My Own Way

"But how is that making us money, Mello?" Rio, along with his consigliere, stared down at the pad. It was covered in Mello\'s scrawled handwriting captured in a series of large circles. "That\'s just us letting stock go to rot. It\'s dead money."



Mello slowly closed his eyes, but kept his tone neutral. "Remember when I described market forces? Supply and demand?" There was a low murmering. Mello opened his eyes again and thrust a gloved finger into the centre of a circle. "This is the short term. The market demands and we supply." His finger moved to the next circle. "But this is where the real money is." Mello schooled his whole expression, over a persuasive smile, to affect barely suppressed excitement. He hoped it would be contagious. "We\'ve looked over the hill a bit. We\'ve speculated. We buy there, sit on it, then sell when the time is ready. There\'s going to be a surplus, so the price will go down. I predict that in a few months time, there will be war there. Then we sell, when everyone\'s desperate and the price will go up."



"Why will they buy it, even in desperation, at a higher price?" Rio chuckled. "There is still that surplus."



"No there won\'t be." Mello sighed. "Because we will have bought the surplus at cut price."



The consigliere shuffled. "I\'m sorry, Mello. It sounds a little risky. How can we know that the surplas is going to start? How can we be sure that there will be war in a few months time?"



"Because," Mello growled, "there are already signs of a summit, which will bring peace, because they are all so shit scared of Kira to keep having a war. The long-term weather forecast tells me that there\'s going to be drought here. Drought means crop failure. Starving people will destablise a government already clinging on by its fingernails. Look who\'s poised at the borders. It will be war. No doubt."



"You admit there\'s a lot of what ifs going on here."



Mello shook his head. "I\'m certain. When have I been wrong in the past?"



Rio sucked in a breath. "You have a very good track record, Mello. I\'m willing to put £100,000 into your," he gestured dismissal, "thing."



"100 grand?" Mello gasped. "You might as well not bother. Shove six million in or forget it. Turn it around now, as we\'ve always done, for perhaps 5% profit, falling to around 1% by June. Do it my way and I can practically guarantee 150% profit on your out-goings. You\'re not going to correct the market shortfall with £100,000. It won\'t work."



Rio stared. "That\'s a lot of money."



Mello nodded. "And an obscene amount of money coming back in at the end of it."



Rio frowned. "Ok, Mello, step outside. I want to think about this." He dismissed most of his guard too. Mello wasn\'t stupid. He knew that \'thinking about it\' consisted of consulting the consigliere. It\'s precisely what Rod Ross would have done too. Mello unwrapped a bar of chocolate, turned on his heel and left. He was halfway down the corridor, en route to the toilet, when the door opened again. Mello scowled at his name being called, but plastered a smile on his face for stepping back into the office. "Ok, we\'ll put six million into your little scheme. It had better work, Mello."



"It will." Mello radiated confidence. "Then maybe with your profits, you will give me the go ahead for a project of my own."



"Kira."



"Yes." Mello grinned.



"If I get 150% profit on six million, I\'ll certainly be more inclined to consider your Kira plan." Rio agreed. "Mello, is your comare coming out tonight?"



Mello frowned at the sudden change of pace. He shook his head. "Unfortunately my comare is a very private type. A homebody." He glanced at the clock on the wall. He was supposed to be home in an hour. If he was detained any longer, he\'d have to call home and tell Matt not to do anything stupid, like come looking for him. "Was that all? I have the go-ahead to arrange this?"



Rio nodded. "Yes. But I have another job for you first. If your comare isn\'t coming, then you can escort mine. I have business up the West End and I can\'t have Steph hanging around here on her own."



"Me?" Mello\'s gaze took in the capos, who had returned with him into the room. This was a soldiers\' job. He had fancied himself a little higher up than that.



"Yes Mello." Rio smirked. "Let\'s just say that I think you have excellent qualities that lead me to trust my beautiful missus in your capable hands."



