by I N Foggarty
“What the hell does that bitch want?” Roca retorted, clearly unhappy at having his recitation of the match interrupted.
Why indeed Ramone thought as he stood up. He had signal but only one measly bar so the reception would be piss poor. “I’m gonna take this outside.” He didn’t wait for a reply before leaving the room.
“Yeah, what is it,” he answered, beginning the climb up the stairs to ground level. An unintelligible voice replied to him and he quickened his pace. “Hold on I’ll be upstairs in a sec.” On reaching the top, the hissing on the other end of the line died down. “Ok, that should do it.”
“Bout time,” a female voice replied in a mocking tone. “Sooo wotcha doing?”
The way Tanya’s tone suddenly shifted unnerved Ramone slightly. He opened the shutter that served as the entrance to their hideout and stepped out into the cool night air. She could be far too slippery for her own good. He had warned Sergio of that on more than one occasion but had been impolitely ignored. “You called to ask me that?”
“I might have,” Tanya replied innocently. “Would you be mad at me if I had?” Now she sounded like a small child trying to wriggle its way out of trouble.
He gritted his teeth slightly, in no mood for her games. “What do you actually want?”
“Someone’s in a bad mood. You know if I was with you right now, you would totally not be so grumpy.”
Yeah if I so much as touched a hair on your head Maria would... He sighed, the realisation that what Maria would or would not do, no longer applied, at least not to him. Still, he had no intention of touching that poisonous viper. Sergio was crazy to have ever taken her to bed in the first place, let alone come back for seconds, thirds and god know’s how many other helpings she had fed him since. “Just get to the point.”
The woman on the other end of the phone sighed “Fine. A girl got picked up the other night and it turns out she’s the daughter of a cop…”
“So what? Put a bullet in her and be done with it,” he said deadpan.
Tanya let out a shrill laugh. “You know you and Serg should like start a club or something…. Oh wait a minute you guys did that already. Never mind. Anyway, instead of just tossing away good merchandise, I need you to sit on her for a few days while I find a buyer who’ll take her far beyond the means of the CPD.” Before Ramone could reply she added. “Only don’t actually have El Roca sit on her. We can’t sell broken merchandise.”
“Why the hell do we have to look after her?” he spat.
“Since your last endeavour like totally left us shorthanded you’re going to have to pick up the slack. Besides, you’re already babysitting. What’s another kid in the crèche? Not to mention that like you, it’s best if we keep her out of the city. The two of you are going to have so much in common I just know it.”
The sickly tone in which Tanya finished talking unnerved him again. It was not right for a woman to be so comfortable about what they were doing to other women. That aside he did not like the idea of getting further involved with the trafficking side of Los sin techo’s business. Crime had a habit of being a slippery slope after all. Unfortunately, given his current situation, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a little more money. Besides the way things had gone recently meant he would likely get no say in the matter. “Is this going to turn into another one of your stupid ventures that cause nothing but hassle?”
“Yes,” she said long-sufferingly. “One of my hair-brained ideas that cause such total chaos that we actually make some proper money for a change. Urgh. No wonder Serg was broke before I came along.”
“We were doing just fine before you,” Ramone spat angrily back at her.
“Of course you were. If you consider blowing up both your new merchandise and the money you were going to use to buy said merchandise as doing fine.”
Ramone almost turned his phone to dust. “SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU TREACHEROUS FUCKING VIPER!”
There was silence on the other end for a moment or two before Tanya spoke again. “Still a sore spot I see, good to know. I’ll have her sent over tomorrow and get back in touch when I have news of a buyer. Later, Rae.”
Ramone took a deep calming breath as the line went dead. Pocketing his phone he withdrew a smoke and lit it. It was quiet here without Tanya irritating him he thought on glancing around. Peaceful even. With nothing to see on the horizon in any direction, he really had ended up in the middle of nowhere. Stretching out all around him, a treeless expanse of tall grass. The only road, if you could call an overgrown dirt track a road, had sported a good foot of the stuff that they had flattened on their way in the previous night.
