The Scorpion's Tale

by Wayne Block

  “I’m having a huge problem believing that Alberto hired you to kill Nick. That’s too far-fetched, even for me,” Steven admitted.

  Nick stood with his gun in hand. “I’m through listening to his bullshit. I’m going after him now.” He extended his hand towards Giovanna. “Let’s go!”

  Giovanna looked reluctantly at Steven.

  “How about you, Steven, are you coming?” Nick asked.

  Steven nodded.

  “And you detective?” Nick asked.

  “I’m ready.”

  “Are we hunting together, or should we split up in teams?” Steven asked.

  “Whatever we decide, Gia and I are together,” Nick answered. “You guys can come with us, pair off, or go by yourselves for all I care.”

  “I’m staying with Steven,” Giovanna said.

  “Do you really think I’m going to lose another girl to Steven?” Nick responded, as he grabbed her gun and held it to her head. “May I have the honor of your company?” Nick kept the gun pressed against her temple as he slowly backed Giovanna up to the door. “We’re out of here,” Nick said. “We’ll meet over his dead body or in hell.” Nick pulled her through the door and disappeared.

  “Wonderful!” the Scorpion exclaimed. “This is more exciting than I had hoped! Be the worthy adversaries I am expecting with great anticipation!”

  Steven and Detective Johnston stared at each other, shocked by Nick’s outrageous behavior.

  “It looks like you’ve bit off a lot more than you can chew,” Steven said.

  Detective Johnston nodded. “I never expected anything like this. It’s a fascinating world we’ve entered.”

  They slowly scanned the room. “He has every advantage,” the detective said. “He has us on camera and he also knows every inch of this castle.”

  “We have no choice,” Steven replied.

  “Agreed.”

  Both men entered the Scorpion’s labyrinth from a different entrance than Nick and Giovanna had used. Steven’s end game had finally begun.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  The halls were dimly lit. The only light came from torches, held by brass sconces drilled into the stone walls. The flickering flames cast illusions of movement along the passageways. The architects had not placed much emphasis on décor, nor did it appear they were sober while planning the interior. The hallways zigged and zagged aimlessly, preventing Nick from deciphering the floor plan. It was deathly quiet, with the only sound coming from their footsteps and their own frantic heartbeats. Nick walked cautiously, his gun out in front, pulling Giovanna by the wrist. Nick tested every door in the corridor in order to penetrate into the heart of the castle. Only one door allowed entrance into a narrow stairway winding upward. Nick carefully inspected the entrance.

  “That’s exactly what he wants us to do, Gia. It looks like a winding staircase leading nowhere. We would be at his mercy.” He left the door ajar as he pulled her away. “Let’s move down the hall.”

  Further down was a straight, open staircase leading upward. Nick motioned for Gia to remain where she was while he pressed his back against the wall and moved slowly, fixing his gaze skyward toward the top of the staircase. He reached the top without incident and beckoned Giovanna to join him. She hesitated a moment, having no desire to be by Nick’s side, then quickly ran upstairs, since her fear of the Scorpion outweighed her disgust at Nick’s touch. The second floor hallway, like the first floor, seemed to extend indefinitely in either direction.

  Nick opened the nearest door and warily peered inside. He turned from the room into the wrong end of a silencer. The Scorpion had another gun pressed against Giovanna’s head. He slowly back-pedaled down the hallway, keeping one gun aimed directly at Nick and the other pressed against her body.

  “You have greatly disappointed me, Nicholas. I thought you would be much less predictable. Now I will take my prize. The girl comes with me, which actually may be a relief for her. Hand me her gun, Nicholas, then you can continue to save yourself.” Nick reluctantly gave up his extra gun and the Scorpion pointed at an open door leading into a dark passageway. “After you, Ms. Milani,” he said, pointing his head down the hallway, never removing his eyes from Nick.

