Heart of Revenge (Part 4)

Go to Part 1

The other side of the elevator doors did not hold a pleasant sight for me. Two burly men with fully automatic assault rifles trained on my head and body. They sort of looked like twins, heavily muscled and very well armed twins. I figured I’d try a little humor to lighten this tense moment.

“So, uh, Tweedledee and Tweedledum any idea where the rattle is?” I smiled as best as anyone could knowing that they could be littered with a large array of bullets at any moment. They gave each other a look that inspired a little more fear in me than I’m usually used to.

“You got a lot of balls.” The one that I’d like to think of as Tweedledee said to me.

“Well you know, what’s the point in have extras if you’re not willing to show them off every once in a while.” I wasn’t dead yet, so I figured I’d continue trying my luck at the wisecrack game.

“We could just off him you know.” Tweedledum piped in. This was not going to work in my favor if he was making the decisions for them. Although I was getting the feeling that these guys only had enough brains between the two of them for one person.

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” I asked, buying time, “I mean wouldn’t you have to clean up the mess, or at least explain why there is a mess to your boss?”

“He does have a point,” Tweedledum muttered, “I mean I don’t want to have to do the cleaning, and I always have to do the cleaning. Why’s it you never do the cleaning?”

“Because, the boss likes me better you dolt.” Tweedledee answered back. I was seeing my in here, I just had to play them off each other a little.

“Hey, Tweedledum, you could just let me out of here a little so I can do my delivery and be on my way. Plus you know it would be you making the decisions, we both know you’re the smarter one anyways.”

“You know he does have a good point,” I could see that I was making some headway here, “plus the boss didn’t say nothing about offing him.”

“Would you just shut up?” Tweedledee threw back at him, “I know the boss didn’t say nothing, but this is the only fun we ever get to have, no one ever tries to raid the lair. It just get’s so boring around here.” I spied my way out of the situation.

“Okay guys, you’ve had your fun. Supposing it’s time to let me out and on my way? I’m real sure the boss wants this package toot sweet.” The last idiom must have caused their brains to work overtime; I don’t think these guys ever got out.

“Uh, yeah okay.” With the flip of a hidden switch I was released. I rubbed at my wrist, which was surprisingly unharmed in the grips of the elevator trap. “You’ll want to go straight down the hall, it’s the big red door at the end. Can’t miss it.”

“And I can’t say I’ll miss you guys either, thanks much.” I skirted them as quickly as I could and made my way down the hall.

-V-

Heart of Revenge (Part 3)

Go to Part 1

Chimay tower was an extravagant waste of money, mostly made of glass and architecture that by all rights shouldn’t have been able to stay standing in any adverse conditions. The tower had 111 floors, with the top most tiers overwhelmingly tall with vaulted ceilings. Just barely out of sight from the ground, one might be able to make out the gothic theme at the top, it was rumored to have over four hundred gargoyles fighting an eternal battle. I was once told it even had heated sidewalks around the building, talk about ridiculousness.

It was all owned and built for one Carlo Reservoir, my guess is they guy I was delivering the package to, he was a slippery as they come. Everyone knew he was deeply vetted in the criminal underworld, but no one could pin anything on him and no one was quite sure how far his reach went. Many people knew him from the news where he was commonly seen doing ribbon cuttings or doling out grants brilliant underprivileged souls. In the limelight he looked a perfect saint.

I pushed my way through the large revolving door and was immediately met with the security stand on the other side. The guard on the other side of the desk didn’t look particularly intimidating, but then again I’ve been around some pretty interesting characters in my time, so it usually takes a lot to impress me. He took a solid look at me, noted my Styrofoam container, and typed something into a computer terminal out of my sight behind the desk.

A look of approval flashed across his face and he pointed to the left of the desk. I looked over and saw a batch of elevators. Well, at least this was going to be pretty easy. I started walking to the first one I found and was stopped short by the first sound I had heard since I entered.

“You’ll want to hit the first and last buttons.” I looked back at him as he was finishing the sentence. There was nothing to read on his face, he just pointed my attention back to the now opening elevator. What an odd man, I thought as I entered the space. As the door closed understanding hit me. Didn’t this place only have 111 floors? And sure enough, there were only 111 buttons in front of me. How was I supposed to drop off a package to the 112th floor?

First and last buttons, I thought. Heh, a simple trick, I pushed the 111 and 1 buttons at the same time. The lights in the buttons flashed a few times then a panel opened up to the right of me. There was a green glass plate with the outline of a hand imprinted on it. Fancy! I guess the only way I was getting anywhere would be to place my hand there, so I did. The panel locked around my wrist and the elevator snapped into action. I was stuck, held in place, as the lift picked up massive amounts of speed. I didn’t really have anytime to consider options before the box came to an abrupt halt and the doors started to open.

-V-

Read Part 4