He turned to look at the building. A tall single story garage type structure with a flat roof, crumbling brickwork and a rickety shutter serving as the only way in or out. Who Los sin techo had acquired the property from he did not know but after finding a box of broken laboratory equipment during his attempts to repair the TV, he had come to suspect it had once been a drug lab.
With the thought of El Roca’s company a strong deterrent, Ramone set out down the twisting dirt track. Some fresh air would do him good and give him the chance to clear his head. He could only hope that karma wasn’t really a thing or he was in some serious trouble.
Even death has a funny side
High up along the cliff-line a fragment of rock succumbed to gravity and tumbled down the jagged outcrop, bouncing as it descended over the moss-covered track and down into the cavernous abyss below. Its fate, a stark reminder of the consequences should one lose their footing. The walkway was barely wide enough for one person to pass unhindered and from distance invisible to the untrained eye. At present, a solitary figure dared to traverse this death-trap of nature.
Cautiously moving forward he glanced up at the man-made viaduct that lay just around the corner. To have constructed such a walkway so high up in the cliffs truly was a feat of engineering he thought. Skirting around the protruding rock face he reached for his bow, there were four assailants in total waiting for him; he knew that from experience. Nocking an arrow, he manoeuvred himself into position and loosed. The light wooden shaft soared through the air and embedded itself in the forehead of an enemy standing atop a set of crumbling stairs to his left. When the carcass tumbled over the edge his comrade from down below chose to rush him. No time for a weapon change. Quickly he drew another arrow. The thing moved to lunge at him and he loosed the shaft between its eyes from three foot.
Blood splattered his face and his foe fell to its knees; a moan escaping its slain corpse. Carefully, he stepped over it and withdrew his sword and shield. Making for the stairs a second moan reached his ears. The boy stiffened and slowly turned his head, afraid as to what he might see. Rising to its feet the thing loomed over him, crimson hair framing its maggot eaten face. “I’m… going… to… kill you,” it cried in an inhuman snarl, ice green eyes boring into him. Before he could react the creature raised its sword and…
Dylan’s eyes snapped open a yell of terror dying in his parched throat. Only the crimson hair and green eyes did not disappear. Instead of a hollowing husk, they were accompanied by pale slender features. Rooted to the spot he clenched his trousers in his hands and tried to meld his body into the cold masonry behind him. “Please don’t kill me,” he squealed, screwing up his face and turning his head to one side, awaiting the killing blow... It never came.
Dylan coughed as he let out a breath he had been unaware of holding. Carefully he opened one eye a fraction. Anna still hung over him but nothing about her expression screamed murder… for a change.
“Don’t sneak up on people like that,” he said, allowing his body to relax slightly. His breathing was still erratic but given the circumstances, understandable. “You could have given me a heart attack.”
“Of all the ways I could kill you right now heart attack is not the one I’d choose.” He recoiled slightly at her words. Perhaps he was not out of the cliffs yet.
To his relief, Anna retracted a
nd sat down cross-legged in front of him. He would have preferred her to sit on the other side of the cell, though in reality, he would have been happier still if they were on opposite sides of the bars. “What time is it?” he asked without thinking.
To his surprise, Anna chose not to berate him. “I don’t know,” she said simply. “In fact, I don’t even know what day it is.”
Neither did he. After she had been rendered unconscious their captors had left and not returned for what he suspected had been over half the day. When they had returned the large man who had Tasered Anna had been alone, said nothing and threw some sandwiches and bottles of water through the bars. There had been no contact since.
Ravenous and far beyond the point of needing water, Dylan had devoured his share without pausing to consider rationing. After that, he had passed the time by playing through sections of different video games in his head. He had never been so grateful for his eidetic memory. So absorbing had the images been that he had slipped from the world of reality and into his subconscious. All the while blissfully unaware that Anna had awoken until she had snuck up on him.
