The Return of Fingers McGraw II

By Richard Pinkerton

Fingers is back, but he’s not alone. He has joined forces with the evil Yarum, a man with a secret identity, the still unknown leader of a secret criminal organisation that the Rex Cassidy Ivnestigators destroyed. Yarum is out to make them pay.

The RCI discover a horrible fact. Yarum is a friend of the RCI, perhaps even one of the RCI themselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Pinkerton
• Release date: Jun 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463779392

Richard Pinkerton

I am in my early 50s and have been writing now since I was 12. I prefer to write light-hearted drama but have written a little fantasy horror and science fiction too.I have an entire series of high school novels (19 of them so far) set in New Zealand (The Mob from TAC series), which I will gradually publish if there is a demand.I prefer to use a mix of quirky and outrageous characters you would never come across in reality and also your every day Joes.My writings are aimed at teenagers mainly, but also young adults.I have also written a series of detective novelettes, most of which can be found on my website. The majority require work, to be able to be published here, mainly due to copyright issues.Please do leave feedback or contact me if you want to know more about my books.

Book preview

The Return of Fingers McGraw II

The Yarum Alliance

(Book 19 in the Rex Cassidy Investigators series)

Published by Richard Pinkerton at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Richard Pinkerton

Other books by Richard Pinkerton

Dead End High

Dead End Town

Time Warped

The Mob from TAC series

The Rex Cassidy Investigators

The Curse of the Witchdoctor

The Secret of the Devil’s Triangle

The Gruesome Murders at Manhattan High

The Case of the Cattle Rustlers

The Mystery of the Moving Statue

The Secret of the Phantom Clown

The Case of the Landmark Terrorists

The Great Prison Break

Doppelganger Madness

The Angel and the Hag

Aliens in Atlantis

The Revenge of Dr Dream

The Return of Fingers McGraw

The Angel Cassidy Rescue

Silhouettes of a Moving Statue

The Second Great Prison Break

The Legacy of a Roving Buccaneer

The Return of Fingers McGraw II

The Isle of Bad Dreams

The Plot to overthrow the RCI

The Madness of Dr Dream

CHAPTER 1:

A Secret Rendezvous

The Hollywood Masonic Lodge

All was quiet at the Hollywood Masonic Lodge. It was late on a Sunday evening and only one light could be seen from the outer windows, but the curtains were closed. A solitary figure appeared outside, a well-built man of around 6 foot 3 and he wore a hood. Light from a streetlamp reflected off his face, but there were no facial features, only a nose. He wore a mask, which hid his true identity.

Yarum had been a Freemason for a long time now and had risen fast through the ranks. Yarum wasn't his real name, it was a pseudonym. Even within the secret organisation, he didn't want to be known, because that put him at huge risk. He was known as an upstanding man in the community, a very successful man who had achieved a lot over the last several years. He remained out of the limelight and preferred it that way, because too much publicity was a bad thing, especially for someone in his line of business.

He entered through the main door and walked into the foyer. Nobody was there. He knew where to go through because he'd been there several times before. He casually made his way down a long corridor towards the room where the light omitted.

It was thanks to his anonymity that he was still a free man, because only a few months earlier, the secret organisation he had been a part of had been brought down, all thanks to The Rex Cassidy Investigators.

The organisation was known as Capricorn, a secret group that had its roots in Freemasonry, although until it had been brought down, the average Freemasons had no knowledge of its existence. Only a select few Masons had even known about the organisation and many of them were lower-level men. Yarum himself had been the secret man at the top. He had been the one to pull the strings of the men below, he had been the man with all the power until Rex Cassidy had destroyed everything. The power Yarum wielded over government officials, the financial empire he had been in control of, had crumbled overnight. If it weren’t for his own wealth he'd kept under his real name, he would be penniless.

If only, Rex didn't have to get involved. If only he'd remained out of it, then there would have been no problem, but no, he had to mess everything up and now it was up to Yarum to put things right. At least put something right.

He reached the lodge's meeting room, opened the door and walked in casually. Eight men sat around a large table and when they saw him enter, they all sat straight. None of the men spoke.

He walked around to a vacant chair at the end of the table and sat.

The man at the other end, a middle-aged man Yarum knew by the code name of Pharo, spoke. 'It is indeed an honour to have you here, Yarum.'

Yarum peered around at the faces. They were all that was left of his generals. His most relied upon ones, the ones he gave responsibility to, were no longer there. They were imprisoned, none of them being able to finger Yarum and his true identity. It would be the same for these men here.

Secretly, he despised them all. They were all criminals in his book, men who pretended to be honest businessmen when they were glorified mobsters. If they knew his true identity he knew they would turn against him. He'd be despised rather than respected. He'd kill them all in an instant if he had to, but yet he didn't, because he realised that he himself was only one step up from them. He too was as dishonest as they were. He'd brought down rivals, he'd destroyed other businesses and ruined lives, but at least he performed services for his fellowmen too, not just for himself.

He needed these men though. They were the only ones he could rely on to be able to rebuild his fallen empire. However first things first, he had other business which had to be taken care of first, and that was kill Rex Cassidy.

He peered at one man in particular at the table, a man about his height. Athletic, with a dark bushy beard. This man he had handpicked especially for his new committee. He was a man unknown to the others, but a trusted colleague of Yarum's. He was a big burly man of similar size to himself. His code name was Nailz and he would have a big part to play. He would be the man Yarum put his trust in. As for the others, he still had his doubts.

'I'm glad to see you all here,' Yarum said. 'Let me start by saying that Capricorn has been stunted, but that is all. We will return to our former glory.'

'How?' Pharo asked. 'What can we do? The Rex Cassidy Investigators have made it impossible for us to operate. Everyone knows about the organisation now and the businesses involved, not to mention we ourselves are all under investigation for our links to Capricorn and the other generals.'

Another general spoke. His code name was Rajah. 'I for one am reluctant to be part of anything. The RCI will just bring us down again.'

Yarum scowled under his mask. 'You had better make up your mind where your allegiances lie, Rajah! Are you saying you wish to forsake Capricorn?'

Rajah's face paled. 'No, sir! Of course not. But I think we should at least lay low for a while more.'

'We will. At least until I have done what needs to be done.'

'What would that be?' Rajah asked.

'Eliminate Rex Cassidy.'

'But how?' one of the other men asked. 'He's impossible to get too. His estate is like a fortress and he has that computerised car that's like some kind of high tech AI tank. It scans everything that's anywhere near him or his friends and families and even if you get near him, he's a lethal fighting machine. He'll take you down a hundred different ways and that's barehanded!'

'I know that! I am Rex Cassidy's friend after all. He trusts me. And that's where I have the advantage.'

'So why don't you just go up to him and shoot him in the head?' Pharo asked.

Yarum let out a loud huff. 'I must do it discreetly, of course. I can't risk being exposed.'

'So you would kill your own friend?' Rajah asked.

'I have no choice. Without realising it, Rex has forced me into a corner. At first, I wanted to find some way around this. Despite what he has done, I don't hate him, but no matter what I do I find he stands in my path. He will always be in my way and he will always be looking to take me down. I’m just lucky he hasn’t worked out who I am yet.'

'So you have no animosity towards him?' Pharo asked.

Yarum hesitated. At first, he'd been bitter and then he'd become angry. He'd even tried to find excuses to hate Rex, but he couldn't. Now it was just a matter of business - he had to do what he had to do. 'Cassidy has to go. That's the way it is, otherwise, we can never obtain our past