Dead Man's Hand

by Steven Meehan

  Alexis must have used forgery to inflict the pain. I was going to have to figure out these new laws that were going to influence my life. When I had regained mastery of my face I turned to see Dempsey’s full attention focused upon a scowling Alexis. After another uncomfortable silence Alexis scolded Dempsey as if he were a disobedient child.

  “I asked you a question Bertrand. We already agreed to my asking the questions and you answering them. And you just found out what’ll happen if you refuse to answer a question. Is that clear?”

  Instead of the piercing eyes that had pinned me into my chair earlier today, now I only saw eyes that were truly frightened. I was barely able to hear his mumbled answer, but it was enough for Alexis. “Now let’s try this once again. What is the real reason you wanted me dead?”

  “You…. You have been interfering with my business, you just haven’t known about it. Francis over there wasn’t the first forger I tried to recruit.”

  “And how are you finding these forgers?” Alexis asked, his eyes burning as hotly as the sun.

  “I have the resources to scour not only this city but others as well. I simply keep my ears open for interesting stories.” Dempsey answered in an emotionless voice.

  Alexis registered the answer as he asked his next question, “How long have you been searching for forgers?”

  “I’ve always searched for them.” Dempsey’s reply bordered on curt.

  I thought Alexis might make another objection but he restrained himself and asked another question. “What brought our kind to your notice in the first place?”

  Dempsey hesitated for only a second but it was a second too long as Alexis somehow managed to force pain through his body. “I thought you remembered our agreement to answer any question I put to you.”

  “I’ll never give you the answer to that! No matter how much pain you pour into me.” Dempsey snapped.

  Alexis silently studied his captive before coming to a decision. “I believe you would endure any kind of torment I could possibly imagine and I would never get any closer to that answer.” Alexis nodded with what appeared to be a sort approval before concluding his thoughts. “Fine, I’ll not ask you to reveal anything about your witch to me.”

  As Dempsey heard those words I thought Alexis and I would be washed away by the fear that flowed out of Dempsey’s eyes. Seeing the intended reaction from Dempsey, Alexis leaned right next to the other man’s ear and spoke so softly I almost missed the words.

  “It was not all that difficult a leap to make, Dempsey. How have you managed to be so successful if a simple, logical conclusion draws such a fearful reaction from you? Now that I know how you became aware of our world, tell me, who was the forger I denied you access to. Why was he so special?”

  “You and your kind are all special, don’t you know that?”

  “Of course I do. But why was this one specifically so special to you?”

  Dempsey began with as much force as he could muster. I guess he wanted or needed to hold onto any piece of dignity he could. “Her name was Julia Santiago. She wasn’t as powerful as your friend over there or you apparently. But she had power all the same.”

  “Power you wanted to harness for your own gain no doubt.”

  “Of course, I would have used her for my own gain.”

  Alexis began chewing his lip in thought and I could tell that he had wanted to ask a specific question, but after a moment’s thought he chose to move on for the time being. “Fine, so I kept you from getting forgers and ultimately, when you finally had a name to chase, you wanted to stop the interference. I’ll assume your witch was involved in most of this up to then. But why did you send Francis here after me?”

  This time, when Alexis mentioned the witch, Dempsey managed to keep his face impassive. Here his control seemed to end as his next words dripped with venom. “I sent him after you hoping that a forger would have better luck eliminating you. Two of my men had already failed to do that using more…conventional methods.”

  Understanding dawned on Alexis’ face, his next words held the power that Dempsey seemed no longer able to utilize. “So you were the one?”

  Unable to keep silent anymore I broke into the conversation asking, “The one what?”

  “Conventional methods, Francis” Alexis replied quietly before turning around to look at me. “Dempsey’s conventional methods must refer to a sniper. Keep in mind what he threatened you with. A few times over the past month or so I had some rather large bullets slam into the same protection you encountered earlier.

  “Unlike your attempt, I didn’t know where theirs came from, so I chalked it up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Whipping his body back to stare up into Dempsey’s emotionless eyes he continued. “Only now I know they were actually intended for me. And that’s a decent enough reason to force your newly recruited forger into an assassination attempt, though my guess is there was more to it than that. I’d be willing to bet your witch suggested it to you.”

  Hatred was pushing the fear out of Dempsey’s eyes as he stared back down at Alexis, and that reaction was just enough to let Alexis know he had been right. “So now here’s my million dollar question. Why is this forger or witch or whatever you call her, so important to you?”

  “I thought you weren’t going to pry into that subject?” Dempsey retorted with a snarl.

  “Like I said, it’s a personal question. I just wondered why she wants me dead so badly?”

  “I want you dead, the pair of you. I’m the one in charge.” Dempsey managed to shout before Alexis silenced him with a forged gag. Alexis spun around and led me far enough away so we wouldn’t be overheard. “I don’t think we’ll get much more from him, did you still want to ask him your questions?”

  “Yes.”

  Alexis looked me straight in the eye and said, “Then by all means take center stage. And when you’re done, I’ll put him back to sleep.”