He studied her face for a moment as she waited patiently on him regaining his composure. Their captors had been gracious enough to leave the light on. The awkward silence dragged on and he felt the question foremost in his mind bubble to the surface. Before he could stop himself he blurted out, “were you actually going to kill me?” He stared at his hands afraid of what the answer might be.
“Don’t sweat it. It wouldn’t have come to that,” Anna replied, her face remaining expressionless. “Though… I’ve got to hand it to that big guy, he’s quick on the draw.”
“I...I...I couldn’t stop him, Anna,” Dylan stammered, a perfect image of her convulsing on the floor floating through his mind. “He just kept shocking you. I didn’t know what to do.”
“What could you have done? You don’t have a sword in this reality.” A thin smile formed on Anna’s lips that made him feel more awkward. He could not recall her ever giving him a smile that looked anything other than wolfish. “So tell me. What did you do on Friday to land Matt in that harpy’s clutches?”
Dylan gave her a funny look. Was she serious? She wanted to do this now. “Shouldn’t we be figuring out some way to escape?”
Her reply was soft but confident and her expression remained unchanged as though frozen into that thin smile. “I already told you. If an opportunity to escape presents itself I won’t need your help.”
“Then why should I tell you anything?” Dylan said hotly. Apparently, her team spirit had not improved any since last they spoke.
“Because, though I might not need your help, you certainly need mine.” Her piercing eyes locked onto his. “As it so happens, I find myself for once with plenty of time on my hands. Enough even for you. So talk.”
Though he did not wish to admit it she was right. In this reality, he was a computer geek, not a fighter. While he spent time levelling up his warrior in the virtual world Anna spent hers levelling up herself. She was the real warrior not him. He sighed. What else did he have to lose? She’d already branded him disposable and threatened to kill him. He doubted he could fall much further in her estimation.
“Fine,” he said in defeat. “But we’re in this together from now on.”
Anna let out a short, shrill laugh. “You’re in no position to barter. When I get out of here I can easily talk to Matt and piece it all together. However, at present, I’ve got nothing better to do so talk and I’ll consider it.”
Dylan cursed internally. If she spoke to Matt the jig would be up regardless. It had been the one part of his plan left up to fate. Though at the time it had been a gambit worth taking, for Anna had a habit of completely blanking Matt after they’d had a falling out. It would have been a tense few days but he had been confident of steering his friend through it unawares. After that, things would have settled down and life moved on. He had counted on the fact that without Matt, Anna’s one anchor to Woodlake, she would most likely drop out of school to work since there was nothing else to keep her there. That meant they would not see each other every day and eventually the memory of her reign of terror in all their lives would fade. Yet irrespective of all that, if he did not get out of here none of it would matter.
“Fine,” he repeated feeling far less optimistic about his chances now. “I had Natalie buy a new sim for her phone and send me the number.” She looked at him quizzically but said nothing. He took it as an indication to continue. “After school on Friday I convinced Matt to hang out with me before he went to meet you and I went to Raymond’s. While he was in the shower I stole his phone and replaced the number he had stored under your name with the number Natalie sent me. I then had her send him a breakup text.”
Anna let out a hollow laugh. “So when he got it he would see my name and assume it was me.” Dylan looked at her in surprise. He’d half expected her to rip his head off. “And what if I’d actually text or called him?”
“I blocked your number for good measure.”
She snorted. “You really are a devious bastard, Dylan. From there it must have been child’s play for you to pied-piper him along to Raymond’s party and deposit him into Natalie’s clutches.”
“Pretty much,” he admitted openly. There was little point in hiding anything now.
“And so when he didn’t show at my place you were banking on me to assume that he’d ditched me again and to give him the silent treatment long enough for things to have moved on.”
She was good Dylan thought, still searching for any sign she would turn on him. “It’s kind of your MO you know.”
