While keeping a big hand on his prey, the aggressor turned, the overhead lights reflecting off his bald head. He saw me and smiled.
“Well, fuck me. Just the man I came to see,” he said.
“Oh, really?” I said, moving to the sink to wash my hands. I looked at myself in the mirror. Nothing but a blurry mess. I splashed water on my face and neck, drying my hands through my hair. In the reflection, I saw the other two looking at me.
I turned, leaning against the sink. “Who the fuck is this guy?”
Stone looked at him. “Consider yourself one lucky son-of-a-bitch.”
The man let go of his breath, no doubt having held it since the larger man had pinned him against the wall. But he sharply gasped as Stone’s left hook socked him on the side of his face, knocking him out instantly. Stone looked at the man.
“And let that be a warning to ya!”
“Nice quote,” I remarked.
He looked at me and released his grip, letting the unknown man slide down to the floor in a heap.
“That guy will have quite a headache when he wakes up,” I said.
Stone walked up. I could feel the space closing in around me.
“And if you don’t come with me right now, you’ll find out what that feels like,” Stone grunted.
I held up my hands. “Woah, woah. Calm down. What’s going on?”
“Talon needs to see you. Now.”
“Is that a fact?”
“That is a fucking fact. So, are you going to make this easy for you, or easy for me?”
“Let me just—”
But I didn’t get a chance to finish. The world suddenly collided into me like a supernova, light flashing everywhere as water enveloped sound. I heard something along the lines of, “I fucking told you, didn’t I?” before I sank to the ground.
Chapter 24
Blood. Its unmistakable taste was in my mouth. It was all I could taste. I tried to rationalize where I was. And where I was, exactly, was laying on a cold cement floor. I opened one of my eyes a crack, and my head throbbed. It had been Stone’s fist, that much I remember. But everything leading up to that was a hazy memory, and anything after that was a blank. Blood. Why blood? I wondered if I had hit my face when I fell, or if it was the body’s natural reaction to severe trauma to the head.
Opening my eye wider, I could see the grate in the floor. It made me think of the room where Talon bit off Alan’s finger. The thought still was much too graphic in my head, the sound much too real. Churn. I felt sick. When did I last eat? And then I remembered. Olivia! We were at the club together.
I got up. The world swayed, and I landed back down on my ass. I crawled to the grate and vomited—more than once. Most of it was liquid, so a lot of it went down the drain without too much fuss. I pulled my head away from the remaining gelatinous gravy lingering an inch from my face.
I rolled over onto my ass and squinted at the dull overhead globe. What color was that? Ochre or saffron? Then I saw them. One seated and one standing, enveloped in shadow. But I knew who they were.
The one seated leaned forward on his chair, elbows on his knees. His long hair draped down over his shoulders, covering part of his face. “Welcome back, kid.”
“Ah, Talon. To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked.
“We need to talk.”
I grunted as I stood. It took effort. I grabbed my head.
“Well, it would be great to be here without a concussion.”
Stone folded his arms. “I told you it was going to be easy for you or easy for me. You made the wrong call.”
I rubbed my head. I don’t remember having the option. The floor. The walls. The dull globe hanging from the ceiling by a cord. “Hey,” I said. “Is this the room?”
“What room?” Talon asked.
“Where you...you know...did...you know...to...that guy.”
Talon ignored the comment, waving it away as preposterous. He stood and walked over to me. “Like I said, we need to talk.”
“Sure, but did you need to send him?” I said, pointing at Stone. “And does it need to be here?” I gestured around the room.
“Trust me, it will make it easier to say yes.”
“Say yes to what?”
Talon put a hand on my shoulder. Looked me deep in the eyes. It was a strange connection. I neither felt fear nor comfort.
“There’s a bunch of pissed off people out there, kid. The system screwed them over, and those people are not good people. They’re bad people, and they’re out for blood.”
I sighed. “This is about Troy Ripley Rogers, isn’t it? The nobody who everyone jumped to back? A shitload of cash, mind you. The same person that ended up missing a head and was investigated by an unconcerned police force. Am I reading that right?”
“Yeah, I think you got it. And I don’t have a problem with any of that. People will always find a way to game the system—any system. And if investors don’t undertake their due diligence, then fucks to them, am I right?”
“Absolutely,” I nodded.
He put an arm around my shoulders, and we walked toward the wall. “It’s just that those fuckers out there are blaming me for that.”
We got to the wall. We turned, like dance partners, resumed our positions, and paced to the other side of the room. A quick glance to Stone showed he hadn’t moved. He stood alone, hands clasped in front of himself, waiting for direction and enjoying watching me squirm under the wing of Talon.
“Because you’re a partner,” I said. “Because you get part of the profits for a dead human.”
It was simple. Given that, I could see people’s reasoning for pointing a finger at Talon. And it’s bloody obvious why they weren’t pointing anything at me.
“You could profit from such an act,” I stated.
He snapped his fingers. “Exactly, although no one’s profiting. It’s just that others are losing.”
“But you didn’t do it,” I said as we reached the wall. We turned and continued our conversation. “Unless you did.”
