got to his
feet. Picking her up, he dumped
her on top of the table.
Waving one of her knives in front of her face, Stevens
spoke. “If you weren’t
such a good looking bitch I’d carve you like a
turkey. But I’ve got better
plans for you than that.”
Helpless to prevent him, Elenah could only lie
helpless while Stevens bound her to the
tabletop. He was taking no
chances. He took a length of
rope and placed it across her neck, forcing her head down on the table.
Then he straightened her legs and cut the ropes on her
ankles. He stood back and admired
his handiwork.
Elenah Firenza was a very attractive
woman. Even in her disheveled
state, she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever
seen. She had dark Italian good
looks. Her deep brown eyes were
flecked with green speckles. Her
cheekbones were high and her nose
straight. Her lips were full
and pouting and her teeth white and
straight. Her raven hair had
come loose and spread out from her head like a thick, black
mane. She was breathing heavily,
her large full breasts rising and
falling. Her waist was narrow,
almost wasp-like and was accentuated by her flaring
hips. Her dress had become pushed
up to her thighs, revealing long shapely legs, which she tried to pull up
as if to hide them.
Stevens licked his lips.
“Now, bitch, it’s payback
time.” He placed his hands
on her bodice and ripped open the remainder of her dress.
“No,” Elenah
protested. “You wouldn’t
dare.”
“The Hell I wouldn’t Stevens
replied. “You think signing
that paper was the only reason I brought you
here?” With a violent tug
he ripped what was left of her dress from her
body.
“You son of
a
bitch.
Let me go,” Elenah
cried. Her bosom
heaved. Stevens already had an
erection just thinking about what he was going to do to her.
“I’m been looking forward to this ever since I saw you at that
meeting Retinoff
arranged.” He slipped his
hands under the thin elastic of her bra and snapped the flimsy material with
a twist of his wrists.
Elenah gasped as her large breasts fell
free, her light brown nipples hardening as they were exposed to the
air.
“Please don’t,” she begged, changing her
tactics. “I’ll do anything
you ask, only please let me go.”
“Anything?” Stevens asked, his hands hovering only inches from
her succulent mounds.
“Yes, anything,” replied Elenah, her
dark eyes wide with fear.
Stevens cupped her breasts, watching the revulsion on
Elenah’s face as he squeezed her soft
flesh.
“Anything,
hey? OK, I’ll give
you a chance to prove it.
Reluctantly, he released her breasts and retied her
ankles. Then he untied the rope
pinning her neck to the top of the table.
Lifting her off the table, he set her on the floor in a kneeling position
and held her that way by placing one hand on her shoulder.
“W…Wh…What
are you going to do?” Elenah
quavered. Stevens smiled and
watched her eyes widen even farther as he unzipped his
pants.
“No, I can’t do that!”
From the sound of her voice, the supposedly tough crime boss was close
to tears.
“You said anything. Do you
want me to let you go or not? If
you won’t let me fuck you then you better give me something in
compensation. Otherwise, I’m
gonna put you back on the table and we’ll do things my
way.”
“No,” Elenah
pleaded. “Don’t do
that, I’ll do as you ask.”
She was almost weeping in
humiliation. Fighting an impulse
to vomit, she pursed her lips and leaned
forward. Stevens grinned in
triumph. He had the one of
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