Anna laughed again in that same empty tone. He almost felt sorry for her. “It’s funny, isn’t it? I would have been so angry at him that in order to stop myself from hurting him I would have driven him further into Natalie’s arms.”
Dylan said nothing. It had never crossed his mind that by blanking him Anna was actually trying to spare Matt from her darker side. The part of her that had broken a martial artists arm without remorse, would have torn Natalie limb from limb that lunchtime had Matt and Mark not intervened and had threatened to kill him in order to get what she wanted. In hindsight, he may have been extremely foolish in doing something that could incur her wrath. Anna was like fire and yet he’d not given any thought to the possibility of getting severely burned.
Then Anna said something that truly took him by surprise. “I guess you were hoping that I would just accept the new status quo but reap revenge on Natalie by telling everyone about Rick Hunter.” Dylan just stared at her his mouth agape. “What? You thought you were the only one to have read Machiavelli?”
He laughed. “Actually I haven’t. I read a synopsis of The Prince online and based my last report for Stevens on several critiques of the piece I found.”
Anna laughed too. “Not only is this drivel boy but someone else’s drivel. If I had wanted second-hand drivel I would have gone to the remedial class and read a paper written by someone who’d had the teacher write it for him.”
Dylan burst into laughter despite the situation, though maybe because of it the laughter bubbled into hysterics. It was the first time he had ever enjoyed one of her impersonations. Usually, they were used to belittle him. When he eventually calmed down he looked at her seriously. “So what now?”
The smirk vanished from Anna’s face as she matched his sober gaze with one of her own. “When we get back home you’re going to explain all of this to Matt.” He stared at her but remained silent. “For once, he can decide on his own what to do. But first, we have to get out of here.”
A minute passed and neither uttered a word. For Dylan, Anna had made it a Hobson’s choice. He had no desire to reveal his machinations to Matt but without Anna’s help, he might never see his friend or the outside world again. Still, given the current circumstances sympathy might play a Hail Mary pass and act as a redeeming quality, it was hard to ice out someone who had been through a traumatic experienc
e.
“You know we’re not that different you and I… at least when it comes to Matt,” Anna eventually said, breaking the silence.
Dylan snorted. Where had she got that idea from?
“It’s true. At points where we’ve had no one else, he’s been there for us.” She laughed. “Yet neither of us can get over our own spite for one another and try to do the only thing he’s ever asked of us and try and get along.”
It was funny Dylan thought, now that someone laid the facts of the matter bare. “You don’t suppose he orchestrated all this to try and encourage us to be friends?” His tone held a glimmer of hope despite knowing deep down what the answer would be.
“No. He knows I would more than likely have killed you by now if I ended up stuck in a cell with you.” Her response was factual and he felt the hope die.
“So how do we get out of here?” he then asked, for once finding himself interested in what she might have to say.
This time Anna gave him the wolfish grin. “No idea.”
“What!” Dylan exclaimed in outrage. “I thought you had some sort of plan?”
“Nope. Now be a good boy and turnaround while I go take a leak in the corner.” There was an edge to her tone that suggested that if he dared to look she would gouge his eyes out.
Sighing, he turned to face the wall. With no facilities, he had been forced to go to the toilet in one of the cell corners. The smell had not dissipated any since.
When Anna finished they sat in silence once more. Eventually, unable to bear it any longer, he closed his eyes and conjured up an image of a mossy cliff side. This time he would make it up those darn stairs. Where there was a will there was a way and if he could figure out that problem… this one could not be any more problematic.
Nightmares
A fork of lightning tore across the dark sky, ripping the thick clouds asunder. As thunder rolled thick droplets of rain cascaded down upon the stormy body of Lake Michigan. At one small harbour, a single ship sat docked at the fifth and final pier. On board, the falling water ricocheted off the surface of the now slippery metal decks. From inside the bowels, the sound of gunfire filled the air and people began to shout and scream. Out of the open cargo hold, black smoke billowed and carried with it the smell of burnt vinegar.