  She proceeded slowly into darkness. The Scorpion walked backward, then closed and locked the door behind him. Nick immediately shot out the lock and kicked the door in. He ran down the short corridor that ended at three adjacent doors. Nick opened the first door and barged in. It was an empty office. He opened the second door and discovered that it, too, was an empty room. He was about to proceed to the third door when he noticed an entrance camouflaged by the far wall. He moved past the door, gun first, onto another narrow staircase leading downward. He followed it to the end, sweating in fear among the moving shadows, as firelight and darkness did a macabre dance along the walls.

  -------------------

  Law enforcement training logically made Detective Johnston the point man. He had been opening each corridor door and inspecting the rooms as Steven covered him. As the detective stepped out of a small room into the hallway, a titanium-tipped arrow pierced the right side of his ribcage. Steven heard the impact of the arrow as it hit hard into the huge man’s body, felling the detective immediately. Steven crawled to the detective. His eyes rolled back in his head and a trickle of blood oozed from his mouth. Steven saw the arrow tip protruding from his side. He grabbed the detective’s face in his hands.

  “Mike, don’t die on me. Not here, not now.”

  The detective moaned and winced in pain as he tried to move.

  “Don’t move,” Steven commanded, as he raced over to a bed and retrieved a pillow. He bent down and carefully raised the detective’s head, sliding the pillow underneath. He heard the sound of metal on stone and felt an object beneath his leg. It was a large ring encrusted with jewels around a gold image of St. Peter’s Square. From behind, the Scorpion said: “Steven, I am offering you the opportunity to take him from the island. You have a choice. You can take your friend to the seaplane. The ring assures you safe passage. You can either save his life or you can leave him to find me. If you choose to leave, I can assure you that you will never find me again. You will die an old man dreaming of the revenge you could never realize.”

  Steven’s answer was three resolute shots into the darkness.

  “Take my gun,” Johnston said, coughing up blood. “Get that son-of-a-bitch.”

  “I’ll be back for you, Mike.”

  The detective’s breaths were short gasps.

  “I’ll kick your ass if you die on me, Mike!”

  The detective smiled weakly and then lost consciousness. There was little Steven could do. He peered down the hallway and crept on his belly to a wide staircase leading up to the third floor. At the base of the staircase was an abandoned long-bow leaning against the wall, a crumb left by the Scorpion indicating his trail.

  As Steven made it to the third floor, the Scorpion emerged from the darkness and knelt beside Johnston. “I knew you would be important in Steven’s education. Another lesson learned.” He placed the abandoned ring on the Detective’s finger and moved on.

  It had taken Steven five minutes to guardedly climb the stairs. He looked both ways down the immense hallway, as if crossing at a green light. Then he heard Nick’s voice.

  “Steven. I’m down here. I need your help.”

  There was terror in Nick’s voice, which echoed from a room beyond Steven’s line of sight. Steven slowly walked toward Nick’s voice and stopped where the passage angled off into a blind direction.

  “Steven, please. I need you.”

  Nick’s voice was coming from a room on the left side of the hallway. He knew the Scorpion would already have visual confirmation of his position.

  “I’m here, Nick. What’s going on?”

  “I’m a little bit tied up at the moment,” Nick quipped.

  Steven warily plunged his gun through the doorway as he slid to the floor. He scanned the room. It was wi
ndowless, with bookshelves covering the walls and a few tattered chairs. Nick was seated in the far corner at a small table. His arms and hands were immobilized by an antique locking device. Nick’s gun sat on the table just beyond his reach.

  “Where is he?” Steven asked.

  Nick motioned to the camera on the ceiling. “He’s watching.”

  “Where’s Giovanna?”

  “He’s got her.”

  Steven shot him a disgusted look.

  Nick shrugged. “Not my fault. Anyway, I don’t think she and I have much of a future.” You’re not buying the Scorpion’s bullshit, are you?”

  “I just might be,” Steven snapped. “Let’s get a few things out in the open while we’re just sitting here shooting the breeze.”

  “Go for it!”

  “You knew Amanda was going to be at Tony’s house that weekend.”

  “That’s absurd. How could I possibly have known?”

