The Frenchman's Revenge (33 page)

Ignoring Elena and Lei’s audible gasps, Bai kept his steady gaze on Jen
g
Ming
’s face
.

“I imagine there
isn’t
much difference between the two
, yes?
”

Jeng Ming
frowned
,
and for the first time Bai saw a flash of pain
pierce
the ang
ry veil
in her eyes. She looked at
him for a moment
,
then
stared
down at her hands
. After a long moment of silence
,
she spoke
in a monotone.

“He is a
n evil man, a
cruel man. It is difficult to put in words the extent of his cruelty.”

Bai asked, “
I
s his
cruel
ty directed primarily
to women?”

She shook her head.

“No, he is cruel to everyone.
Even his most trusted men are afraid of him.”

“Hmm, go on.”

She hesitated and with a grimace said, “He never just kill
s
a person
.
He torture
s
them first
, in hideous way
s
.
”

She laughed a bitter laugh.

“
He is very creative
.
Screams excite him.
I have
watched
him orgasm hearing the terrified screams of his victims.
And he insist
s
that he have an audience.
He kn
ows
the best way to keep his sycophants in line
is
to terrify them, show them what w
ill
happen if they disobey him.”

“I see.

“
Tell me what he d
oes
to women.”

She snorted and guffawed.

“He d
oesn’t
‘do’ anything to ‘women
,
’ only to girls, the younger the better. He only like
s
virgins. He
despise
s
whores.
Sa
ys
they
are
dirty,
used
.
Most important
,
they
aren’t
afraid enough—at least at first.”

She shuddered and w
as quiet for a moment
. A
sha
dow
pass
ed
over her face.

“
There was o
ne woman, a
friend of mine, she was a whore. For some reason
,
he wanted her.
She looked young. He tortured her so bad
that
she
killed herself
– drank a whole bottle of laudanum
--
rather than go back
to his bed
.”

Bai puffed on his cigar
, waiting
for her to continue.

S
he was silent
for
several minutes
.
When she spoke it was almost a whisper.

“The young girls, the virgins…
he
use
s
things, sticks and…instruments…
pokers
…
to fuck them before he d
oes
. He sa
ys
the little cunts
are
so stupid
that
they d
on’t
know how to make their puss
ie
s wet
for him
. He
l
augh
s
after he use
s
his instruments…sa
ys
blood
is
as good a lubricant as anything.”

Jeng Ming’s face
tightened and Bai could see in her eyes that she was remembering the horrors she had witnessed.
Shaking off the sick feeling welling up in his gut
,
he focused on the task ahead.

He glanced at Wyatt and saw his imperceptible nod.
Bai took a deep breath and kept his face and voice impassive.

“What--besides you--d
oes
Aldo value?”

Jeng Ming jerked in surprise but seeing Bai’s emotionless face, she hesitated then
laughed--a harsh, mirthless sound.

“His daughters.”

“Hmm, really?”

“Yes
,
and his four grandchildren.
”

“
I see. How old are his daughters?”

“The oldest is two years older than me.
Her sister is a year older than
I am
.”

Bai nodded.
“
And his grandchildren?
”

“They range between eight and two. There are two boys, two girls.”

When she hesitated, Bai waited until she looked at him
then
holding her gaze,
said, “
Please continue
.”

She stared at him for a moment
,
t
hen
shrugged as though her revelation shouldn’t be a surprise.

“
All four of them bea
r
a remarkable resemblance to their grandfather.”

A hard scornful look crossed her face
, S
he grinned at Bai, a s
ly
ugly grin.

“At least you won’t have to worry about jealous husbands.”

Bai pushed down the rage he felt rising like bile in his throat.
He puffed on his cigar
,
allowing the
calming
smoke to
counter
the anger washing over him.

“Do you know where they are?
The daughters? The grandchildren?”

She sniffed
dismissively.

“Yes
.
I grew up with them.
I was their playmate.”

Bai kept his face and voice neutral
.
“How did you
end up with Marcello
?”

Jeng Ming looked up at him
. O
nly his compassion for her kept him from dropping his eyes when he saw the pain in hers. Her haughtiness, her anger
,
was gone.
In its place was raw anguish. He held her gaze
willing
her to continue. It was the two of them now.
She was looking at him as though she was clinging to him, a beacon of strength, sanity in an evil world.

H
e nodded to her
and said quietly, “I’m here, Jeng Ming.”

She trembled and gripped the arms of her chair, her fingers white with strain. She took several deep breaths
. With a sigh, she
said,
“I was born there.
”

A long moment passed
. Her face was
pale
, her voice so
ft
.

“
My mother…my mother was his whore. For
many years. B
efore he went crazy, like he is now.”

“Is your mother still there?”

She shook her head and
once again she
was silent
then
said,
“No.”

Bai waited
, letting his gaze
surround her,
as though he had his arms around her.
His voice was
gentle
.

“What happened to her? To your mother?’

In a barely audible whisper, Jeng Ming said, “He killed her.
Slit
her throat. After he
tied her up and
made her watch him rape me
…
when I was eleven.”

She looked down at her hands and held them tight
,
trying to stop them from shaking.
The only sound in the room was
the
ticking of the grandfather clock that graced the far wall.

Bai looked more closely at her features and exchanged a
pained
look with Wyatt.
Choosing not to ask the obvious question, he asked instead a seeming non
sequitur
.

“What are the daughters
’
names?”

Jeng Ming
tossed her head dismissively
with a harsh laugh.
“He call
e
d one Mary; the other one Madonna.”

“Hmm.
What did he call you?”

“
Magdalene
.”

Ignoring
the soft sobs he heard from both
L
ei and Elen
a, Bai
pushed a piece of paper and a pen
across
the desk to Jeng Ming.

“A
r
e they all in the same place, the daughters and the children?”

“
No, h
e has four private residences
that he uses to sequester them
. He keeps them in different places and continually
moves them from one place to
the
other.
He never keeps all of them in the same place at one time.
”

Bai nodded and pointed to the paper.

“Please write down
all four addresses
.
”

While she was writing, Bai turned to Wyatt and Nianzu.

“
Who is the
best one to handle this?
Tom? Peter?
”

Wyatt
responded.

“Tom is the best person to oversee it.
He has the resources
and the people in place
to complete the job.”

Bai handed the
address
es to Nianzu.

“Send an urgent telegram to Tom with these addresses.
Tell him I want the job done no later than
eight
p.m. tonight.”

Nianzu was halfway to the door before Bai finished
issuing
his orders.

Bai refilled his glass and
raised
the decanter of brandy to Jeng Ming and Wyatt
;
both nodded their assent.
W
ithout
speaking, Elena
came over to the desk and poured two glasses of brandy
. She
handed one to Lei
,
who took it
with
a grateful nod.
Elena tossed her
dr
aft
back with a quick swallow and refilled her glass.

Bai sipped on his brandy and resisted lighting another cigar.
Instead
,
he faced Jeng Ming without buffers
. He
spoke to her in a quiet, controlled voice.

“Jeng Ming,
I cannot take away the past
.
I cannot erase
the horror
s
you have seen, the pain you have experienced.
I can only tell you how much I admire and respect you.
Your courage is equal
to that of my most courageous
battle hardened
warriors.
You have survived
horrors
that would have killed or crippled most people. But you survived and for that and so much more, I honor you.”

He stood and bowed
low
to her
.
Wyatt, Lei
,
and Elena
all
stood and
did the same. Jeng Ming was surprised.
She looked from one to the other
,
then
stood and
returned their bow.
She
reached for
the edge of the desk to steady herself and closed her eyes tightly
,
squeezing
back tears that threatened to fall
.