  “How did you manage to hurt him?”

  “You aren’t even going to think about doing that, is that clear?” Alexis commanded in his whisper. I shivered. The man truly had a personality that demanded both respect and obedience no matter how quietly he spoke.

  “What if he refuses to answer me?”

  With a smile that showed a few too many glistening teeth he answered, “Then I’ll remind him that it would be in his best interest to answer your questions just as he answered mine.”

  With a nod I walked the short distance back and waited for the gag to be released, which didn’t take long. As soon as the gag was removed, Dempsey cursed me and started to explain the rather painful things he would love to do to my body before turning it into a corpse. Eventually I glanced back at Alexis who promptly changed Dempsey’s into a rather loud cry of pain. He looked down at me, seemed to swallow his pride, and asked, “And what do you want?”

  “Did you really talk to Bella?” The question elicited a gasp from behind me and a scoff from in front of me, which told me that both men thought little of my question but that didn’t bother me at all. “Did you talk to Bella?”

  “Yes, I spoke with my niece.”

  “What did you really talk about?”

  “Why, about you being my newest employee of course. I thought we…”

  As he started to give me the same old lie, I glanced at Alexis who immediately repeated his forged attack upon Dempsey. He was rewarded with another cry of pain. Returning my attention back to the dangling man I walked closer and repeated my question, but this time I forced it out with steel in my voice. “What did you really talk about?”

  The hatred in his eyes flared back to life as he looked down at me. “As soon as I had you escorted from the main hall she rushed down to demand what was happening to you. She wanted to know why you weren’t just presented with the winnings like she had been. I told her that you and I had something special to discuss and so while I was busy with all of my guests you would be entertained.”

  “And did she believe you?”


  “No, she didn’t. She wanted to know what was so important to discuss. I told her that I had an opportunity for you.”

  “What was her reaction?”

  “She called me a liar and spun around and left. But, if memory serves, she did collect her winnings before leaving. I had quite a bit of damage control to do after her little exit. But what can I do? She’s family, or at least she was.”

  Stunned by his answer I growled, “What does that mean?”

  “Now that she’s been poisoned by you, I’ll need to deal with her.”

  Who did he think he was threatening, or was he actually threatening anyone? Could he be trying to regain control of the situation by attempting to throw me off balance? Pulling every scrap of defiance that was at my disposal I sneered up at Dempsey and said “What makes you think you’re walking out of here alive?”

  Shock thundered through Dempsey with each word and the defiance that had been building disappeared. “Neither of you are capable of killing someone.” The words came out hollow as if he were trying to convince himself of what he was saying.

  To our mutual surprise, Alexis broke in, “Define killing, Bertrand.”

  “What do you mean define?” Dempsey asked, his voice hollow with fear.

  A predatory smile spreading across his face, Alexis walked up beside me and slowly repeated his statement. “Define. Killing.”

  When Dempsey didn’t answer Alexis continued on without hesitation. “What would happen to you if Francis and I simply left, when you’re discovered missing that is? I can guarantee you that no one will ever find you. No one will hear your screams. Not only that, but, as you have discovered, you can’t move at all. So do you know what would happen to you? You will die of dehydration, it’s not a pretty death.

  “You wouldn’t do that Alexis.” Dempsey was trying to assure himself, not either of us.

  “Dempsey, you’ve tried to kill me and have tried to get a hold of forgers so you could bend them to your will. Of course I’m willing to leave you here to die.”

  After a moment’s contemplation I realized why this wouldn’t work for me and whispered to Alexis, “If he doesn’t make a call and you’re still alive in the morning, then I’m a dead man.”

  Alexis cupped his right hand in front of my ear and whispered back, “Don’t worry I won’t let his goons kill you.” Removing his hand he returned his full attention to Dempsey. “I’m sorry but I’d rather not deal with your tongue as we leave so I’m going to put you to sleep again.”

  As Alexis spoke Dempsey was building up for an explosion, then he suddenly slumped into unconsciousness. I instantly spun around to face Alexis, “Are you seriously going to leave him here?”

  “It was the idea,” Alexis began cautiously. “Though I’ll admit that I was more than a little surprised when you threatened him with it.”

  “What happened to not committing crimes with the aid of forgery?” I asked with actual defiance in my voice. What am I doing? Why am I even thinking about risking my neck for a man like Dempsey? Okay that was an easy answer, because as terrible as he was, no human being deserved to die such a slow and painful death.

  Alexis silently closed the distance between us and looked down at me as he asked a question in the same annoying way fathers do when they know the right answer and are hoping their kids will finally get it right this time. “Do you think he doesn’t deserve to die?”

  “No, if anyone deserves to die, he does. But I think we can do something better.”

  His attention perked up and I could tell that he went from dismissing what I was about to say, to being cautiously curious. I chose my next words carefully. “Someone like him would rather die than spend his life in jail, right?”

  With a nod Alexis answered, “Yes, but someone like him has the lawyers to get away with anything.”