Mello stared. Fire lit in his eyes, while his body froze with dread. All around the room, ruffled feathers were being eased, as individual brains processed what Rio was saying. There were many reasons why Mello would make a great bodyguard, but only one which marked him out from the herd. "And what qualities would they be?" Mello growled.



Rio laughed. "Intelligent conversation, powers of observation and a vicious retribution for anyone trying it on with her. I can trust you on this, Mello?"



Mello bit his lip, then nodded once. "Where do I pick her up?" Car keys were thrown at him. Mello caught them easily in his left hand. He waited just long enough for the address and a time, then marched out of the room. He was followed. Benny caught up with him in the main clubroom and Mello fixed him with an exasperated, cold stare. Benny was old school. One of Rio\'s muckers from way back, who was never going to rise higher than capo, but was happy enough with that. "What?"



"You met Steph before."



"Yes."



Benny surveyed him with a long look. He nodded. "You think that Rio\'s taking the piss. You want him to just drop everything and give you resources to track down Kira."



Mello\'s whole demeanour shifted. From the seething hatred came a smile. He took a couple of steps towards Benny, maintaining eye contact. "I know I can do it."



"You have a brilliant mind, Mello. Rio\'s said so often." Benny had to resist an urge to reach out to the younger man. He had never considered himself queer before, but there was something unsettlingly effeminate about Mello that triggered all of the wrong signals. Benny straightened and Mello\'s grin grew. "You have made us a lot of money. But that is what all of this is about. Business. You are asking us to channel money into an operation which isn\'t business. Kira..."



Mello growled back a response. "Kira is taking out key operatives and saboteging operations. How is that good business?" He stepped close enough for Benny to feel like stepping back. Benny\'s mother used to have a saying, \'born to hang\', which her son recalled now. He didn\'t feel out of his depth with many people. Several decades in this game and his proximity to Rio generally meant that Benny\'s presense intimidated others, not the other way around. He stood his ground. Mello\'s gaze felt like it was piercing Benny\'s skull and reading all there was to discover in his mind. "I could give you a hundred reasons why Rio should support me on this one."



"Then do it." Benny didn\'t know why he was encouraging this. Rio had just told him to ensure that Mello had calmed enough not to do anything stupid. "Present Rio with your reasons. Convince him that this is good business."



"I have!" Mello snapped and suddenly looked like the teenager that he was. "No-one is listening to me! I\'ve presented my case time and time again. I have explained it. I\'ve given good reasons. Long-term projections. I can convince him on anything but this and I\'m always right." Mello\'s eyes narrowed. His pupils were like pinpricks. "Catching Kira is the only thing that matters. It affects everything. He is a sniper and our thing only exists as long as he hasn\'t picked us off, one by one. I saw this in America. You are sitting ducks just waiting to die."



Benny shuddered despite himself, but covered it with extra swagger in his stance. "Take it up with Rio, Mello. I\'m just the hired heavy."



"You\'re more than that." Mello\'s hand rose. For a moment, Benny thought that Mello was going to touch him and the adrenaline rushed through his body. It wasn\'t for want, but fear that the wanting would be there. Disgust followed confusion and Mello smiled as if he saw it all. He didn\'t touch Benny. He merely took a chocolate bar from his pocket and snapped it between his teeth. "Speak to Rio for me? He might listen to you more than me. He\'s known you for so long."



Benny nodded. "I will." He didn\'t even know why he said that. He barely remembered thinking it. There was something seductive about Mello that triggered sex or fear. Benny had never met anyone quite like him before, for all the wide boys who had passed through their ranks. Benny retreated mentally behind his own Mafioso mask. "Smarten yourself up. Pick up Steph and make sure that she has a good time. I will speak to Rio for you."



Mello nodded. He leaned a little too close for comfort. "Thank you." Then grinned, turned and left the building.



