Between Two Minds: Revelation

by D C Wright-Hammer

  Fortunately, on this night, the place was relatively dead with only about a dozen patrons scattered throughout, all seemingly from the area. Junior sat in his usual spot, at the end of the dim bar, five seats from the next person. Low rock music hummed from the jukebox. He was busy tipping back his third Old Fashioned when he heard someone enter the bar and, through the thick bottom of his tumbler, saw a dark, blurry figure coming toward him. It was general knowledge to leave Junior alone when he went to Flannigan’s, so his free hand had already settled on the butt of his gun, itching to scare off an out-of-town punk. But his intentions changed the instant his empty beverage no longer obscured his vision.

  Putting her jacket on the bar seat right next to him was a breath-taking woman. All the heads in the bar were locked on her. She was tall with silky, flowing black hair and a long, low-cut black dress filled in perfectly by her spectacular curves. With her bright red nails, glossy red lips, and platinum necklace, she glimmered in the low light. Her subtle, sweet fragrance had already gone to work bending Junior’s will. She sat down, crossed her legs, and set her clutch on the bar.

  Junior leaned over and said, “You sure you got the right place?”

  She grinned stunningly. “Oh, I’m sorry. Looked like somewhere a woman could get a stiff…drink, and I figured the most handsome man in here might help me with that.” She winked at him.

  Her voice was rich and confident with the slightest ambiguous accent, possibly French or maybe Italian, he thought. In his buzzed state, Junior’s instincts were still there. Somewhere. He turned to his tumbler on the bar wondering if someone had drugged him, but after quickly taking account of all his faculties, he decided that if someone was plotting to kill him that night, he’d let them succeed. He had no desire to fight. As gorgeous as this woman was, something about her made Junior more comfortable than he thought he should have been, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

  He let the concern fade from his mind, and his hand went up. “Ralph, another one for me, and anything for…” He turned to her. “I’m sorry. What was your name?”

  “Victoria.”

  He even found her name to be sexy, and he held his gaze an extra second before turning back to Ralph. “…anything for Victoria.”

  Junior anticipated an elegant order of a cocktail or wine, and he knew Ralph, a stocky, bald prototypical bartender didn’t have much variety when it came to that.

  “I’ll take a shot of Jameson and a pint of your best stout.”

  Junior’s brow went up, intrigued. All the pub faces still pointing her way became even more twisted.

  She batted her eyes at Junior. “Well, this is the best Irish pub in the city, right?” She chuckled a beautiful chuckle.

  Junior had to concede. “Indeed, it is.” He took a short breath and his expression softened, partly because the bourbon had warmed him. “I’m J— Ernesto, by the way.”

  “It’s a pleasure, Ernesto,” she said sincerely. “You from around here?”

  His smile dissipated somewhat without revealing shame. “Born and raised. How about you? Just passing through?”

  She nodded. “That’s the plan. Wanted to see this place, Marktown, for myself. See if it had really been turned around like they’d said on the news.”

  “Well,” Junior tilted his head slightly, “how do we measure up?”

  Ralph placed their drinks on small napkins in front of them.

  With a grin, Victoria grabbed her shot and raised it toward Junior. “To prosperity and opportunity.”

  It took everything Junior had to grin instead of grimace. “To prosperity and opportunity.”

  They tinked glasses and threw them back simultaneously. As he finished, Junior gasped and assumed Victoria would too, or at least chase the Jameson with her stout. Instead, she didn’t even flinch a little, gently placing her shot glass on the bar.

  Junior had no idea why he was so impressed. “You like whiskey?”

  Victoria took a deep breath with a smirk. “I like anything that lets me get what I want,” she leaned in, biting her bottom lip, “even if it hurts a little going down.”

  Junior was mesmerized, and he would have had a perfect view down her dress if he hadn’t fought the urge, trying to maintain his composure. But he couldn’t ignore her body heat. Regardless of the alcohol, his lower half was working just fine.

  “Yeah?” He paused to take in the moment. “What is it that Victoria wants?”

  She shifted her smirk to one side. “Right now?” Her face remained still, but her eyes peered down at Junior’s pants. “I want you, Ernesto.”

  Junior’s eyes went wide, and he took a deep breath. “Well…” He tried to think of the wittiest response. “Why don’t I give you a real tour of Marktown on the way back to my place?”

  Her eyes came back up to meet his. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.” She rolled back in her chair. “Let me go get freshened up before we go.” She lifted her stout for a big sip. With her free hand, she grabbed the small napkin, and as she sat the pint glass back down, she dabbed her lips. “The ladies’ room is over there?” She pointed.

  Junior nodded.

  With a big smile, Victoria stood up, threw on her jacket, and grabbed her clutch. “See you in a bit. You should finish my stout.”

  She left, and Junior was oddly relieved. He needed a reprieve from her unrelenting beauty before they left together. He needed to gather himself, so he wouldn’t act like an idiot. After a couple moments, he looked at her pint and thought about drinking it. Junior never liked beer, much less dark beer. He decided against it and raised his hand to the bartender instead. “Cash me out, Ralph.”