He chuckled. “No, I didn’t. But I can tell you who did.”
“I know who because I received the request.”
He tutted. “I know that you know. But don’t you want to know how I know?”
I shrugged. “I guess.”
We stopped. Talon moved his hands to his face and rubbed it while he encircled me. It seemed like he was in pain, most likely from our interaction. I got nervous because Talon is not a person to piss off. In fact, ninety-nine percent of my address book was comprised of people I shouldn’t piss off. Then I remembered my little safety net, the thing that would stop any of those dangerous fucks wanting to blow my brains out. Entering that password every few days was an ingenious addition from Sonja.
“What?” I said. “It was The Devil. We both know it.”
He stopped rubbing. “And do you know why it was The Devil?”
I shrugged. “I guess because he can? It’s not my place to babysit everyone.”
“Well, maybe it’s time you did.”
“What are you talking about?” My head started to throb again.
“The Devil requested those profiles to manipulate the field.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do. You’re thinking on the surface. You’re not thinking deep enough. Have you ever heard of Seasonal JT Recordings?”
It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. So, I shrugged. Again.
“For someone who is so smart, you really aren’t. Seasonal JT Recordings is owned, indirectly, by The Devil.”
“So?”
“Seasonal JT Recordings signed that no-name internet singing sensation,” he said with a flurry of his hand.
“Oh,” I said, my memory finally catching up. “The online singer who was a nobody that became a somebody. Damn catchy tune she had.”
“Music’s subjective.” He waved away the argument. “So, you see?”
I nodded, then said, “No.”
“Yeah.”
“Royal Blue Casino.”
“And?”
“It’s also owned by The Devil.”
“Okay...”
Talon made a noise from somewhere deep in his throat. A grunt.
“He set people up,” he explained. “He made a fortune when he invested in her and nobody did anything. Then, he made some more cash with that douchebag. Again, nobody did anything. Then he pushes forward a nobody. But this is different. People feel like they’re missing out on the next biggest thing, so they dump a truckload of cash on them, only to be thoroughly disappointed when their invested asset winds up dead.”
I looked down, scuffed my feet. “Son of a bitch,” I said.
“Yeah. Now, do you know why he did it?”
“I guess he wants others to lose their investments.”
“Exactly.” He pulled out a cigarette, then a gold lighter. He cracked it against his leg, and a blue flame exploded from the top of it. He lit the cigarette, then dropped the lighter into his pocket as he drew a lungful of smoke, held it, and blew it into my face. “The Devil is looking to make a move; he’s looking to take over. Word is he’s tired of sharing the pie with everyone. So, the more he has, and the less everyone else has, the easier it is for him to accomplish his goal.”
“What does this mean for you?” I asked, genuinely curious. I was looking forward to his answer. I had hitched my wagon to his caravan, so I was invested in any outcome that involved him.
“No, no, no,” he said, flicking ash onto the ground. “What does this mean for us!”
“Woah,” I said, distancing myself from Talon.
He threw his arms out. “Just where do you think you’re going?”
“It’s just that, this shit’s on you. I just provided The Humanist Network. That’s as far as my obligations go.”
“Oh,” Talon replied. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken. You see, you and me, we’re... connected. All of us here,” he said, pointing to Stone, “we’re all in this together. Don’t ever forget this. Whatever happens to me, is going to happen to Stone...” He stepped forward. “Is going to happen to you.” He puffed on his cigarette and blew smoke in my face. “It will eventually happen to you. And, ultimately, you will lose everything.”
I thought about all I had achieved in the past few months, possessions I had amassed, relationships I had built, how far I had come. Was I prepared to lose it all? I came from nothing, but was I ready to go back there, to square one, to ground zero?
I resigned my post. “What do you need me to do?”
“That a boy!” Talon exclaimed. He turned on his heel and walked toward the wall. He clasped his hands behind his back. Confidence. Superiority. Fearlessness. “You will find somebody. A human. Someone in the system. Someone whose life is about to change. For the better.”
I massaged my temples. “And how the hell am I supposed to do that?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
I sighed. “And then what? I find the human, and then what?”
He looked at me. Eyes cold, glazed over.
“Then you kill them.”
Chapter 25
“What?” I couldn’t compute that last bit. It seemed too unreal, too fantastic, too farfetched. “Can you repeat that?”
“I think you heard me,” Talon said.
“You want me to kill them?”
“So, you heard me.” He looked to Stone for an explanation but came up empty. “Why did you ask me to repeat it if you knew what I said?”
I shook my head. “That...that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you want me to kill someone.”
“Oh, that. Sure. But not straight away. I want you to promote the person. Leak the promotion, the pay raise, the new movie, the whatever, to the rest of the investors.” He clicked his fingers. “Make it something like a new feature. There’s a lot of bullshit profiles being added, some shit like that. Give them the facts, the real data, the inside information. Let them decide if they want to get onboard. I will...momentarily. When the stocks rise, I will pull out at the same time you kill the stock.” He smacked the back of one hand into the other.
