Of Kings And Pawns

by Michael Oshita

  “You stay right there,” Anthony yelled at Daichi, who had already taken a step to break up the scuffle between the two men. “Tiger needs to be taught a lesson on speaking and stepping out of line, and if you know what’s best for you, you will stand right there and not move!”

  Once Toma regained his composure, he realized that Anthony flailed more than he delivered precise strokes. The wild swings of his body caused him to lose his central gravity; it would be easier to move him. He began swaying left and right with each swing; the clumsy movements exposed him. He began leaning his weight forward; there was his opening.

  Anthony flew one right hook that missed Toma’s head. Toma grabbed Anthony’s right arm with his right hand, holding it in place and exposing his ribs. He then fired a tactical left uppercut into Anthony’s ribs, causing him to grunt in pain and lose his balance. At that point Toma raised his hips and pushed off the ground with his left leg, elevating the stunned Anthony in the air. Toma soon was on top of Anthony, unleashing blows across the face of the underboss.

  Once it became evident that Toma had won the scuffle, Daichi stepped in and grabbed him, lifting him up and pushing him to the side. He stood between the two—his boss and his mentor. “That’s enough,” he declared in a calm, but stern voice. “We must go because Martin wants to speak to us immediately.”

  Toma straightened out his shirt and hair. He scurried through the room and grabbed the rest of his belongings. He stuffed them into his bag and walked toward the door to exit the room. “Let’s go, Jaguar. If Anthony chooses not to go with us to see the Lion, then it’s his choice.”

  Anthony sat up from the ground. His breathing was labored and blood ran from his mouth. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and stared at Toma. I’m going to kill him, he thought with evil eyes piercing through him. He looked up and saw an outstretched hand from Daichi. “Come on, boss, let’s go.” He grabbed onto Daichi’s hand, and Daichi pulled him up.

  As Daichi and Anthony finished packing their things, all Anthony could think about was finishing off Toma. He wanted to walk outside and plant a bullet in his head. Such a satisfying thought. It would bring me such pleasure to finish off the Tiger in that manner. I’ve got to get the two of them separated, though, he thought as he looked over his shoulder to Daichi. Or maybe the two of them will need to be disposed of. I know Daichi and the old man would not be pleased with me killing Toma.

  Then it hit him. The idea sparked in Anthony’s mind. “Daichi, I will be down shortly. Please wait for me downstairs. I need to call the casino and speak with Mr. Griggs first.”

  “Okay, boss,” Jaguar replied as he hoisted his bag over his shoulder and began walking toward the front door. “We will be waiting outside for you.”

  ***

  Mr. Griggs stood in his office and watched the ants scurry across his casino floor. I can run this casino. I can run this organization. The transition would be seamless. It shows by the sheer fact that Martin has been incarcerated, and the rest of the pack is not here and nothing’s changed. If anything I’ve elevated this casino. They need me. They all need me.

  The Marinis weren’t too happy with my interrogation methods on their two soldiers. Oh well, at least I let one of them live. I could’ve disposed of the two of them if I wanted to. But, where would the fun in that be? Besides, I need a survivor. I need someone to plant the seed in the minds of the rest of the family heads. They now know that I mean business and that there is a new sheriff in town. My town.

  A knock came to the door of Mr. Griggs’ office, breaking his daydream. “Come in,” he replied, turning to the door to see who entered.

  It was the foot soldier from the other day who had advised him of Martin’s incoming call. “Excuse me, sir. Sorry to bother you, but we have a call waiting for you from the Leopard. He says, ‘It’s urgent.’”

  Mr. Griggs gazed upon the foot soldier. Who is this man? He’s been delivering important, confidential messages to me the past couple days. He must be someone Mr. Sullivan was grooming down in the slums. Someone he sees moving up in ranks. Someone who is being held in high regards on the floors. “I don’t think we formally met the last time we spoke,” Mr. Griggs replied to the soldier as he began walking toward him. He placed his hand out in front of him to shake. “I’m Mr. Griggs.”

  “Hello, sir. I’m Stan Moore,” the soldier replied hesitantly.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Stan Moore. Thank you for letting me know about the incoming call. Please send it to my desk.”

  “Thank you, sir. Will do,” Stan replied as he bowed his head in respect and exited the room.

  What does this idiot want now? he thought as he approached his desk to answer the phone. “Good morning, sir. How can I help you?”

  “Mr. Griggs, I believe it’s time for us to get the ball rolling on taking our rightful place as boss and underboss of the organization,” Anthony said. “I just had a run-in with Toma after you spoke with him, and he needs to be put in his place. If I’m going to do that, I think it’s time for us to make our move, like we’ve discussed.”

  “I see,” Mr. Griggs responded as he took off his glasses and sat down in his seat. “Well, how do you think we should go about this?”

  “The old man doesn’t need to know. But I think we will have a problem with Jaguar,” Anthony responded, looking out of the motel window at Daichi and Toma talking to one another in the parking lot. “We might have to make it an accident with both involved. Let me think about it more and see what the old man wants. When I think of something, I will let you know.”

  “Okay, sir, I’ll be waiting for your call.”

