Johan Birch

"You better wait for me," I warned Joshua with a low growl.

"Sir, as we repeatedly tell you, we can only act after the fact."

Rico Rossi stepped out of the crowd and walked toward me. He wasn't a threat, he was my negotiator. "Don Rossi," I extended my hand.

"Mister Birch," he shook my hand. "Quite the show of force."

"I wasn't expecting you here," I admitted.

Rico gestured toward Roy Palamo, who looked like his head was going to explode. "I was having lunch with my esteemed colleague when your..." He took a look around, "... bodyguards showed up. Needless to say, they made us an offer we couldn't refuse."

Joshua snorted. I caught the reference myself, it coming from one of my favorite movies.

"I do hope you were treated well," I said. He nodded. "Let's get this show on the road."

Rico gestured to Roy, waving him over. I didn't make any friendly motion toward him. "Why are you harassing my people, Mister Palamo?"

"Your people?" Roy growled. "Who do you think you are?"

"It isn't who I think I am that you should be worried about. I am the person who can make you completely disappear. No bodies, no blood, just disappear into The Void."

Roy reached out to grab my jacket, and I slapped it down. There was a collective rustle of moving bodies in the warehouse. "You are going to pay for this!"

"You tried to kidnap one of my employees, and injured the employee of a friend. You are the one who's going to pay," I retorted.

"I thought Ms. Milano was the owner of Jacer Semiconductor," Rico prodded.

"She sold her share of the company to me, a few days after you and I met for the first time," I said to Rico. "So not only did Roy break the 'no women, no children' rule, he went after the wrong person."

"Well that's not exactly a rule," Joshua volunteered.

"Joshua, stay out of this." A wicked thought came into my head. "I'll let you know when you can play with your food."

"Very good, sir." Joshua gave me a smirk, Roy would never know he was standing near a being that could actually eat him.

"Don Rossi, what's the contract value?"

"The contract was for a buyout of Jacer Semiconductor for the thirty million dollars. The payment for that is ten percent."

"Obviously I'm not going to let the company go."

"You won't have a choice," Roy snapped.

"How about this? Let's go it old school, we'll duke it out. If you win, I give you three million dollars and you give me your word to leave us alone. If I win, I get your word and you still leave us alone."

"Yeah, nice odds," Roy grunted. "Picking on an old man."

"Pick one of your tree trunks over there. No, pick three of them to champion you then," I taunted.

"Sounds fair to me," Rico said.

"Shut up! You only have a name because you married into it!" Roy looked at me. "Your funeral."

After Roy and Rico went back to their group, I took off my jacket and handed it to Joshua. "Whatever happens, you guys stay out of it. If the other wiseguys try to get wise, anything goes."

"Rico genuinely likes you," Joshua said. "Don't disappoint him."

I took off my shirt next, glancing over my shoulder to see what my competition would be like. Roy had chosen his people, and they were mirroring what I was doing.

My on-site detail chief, obviously concerned at the developmental changes, came over to see us. He was a magician and knew that Joshua was a Revenger, but couldn't seem to wrap his head around the fact that I was going to take on three men in hand-to-hand combat.

Actually, I hadn't specified that my opponents be unarmed, but it was all the better for me that they were being handed knives. In all actuality, only two of them were being handed knives, the third was being handed two pair of daggers. That was perfect. I had Victor, my weapons man, go and bring me a set of my favorite weapons, tungsten-headed ASPs.

These particular types of typically non-lethal arms were my favorites. I liked up close and personal. There were very few times to use guns, principally when your opponent was armed with one.

The guy with the daggers? Yeah, I'd have to keep a watch on him. Even though the target hit rate for an amateur with throwing knives was roughly equal to an amateur with a pistol, Palamo wouldn't have chosen him without reason. Roy didn't care that he was seen arming his champions with knives. If I didn't object, then neither would he.

I waved to my people to create a ring. It would be equal spacing among my people and Roy's. Then I saw the threat. My people would 'take out' Roy's people win or lose. I waved Joshua and Derrick, my detail chief, forward. I also waved Roy forward to deliver my ultimatum: The fight would be clean. If Roy's men tried to take advantage of the fight to attack my people, not even blood would be found.