  “It’s been bothering me for a long time. It was something you said while we were sitting together at the cemetery. You slipped when you mentioned the condition of her van. You had been in contact with Amanda, even up to her death, isn’t that right?”

  Nick looked extremely uncomfortable. “You’re crazy. I hadn’t spoken to her in years.”

  “You’re lying. You knew Amanda and I would be at Tony’s that weekend.”

  Nick shook his head. “I think the Scorpion has gotten to you. He’s fed you a bunch of shit and you’re buying into it!”

  “I read the letter, asshole!”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Nick asked, taken off guard.

  “The apology you wrote to my wife the day we got married.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nick said, looking uncomfortable.

  “You raped my wife, you son-of-a-bitch! She never wanted me to know, because she knew I would have killed you! And if I killed you, your family would have killed me, leaving my daughter fatherless, like me! Catarina was your daughter, not mine, isn’t that right, old friend? You knew it all along, didn’t you?”

  Nick looked past Steven and peered nervously at the camera.

  “Answer me, shithead!” Steven screamed, pounding his fist on the table.

  Nick no longer cared about playing games with his nemesis. All his emotions came bubbling to the surface, with Nick spewing unrestrained loathing.

  “Yeah, that’s right, she was my daughter. She wasn’t your wife when I fucked her!”

  “You raped Amanda!” Steven repeated.

  “We started something she was reluctant to finish. I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t exactly call it rape. I know deep down, she wanted it!”

  “She was my fiancée, you prick!”

  Nick’s eyes flashed with hatred. “So the fuck what! I loved her first and she loved me. I didn’t give a shit about anything else, especially you! You didn’t deserve her. She was mine!”

  Steven’s face was flush with anger as he hatefully unloaded more of his wife’s secrets on Nick. “She didn’t love you. She pitied you. You mistook that for love, because you never knew the difference. You were always a self-centered bastard and you raped her!”

  “It’s over, Steven; it’s the past. There’s nothing we can do about it. Amanda’s dead. Forget about her now. You have to concentrate on saving your own ass.”

  “You knew Alberto had my father killed.”

  “Get over it, Steven,” Nick shrieked, returning to his true form. “Your father knew the rules. He was an assassin, for Christ sake! We all know the risks of the business. You’ll get no sympathy from me about your daddy.”

  “I was just a kid! I didn’t know any of those rules!” Steven bellowed. “All I knew was that I lost my best friend, and you knew the whole time!”

  “Bravo, bravo,” exclaimed the Scorpion over the loudspeaker. “Shakespeare could not have scripted this better. This is absolutely glorious! What do you think, Giovanna?”

  Nick looked stricken.

  “I am sorry, Nicholas, that was quite rude. I invited Ms. Milani to watch the drama. I should have asked you first. I hope you do not mind.”

  “Nick, you are the most despicable person I have ever met. I am sick that you ever touched me,” she said almost inaudibly.

  “When you paid for the hits on Tony and his partners, you knew Amanda and I would be out there, didn’t you?” Steven said. “Was it a coincidence or just icing on the cake to get rid of both of us and soothe your battered ego?”

  Nick said nothing.

  “Was my wife collateral damage, or did you want us both dead, along with your own daughter? Tell me the truth!”

  “That is surely the question, Steven,” the Scorpion said. “Let me enlighten you. Listen to this, if you will. Nicholas was arrogant enough to speak with me directly on this matter. I believe this would be considered the proverbial ‘smoking gun’.” The Scorpion then played a recording.

  Nick’s voice was clearly distinguishable on the tape, although the Scorpion’s voice was electronically altered. “The Brazilians demand that the contract be closed at once. Tony and his wife will be at the house all weekend,” Nick was saying. “I just found out they may have guests–a young couple with a little girl. They will be driving out to Westhampton in an old, beige van.”

  “I do not kill children,” the Scorpion said. “Make sure their van does not arrive or I will see you in person.”

  “I’ll do what I can, but I have no control over their guests. That is your problem now. The husband is expendable. Kill whomever you need to, it’s of no concern to me,” Nick said.