  Anthony hung up the phone and left Mr. Griggs holding the phone alone. A devilish grin spread across his face as he placed the phone back down and leaned back in his chair. What a stroke of good luck, he thought. I’ll let Anthony lead the way in disposing the rest of the pack, and when he gets rid of them, I will do the same back unto him. With all leaders gone, Martin would have no choice but to promote me and place me in charge. Mr. Griggs began laughing in joy at the thought of his own up-and-coming assumption of power. He could sense that major changes were coming soon, especially since Martin knew the location of the last safe.

  ***

  “You okay, Toma?” Daichi asked as the two pack members stood in the parking lot, waiting for Anthony.

  “Yes, Daichi I am. Sorry you had to see that,” Toma replied as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. “Leopard is becoming more and more difficult. My patience is wearing thin already. He has no respect for anyone but himself and that includes Lion.” He took a drag of his cigarette and shook his head in disgust.

  “I understand your frustration,” Daichi began. “Martin is like a father to you, as you are to me. He took you under his wing and raised you, just like how you did for me. He taught us both a lot of things as we grew in this organization, and one is that ‘we are family…’”

  “We are brothers,” Toma recited, finishing Daichi’s sentence. “You’re right,” he finally agreed, his tone returning back to its normal calming manner. “I shouldn’t allow my emotions to get the better of me. When you and Anthony joined the pack, Lion advised me to be patient with him. That he had a short temper and could become unruly. I hoped that with time, that would change. But when Carmine flipped and Martin got incarcerated, Anthony assumed the role as head of the organization, and he became power hungry. By that point it was too late to change him.”

  “Brother, it is almost over soon. I have a feeling this meeting with Martin will bring an end to this journey of ours,” Daichi reassured his mentor. “Then we will be free from all of this.”

  Toma brought out another cigarette and lit it. “What did Anthony say he had to do again?” he asked gazing up to the room that they had just left.

  “He said he had to call Mr. Griggs. Didn’t give a reason why and I didn’t ask.”

  “What if after our little scuffle today, he is planning to get ri
d of me? Get rid of us?”

  “He wouldn’t do that. Martin is still alive, and he wouldn’t have any of that as long as he is alive,” Jaguar replied, although there was some hesitation in his tone. Toma never spoke so openly about a pack member turning on one another. Not even when he spoke of Carmine was he that open about a pack member being deceitful to another. “You and Anthony always argue and fight. But after, you are fine and you go about your day. This morning is no different.”

  “In the past, Anthony didn’t need to speak to Mr. Griggs,” Tiger said flatly as he gazed over to Daichi. “I just spoke with Mr. Griggs before our scuffle. If there was something of importance that Anthony needed to speak to him about, wouldn’t he speak to him before I hung up the phone? How come only after we fight, he needs to speak to Mr. Griggs?”

  “What do you think we should do then?”

  “We will wait,” Toma advised, taking the last drag from his cigarette, tossing it to the ground shortly after. “There will be a time when he reveals himself as well as Mr. Griggs, and when they do, we will be ready. Just keep your guard up, Daichi. We were hesitant on trusting Anthony from the beginning. I can’t stress how important it is to remain guarded moving forward. When we speak to Martin, I will voice my concern to him and see what he has to say about all of this.”

  Anthony had exited the room and began his descent down the stairs toward the parking lot.

  “Keep your guard up and be aware of our surrounding,” Toma whispered to Daichi, one last time.

  “I’m sorry,” Anthony began, as he stuck his arm out to Toma. “I was out of place and out of line, brother. Please accept my apology, and let’s go see Lion.”

  “It’s all right, brother. Let’s go and see what news Lion has for us.”

  Daichi opened the door for Anthony. As he began walking toward the door, Daichi and Toma’s eyes met. I need to stop him and dispose of him before he kills us both, Toma thought.

  These fools have no idea what’s about to happen, Anthony thought as a smile spread across his bloodied face.

  Chapter 10

  Between the Davis home and the town of Goodsprings lay many homes belonging to families that chose to live a simpler life on the farms. There was one lot in particular that John found refuge in whenever he needed to get away from Albert. It was a place where he could go and think. On the lot was an abandoned shack that shared a spot with a home that hadn’t been inhabited for what looked like years. He never found out what had happened to the previous owners of the home, but what he did know was that no one came around except him. It would be a perfect place for him to have some alone time to get answers from his mother.

  “Johnny, this looks like a dangerous place. Do you think you belong here? Do you think it’s safe?” Katherine questioned as she gazed around the gloomy, dark shack. The paint around the shack was old and began to crack. Moss weaved its way all over the roof. Other vegetation covered the walls on the outside of the shack.

  John looked back at his mother and began walking into the shack. “Don’t worry, Mom. It’s safe. I’ve been here a lot of times already, and no one knows about this place except me.” He walked over to a pair of wooden milk crates that sat on the ground and pushed off the bags of bottles that rested on them. “Here, Mommy, you can sit right over here,” he said, tapping the other crate next to him.

  Katherine walked over and sat down. “We’re here, John. What questions do you have for me? I can only imagine how many questions you must have floating around in that head of yours.”