Joshua understood my instructions, and so did Derrick. Roy grudgingly agreed, giving his word as a Don to assure me. I didn't feel assured, but I remembered that Rico was there, and he would communicate to the nine heads that Roy had broken his word. If that happened, Revengers wouldn't need go after Roy, assassins from the nine heads would take care of him.

The nine heads were something of a mystery. While Mario Puzo had posited that there were 'five families' controlling the somewhat dubious activity in New York City and Las Vegas. I found out from Parker Renraw that there were actually 'nine heads' which controlled all 'family' activity in the US. He told me that his family, the Renraw family, paid a tribute to the nine heads, but not what the tribute purchased or how much it cost them.

Joshua had confirmed the existence of the nine heads, not telling me why he hadn't mentioned it before. I knew. There would always be Organized Crime in the world, and that was part of the normal course of human history. With very few exceptions, Revengers would leave them alone. Even if they killed women, even if they killed children, that was the way the world worked. I hated it. I hated his rules, which were ultimately my rules, given to Revengers at the dawn of organized human existence. There would always be protection rackets, crooked politicians, and whatever.

Rico answered to the nine heads, as did Roy. Rico's presence gave me a tad bit of hope that my somewhat hastily-constructed agreement could and would be enforced.

I got a moment to study my opposition as they stepped into the center of the impromptu fighting ring. The Brute seemed useless, the man with the daggers was close, but the champion with the Bowie knives was the actual threat.

Brute attacked first. He was reasonably competent with the knives, but lost both in an eight-stroke battle knocking both from his hands. The broadsword I had not previously seen was a surprise. It had been cloaked, hanging in a sheath on his back. Magic.

Roy knew about magic, something obviously acquired by his previous bouts with Jaci Stone. It was only natural that he had learned, maybe he had come across the knowledge when a horse head had been dropped into his lap out of thin air.

In the space of a second, I had to reevaluate all of them. I didn't have the time to choose who to focus my attack on, so I was going to take a swing at all of them.

I dropped to a knee, something hard to do in suit slacks. Brute, even before he performed a downward swing, got a crack across his ribs. He completed his swing forward, falling onto the floor.

Daggers, who was already stepping forward to slice, was surprised when I started stepping toward him. He completed his slice, catching the side of my head, nicking my ear, before he was moving past me. It took what felt like an agonizingly long time to bring my baton around to strike him in his knee.

I stood back up, surveying the situation in the free second I had to do so.

Bowie Knives, who had not been acting before, started moving as I righted myself. I took two steps toward him and he started to move. That ceased when he dropped a dilation wave.

What.The.Fuck?

Joshua, on the other hand, wasn't having that shit. He let loose an even more powerful dilation wave, a wave Bowie Knives couldn't even feel, to block the swing until I was in the position to counter.

I didn't know how I felt the dilation waves and wasn't upset that Joshua had helped me. It was magic and he had countered it No magic cheating to kill in a fight that involved money. The odds were even.

Bowie Knives was unprepared for that intervention. When time resumed, he was still on a double forward stab at my chest. I had twisted to my left, keeping up the spin until the baton in my right hand made contact with the back of his head. I didn't mean it, but my spin speed and the mass of the tip of the baton made my swing lethal. Putting that much force behind that strike with my baton assured that he wouldn't be picking himself up off the warehouse floor. Ever.

Damn it.

Daggers didn't give me a chance to take a breath. He came at me low with the knife in his left hand, but it was a feint to open me up to another swing from Brute's broadsword. That swing would have taken off my right arm if I had used it to block the thrust by Daggers. I didn't. I let Daggers complete his thrust and the knife went into my abdomen.

Brute obviously didn't know what to think about that sacrifice, but there was nothing he could do to stop his downswing. I was lurching backward from the pain, Daggers following me back, and Daggers got half his torso separated from the other half when Brute's sword sliced through him.

When you've been stabbed, with any implement; they, meaning pretty much any first responder, would say not to pull the implement back out.