  “You’re right, they would have to get caught red handed, standing over a body with the literal smoking gun, but if we could arrange that…” I trailed off hoping Alexis would see what I meant.

  However, he must not have since all he said was, “But men like him never do anything directly.”

  “I know, believe me I know a thing or two about that. But for the sake of argument, let’s just assume Dempsey were to get caught holding a gun over a victim. Don’t you think that would be a more just punishment?”

  I could see frustration building in Alexis’ eyes as he thought over what I had said. But he just couldn’t or wouldn’t see where I was going with this. With a shrug of his shoulders he finally replied. “It would be nice, with the exception of your victim. So just forget it he’ll have his punishment here. After a couple of days he’ll just be a high profile missing person.”

  After pressing my palms into my forehead, I then waved Alexis closer and told him exactly what I was thinking about trying. Talking over his gasps of disbelief and brief protests. I finished telling him my plan and braced myself for his response to my last two questions. “Well what do you think? Isn’t it at least worth trying?”

  Personally stunned by the enormity of my plan, I was a little shocked when I saw that all too familiar smile. “Perhaps that might be worth trying after all.”

  Chapter 22

  “Do you really think we can pull this off Alexis?” I asked as we stood in the cavern.

  “Not so sure of your plan anymore, Francis?” Alexis asked sharply through his wicked little grin.

  “Fine, let me rephrase the question, can you do all of what I’m assuming you can do?”

  Alexis sighed and paused a moment in thought before replying, “Normally I wouldn’t even think about doing something like this, much less condone one of my forgers acting in the way you’re suggesting. But then again this isn’t exactly a normal situation, and you’re right, this way we would essentially break most of his criminal ties. In the process, we will be able to keep you alive, that is of course if you’re right.”

  “So is that a yes?” I asked, in what I hoped was a casual manor.

  “I’ll need some help, and it’ll be tricky. But with a little bit of luck, we should be able to pull it off.” Alexis said with a hopeful nod of his head. Taking a couple of steps closer to Dempsey, Alexis studied the man. If this was going to work he had to have a really good picture in his mind. Turning, Alexis fixed his eyes on me and commanded, “Get in the truck. If this is going to work I won’t have the time to come back here and get it.”

  I obediently got in the passenger side of his truck and waited for my next order. Once he finished with his tag Alexis hopped into the driver’s seat and quickly drove through the newly made portal right onto his driveway. Before exiting the truck, Alexis told me, “Now when we walk through the front door we are going to back in the cavern, okay.”

  I nodded and we both got out of the truck and walked through Alexis’ front door. True to his word we walked back into the cavern and grabbed Dempsey, Alexis making the tag that would allow us to enter his home undetected. Once there, Alexis deposited Dempsey on the couch, “How are you at making hand warmers?”

  “Decent.”

  “Well that’ll have to do. Start making some, I don’t know about you but I need to start replenishing some body heat. Also I’m going to go make some tea, would you like any?”

  “Tea?”

  “Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, anything hot.” He placed extra emphasis on that last word, which of course just rubbed my nose in how stupid my question had been. “Drinking something warm or hot is another great way to replace heat lost through forging. Haven’t you ever tried that before?”

  Feeling silly I replied, “No, I haven’t.”

  “Talent, you have talent, but no common sense. I’m going to have an uphill job training you. That is, as long as this all goes according to plan.” Alexis said as he left to go make us our tea.

  I sat down and started to make hand warmers for both of us. When he finally came back in he had an electric kettle, a gallon of water, and a collection of miscellaneous items, n
ot to mention the required tea bags. I hadn’t done much forging that night, Alexis had done a lot more, but as I waited for him to return I started using a couple of the hand warmers I had just finished making.

  He quickly placed everything down upon the table and started heating the water. Once it was finished he glanced up at me with worry in his eyes. “This plan of yours is going to take a lot out of both of us. You know that, right?” Unwilling to trust my voice, I just nodded. “I’m going to go through with this because, if it works, you and every other forger around will be free from Dempsey’s meddling hands. I can see you’re replenishing your body heat. That’s good, keep it up. Now while you do that start thinking about what we can use for the base of your stand in. Honestly, I can’t think of anything that’ll be remotely close enough for the purpose, which means that we’re going to have to pour a lot of heat into that forgery.”

  One of the words caught my attention, “You just said we’re. Does that mean two people can work on the same thing at the same time?” I had never thought about the possibility before as I had never known another forger.

  With a hallow laugh and a slight shake of his head Alexis replied, “I keep forgetting that you’re about as knowledgeable as a newborn babe. It’s not an insult so don’t take it that way. It is just a statement of fact.” Pulling in a deep breathe he checked on the status of the tea before continuing. “We,” he halted for a second before emphasizing his next words with a back and forth hand gesture. “You and I, and others like us, are able to funnel our body heat into another’s body. Letting him use more heat than he could otherwise. This is definitely not a technique I would normally walk someone like you through; but, you should be able to do it with the correct guidance.”

  “Which you feel you can give.” I suggested my voice lacking a certain amount of confidence.