  Oddly, Ralph had already been looking at him and pressed some buttons on the register. Then, he headed over to Junior slowly, flinging a towel over his shoulder. It was odd since Ralph would usually just gave Junior a thumbs-up after cashing him out.

  “My account all right?” Junior said, concerned.

  Ralph put both his hands on the bar and leaned in to whisper, “That woman is trouble, Junior. Get out while you still can.”

  Junior smiled through a frown. “You see her in here before, Ralph?”

  “No.” He shook his head and pointed. “She slipped a napkin from her purse under the stout before she left.”

  Junior peered over and confirmed. “What the…?”

  “I’ll give you some space.” Ralph wandered over to another customer who had his hand up.

  Junior leaned over and lifted the pint, then shook his head.

  Thanks for the shot, Sexy!

  Call me to get your gun back.

  1162-9042-2142

  He’d reached down even before he finished reading. “Son of a bitch!” Popping up from the stool, he threw his jacket on and swiped the napkin off the bar, then darted toward the restrooms.

  Crack!

  He kicked open the woman’s door.

  “Ah! Asshole! What’s your problem?” A woman was washing her hands before Junior scared the hell out of her. Junior paid her no attention and checked the stalls. Empty.

  “Dammit!” He stomped out of the bathroom, and as soon as he entered the hallway, he turned to the emergency exit. Heading that way, it was immediately obvious that she’d cut the wire to the alarm that should have gone off.

  He cautiously opened the door and walked out behind the bar. The chilly, night air blew in his face, and he slowly made his way to the alley. Looking up and down, there was no sign of her.

  Junior sighed. He lifted the napkin to his face and thought for a moment. Then, he retrieved his netphone from his pocket and scanned the napkin.

  “Phone number detected. Would you like to place this call?”

  He took a deep breath. “Yes.”

  “Dialing.”

  A holo lit up the alleyway, and it began to ring. After t
wo, Victoria’s image ad appeared. “Ernesto, baby! You called!”

  She seemed to be in the back of a car. “Cut the shit, Victoria. Where the hell are you? Where’s my gun?”

  She limply held up the fire arm to her phone. “It’s so big, Junior. Really impresses the ladies, I’m sure.” She smiled and the luster she had just moments before was now mostly lost on Junior.

  He rolled his eyes and scoffed. “What the hell do you want from me?”

  “I already told you, honey.” She pointed at him. “I want you, Ernesto Guerrero, Jr.”

  Junior shook his head and tried to connect the dots. “So, my father sent you.” He gritted his teeth. “Is he with you right now? Are you two yucking it up at my expense?”

  She puckered her lips and shook her head gently. “Honey, you couldn’t be any more wrong.”

  A scowled forced itself onto Junior’s face. “What are you saying, then?”

  She splayed out her fingers to look at her nails. “I can get you what you’ve always wanted.” She looked him in the eye. “I can help you get rid of your father for good.”

  Her words confused Junior. He’d never spoken openly about his disdain for his father, but it also hadn’t exactly been a secret throughout Marktown. Still, it caught Junior off guard that this strange woman knew about his feelings, and he stood there for a moment, processing it all. It hadn’t taken him long to predict where the conversation was headed, and his heart pounded in anticipation of how she’d respond to him.

  “What do I have to do?”

  “That’s my boy.” Her condescension was more than annoying to Junior. “Meet me behind Pete’s Hardware in five.”

  The holo faded in an instant, and Junior shook his head in frustration. He took another deep breath and started the six-block walk to meet her.

  He arrived to find a black, stretch limousine, engine running. The front doors opened and out stepped two gargantuan men in black. Junior knew immediately that without his weapon, he wouldn’t last long against them.

  Victoria rolled down one of the back windows. “Get in.”

  Junior eyed the goons, and it didn’t seem like they were going to give him any other options. He remembered just how many people had seen Victoria in the bar, so it would have been extremely foolish for her to harm a police officer. With this in mind, he deliberately walked up, and one of the giants opened the door for him.

  Junior took a seat across from Victoria. The car began to move, Victoria’s face half lit by a street light in the alley. As pissed as he was, he couldn’t deny that she was the loveliest woman he’d ever seen. But he was still pissed.

  “Where’s my gun?”

  “My guys will give it back when we’re at our destination. Now, let me formally introduce myself…again.” She cleared her throat. “Victoria Russo.” She extended her hand for Junior to kiss.

  Before he even had a chance to think about obliging, her name hit him like a ton of bricks. He sat there, blinking for several moments.

  Victoria Russo was the heir to the Russo family fortune. Many years prior, the Russo family ran a mob, one of the Original Three gangs of Marktown. The others were the Koronas, and the Green Sleeves, an Irish mob who’d opened Flannigan’s.

  All of that would have been enough to make the strange night that much stranger. However, Junior knew Victoria. They went to the same grade school, and in true West Side Story fashion, Junior had a crush on Vikki Russo the moment he’d laid eyes on her. However, the tragedy for Junior had been that he’d never gotten a chance to tell Victoria how he felt about her. Around the time the steel mill jobs started disappearing from the area, Junior’s father decided that Marktown was getting too small for three gangs. The Green Sleeves’ numbers had dwindled over the years, and it was basically just the O’Flannigans who remained. After a conversation with the Padre, they left voluntarily.