Mello had a bedsit in the city, which he used to refreshen up and take a nap. He lay on his bed there now, staring at the ceiling and trying not to give into disappointment and depression. He had deduced that Rio was afraid of Kira. It was hardly surprising given the dessimination of their friends in the States. But that fear was not something that Rio would ever admit. It was better to fob Mello off with tests and conditions, making it seem like approval for the Kira operation was only around the corner. Just one more operation; one more test of Mello\'s skills. Yet those skills had failed in Los Angeles. He had been so close to catching Kira. So ridiculously close. But the upshot, as far as Rio could see it, was a lot of dead men.



Mello picked over, as he often did, the details of that night. If he hadn\'t been injured, then he could have isolated one of the officers in the dark. He could have taken their receivers and traced the signal back to the supposed L. It wouldn\'t have taken much to relay the route back through the terminal to the source. Unless Kira was as technologically savvy as himself or Matt. Matt. Mello had had Matt there! If anyone could hack a radio, it was Matt. Mello\'s arm rose to cover his eyes. He couldn\'t think of Matt or else he would want to get on his motorbike and go home. As painful as it was, it was better to think of Kira. Picking over scabs in a crumbling room, in a rundown street, in the arse end of London. This was what Mello was reduced to. He wondered briefly how Near was getting on, in the same hunt for their idol\'s killer, and the thought was enough to carry Mello off the bed and into the bathroom. Maybe Steph would be the key to convincing Rio. Then, with Mafia resources behind him again, Mello could continue with his plans and he would catch Kira. Just one more effort. Mello knew he could do this. Then he would be number one.



Steph didn\'t open the front door herself. It was a younger woman with a passing resemblence to the boss\'s comare. She looked Mello up and down, like she couldn\'t quite believe what she was seeing, then shouted back into the house, "Ta-ra a bit, Steph. Catch you tomorrow." The second time she glanced at Mello, she actually laughed. Mello blinked. He wasn\'t sure whether to hate her or be intrigued. No-one had ever reacted to him like that before. From the depths of the palatial building, he heard Steph\'s acknowledge, then the woman pushed past him. "Go on in. She\'s in the front." Mello watched her leave, getting into a car with a driver, who was obviously one of their friends. He raised his eyebrows and walked on in.



Mello glimpsed a maid. She caught him looking and scurried away. He saw no security, but he knew it was there. He\'d passed through a rigorous check at the gates, then had been stopped twice more before he\'d even made it to the front door. He had no doubt that someone somewhere was watching his every move through hidden cameras. Mello paused, imagining where he might conceal those cameras. Then he stared in that direction and grinned straight into the camera. It was there. He caught the reflection of the tiny lense.



He followed the sound of the television, seeing it before he saw the comare. It covered most of one wall, a cinematic flatscreen, displaying the glitter of a celebrity award show. Steph emerged from his right, holding two champagne glasses filled to the brim with the sparkling liquid. Mello beamed at her and inclined his head. The perfect gentleman. "Ma\'am."



Steph laughed. "The infamous Mello." She handed him a glass and Mello could see that she was already half gone on something. Her movements were too fluid and fast. He took it and raised it in a half-salute before pretending to take a sip. "I can see why he sent you. The first man I ever met who just ignored my tits." She snorted and then stopped before the television screen. "What is she wearing? It all seems fishtails this season. I can\'t see it. It doesn\'t make them look like The Little Mermaid. It just makes them look fat."



Mello had frozen. He let his eyes rest on Steph\'s breasts. They were indeed extensive. They also appeared to defy gravity, until Mello worked out the complex scaffolding of her dress and, presumably, her undergarments. She had the biggest cleavage that Mello had ever seen. He found himself calculating the depth and weight, then caught her eyes above them, laughing at him. He knew that he should be cringing or, at the very least, blushing. Instead, he smiled back. "Tits duly noted."



Steph gasped. "What are you like?"



"However, I can\'t promise to have an opinion on the fishtail dresses."



"Oh, Mello. I\'m sure you could if you tried." She paused to watch another actress arriving. The papparatzi cameras erupted into flashes. "Oh no! She\'s dressed down. That looks so frumpy."