No matter how hard I tried, I had never managed to avoid such an elementary mistake. As I landed I pulled the dagger back out, and the pain went from burning to scalding. Since the dagger was out of my gut, I managed to turn over before Brute got in another downward swing. He missed and hit the concrete again before I was on my feet.

Brute made another swing, this time horizontal. I knocked down the flat of his blade with the baton in my left hand as hard as I could. With the baton in my right hand, I knocked him on the top of his head. He crumpled onto the floor, a grunt escaping his mouth.

I went over to where Palamo was standing, Rico backing away. I swung my right arm, still holding a baton full force at his head and stopped it within a whisker of his skin, the blood still on the baton splattering on his face. He flinched.

"Damn you for those two bodies, Palamo," I grunted. I dropped my batons onto the floor, the loaded tips hitting hard. "You didn't have to turn this into a bloodbath."

"Three bodies," Joshua said.

I whipped my head around, just in time to see Brute fall onto his side. As he had fallen, he caught the hilt of his sword right in his chest.

Fuck.

I turned until my eyes found Rico. "Don Rossi?"

"Yes, Mister Birch?" Rico asked in return.

"Could you tell the nine heads about the agreement made here today?"

"Mister Birch, I will tell them about the agreement," Rico nodded. "And the challenge as well."

"Thank you." I nodded to Joshua and six of the other Revengers came to collect the bodies. I knew that the bodies would cease to exist once the Revengers were out of the sight of mortals.

My security ushered Palamo's remaining goons out of the warehouse, and moments later it was just me and Roy standing there. "So, Roy. Putting magicians to the fight, kind of a shitty move, right?"

"No shittier than your magician," Roy countered. He pulled out a handkerchief and started wiping the blood off his face.

"Well, Joshua wanted the odds to balance out. Your man was delivering a death stroke with those knives when he pushed out that dilation wave. I got maybe an extra second out of that fight."

"You know, technically, this agreement is only for the contract I was trying to collect on," he looked at the blood on the handkerchief.

"Let me tell you something, Roy." I took a step closer to him. "We have an agreement. You don't fuck with any of my people again. Ever. I am not just some person you can bag in a street-level extortion, I own a multinational company. This little meeting was not me caving in, it was to show the nine heads that I was willing to negotiate. We negotiated, made a deal, and then carried it out in the most primal way."

"Even so...This agreement was only for the Nevada NorPo contract," Ray countered. "Even Rico would assent to that."

"Is he right, Joshua?" I asked.

"No, he's not, Mister Birch," Joshua said. He was two steps behind Roy, enough to make Roy flinch again. "You answer to a higher power."

"Even you acknowledge the power of the nine heads," Roy said. He was starting to sweat, trying to stay strong and coming close to failure.

"I acknowledge them for your benefit. I answer only to the soul of this planet, and those rules were set about long before Italy and Sicily even existed. This was me being nice, but now I have carte blanche to wipe your family out should you fuck with me again." I took a step back to give him room to breathe. "When you get back to your rat-hole, ask your magicians this: Is it permitted to use magic in a challenge that involves money?"

"What?"

"Go ahead, ask them. Even the novices will tell you that you were wrong." I smiled. "Let's go, Joshua. I left Roy's thumbs intact, he can hitchhike home."

There was but one car remaining outside, Derrick opening my door for me. Before I got inside, he handed me my phone and shook his head. I was in trouble. I laid down on the limo floor and groaned in pain from the hole in my side. Nora had a medical kit ready and started fussing with the hole in my gut. She pronounced my insides intact and poured some alcohol on my wound before she started stitching my skin back together. As soon as she finished, the pain was gone and the wound vanished. She gave me a peck on the cheek, and motioned me back into my seat.

I called Petra, getting the full force of her tongue-lashing. I was glad that we weren't face-to-face because she probably would be doing her best to make the hole in my side bigger. She closed the call with a huff.

Nora gave me a little snicker and told me to get ready to go to the doghouse because all of my girlfriends were pissed and I wouldn't be getting any nookie for a little while. I gave her a snort and told her no Gold Stars for her then. She giggled.

***

On Monday I made my way into the offices of Nevada NorPo, Natalie Birch at my side. She told the president of the company that she wanted to see their board, and would be back in a day to talk to them. He gaped like a fish a few times before he finally got out enough words to acknowledge her demand.

