The Great Caruso smiled and asked, “Are you surprised to see me?”
Marcus replied, “Oh, Eddie … If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn’t be more surprised than I am right now.”
Ackerman laughed and said, “’Head sewn to the carpet,’ that’s a good one. The victim would need to be drugged while they slept in order to accomplish something like that without waking them, though. Perhaps one of those curare-related drugs.”
“Shut up, Frank. Don’t get me wrong, Eddie, it’s wonderful to see you again so soon, but to what do we owe the pleasure?”
Eddie stood from the metal chair and said to Oban’s guards, “Can one of you please bring me a clean shirt and a more comfortable chair?” The gunman closest to the door nodded and hurried from the room.
Moving to the front of Oban’s marble desk, Eddie leaned on the edge of the massive piece of furniture and crossed his arms. “To be honest, I really enjoyed catching up with you. And I really like the business plan you’re developing. So I thought: Hey, I’ve got a private jet. Why not fly out and make this a personal introduction? It was Oban’s idea to have a little fun with you, but I was happy to play along. And I was right, wasn’t I, Mr. Nassar?”
King’s righthand man nodded and said, “I was most impressed by both your mental acuity and physical demonstrations. The two of you appear to be quite the team, Agent Williams.”
Marcus made his face stone, betraying no emotion. But on the inside, his brain scrambled for a reply. What the hell had Eddie told Oban Nassar? Marcus had always learned that if you weren’t sure what to say, then you should keep your mouth shut. And that’s what he did. He let the silence hang in the air, hoping that his brother wouldn’t break it before one of their adversaries.
After a moment, Eddie chuckled and said, “Don’t blow a gasket, Rainman. I told you that you should have revealed yourself as feds from the start. That’s the biggest reason I flew out. I figured you’d do something stupid like this. But don’t worry, I explained everything to my associate.”
Marcus said, “We appreciate that. Anything come out of that discussion I should be aware of.”
“Well, I told Oban all about your current position within a corrupt federal outfit funded by black budget funds. And how you’re leveraging that to eliminate the criminal competition. I told him you’re a good man to know and do business with, that you have a lot of connections and power. I even explained how you’re a second generation dirty cop. Ain’t that right, Marcus?”
He wanted to scream, to ram his fist into Eddie’s face over and over again, but he remained stone. “I suppose so. It was kind of you to pave the way for us. Did you tell Mr. Nassar that we’re here hunting the Gladiator and have plans to dismantle Demon’s whole network?”
“No, I’ll let you fill him in on the gory details. But I tell you what, it’s a darn good thing I decided to make the trip. Oban was planning to execute you. You see, a few of King’s men have been following you since the Willoughby incident and saw your group head over to Richmond Station to meet with the cops. Oban had already dug up what he could find about you and your team and was planning to have all of you put to bed before you even reached this meeting.” Eddie shrugged and grinned from ear to ear. “You could say that you owe me your lives.”