whilst the investigation progressed.
In the interest of brevity not to mention the preservin’ of our royalty income from the back-list of this series, I will refrain from narratin’ all the intriguin’ details of that assignment. What is crucial that you understand, however, is that at the conclusion of that first encounter, a deal was struck between the Great Skeeve and Don Bruce, the Mob’s Fairy Godfather. By the terms of that agreement, Don Bruce and the Mob was to lay off the Kingdom of Possiltum in general and Big Julie and his boys specifically, in exchange for the Great Skeeve givin’ the Mob access to another dimension... to wit, Deva, complete with its rather famous bazaar.
Shortly thereafter, Don Bruce hired the Great Skeeve to oversee the Mob’s interests on Deva, and assigned Nunzio and me to him as bodyguards... which is when we started callin’ him Boss.
With me so far?
Okay, now review the circumstantials with me again, and see if youse can understand the dilemma facin’ us.
First of all, the Boss is working for the Mob.
Second, he has sent us to deal with the situation in Possiltum while he goes after Aahz.
Now, as he works for the Mob and we all work for him, the entire strike force which is currently movin’ on Queen Hemlock can be considered to be in the employment of the Mob.
Unfortunately, there is a deal in effect, one personally negotiated by Don Bruce himself, which says that no one in the Mob is to move against Possiltum! This means that our current operation is in direct violation of Don Bruce’s sworn word... and while I can’t say that notable has never gone back on his word, to do so is a decision he usually reserves for himself personally and tends to get more than a little peeved when someone else undertakes to break his word for him.
As you may have noted from followin’ whatever type of media is in vogue where you’re readin’ this, when someone of Don Bruce’s level in the Mob gets peeved, it is not usually expressed by an angry memo. If he feels his position or authority in the Mob is bein’ challenged by some overly frisky underling, his usual response is to squash said underling like a bug. Of course, in our position as bodyguards to the Boss, this places us between the Squasher and the Squashee, resultin’ in the edginess I was referrin’ to a couple pages back which necessitated this explanation.
Understand now? If not, just trust me that I know more about these things than youse, and that our whole crew will be in trouble with the Mob when and if Don Bruce finds out what we’re doin’.
“I’VE BEEN GIVING it a lot of thought,” Nunzio sez like he never left the conversation, which of course, he hadn’t, “and I’m not sure the Boss knows he’s crossing Don Bruce by sending us back here.”
Now this set me back on my heels a bit. I had been assumin’ all along that Skeeve sendin’ us here was a premeditated move. The idea that he might be ignorant of the consequentials of this action had never occurred to me.
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, the way I see it, the Boss is a real sharp cookie... except in two areas: the Mob, and broads.”
“That’s true,” I sez, ‘cause it was. While I have nothin’ but the highest regard for the Boss overall, in those two areas he tends to be what we refer to in the Mob as “dumb as a stone.”
“Also,” Nunzio continues, “there’s the fact that he didn’t consult with us about the advisabilities of startin’ a ruckus with the Mob, or even warn us to be careful of anything except Hemlock... which is not like him at all if he was expecting trouble from Don Bruce.”
Again he has hit on a valid point. Skeeve has easily been the most considerate Boss we have ever worked with, and has always been sensitive to our feelin’s... especially those which is attached to parts of us which bleed or break. This has a lot to do with the loyalty and genuine affection we hold for him... along with his
In the interest of brevity not to mention the preservin’ of our royalty income from the back-list of this series, I will refrain from narratin’ all the intriguin’ details of that assignment. What is crucial that you understand, however, is that at the conclusion of that first encounter, a deal was struck between the Great Skeeve and Don Bruce, the Mob’s Fairy Godfather. By the terms of that agreement, Don Bruce and the Mob was to lay off the Kingdom of Possiltum in general and Big Julie and his boys specifically, in exchange for the Great Skeeve givin’ the Mob access to another dimension... to wit, Deva, complete with its rather famous bazaar.
Shortly thereafter, Don Bruce hired the Great Skeeve to oversee the Mob’s interests on Deva, and assigned Nunzio and me to him as bodyguards... which is when we started callin’ him Boss.
With me so far?
Okay, now review the circumstantials with me again, and see if youse can understand the dilemma facin’ us.
First of all, the Boss is working for the Mob.
Second, he has sent us to deal with the situation in Possiltum while he goes after Aahz.
Now, as he works for the Mob and we all work for him, the entire strike force which is currently movin’ on Queen Hemlock can be considered to be in the employment of the Mob.
Unfortunately, there is a deal in effect, one personally negotiated by Don Bruce himself, which says that no one in the Mob is to move against Possiltum! This means that our current operation is in direct violation of Don Bruce’s sworn word... and while I can’t say that notable has never gone back on his word, to do so is a decision he usually reserves for himself personally and tends to get more than a little peeved when someone else undertakes to break his word for him.
As you may have noted from followin’ whatever type of media is in vogue where you’re readin’ this, when someone of Don Bruce’s level in the Mob gets peeved, it is not usually expressed by an angry memo. If he feels his position or authority in the Mob is bein’ challenged by some overly frisky underling, his usual response is to squash said underling like a bug. Of course, in our position as bodyguards to the Boss, this places us between the Squasher and the Squashee, resultin’ in the edginess I was referrin’ to a couple pages back which necessitated this explanation.
Understand now? If not, just trust me that I know more about these things than youse, and that our whole crew will be in trouble with the Mob when and if Don Bruce finds out what we’re doin’.
“I’VE BEEN GIVING it a lot of thought,” Nunzio sez like he never left the conversation, which of course, he hadn’t, “and I’m not sure the Boss knows he’s crossing Don Bruce by sending us back here.”
Now this set me back on my heels a bit. I had been assumin’ all along that Skeeve sendin’ us here was a premeditated move. The idea that he might be ignorant of the consequentials of this action had never occurred to me.
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, the way I see it, the Boss is a real sharp cookie... except in two areas: the Mob, and broads.”
“That’s true,” I sez, ‘cause it was. While I have nothin’ but the highest regard for the Boss overall, in those two areas he tends to be what we refer to in the Mob as “dumb as a stone.”
“Also,” Nunzio continues, “there’s the fact that he didn’t consult with us about the advisabilities of startin’ a ruckus with the Mob, or even warn us to be careful of anything except Hemlock... which is not like him at all if he was expecting trouble from Don Bruce.”
Again he has hit on a valid point. Skeeve has easily been the most considerate Boss we have ever worked with, and has always been sensitive to our feelin’s... especially those which is attached to parts of us which bleed or break. This has a lot to do with the loyalty and genuine affection we hold for him... along with his
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