Page 43 - Brokenclaw - John Gardner

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pleases, disappears like a will-o’-the-wisp, he is a known killer, owns a very

large portion of San Francisco’s shady side. He controls practically every
gambling den in Chinatown. Prostitution – and there’s plenty of that – only
operates under his aegis, the drug dealers pay him a fancy percentage, almost
every nightclub or restaurant in the
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pays him handsomely.’
‘What about law enforcement? Surely, if this is known . . . ?’ Bond began.
Ed Rushia stirred in his chair. ‘Gosh, James. Knowing it isn’t proving it.’
‘Well, how . . . ?’

‘How what?’ The commander thumped his knee with a big hand, fingers
spread wide. ‘How he doesn’t get arrested? I’ll tell you how. Because he owns
people, owns their souls. Know what that means? It means that, whatever the
rumours, whatever the truth, nobody’ll talk and certainly nobody will stand up
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in court. The local cops and FBI have plenty of snitches who pass on bits of
information, rumour, tales, tittle-tattle, even truth. But not one of them would
even think of giving evidence about your pal Brokenclaw Lee. For all we
know he has people inside the SFPD and the FBI. I doubt it, but who knows?’

For a second, Rushia had dropped his down-home image and manner of
speech.
‘A one-man Mafia, you said.’ Bond looked from one to the other. ‘But even
people mixed up with organised crime talk eventually. What about the special

witness programmes? People who give evidence are protected, given new
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lives. I can’t believe that Lee hasn’t got enemies if . . .’
‘Oh yeah. Sure. Sure he’s got plenty of enemies,’ Rushia drawled. ‘But you
try to get solid evidence from them. Ole Brokenclaw has two very powerful

bits of ju-ju going for him. First off the stuff about his ancestry – Chinese and
Blackfoot Indian. His forebears include at least one Medicine Man, or Woman
I should say, and possibly more. May sound like superstition to you, Cap’n
Bond, but a lot of very down-to-earth folk half believe the man has

supernatural powers. He makes certain the stories about him are gilded and
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pretty juiced up. I’ve met an otherwise rational man who believes that
Brokenclaw can turn himself into an eagle.’
Bond recalled the power of voodoo, which he had seen for himself at first

hand. Thinking about it, he decided that a man with Brokenclaw Lee’s
personality might well be able to engender a kind of hypnosis and superstition
which made followers believe he had unusual powers.

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