  John shifted in his chair. Uncertainty started to sink in, partly because he was uncomfortable with what he was going to ask his mom. The other half was that he still couldn’t believe he was talking to her. Am I hallucinating? Am I losing my mind?

  “What happened, Mom, on the day you died?” he finally asked.

  “I knew that was going to be your first question,” Katherine replied through her bright red lips. She looked equally as uncomfortable talking about this subject with John. She stared down toward the ground, searching for the right words. Although she knew this was going to be John’s first question, she still didn’t have an answer or explanation for everything that had happened.

  Then the answer hit her—the best way to explain everything to him. “I think it’s best I show you, instead of trying to explain it.”

  Katherine quickly lunged across the floor toward John and grabbed his head with both her arms. A bright white light exuded from her torso and head. It slowly made its way up toward her shoulders and down toward her hands. “Mommy, what are you doing?” John asked frantically as he tried to shift his body away from his mother. He raised his arms up and grabbed her arms to try and move them. But they wouldn’t budge. A searing, hot pain shot into John’s hands as the white light passed through them from Katherine’s arms.

  “Relax, son. It will all be over soon,” Katherine reassured her shaken and frantic son. The white light had encompassed both her hands and worked their way into her fingers. The light burned into John’s head.

  “Please, Mommy, stop. It hurts too much,” he pleaded to her one last time. “Make it stop!”

  “I can’t, John. If I do so now, I don’t know what kind of damages I can do to you. Soon, you will see it all.”

  John gave one last yell and swiped at Katherine’s arms, knocking off the connection before the process was complete. When he opened his eyes back up, he was no longer in the musty, dark shack. He was standing outside. It was nighttime and snowing. He was under a bus stop outside a gigantic building. He looked up and saw bright red letters: “Home Hotel.”

  John stared in disbelief. How can this be? he thought. What am I doing here? He looked around. There was nobody in sight. No cars on the streets or people walking on the sidewalk. It was like the entire town was just sitting in darkness. He decided to walk toward the hotel. My answer must be in there.

  An eerie feeling swept over him when he walked through the front door and entered the lobby area. Everything in the hotel was dull, gray, and lifeless. The people who walked around were emotionless, showing no happiness, sadness, or anger. They lulled around the lobby like soulless, empty vessels.

  Who are these people, and what are they doing here?

  “They’re lost,” his mother’s voice replied in his head. John spun around to look where the source came from. “Don’t speak out loud in here. These are lost souls that have died by your father’s hands or your father’s doing. If they found out that you’re his son, they might try and exact revenge on you. If you say a word, they will know you’re not a lost soul, and they might try and cling onto you as a way to escape limbo. We can speak through our thoughts, for now. It’s the safest form of communication.”

  John stared out in disbelief at the room full of people. All these people died at my father’s hand? He thought, as he scanned at all the men, women, and children. He is a monster. John began to feel nauseous thinking about the heinous crimes his father must’ve committed.

  “Okay,” John replied in his mind, as he gathered himself. “Where are you?” he asked as he continued to scan the lobby for his mom.

  “Look up,” she commanded. John looked up to see his mother dressed in a stunning white dress standing on a balcony overlooking the lobby. “If you want your answers, Johnny, you need to come up to this floor with me,” she told him as she looked over to the elevator that rested next to the lobby.

  “Mom, what is this place?” he asked in his head while walking over to the elevator. He looked back in the direction of his mother, who was walking toward the elevator to meet him. The doors closed, and it began its ascent to the next floor. Halfway between floors, the elevator began to change color. The cab of the elevator became vibrant. The dull handles turned gold and shimmered in the light. The doors and walls shined bright silver and were full of life.

  The elevator door opened up, and before John stood Katherine. She walked into the elevator as it closed, and they began moving up again. “We
are currently in limbo, John,” she explained, looking over to him. “Because you broke off the connection, I had established prematurely, this memory that I’m sharing with you is incomplete. To fill the void left by the incomplete memory, I had to fill it with memories of my own. That’s why you noticed those empty vessels walking around the lobby area. Those are souls that I’ve met in my travels from your father’s doing.”

  “Well, since this memory is incomplete, what else am I going to see? What else is going to happen?”

  “I don’t know, John. This has never happened before, and I’ve never heard of this happening before from other souls. I don’t know what you will see, hear, or feel. Had the connection not been broken, I would have an answer for you. But, now that it has, I have no idea what’s going to happen.”

  “Where are we going now?”

  “To get answers.” The elevator finally came to a halt, and the doors swung open. John peeked outside of the cab. They were no longer inside the hotel. They were on the rooftop. He stepped out onto the roof and looked at the bright moon illuminating the entire rooftop. The cool night air washed over his body, once again.

  He looked around the rooftop and then back to his mother, who had exited the elevator also. “So what now?”

  “Your answer is behind that door,” she replied, looking over to the brick roof entrance.

  John began walking toward the door and then turned around. “Are you coming?”

  “Sorry, son, not this time. This is something you need to see for yourself. Don’t be afraid though, John. I’ll be here with you.” She tapped the side of her temple with her index finger. She gave him one last comforting smile and stepped back into the elevator. The elevator gave a ding, closed, and returned back into the hotel.