“There you go again,” Spartacus pointed out. “Relax! You take life too damn seriously!”
“I know no other way,” Seiko replied.
“Well, now that that’s settled,” Napoleon sighed, “maybe we can get to why we came here today.”
“Before we do that,” Spartacus interrupted, “I still have something I need to get off my chest.”
“What is it?” Napoleon asked.
“Seiko is in this for the katana,” Spartacus noted. “You want to be Family Leader. But what’s in this for me? For years now, you’ve been trying to win us over, to persuade us to join you. At one time, I even thought of turning you in to Plato as a power-monger. But I kept my mouth shut. We’re a Triad, after all, and we should stick together through thick and thin. So you’ve finally won Seiko over, but I’m still not completely convinced. What’s in this for me?”
Napoleon draped his left arm across the gladiator’s broad shoulders.
“You, dear Spartacus,” he said, “I can promise a prize more precious than any sword, a treasure comparable to the fabled Helen of Troy.”
“What are you talking about?” Spartacus demanded.
Napoleon’s grin seemed to stretch from ear to ear. “I am referring to Jenny.”
Spartacus appeared stunned.
Napleon laughed. “What? You thought I wouldn’t recall how you vied for her affection? How you tried to persuade her to like you instead of Blade?” Napoleon paused. “Let’s see. Wasn’t it when you were in your late teens? I never did understand why you wasted your time on her. Everyone knew she loved Blade, and had loved him since childhood. And, like me, everyone saw how she rudely rejected your sincere devotion and preferred that musclebound lout. I must confess, women have always been something of a mystery to me. They are so illogical, so… strange. Don’t you agree?”
“How could Jenny love me?” Spartacus finally found his voice.
“Ahhhh. I never promised she would love you.” Napoleon shook his head. “I simply emphasize, with Blade out of the way, Jenny would be, shall we say, available to the first man wanting to claim her. Do you get my drift?”
Spartacus stroked his square chin, pondering the implications of Napoleon’s words. “Jenny. Mine?”
“If you want her.” Napoleon beamed.
“You mean,” Spartacus said slowly, comprehension dawning, “just take her?”
“With Blade dead,” Napoleon responded, “who could stop you?”
“You think the Family will just stand by and do nothing?” Seiko interjected.
“The Family are sheep!” Napoleon snapped contemptuously. “Except for the Warriors, of course.”
“And what about the Warriors?” Seiko inquired. “What about Omega Triad and Beta Triad?”
“Follow me on this,” Napoleon said. “If we remove Plato from his position of leadership, the Elders will have lost their authority figure, their conduit of command. By eliminating Blade, Geronimo, and Hickok, we have disposed of our primary opposition, Alpha Triad.”
“Hickok won’t be easy,” Spartacus mentioned.
“Let me finish,” Napoleon urged. “After Seiko disposes of Rikki, Beta Triad will be leaderless. Omega Triad will be the only other Triad still intact, and like the majority of the Family they’ll be confused by our takeover, uncertain of what to do. Remember, in the century since Kurt Carpenter founded the Home, this has never happened before. The Family will be like headless birds, flopping around with no sense of direction.
We’ll tell them there was a plot, that Plato, with the complicity of Alpha Triad, planned to turn the Home over to the Watchers…”
Spartacus waved his hands in the air. “Hold the fort! Are you crazy, or what? The Family may be sheep, but they’re not stupid. They’d never buy that bull in a million years!”
“I agree,” Seiko chipped in. “I’m surprised you would concoct such a stupid plan.”
Napoleon sighed and turned away from them, gazing at the distant western wall. He didn’t want them to see the look of triumph on his face.
The fools! Seiko and Spartacus were as gullible as the rest of the Family, and so easy to manipulate. Of course he told them an idiotic scheme! He wanted them to reject it, so they would the more readily embrace his real scenario. A true leader of men knew how best to utilize psychology to its maximum advantage. He faced them, frowning, his shoulders slumped.
“Well, if you feel that way about it, let me propose another idea. Tell me if you like this one.”
“Just so it’s better than the first,” Spartacus remarked.
“Okay. Point out any flaws,” Napoleon told them. “The entire Family knows about the saboteur, the one who tried to blow up the SEAL.”
“The one Blade killed,” Seiko elaborated. “Right before Alpha Triad departed for the Twin Cities.”
“Exactly. No one knows where the saboteur came from, but the speculation is he was a Watcher, sent to destroy the Family’s only mode of transportation. Correct?”
“That’s what everyone thinks,” Spartacus acknowledged.
“So,” Napoleon said, winking at them, “what’s to prevent these same Watchers from sending an assassin into the Home?”
“An assassin?” Spartacus repeated.
“Of course! An assassin sent to murder our leaders in the dark of the night.” Napoleon grinned.
“I get it!” Seiko exclaimed. “If Plato and Rikki are killed in their sleep, we could blame an assassin seen escaping over the wall. Everyone would assume the Watchers did it, and we would be off the hook.”
“Precisely,” Napoleon nodded. “Now, according to the instructions Kurt Carpenter left us, who assumes leadership of the Family in an emergency, in a time of crisis?”
“The Warriors,” Spartacus answered.
“Specifically?” Napoleon goaded him.
“The head of the Warriors,” Spartacus clarified.
Napoleon rubbed his palms together, a devilish gleam in his eyes. “And, if Plato and Rikki are murdered by the assassin, and with Alpha Triad absent, who is next in line to become leader in a crisis?”
Spartacus extended the fingers on his left hand as he listed the chain of command. “Let’s see. Plato comes first, and if something happens to him, Alpha Triad is in charge in emergencies, and if they were put out of commission, Rikki, as Beta Triad head, would be next…”
“And if something happened to Rikki?” Napoleon goaded him.
“Then the next in line would be…” Spartacus glanced up, smiling.
“You.”
“All nice and legal. What do you think?” Napoleon asked them.
“It’s brilliant,” Seiko commented.
“With Alpha Triad gone,” Spartacus detailed, “and if we—sorry, I meant the assassin—kills Plato and Rikki, you would have every right to become official Family Leader.”
“Official Family Leader,” Napoleon nodded, savoring the sound of his new title.
“This proposal has merit,” Seiko said, complimenting Napoleon.
“Will you go along with me on this?” Napoleon earnestly asked.
“It would enable me to settle my score with Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” Seiko mentioned. “At the same time, I would finally acquire the katana, the only legitimate weapon for a true samauri.” He paused, mulling his decision.
Come on, you buffoon! Napoleon was on the verge of achieving a victory years in the shaping, and he could scarcely contain his impatience.
“You can rely on me,” Seiko finally stated.
“Good!” Napoleon stepped over to Seiko and gave him a friendly pat on the back. “I am delighted!”
“But what about Spartacus?” Seiko asked.
“Yes indeed.” Napoleon faced the third member of Gamma Triad.
“What about you, Spartacus? Will you join us: Spartacus, his hands hooked in his belt, idly poked a small bush with his right foot. “I don’t know…” He was wavering.