  “You are not hearing me. No children!” the Scorpion replied. “Take care of it or I will take care of you.”

  The Scorpion shut off the tape and there was total silence. He let Steven absorb the reference to his expendability. “Now I am making good on my word to you, Nicholas! Gentlemen, in sixty seconds, I am going to electronically release Nicholas from his restraints. You will have a choice, Steven. You can kill Nicholas now, or I will release him to kill you. The clock is ticking.”

  Steven stood with his gun pointed at Nick. Nick was perspiring, coveting his gun.

  “Fifty seconds,” the Scorpion said.

  “Steven. You’re playing into his hands if you shoot me. We need to stick together,” Nick yelled. “How was I supposed to protect your wife? Tell her I was going to have Tony killed?”

  “Forty seconds,” the Scorpion interjected.

  Steven looked back and forth between Nick and the waiting gun. “The Scorpion is right. I’m just a loose end. If you don’t kill me now you’ll certainly kill me later.”

  “Thirty seconds.”

  “Together we can beat him,” Nick pleaded. “I had no choice with Amanda; you’ve got to believe me.”

  “Twenty seconds,” the Scorpion shouted.

  “If you truly loved her, you would have saved her. You wanted me dead and out of the way, and if that wasn’t possible, you wanted us all dead. It was an amazing opportunity for you. While you were ridding yourself of Tony you could eliminate my whole family. After all, if they couldn’t belong to you, they shouldn’t be allowed to live without you. What a coup!”

  “Ten seconds.”

  “You’ve got this all wrong, Steven. I have one hundred million in diamonds that I’ll split with you,” Nick said, nervously looking at the gun on the table and figuring how many seconds it would take him to get to it.

  “No,” Steven growled. “My diamonds are buried in a cemetery because of you. It’s your destiny to die alone, as the coward you have always been.”

  “Time!” the Scorpion shouted. The locks clicked and released Nick.

  Without hesitation, Steven shot Nick in the head.

  “Good lad!” the Scorpion exclaimed. “You now know how I felt after I killed those who took my beloved away. Now the stakes have changed. You and I shall play for the life of the young lady. I will leave her here while you and I hunt each other. If you beat
me, she leaves with you. If I win, I choose her fate.”

  Steven nodded in agreement, having no choice but to obey. “Keep the faith, Sophia. I’m coming for you.”

  “Better get moving, Steven. I’m almost upon you.”

  Steven darted into a nearby passageway leading to a narrow hall down into the lower portion of the castle. The dark staircase spiraled around until Steven finally reached the bottom. He carefully pushed open a door and stepped into a large, open space, where he stood perfectly still. The castle had an eerie silence. As night settled in, the torchlights became dimmer, casting dark, malevolent shadows onto the walls. Steven strained with all his senses to make out any sounds or sights around him, or any clue to the Scorpion’s whereabouts, but there was nothing. He felt his blood pulsing through his veins, his head throbbing like a drum. He nervously panned the room with his gun, his finger aching to squeeze the trigger over and over. It became increasingly difficult to distinguish objects. There were several doorways leading to different extensions off the main area. He approached an open door that led into a dark, damp, and windowless room. The room had cold stone floors and walls, but nothing else. Steven remembered the psychological torture his nemesis had endured with the scorpions in the cold darkness. Could this be that very same room? Steven moved into the doorway to examine the room. He shut his eyes and felt naked in fear, as a boy had felt forty years ago in this depressingly lonely place. Suddenly, from behind, another door thrust open.

  “This is the end!” the Scorpion screamed.

  Steven instinctively raised his gun and fired twice in the direction of the sound. He heard a moan and the sound of a body collapsing down the stairs. Steven ran to the body and kneeled over it. It was Giovanna–her mouth taped shut. He felt for a pulse but there was none.

  “Oh no!” Steven wailed. “No, God, No!” he sobbed uncontrollably. “Nooooooooo! I’m so sorry!”