Mello felt like this was going to be a long night. He glanced at the television and decided to burst the bubble, just because he could. "That\'s Carly Tuesday. I knew her in LA. She\'ll have dressed down because she\'s trying to seem intellectual. She knows that she\'s beautiful. Her complex is that she\'s not clever enough." He smirked, remembering trying to explain to her how helium gas worked. "She\'s been trying to seduce playwrights, just because she thinks their..."



"You knew her?" Steph interupted. "Really knew her?"



Mello shrugged. "I didn\'t sh... have relations with her."



Steph still seemed impressed. "But you knew her in person! Did you meet a lot of actresses?"



"Enough." Mello smirked. "They\'re ordinary people, like you and I. They bleed when you cut them."



Steph moved swiftly to pick up her clutch bag. Her expression dropped into pensiveness, but lifted again as she stared at the television. "Was she beautiful in real life?"



"Yes."



"Is she more beautiful than me?" Her mascaraed gaze landed onto Mello\'s face and he shook his head. "That\'s no answer, Mello. Is she more beautiful than me?"



"Never."



Steph shook her head. She strode past Mello, en route to the door, calling back over her shoulder. "It\'s a pity that we never see your comare. He must be very shy." Mello laughed, picking up her wrap and draping it over her shoulders. She cast him a sly glance. "Are you laughing because he\'s not shy?"



Mello knew he could lie. He had dealt with comares before. Their husbands had inevitably asked them to find out about his sex life, because with the women the rules of engagement changed. Tough Mafioso men didn\'t look to be gossiping; while the comares had to be treated with respect. His life could depend upon not upsetting them, especially when the woman in question was the comare of the don. It used to be so much easier when he didn\'t have a significant other. Mello had seen what happened to outed homosexuals in the Mafia. If a man had insinuated that he was gay, then Mello could have reacted with violence. Now though, he merely shook his head and led Steph out, opening the passenger door to hand her into her seat. "Rio\'s asked you to find out about this." He didn\'t give her chance to reply, but closed the door and raced around to the other side. She was smirking at him, as he slid into the driver\'s seat. "What makes you all so sure that I have one?"



"Oh Mello." Steph laughed, a hand fluttering to briefly touch his arm. "You can tell me." He started the car and she smiled at all of the security guards as they passed. No-one stopped them. "All of the girls speculate."



Mello imagined what a room full of comares would sound like. They annoyed him just thinking about them. This gaggle of airheaded women, who wielded so much power just through association. Stupid people always irritated him. Stupid people with power rankled to the core of his indignation. Nevertheless, he plastered on a charming grin. "Really? And what do they speculate?"



"That your partner must have the patience of a saint. You only ever go back to your little room in Whitechapel, never back to your real home." Steph spoke slightly breathlessly. Mello squirrelled away the information that even the comares knew where his bedsit was. He glanced quickly at her, trying to ascertain whether they knew where Matt\'s flat was. He doubted it. She would have mentioned it, just to display her knowledge. Mello knew that he was careful. He was certain that he had never been followed all the way back to Southampton. "You work too hard, Mello."



"Yeah, well." Mello concentrated on the road ahead. "Arbeit macht frei."



Steph gasped. "Oh! Aren\'t you clever? Speaking in foreign!"



Mello nearly laughed in utter incredulity. Being in the presense of someone as uneducated as Steph suddenly felt offensive. He schooled his tone into steadiness and spoke neutrally, "Not a phrase you\'ve heard before then?"



"Tell me about your comare. I won\'t tell anyone."



They were out in the countryside now. A car trailed them, but Mello had clocked it leaving Rio\'s estate. It was back up in case of emergency, that was all. "No disrespect, Steph, but no."



"Oh Mello. That isn\'t nice." Steph spoke mildly enough, if a little petulantly, but Mello felt a stab of cold alarm. She shifted gears. "Do I frighten you, Mello?"