He seemed to have it all planned out. Which scared me. In fact, the way he spoke about it petrified me. He was emotionless. Rational. Rattled things off like it was a shopping list. And maybe that wasn’t the concerning bit. I had been considering people, humans, as stocks, as bricks and mortar, as non-living entities. And make no mistake, I was sure I could find the asset he was talking about. Individual human value oscillated every day. It was inevitable I could find someone. People won; people lost. It was human nature. No, the concerning bit was what he wanted me to do when I found that person. I needed to change his mind, and the answer was staring at me in the face.
“You do realize that when a person dies, a percentage of the investment goes back to the investor? I’m not sure you’re going to achieve what you set out to do. Sure, people will lose money, but they’ll also get a quarter of their funds back.”
Talon rubbed his chin as he looked over at Stone and said, “Well, shit.” He seemed to stare for a long time as if waiting for Stone to give him the answer. Perhaps this was how he thought. I wasn’t sure because I had never seen Talon deep in thought before. He always seemed to know the answers.
“Got it,” he eventually announced, his voice pitched with excitement.
I held my breath.
Talon turned. “You don’t kill the person.”
Thank God. Relief swept through me. He had come to his senses.
“You kill their family and set them up for the murder.” He flashed a toothy smile.
My mind went blank—seriously empty. I couldn’t compute.
“Yeah,” he continued. “They get arrested, convicted, sent to jail. Price plummets to near zero. They get a death sentence? Even better! Everyone loses out, except for me. Perfect!”
“Listen,” I said, trying to back out of the situation. “You can do whatever you want. You don’t have to involve me. I can easily forget this conversation and carry on with my life.”
“No, no, no. You need to do this!” he said with emphasis.
“Why?” I pointed at Stone. “You’ve got someone perfectly capable of undertaking such tasks. You even know other people who have the skills necessary to do this. Why the hell would you want someone like me to do it?”
“Because of all the heat from everyone. We can’t be involved, any which way. No one will suspect you. I mean, look at you.” He stood back and inspected me with disdain, like an overzealous fashion designer picking apart the latest model.
I couldn’t find words to reply.
“All the transactions are private, yes?”
I nodded like my head wasn’t attached to my shoulders. “Yeah.”
“Good. So, no one will ever know I pulled my investment before the big crash. There’s no oversight, no committees. No one will know.”
“Fine, do whatever you want. But why me?” I really couldn’t give a shit about who lived and who died. As long as I didn’t have to do anything, that would be great.
Talon mulled this over. Surely, he had an answer. Certainly, he knew I would ask the question. As psychotic as his response would sound to me, I’m sure it made perfect sense inside his own head.
He called Stone over with the flick of his hand. This wasn’t good. It was never good when Stone was part of the conversation, usually because it ended up with me getting hurt or his finger in my crack. Despite standing in the middle of the room, I felt cornered. Surrounded by cement. Cold, hard. Unwavering. Unforgiving. Alone.
“Because,” Talon said. “I told you to. Because you need to learn a lesson. Because you’re playing with the big boys. Because you got into bed with The Devil. Because if you don’t, there’ll be consequences. And those consequences may not fall on you, but it’s important you understand.”
<
br /> He shot a glance to Stone, who retrieved a device from his jacket pocket. Stone held up his phone to my face. There was a picture on it. I glanced at it, then stepped back and looked away.
“No!”
“Oh!” Talon said. “So, there’s a little emotion in you after all. I had you pegged all wrong. I thought you were a ‘win at all costs, damn everyone else’ kind of guy.”
I could feel their eyes on me, their expectations weighing on my shoulders.
“Take a good look, kid,” Talon said. “Soak it in. See what’s at stake. See that we have the power and reach to do anything we want to whoever we want. Look up. See.”
I looked again. A pain in my chest. It was Olivia, in her underwear, tied to a bed. She looked out of it. Unconscious? Dead? If anything had happened to her, I wished that was it. I’d rather her be dead than something else happen to her.
“That’s right,” Talon said. “Do this, and she stays safe. Don’t do what I say and, well, I’m sure you can imagine what Stone here could do with that tight, little body. Can you picture the damage, kid? Can you smell her fear? Can you hear her cry out? Can you taste her pain?”
I couldn’t breathe. Images in my head. All rational thought went out the window. I reached for the phone.
“Uh, uh,” Talon said, slapping my hand away. “Not yet. You don’t get her yet. Soon, but not yet.”
I tried to adjust the ledger, balance the deeds. I needed to kill people in order for Olivia to survive, to avoid something horrible. I felt weak and tired, like my knees were about to crumble. I wasn’t sure whether I could go on.
“Now you know we can get to you. Make you feel pain. You thought you were protected? Not from me, you’re not.”
“Then maybe I shut all of this down and run off with everything.”
Talon stepped closer. Invaded my personal space.
“Then we will kill you. Slowly. Methodically. Painfully. We’ll have a machine to wake you up when you pass out from the misery of it all. Lots of things can be removed from the human body before you bleed out, you know.”
I backed away, feeling sick.
The Humanist Page 14
