Gideon's Chair

Chapter 43

The giant chartered American Airlines jet flew out of the New York fog .

Mancini and a collection of his closest agents and some Government officials sat huddled  around a table in animated discussion . A hand picked woman of French Lebanese origin sat alone to their right . She stared impassively forwards , not joining in the conversation. She originated from Marseille and her brothers operated the indo -China Opium ring . They had originally fought with French forces in that region and had been instrumental in the torture and murder  of Soloman Riza  a trafficker for the Missou crime family based out of Paris and operating the same Opium channel . She had the style of Coco Chanel but the air of an undertaker . She was Mancini's insurance , his passage back to a world he was better suited for . She turned the pages of Le Figaro and lit a Chesterfield .

Mancini sat back from  the discussion , half closing his eyes in thought . He would resign of course . He had all ready been asked to attend the White House on his return . He knew that this meant he would be fired in disgrace . Someone had to take the blame .

Galasso stared into his coffee cup , he knew Mancini would never take the bullet leaving him wide open as his number two to be held responsible . He was one of the few who knew Mancini's past and that he had always been a survivor . He found himself thinking of Naples and the back streets . kicking a football around , chasing the girls and hiding in the shadows as like Mancini he learned his trade as a young dealer around the harbour area. He had been instrumental behind the scenes in closing down most of the Marseille opium and heroin runs. His call to Fludd that morning would ensure that the hugely lucrative  heroin channel from France to London known as the Channel Connection would be re opened. He knew what decision Mancini would make and he knew he would be in direct competition , but this was a dog eat dog world.

He smiled at Mancini who smiled back .

Two hours later a British Airways plane began it's descent into Paris Charles De Gaule Airport carrying the senior Gideon figures and members of the British Security Services .

Fludd looked out of the window and lit an Embassy cigarette. He could see the lights of Paris and the stream of car and taxi headlights . Creating a neon like directional light to his future home. He knew that failure meant he would be vilified and probably targeted by his own agency. He hadn't imagined returning to his former Parisian stamping ground but the lure of re opening his Heroin and drug links were too strong a lure. He regarded the world he would re enter as the dead zone . He knew by turning down Mancini and engaging with Galasso he would create a war that both probably wouldn't survive . This war meant they would be in the same arena as Claudine Missou and her family .

Fludd looked out of the window and drained the last of his Scotch from his glass as the plane began it's final approach . He glanced out of the window again onto his new life , The telephone lines, the hussle of taxis, the sprawl of the skyscrapers and the squalor of the slums . A rush of concrete and tarmac and a bump bump as the plane landed him back into a world he would never leave alive .

A world that belonged to the sewer rats and the vultures of the slums. The vast wealth and the cut throats and the law of the last man standing. A world of power and betrayal .

The pilot switched the engines to reverse and he welcomed himself to a  world he was perfectly suited for placing his glass on the table in front.