Mello gave a half-laugh. "Only in the sense that all beautiful women unnerve the men in their presense. You are intoxicating, Steph. You are much more beautiful than the likes of Carly Tuesday." He spoke smoothly, but Mello was struggling not to show the tension that bubbled inside. The rule of thumb with comares was to give them what they wanted, on the basis that usually all they wanted was to know that they were lovely and that their man was very important. A word from Steph could turn Rio against him. Upsetting Steph could derail any chance that he had of using Rio\'s resources in the Kira case. Beside him, Steph giggled in delight. Mello hated her. The notion passed through his mind that all of her body\'s energy had been redirected from brainpower into creating breasts that looked like they trapped small stones into orbitting them. "Rio is a very lucky man."



Steph simpered. She had to be in her forties, yet right now everything about her screamed out \'little girl\'. She beamed. "Oh! Thank you!" She turned to face him. "Tell me, Mello."



"Tell you what?" Mello smiled, though he knew well enough.



"If you\'re so secretive, we wonder why. That\'s why we think he\'s male."



"You think I\'m going out with a male?" Mello decided to risk harshness. He allowed his tone to become icy. "Please don\'t repeat such things, Steph. You can have no idea how dangerous such rumours are."



"Oh! I do." Steph sat back in her seat. Mello blinked in surprise. "So your \'lady\'. Is she blonde?"



"Redhead." Mello replied, immediately hating himself even for that information.



"Blue eyes?"



"Gre..." Mello began, but he really was giving away more than he wanted to. He was quickly running out of ammunition that he could use against her. Beside him, Steph smiled encouragement. "I really don\'t want to talk about my partner. Thank you."



Steph sighed. "Red hair and green eyes. Probably white then." She appeared to be pondering it. Mello resisted the urge to clip her, so that she couldn\'t pass that scant information on. He inwardly berated himself for not just lying to her. He still could. His mouth opened to do just that, but Steph spoke first. "You\'re quite our little project."



"Our?"



"All the wives and girlfriends." Steph grinned happily. They were entering the city. Lights flashed across her body. "We all need to know. You are, after all, hiding away one of us."



Mello narrowed his eyes. He rasped out. "Leave it." He couldn\'t shoot her, though he was tempted. He couldn\'t hit her. He put his foot down instead, rushing them through the London suburb streets. The car behind was stuck behind the changing traffic lights and, for a moment, Mello considered just doing it. Killing Steph to protect Matt. But their tail jumped the lights and Mello focused on the pursuit of Kira.



"So touchy." Steph muttered, opening her bag to take out a mirror. She reapplied her lipstick with more flirtatious gestures than were strictly necessary. "Poor Mello, caught between a rock and a hard place. Should I leave you alone?"



Mello nodded once. His expression would have stopped capos at hundred paces. "Please."



Steph replaced her cosmetics and straightened as the nightclub came into view. Mello parked on double yellow lines, watching as two soldiers rushed to open their doors. He leapt out of the car to meet Steph around the other side, noting, as he did, that their tail was also parked up, watching. Steph laughed and flirted with the Mafioso around her, but took Mello\'s arm to be escorted inside. She whispered, as they took the steps, "So a redhead with green eyes. Rio told me that you also said that your comare is very intelligent." She smiled at the people around her. "Do I get a name?"



Mello froze. He didn\'t respond. His gaze took in the high level family members all around the room and he wondered if this was more of a set up than he had anticipated. They were all watching. It took him a few seconds to translate the looks on their faces. It was pity. Mello understood how many of them had been in a similiar situation, with Steph used to tease out information that no-one wanted to give her. He watched her enter the room and saw the tension that proceeded her. He watched the relief that she left in her wake. Mello had met dozens of comares before. He had encountered powerful ones. He had never quite seen one cause as much of a stir as Steph did walking across a room. He was amazed that no-one had taken her out yet. Then he paused. He might just be reading too much into this, because she had teased information out of him.



Steph turned, laughing, to survey him and she held out her hand. Mello ran to rejoin her and realised that he couldn\'t read her at all. Steph grinned. "Stay with me, Mello. We have lots to discuss." And he knew that this was going to be a very long night.