THE TAINTED TRUST (Volume 2 of The King Trilogy)

CHAPTER 87

         Visconti telephoned Nick Bennedetti at three P.M. "Nick, it's Louis. It's time to move on Phillip Servito."

"Now?"

"Yup. I also want you to do a man who lives in Zurich. His name is Alfred Schnieder. He's..."

"Hold it, Louis. Time out. I don't do European jobs. Too risky. Too many borders. You couldn't pay me enough to get involved. It's going to be tough enough doing this Canadian job."

"You might be wrong about that, Nick. There's a lot of money in it for you."

"Don't even think about it. I'm definitely not interested. Find yourself some people in Europe."

"Okay, but I want a fast clean job on the kid."

"Trust me Louis. He won't know what hit him."

Visconti drove Kerri to his apartment at six-thirty. He smiled proudly as he presented her with two copies of the prenuptial agreement Jackie Crawford had prepared that afternoon. "This'll prove that I'm a man of my word. It's all there, everything we talked about at lunch today." He removed a gold pen from his jacket and signed both copies in front of her.

Kerri's hands trembled as she attempted to read one of the copies. The words a blurred as too many thoughts raced through her head. She had to delay. She looked up at Louis with pleading eyes. "Would you mind if I talked to Jackie about this tomorrow?" she asked. "I don't doubt your word, but I don't understand all this legal jargon."

Visconti sensed that Kerri had reached the limit of her stress tolerance, and that to hassle her might push her over the top. In spite of his haste to leave the country, he desperately wanted, needed her to go with him. He smiled and nodded. "You do that. You should have legal advice before you sign it."

September 13. Four, P.M.

Mike ran to his car and returned an urgent call from Dan Turner. "Margaret said your call was urgent," he said, struggling to catch his breath.

"It was. I just got a call from Thomas Hinkin. He did not have good news. We were too late. Visconti scooped everything. To punctuate his timing, he told Hinkin to fuck himself."

"That's just wonderful," Mike groaned. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"Well I suggest you buckle up. You have no choice. You should also know that Kerri just told me he's leaving for Europe today, and that she's going with him."

"I'll call you right back," Mike said, his mind racing to process the implications of the new equation. He hung up and dialed Visconti's office number, a mixture of rage and anxiety boiling inside him.

"Long time no talk to, Mike," Visconti sang. "How the hell are you?"

"Where's the money?"

"In a very safe place. I used it to make a fabulous investment for the benefit of your trust. I know you're going to like it."

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

"We bought all the outstanding shares of a tremendously promising company. It's called Forta Equitas. I'll send you a prospectus with my next quarterly report."

"No bull-shit, Visconti! Where's the money."

Visconti chuckled. "I'll tell you a little secret. A decade ago Alfred Schnieder told me the whole nasty story about Phillip's natural father. I was amazed when he told me how Jim Servito managed to accumulate a fortune by evading gasoline taxes. Alfred also told me your dirty little secret. He said you had decided to keep the money. You're a bad boy. You really should have turned it over to the Feds, like a good honest citizen. Withholding hundreds of millions of tax dollars is a very serious crime...Now, before I let you go, allow me to give you some friendly advice. If you even think about breathing a word about this to anyone, I'll blow the whistle on you and Karen so fast you won't even have time to take a nervous shit."

"I promise you'll regret this," Mike said, then terminated the call and pressed the redial for Turner's office. He told Turner the story of his conversation with Visconti. "I concede, Dan. Visconti wins. That money's cursed. It's been nothing but misery for anyone who's had anything to do with it. I'm going to wash my hands of it and let it ruin Visconti's life," he said.

"So be it, but I must remind you that the feds are still breathing fire. What about Phillip?"

"I'm going to tell him everything, including Visconti's plan to kill him. We're probably going to have to hide him somewhere."

"Good luck and stay in touch."

Mike terminated the call, then called Kerri. "Hi...I hope your day's been better than mine."

"What's wrong?"

"Dan Turner just told me Hinkin was too late."

"Damn! Did he find out what Louis did with the money?"

"No. I did. I phoned Louis and he told me he used it to buy the shares of a company called Forta Equitas. He made it obvious that the move was nothing but a scam to scoop the money. I hope he rots in hell."

"I'm going to make sure he does because I'm going to hell with him."

"Kerri, you can't. It's far too dangerous. If he's prepared to kill Phillip, he won't hesitate to kill you, too."

"I don't care how dangerous he is. I'm going to follow him everywhere he goes. If it takes me the rest of my life, I'm going to stop him."

Mike was brutally reminded of his own resolve to stop Jim Servito, a long time ago. He knew that no amount of convincing would change his mind. "Is there any way I can convince you not to go?"

"No."

"Then be careful and call me collect, as often as you can. And remember that I love you."

 "I will. I love you too, dad."