I had found a weakness in that company, a big one. Birch Industries supplied them with a particular steel cable that they were using in their new transmission line project. Birch Industries was the only company who could make that cable because we had the formulation under patent and the only manufacturing facility that could produce it. The weakness was the fact that I could effectively kill that project and set them back years.

Natalie and I had a pleasant dinner at one of Vegas' premiere restaurants, both of us dodging the fact that Samantha had been on Fontalan for nearly four years, Terra time. We parted with a kiss that felt like she wanted more, but I pushed her away. She understood.

Tuesday morning, Natalie took control of the meeting long enough to announce I was in charge of anything to do with Birch Industries' interests in America, hence the name of the company 'Birch America.'

When all eyes were on me, Natalie gave me a wink. It was my turn.

I started with the fact that I was also the current owner of Jacer Semiconductor, then adding some mystery incidents that had happened during the last month. I hinted that some of the components that Birch Industries manufactured for Nevada NorPo were in buildings on the Jacer Semiconductor campus and that certain security problems might slow down production of certain components or stop it completely. This was the purpose of the meeting, I announced.

Those problems included the kidnapping of one of my employees and the attempted kidnapping of another. Such disruptions could trigger the force majeure clause in our manufacturing contract, and I would stop manufacture of their cable.

Using those words 'force majeure' was actually a lie, as it really didn't relate to the situation. There were no components being manufactured on the Jacer campus, not at that moment. I justified that lie by telling myself that Nora had been kidnapped as a result of their hiring of goons to put Jacer Semiconductor out of business.

The room was crickets. Most faces were in shock, but three were in scowl. Natalie gave me a nod, telling me that she had marked the three scowling people. I continued, saying that I was hopeful that these security problems could be resolved. Soon.

A week later, I got a call from one of the scowlers, asking if I had experienced any more security problems with Jacer Semiconductor. Even though I was sitting in my office there, I told him that I had to call and check. In reality, I called Rico Rossi and asked him if the contract had been cancelled. He assured me that the contract was 'off the board.' He did ask about the knife wound I had sustained during the fight. I admitted to him that the tongue-lashing I had gotten from my wife for acting like a schoolboy was much, much worse. I got a genuine chuckle before we said our good-byes.

I called back scowler number two, who in this case was Jerry Schneider, and told him that I hadn't received word of any further interruptions and production was proceeding as planned. I made a note to have a portion of the alloy manufacturing moved out to the Jacer Semiconductor campus. Travis Brooks was coming up with tonnes of the metals which were used in the production of those alloys, so it would be good business to relocate some of the manufacturing to Nevada.

***

Aysun appeared in my office a few months later, Natalie Birch with her. Natalie gave me the news hard and fast, Samantha was back from Fontalan and asking for Jaci Stone. I had to ride the helicopter to Los Angeles, Natalie choosing to come with me.

On the way to the Birch's private hospital on the outskirts of the city, Natalie gave me a rundown. Samantha had left a marker at the portal which connected Fontalan to the Hall of Doors. While Natalie had been checking for the marker once a week, that translated to roughly a year on Fontalan.

Samantha had visibly aged, Natalie revealed. It was given that a year was a year and while natural immortals had more years than mortals could count, but time still took its toll. Samantha would revert now that she was back on Terra, but for now she was still old and weak. I admitted that the Terra week that Samantha and Jaci had spent there had given her that perspective.

Natalie admitted that nobody had told Samantha about Jaci Stone's death. I would have to let Samantha know that, in person. The information about the soul-snagging and subsequent soul-jamming would also have to come from me. Even though I didn't remember much about the process, it would sound better if I told the story.

It was also revealed to me that nobody had told Samantha about Johan and Petra. Knowing that Samantha was back and alive, I felt that I was betraying our love and told that to Natalie. I got a couple explanations as to why I shouldn't feel like that. The first was that none of the history or magic books defined polygamy as a crime. It had been known as long as there had been written history that wiccan females outnumbered compatible wiccan males by as much as eight-to-one in certain population centers.