  But Lorenzo Russo, Victoria’s father, was stubborn. He came from nothing, and over the course of thirty years, had worked his way up from baker’s assistant to crime lord. He refused to give that up without a fight. An actual fight.

  Within a ring of members from both mobs, the two men had squared off. The Padre had dwarfed Lorenzo, but that didn’t seem to make much of a difference in the first two minutes of the brawl. Lorenzo defended the Russo name well, and the Padre had a bloody nose and quickly-swelling left eye. It seemed like the fight might go the distance, but it was right around that time that the Padre lost what little patience he’d had. He lunged at Lorenzo and shrugged off a right hook that connected with his jaw. The Padre bear-hugged Lorenzo, crushing the life out of him. Then, he finished Lorenzo off by pile-driving him into the ground. Lorenzo went limp.

  The Russo mob gasped and the Koronas initially cheered until they saw the extent of the damage. The impact had knocked Lorenzo out cold, and at that realization, everyone fell quiet for several moments. It would have been easy to assume the worst, but in Lorenzo’s unconscious state, he let loose a labored moan.

  True to their word, the Russo mob left town, and rumors had it that Lorenzo was never the same. He became a shell of his former self, and it was said that Gretta, his wife and Victoria’s mother, ran things for years before Lorenzo finally passed away. The Russos had very publicly gotten out of the crime business and moved onto legal ventures. They even made some shrewd investments in medical technology that placed them as one of the riches families in the city.

  Six months prior to the meeting in the car, Gretta had passed, and reports stated that Victoria had been next in line to inherit the Russo estate. But Victoria was completely out of the spotlight since her family moved out Marktown, and she hadn’t made any public appearances since taking over the business.

  Junior could see the resemblance from the little girl he’d once known. He felt compelled to tell her what he waited all those years to say since she was made to leave Marktown. “I know our fathers were criminals, but I’m still sorry for what mine did to yours. I’m also sorry for your losses.” He kissed her hand and bowed his head.

  Victoria’s face conceded the most genuine emotion of the night. Relief. After that, she dropped the caricature she’d been playing. “I know, Junior. You were always a nice boy in school. Had it not been for us moving apart, I probably would have fallen for you.”

  Junior was stunned. He had no idea she’d felt similarly as he had. He assumed that she saw him like all the Koronas. Her enemy. Junior shook his head and grinned. “It’s really too bad because that would have really pissed off my father.”

  A breathy giggle escaped Victoria’s mouth. “Mine too, but to hell with what our families would have thought. We could have been something special…” She leaned in. “…made real change for our families and the good people of Marktown.”

  Junior sighed. “Instead, here we are.”

  “It’s not too late to do the right thing, Junior.” Victoria perked up. “My contacts stumbled onto a big deal that your father will be making next week. We’ve devised a plan to catch him in the process, but we’d need support from at least one local police officer. You.”

  The story was all too simple for Junior to swallow. “So, why help me with my father now? Other than revenge, what else do you get from it?”

  “I won’t lie.” Victoria turned her head. “Your father’s employer has a monopoly on the human organs market. Being able to circumvent government regulations, they can charge half the cost it would be for one of my firms to sell the same quality organs. But those regulations are there for a reason. Your father’s products carry significant risk—something that people in need of transplants shouldn’t have to be burdened with.”

  Junior scowled. “Then, why the show at the pub? Why string me along if all this was all about business?”

  Victoria looked out the car window. “After we moved, my mother attempted to control everything. She kept me locked away for fear that your fat
her might come after us. It was nearly unbearable, and I tried to run away a few times. Every time, she’d send someone to bring me back.

  “I was homeschooled all the way through college. Then, my father died, and my mother loosened the reigns just a little. She allowed me to get a job, as long as I used one of our drivers to and from the office. I wasn’t allowed to go out or make friends.

  “Once Mom died, it was crazy going from recluse to being asked to make million-dollar business decisions. And the freedom. The freedom has been shocking. When asked about the Marktown organ trade, I said that I might have a way to deal with it. Personally.”

  She paused to let Junior process what she’d said. “I know it was over the top. I just couldn’t contain myself getting out on my own for once. And I wanted to get your attention, so I could see for myself if you were the good person everyone says you are. You’re even better in person.”

  At this point, Junior felt himself being won over, but still had his reservations. “This role I would play. I won’t have to do anything illegal?”

  She shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

  “And I get to personally put the cuffs on my father?”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Junior’s apprehension was obvious.

  “You can sleep on it.” She leaned close to him. “I just need to know by tomorrow night if you’re in.”

  Junior realized that Victoria’s beauty suddenly returned tenfold just as the car came to a stop. He also liked the idea of being able to think about it. “Yeah. That sounds good. I’ll sleep on it.”

  “I understand. But there is one thing I’d like to know right now.” Another mischievous grin had seized her face.

  Junior played along. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “I don’t want to unfairly influence your decision.” She took a deep breath, and again, looked out the window. “But does your invite from earlier still stand?”